Most decorated · 14 medals and honours, 2 for gallantry
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Tilsley
Robert Tilsley was an Auckland electrical engineer who enlisted on the day war was declared in August 1914 and sailed with the Main Body. He won the Distinguished Conduct Medal at Quinn's Post in June 1915, was wounded three times, and later won the Military Cross on the Somme and a mention in despatches. He stayed in the Territorials between the wars and came back in 1940-41, earning 14 honours and medals in all.
14medals and honours
2of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Won for gallantry
Gallantry award
Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM)
Night of 4-5 June 1915 · Quinn's Post, Gallipoli · Sergeant, Auckland Infantry Battalion (6th Hauraki Company), NZEF
Gazetted: London Gazette 29286 (supplement), p.8866, 6 September 1915
Tilsley won the DCM in the fighting at Quinn's Post on the night of 4-5 June 1915. During a sortie from the post an enemy trench was taken by assault, but it was raked by a Turkish machine gun firing along it. Tilsley, then a sergeant, began to build a sandbag traverse to block that fire. The enemy bombs kept blowing the sandbags away, but he carried on with great courage and no regard for his own safety until he was severely wounded. He was hit on 5 June and spent time in hospital in Malta before going to England. The Auckland Weekly News of 9 September 1915 reported the award under the heading 'Winning the D.C.M.', adding that his mother lived in Hobson Street, Auckland, and that he had been decorated for checking a bomb attack. The Gazette entry gives his number as 12/472 and his unit as the Auckland Battalion, New Zealand Forces.
The Gazette supplement is headed 6 September 1915 but the issue carrying it is dated 3 September 1915 in the Gazette's own search; the Cenotaph gives 06/09/1915. Auckland Weekly News describes a 'wounded June 6' date; the Cenotaph and the gazetted act give 5 June.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: London Gazette 29286 (supplement), p.8866, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29286/supplement/8866 (read: full citation); Online Cenotaph record C27672, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27672; Auckland Weekly News 9 September 1915 transcript, https://www.sooty.nz/awn09sep1915.html
Gallantry award
Military Cross (MC)
26-27 September 1916 · Near Grid Trench (Gird Trench), Somme, France · Second Lieutenant (gazetted as Lieutenant), 1st Battalion Auckland Regiment, 1st Battalion, Auckland Regiment, NZEF
Gazetted: London Gazette 30716 (supplement), p.6474, 3 June 1918 (King's Birthday Honours, Military Cross list, New Zealand Force)
Tilsley's Military Cross rewards scouting work in front of the German wire during the Somme fighting. On the night of 26 September 1916 he got a full report on the wire in front of Grid Trench. Next day, 27 September, he went out to clear up the situation on the left flank, and although he was wounded in the leg he crawled forward and got the information that was needed. The Cenotaph's citation text calls this gallantry and devotion to duty. He was wounded on 28 September 1916 (the Cenotaph's list of his three wounds), so the act and the wound fall in the same fortnight. The award did not appear until the Birthday Honours of June 1918, where he is listed as a lieutenant of the Auckland Regiment among the New Zealand recipients of the Military Cross.
The citation text is taken from the Cenotaph transcription, which cites the 3 June 1918 Gazette; the Gazette page I read is the alphabetical Birthday Honours list (name, rank, regiment) without citation text. Service record gives him a 2nd Lieutenant on 1 March 1916 and Lieutenant on 1 May 1917, so the 'Lieutenant' in the 1918 list reflects his rank at gazetting.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: London Gazette 30716 (supplement), p.6474, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30716/supplement/6474 (read: name and unit); Online Cenotaph record C27672, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27672 (citation); Flickr 'Lieutenant Colonel Robert TILSLEY M.C., D.C.M., E.D.' (service-record transcript), http://www.flickr.com/photos/porkynz/6657757911
Every other medal and honour (12)
1914-1915 StarService 1914-1915Qualified by service at Gallipoli from the Main Body, which embarked from Auckland in October 1914 and landed on 25 April 1915.British War Medal 1914-1920Service 1914-1918Qualified by overseas service in the First World War from October 1914.Victory Medal with oak leaf (MiD)Service 1914-1918Awarded with the British War Medal; the oak leaf marks his mention in despatches of 1917.King George V Silver Jubilee Medal 19351935Awarded to selected serving Territorial officers; Tilsley was then a Territorial major in the Auckland Regiment, promoted lieutenant-colonel on 24 June 1935.Coronation Medal 19371937Listed by the Cenotaph; presumably given as a serving Territorial officer.New Zealand Territorial Service MedalDate not foundListed by the Cenotaph for his long Territorial Force service between the wars.New Zealand Long and Efficient Service MedalDate not foundListed by the Cenotaph for long and efficient service as an officer.Efficiency Decoration (ED)Date not foundTerritorial officers' long-service decoration; Tilsley carried the post-nominal E.D. (as M.C., D.C.M., E.D.).War Medal 1939-1945Service 1940-1943Qualified by full-time service in the Second World War: he re-enlisted in June 1940 as a lieutenant-colonel, served as officer commanding troops on a troopship in 1941 and then in New Zealand Temporary Staff posts…New Zealand War Service MedalService 1940-1943Issued for full-time service in New Zealand's forces in the Second World War.ANZAC Commemorative Medallion (Gallipoli Medallion)1967 (issue year, not confirmed)Issued in the 1960s to surviving men who served at Gallipoli; Tilsley landed with the Main Body in 1915.Mentioned in DespatchesDespatch of Field Marshal Haig dated 9 April 1917 · Western FrontTilsley is listed as 'Tilsley, 2nd Lt. R.' among the New Zealand infantry in the supplement of 1 June 1917 that published Haig's despatch of 9 April 1917. One mention. The Cenotaph quotes the wording as…
His story
Enlists
Attested in the first days of the war as a private (12/472) in the Auckland Infantry Battalion; embarked on HMNZT Waimana in the Main Body, October 1914.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C27672, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27672; Flickr 'Lieutenant Colonel Robert TILSLEY M.C., D.C.M., E.D.' (service-record transcript), http://www.flickr.com/photos/porkynz/6657757911
Gallipoli and the DCM
Served at Gallipoli as a sergeant in the 6th Hauraki Company; on the night of 4-5 June 1915 at Quinn's Post he built a sandbag traverse under fire until severely wounded.
Source: London Gazette 29286 (supplement), p.8866, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29286/supplement/8866; Auckland Weekly News 9 September 1915 transcript, https://www.sooty.nz/awn09sep1915.html
Commissioned
Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Auckland Regiment (Lieutenant from 1 May 1917) after recovering and serving in England.
Scouted the wire and the left flank at Grid Trench on 26-27 September and was wounded in the leg on 28 September 1916.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C27672, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27672; London Gazette 30716 (supplement), p.6474, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30716/supplement/6474
Messines and Passchendaele
Mentioned in Haig's despatch of 9 April 1917; wounded again on 7 June 1917 (Messines); the Cenotaph also lists Passchendaele among his campaigns.
Source: London Gazette 30107 (supplement), p.5429, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30107/supplement/5429; Online Cenotaph record C27672, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27672
Reserve
Posted to the Reserve of Officers at the end of the war, having survived three wounds (5 June 1915, 28 September 1916, 7 June 1917). His brother Walter (31766) was killed in France in 1918.
