Most decorated · 6 medals and honours, 3 for gallantry
Lieutenant-Colonel George King
Lieutenant-Colonel George Augustus King was a regular officer from Canterbury who raised and led the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion, the unit whose digging gave the New Zealanders the name 'Diggers'. He won the DSO at Gallipoli, a Bar to it and a French Croix de Guerre in 1917, but none of the three citations names a single act of fighting; all praise sustained command. He was killed by a short British shell at Passchendaele on 12 October 1917.
6medals and honours
3of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Won for gallantry
Gallantry award
Distinguished Service Order
April-August 1915 (about three months of work; no single act named) · Gallipoli · Major (temporary), NZ Staff Corps / Auckland Mounted Rifles, NZ Mounted Rifles Brigade; Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment
Gazetted: London Gazette issue 29608 (supplement), 3 June 1916, p. 5570
King's DSO was a reward for steady staff and command work, not for one charge or one hill. He sailed with the Main Body in October 1914 as staff captain to Colonel Andrew Russell, who led the NZ Mounted Rifles Brigade. The brigade sat out the 25 April landing in Egypt, then went to Anzac Cove as infantry, King arriving on 9 May 1915. For the next three months he kept the brigade headquarters running through the trench stalemate. In early August came the offensive that included the Chunuk Bair fighting; a letter quoted in his Te Ara biography calls it 'a great go' for the week. On 16 August he was posted as temporary major and second-in-command of the Auckland Mounted Rifles, which had been cut to a remnant. Eleven days later, on 27 August, the regiment took part in the failed attack on Hill 60 and King was slightly wounded, though he stayed at duty. The citation says only 'Steady good work for past 3 months. Very valuable.' The award appeared in the King's Birthday Honours of 3 June 1916, when he was already commanding the Pioneer Battalion in France.
Sources differ on his Auckland Mounted Rifles role in August 1915. The NZEF Project service record has him as second-in-command from 16 August; Te Ara says he took over the remnant of the regiment and was second-in-command in the Hill 60 attack; Wikipedia says he commanded it. The Gazette citation (via McDonald) names no specific action.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: London Gazette 3 June 1916 p5570 (read: name in NZ list as 'Maj. George Augustus King, Staff Corps'); McDonald; Te Ara DNZB; NZEF Project
Foreign gallantry award
Croix de Guerre (France)
mid-1917 (about July to August); no specific act named · Ypres sector, Belgium · Lieutenant-Colonel, NZ Pioneer Battalion (later 1st Bn, Canterbury Regiment)
Gazetted: London Gazette issue 30431 (supplement), 17 December 1917, p. 13206
This French decoration is tied to King's work in the Ypres area in summer 1917. Te Ara says it followed a brief attachment of the New Zealand force to the French First Army. Wikipedia, citing Christopher Pugsley, adds that from early July the Pioneer Battalion spent about a month attached to the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, which was then serving with the French First Army, building roads and trenches round Ypres. The Gazette entry puts him in a list of New Zealand and British officers honoured by France in December 1917. Others in the same stretch of the list include Lieutenant-Colonels Austin, Roache and Stewart of the NZ Rifle Brigade, and Brigadier-General Fulton. The citation, as McDonald gives it, is the stock phrase 'For distinguished services rendered during the course of the campaign', so it records no individual deed. King had by then left the Pioneers for the Canterbury Regiment, and the award came just two months after his death.
