First Contingent 1899 · Boer War · 26th Reinforcements, Mounted Rifles, 1917
Trooper Wilfred Wilson
John Reginald Wilfred Wilson, known as Wilfred, was a farmer's son from Balclutha in South Otago. He sailed with the First Contingent on the Waiwera in 1899 as a private in No. 2 Company, and came home from South Africa in late 1900.
Seventeen years later, at the age of 40, he enlisted again and sailed in 1917 with the 26th Reinforcements of the Mounted Rifles. He was managing a farm in Taranaki when he enlisted, later retired to Waipukurau in Hawke's Bay, and died in 1960 aged 83.
His story
A South Otago childhood
John Reginald Wilfred Wilson was born at Invercargill on 5 September 1876, the son of James Wilson and Edith Southey Wilson (née Curtis), who had married in 1872. The family lived at Quoin Point, Akatore, and later at Balclutha, and he grew up among at least nine brothers and sisters. By 1899 he was farming in the Clutha district, and his father, J. W. Wilson, was living at Balclutha.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C92478 (birth notes, citing military record and BDM 1876/8002); Christ Church Preservation Society family record; NZHistory Boer War roll (wilfred-wilson)Sailing with the First Contingent
He joined the First Contingent as Private Wilfred Wilson, No. 190, No. 2 Company, a farmer from the Clutha district, and sailed from Wellington on the Waiwera on 21 October 1899, aged 23.
Source: NZHistory Boer War roll (wilfred-wilson); Online Cenotaph record C92478South Africa
The Cenotaph records no wounds, no captivity, and no named battles for him. A portrait of him appears on page 60 of the 1902 Souvenir Album of the First Contingent. A list of First Contingent men leaving Cape Town for home on the Harlech Castle on 3 November 1900, printed in the Poverty Bay Herald on 6 November, includes 'Wilfred Wilson'.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C92478; Papers Past, Poverty Bay Herald 6 Nov 1900 (OCR text partly garbled, name legible)Back on the land
Nothing certain has been found about the years between the wars. By October 1916 he was single and working as a farm manager at Strathmore, in the Stratford district of Taranaki.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C92478 (address and occupation); Christ Church Preservation Society family recordEnlisting again at 40
He enlisted on 12 October 1916, giving his age as 38 on the nominal roll, and his mother, Mrs Edith Wilson of Balclutha, as next of kin. (If he was born in 1876 he was in fact about 40.)
Source: Online Cenotaph record C92478; Christ Church Preservation Society family record (nominal roll data)Sailing for Suez
As a trooper (No. 36188) of the 26th Reinforcements, Mounted Rifles, he embarked from Wellington on the Moeraki on 31 May 1917. The Moeraki carried the troops across the Tasman to Sydney, where they transhipped to the Port Lincoln for Suez.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C92478; Christ Church Preservation Society family record (citing Nominal Rolls of the NZEF, vol. III)Service in the Middle East (unconfirmed)
The Cenotaph records no wounds, prisoner-of-war details, or return date for his First World War service, and his service file at Archives New Zealand has not been read for this page. Where he served in Egypt or Palestine, and when he came home, is unknown.
Source: Online Cenotaph record C92478Death at Waipukurau
Wilson was retired and living in Mount Herbert Road, Waipukurau, when he died on 23 February 1960, aged 83. He was buried on 27 February in the Returned Servicemen's section (RSA Block, 'Row WW1', plot 123) of Waipukurau Cemetery, after an Anglican service taken by the Rev. P. Blakeston.
Source: Central Hawke's Bay District Council cemetery record via Christ Church Preservation Society family record; NZ BDM 1960/22580 (per Cenotaph)
Rank and insignia
The rank he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
His medals
“Documented” means a source we name says he received it. “Listed on the Online Cenotaph” means the museum’s record lists the medal but we could not confirm it elsewhere. “Entitled” means his service dates qualified him, but we have not seen a record of the medal itself. The drawings are simplified illustrations.
His ships
Afterwards
Wilson lived in New Zealand's Central Hawke's Bay in his last years, at Mount Herbert Road, Waipukurau, and died on 23 February 1960 aged 83. He is buried in the RSA section of Waipukurau Cemetery (Row WW1, plot 123). No marriage or children have been found; the Cenotaph records him as single.
His sign
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 from the embarkation date, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.
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.
Sources
- John Reginald Wilfred Wilson, Online Cenotaph, Auckland War Memorial Museum.
- NZHistory, Boer War roll: Wilfred Wilson
- Christ Church Preservation Society, Wilson, John Reginald Wilfred (family tree and Waipukurau cemetery record)
- Papers Past, Poverty Bay Herald 6 Nov 1900
What we could not confirm
Thinnest record of the four. The only Papers Past item that could be tied to him by name is the 6 Nov 1900 returning-troops list, whose OCR is garbled; the 'Wilfred Wilson' there is almost certainly him (First Contingent, Clutha), but there were several Wilsons in the Contingent.
Name: he enlisted in 1899 as 'Wilfred Wilson'; the full name John Reginald Wilfred Wilson appears on his 1916 attestation. NZHistory's roll gives No. 190, No. 2 Company; the roster says 'First Contingent' with no company.
Death date: Cenotaph header says 1 Jan 1960 (a placeholder date); the cemetery record and Christ Church tree say 23 Feb 1960, interred 27 Feb 1960 (BDM 1960/22580).
Age on enlistment is given as 38 on the nominal roll, but a 5 Sep 1876 birth would make him 40 in October 1916.
NZHistory roll lists next of kin as 'Mr J W Wilson, Balclutha' in 1899; Cenotaph (1916) lists his mother. His father James Wilson (b. 1850) died 15 April 1911 and his mother Edith (b. 1853) died 2 May 1940, per the Christ Church family record.
The 'Strathmore, via Strafford' address on the Cenotaph is probably Strathmore via Stratford, Taranaki (unverified).
No wounds, awards or medals recorded on the Cenotaph. Service files exist at Archives NZ (WWI R22021828; SA war R20524334) but I did not read them. Return from WWI service not found. Whether he saw service in Egypt/Palestine is unconfirmed.
An Otago Witness item of 24 May 1900 lists a 'J. R. W. Wi...' as an applicant in the Barnego settlement ballot; I could not confirm it was this man.