Source: Flickr 'Lieutenant Colonel Robert TILSLEY M.C., D.C.M., E.D.' (service-record transcript), http://www.flickr.com/photos/porkynz/6657757911; Online Cenotaph record C27672, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27672
Territorial officer
First commanding officer of Papakura Military Camp after the war; Auckland Regiment 1st Battalion 1920-35: lieutenant 1926, captain 1928, major 1931, lieutenant-colonel 24 June 1935.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C27672, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27672
Second World War
Re-enlisted in June 1940 as a lieutenant-colonel; embarked 27 June 1941 as officer commanding troops on a troopship and returned in September 1941; from 6 October 1941 on the NZ Temporary Staff, Northern Military District (Area Commander, Hamilton); posted to Reserve 29 September 1943. The Cenotaph also says he trained the Railway Company for the desert units.
Source: Flickr 'Lieutenant Colonel Robert TILSLEY M.C., D.C.M., E.D.' (service-record transcript), http://www.flickr.com/photos/porkynz/6657757911; Online Cenotaph record C27672, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27672
Death
Died 18 April 1969 aged 76; obituary in the New Zealand Herald 19 April 1969.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C27672, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C27672
Rank and insignia
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
Private11 August 1914 · 12/472No rank badge: a private soldier wore noneSergeantby June 1915Three chevronsSecond Lieutenant1 March 1916Shoulder strap: one pipLieutenant1 May 1917 (and 8 January 1926 in the Territorials)Shoulder strap: two pipsCaptain16 May 1928Shoulder strap: three pipsMajor23 June 1931Shoulder strap: crownLieutenant-Colonel24 June 1935Shoulder strap: crown and one pip
His ships
HMNZT Waimana (HMNZT 8 or 12)Main Body troopship, October-December 1914Cenotaph embarkation record: Private, Auckland Infantry Battalion, 16 Oct to 3 Dec 1914.
Afterwards
Between the wars Tilsley stayed in the Territorial Force with the Auckland Regiment and reached lieutenant-colonel in 1935. He married Marjory Lydia Gladys Lou Helps in 1926 (a service-record page names his wife as Lydia Louise); they had two children. After re-enlisting in 1940 he served on troopship staff and then in area-command roles in the Northern Military District until posted to Reserve in 1943.
He died in 1969 and is buried at Mangere. The Cenotaph's feature on Passchendaele quotes his DCM citation and says he survived the war despite his wounds.
Later awards, not counted here: War Medal 1939-1945; New Zealand War Service Medal.
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.
WW1 service confirmed: Cenotaph (12/472, embarked 16 Oct 1914 on Waimana, Auckland Infantry Battalion, Main Body), the 1915 Gazette DCM entry (12/472, Auckland Battalion) and the 1917 and 1918 gazettes. Born 1892; Auckland per a service-record page, Rotorua resident when he enlisted; a New Zealander in the NZEF.
Cenotaph lists his decorations unsorted; no duplicates found. Both Territorial Service Medal and Long and Efficient Service Medal are listed; kept as two items on the Cenotaph's say-so, no medal roll seen.
Dates not found: ED, NZ Territorial Service Medal, NZ Long and Efficient Service Medal, Jubilee 1935 and Coronation 1937 (Cenotaph only; no gazette seen). If the unconfirmed service/commemorative items were dropped the minimum would be about 8 verified (DCM, MC, MiD, 1914-15 Star, BWM, Victory, plus 2 WWII medals).
The ANZAC Commemorative Medallion is a commemorative badge counted under the page's rule (one item); without it the total is 13.
MC citation text comes from the Cenotaph; the Gazette page I read for 3 June 1918 lists the name and unit but no citation. The act (26-27 Sept 1916) and the wound (28 Sept 1916) are consistent with the Cenotaph's wound list. The Cenotaph's MiD rank is 2nd Lieutenant, which matches the 1917 Gazette entry.
The DCM gazette: the supplement page is headed 6 September 1915 (Cenotaph: 06/09/1915); a Gazette search listing gives publication 3 September 1915.
Wife's name differs between sources (Marjory Lydia Gladys Lou Helps on the Cenotaph; 'Lydia Louise' on the flickr transcript).
No Second World War mention in despatches found; Cenotaph lists one MiD (1917). The wartime role was home and troopship service, not combat.