The Gazette announces the award; the date of the service itself comes from Te Ara and Wikipedia and is approximate. The Commonwealth War Graves record also notes the Croix de Guerre.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: London Gazette 17 December 1917 p13206 (read: 'Lieutenant-Colonel George Augustus King, D.S.O., New Zealand Staff Corps' in the Croix de Guerre list); McDonald; Te Ara DNZB; Wikipedia
Bar: a second award
Bar to Distinguished Service Order
1916-1917, Pioneer Battalion service in France and Flanders (no single act named) · France and Flanders · Lieutenant-Colonel, NZ Pioneer (Maori) Battalion; 1st Bn, Canterbury Regiment
Gazetted: London Gazette issue 30450 (supplement), 1 January 1918, p. 17
The bar went to King in the New Year Honours of 1 January 1918, eleven weeks after he was killed. The wording is only 'For distinguished service in the field', but the story behind it is the Pioneer Battalion. He took the unit over in early March 1916, when it was a newly joined mix of Maori Contingent men, Maori reinforcements, the Otago Mounted Rifles and Pacific Islanders, and made it one of the most respected pioneer units in the empire's forces. It reached France in April 1916. On the Somme in the autumn it dug the long communication trench he called 'our masterpiece', Turk Lane, about two kilometres of it. Its digging earned the Pioneers the name 'Diggers', later given to the whole New Zealand Division. In 1917 it built forward trenches and a tramway for Messines. Three of his five mentions praise this work. The Wikipedia article, citing the Haigh and Polaschek history of NZ DSOs, links the bar to that record.
The Gazette does not say which services the bar rewards. The link to the Pioneer Battalion is from Wikipedia (citing Haigh & Polaschek) and the mention texts, so it is a reasonable inference rather than a stated citation. Te Ara and the Online Cenotaph describe the bar as posthumous.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: London Gazette 1 January 1918 p17 (read: 'Lt.-Col. George Augustus King, D.S.O., Canterbury R.' under 'Awarded a Bar to the Distinguished Service Order'); McDonald; Te Ara DNZB; Wikipedia
Every other medal and honour (4)
1914-15 Star1914-1915 · Egypt and GallipoliQualifying service was with the Main Body of the NZEF, which left New Zealand on 16 October 1914. King went as a captain in the Auckland Mounted Rifles and served as staff captain to the Mounted Rifles Brigade. He…British War Medal 1914-19201914-1918Issued for his overseas service in the war; he spent 1093 days abroad, according to his service record.Victory Medal1914-1918The allied Victory Medal, issued to those who served in a theatre of war. He earned it in Egypt, Gallipoli and on the Western Front.Mentioned in DespatchesGallipoli, to late 1915 · GallipoliHis first mention came from General Sir Ian Hamilton's despatch of 11 December 1915, covering the Gallipoli operations. He was mentioned four more times: 13 July 1916 (General Munro's period of command of the…
His story
Canterbury boyhood and farming years
George Augustus King was born on 3 March 1885, the son of a merchant. He went to Warwick House School and Christ's College, where he played in the First XV. He worked as a shepherd in North Canterbury, did survey work in Hawke's Bay, then helped on his father's sheep run at Gleniti, Nelson. In 1910 he married Annie Letitia Coster at Nelson. He had served in the school cadets and the Volunteer Force.
Source: Te Ara DNZB; NZEF Project
Regular officer
He was commissioned lieutenant in the New Zealand Permanent Forces on 14 January 1911, then joined the NZ Staff Corps and was posted to Hamilton as adjutant of the 4th (Waikato) Mounted Rifles.
Source: Te Ara DNZB
Sails with the Main Body
He left with the first NZEF convoy as a captain in the Auckland Mounted Rifles. He was staff captain to Colonel Andrew Russell's Mounted Rifles Brigade. The Main Body reached Egypt in early December 1914.
Source: NZEF Project; Online Cenotaph
Gallipoli
The brigade went to Anzac as infantry, King arriving 9 May. He was posted as second-in-command of the Auckland Mounted Rifles on 16 August and slightly wounded at Hill 60 on 27 August. He was back on staff duty in October and caught enteritis in Egypt in late October.
Source: NZEF Project; Te Ara DNZB
Raising the Pioneer Battalion
Promoted temporary lieutenant-colonel on 1 March 1916, he took over the new NZ Pioneer Battalion on 5 March. He embarked at Alexandria for France on 9 April 1916.
Source: NZEF Project
Armentieres and the Somme
After unsuccessful night raids near Armentieres in July, the Pioneers dug on the Somme in September and October. Their best-known work was the two-kilometre trench called Turk Lane.
Source: Te Ara DNZB; Wikipedia
Messines and the French attachment
The battalion moved to Belgium in early 1917. King missed part of April with measles. The battalion built trenches and a tramway for Messines in June, and spent about a month from early July with the French First Army sector near Ypres. In August he moved to the 1st Canterbury Battalion (7 August) and took leave in England, rejoining on 26 August.
Source: NZEF Project; Te Ara DNZB; Wikipedia
Killed at Passchendaele
King was killed when a shell from British supporting artillery fell on the 1st Canterbury headquarters during the attack on Passchendaele. Pioneer Battalion men recovered his body. 12 October was New Zealand's worst day of the war, with about 2700 casualties.
Source: Te Ara DNZB; Online Cenotaph; CWGC via A Street Near You
Rank and insignia
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
Lieutenant14 January 1911 · Permanent ForcesShoulder strap: two pipsCaptain1914 (rank on embarkation)Shoulder strap: three pipsTemporary Major16 August 1915Shoulder strap: crownTemporary Lieutenant-Colonel1 March 1916Shoulder strap: crown and one pipLieutenant-Colonelby 1917Shoulder strap: crown and one pip
His ships
HMNZT 8 Star of India or HMNZT 12 WaimanaMain Body transport to Egypt, October-December 1914The Auckland Mounted Rifles sailed in these two ships. The nominal roll cannot show which ship carried King.
Afterwards
King died on 12 October 1917, aged 32, when British supporting fire dropped short on the 1st Canterbury headquarters in the attack on Passchendaele. The day cost New Zealand about 2700 casualties. His body was recovered by men of the Pioneer Battalion, who buried him at Ypres. Māori Pioneers sang a waiata tangi at his funeral, an honour usually kept for high-ranking chiefs. He lies in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery (I.H.28).
He left his wife Annie and two children, Edward (later a group captain in the RNZAF) and Nancy. Andrew Russell, his old general, helped with the children's schooling. Te Ara says he would very likely have been given a brigade had he lived. He is remembered on memorials at Hamilton Memorial Park, the Auckland Garrison Officers Club plaque at St Mary's, Parnell, and the Auckland Museum Hall of Memories (which shows the Toc H 'Gus King' lamp).
This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.
The Service Record
Photograph
We haven’t hosted a photograph here
Rather than copy someone else’s image onto our own site, we’d rather send you to see it where it’s properly held: his full record at the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph.
Gallantry count is 3 (DSO, Bar to DSO, French Croix de Guerre). All three are confirmed in the London Gazette pages, which were read directly.
None of the three citations describes a specific act. The DSO says 'Steady good work for past 3 months', the Bar and the Croix de Guerre use stock phrases. The stories above therefore describe the service they covered, drawn from Te Ara and the nominal roll, and say so.
Five Mentions in Despatches: LG 28 Jan 1916 p1207, 13 Jul 1916 p6942, 4 Jan 1917 p262, 1 Jun 1917 p5430, 28 Dec 1917 p13575. Not counted. Only the first three appear in the NZEF Project record; all five are in McDonald and the Online Cenotaph.
totalMedalsCount of 6 = DSO, Bar, Croix de Guerre, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal (NZEF Project medals list). The mentions are extra to that.
Conflict over August 1915: NZEF record says second-in-command of Auckland Mounted Rifles from 16 Aug 1915; Wikipedia says he commanded it.
Date he took over the Pioneers: Te Ara and Wikipedia say February 1916, the McDonald mention says the unit was formed February 1916, the NZEF record says temporary Lt-Col 1 Mar and transferred to the Pioneers 5 Mar 1916, Online Cenotaph says March 1916.
Place of birth: Te Ara says Christchurch, the NZEF Project says Burwood (a Christchurch suburb). The Online Cenotaph blank.
The Online Cenotaph narrative says he became first CO of the Pioneers 'in Gallipoli'. That is wrong: the battalion was formed in Egypt after the evacuation. Not used.
Circumstances of death: Te Ara says a shell from the supporting barrage exploded on battalion headquarters; the Online Cenotaph (quoting Auckland Museum) says the battalion was in the rear when it came under fire. Both agree it was British artillery falling short. The dates are certain (CWGC, NZEF Project, Online Cenotaph).
