On a recent trip to Manchester’s Southern Cemetery, searching for another grave, I observed this pair of headstones.
They mark the final resting place of two New Zealand soldiers of the First World War, Trooper Andrew Gordon Herbert and Private Richard Ibbotson. The poignancy of their bodies lying so far from their homeland moved me to find out what I could of their stories.
The New Zealand Archives website provided me (free of charge) with a rich vein of information. There were a number of similarities in the stories of these two men – both were born in Dunedin in the Otago district of New Zealand’s South Island and were part of the initial wave of New Zealand’s volunteers in 1914. Wounded at Gallipoli less than a month apart each after partial recovery was transported back to England only then for them both to die at the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester within weeks of each other. Finally occupying the two adjacent graves pictured above.
Private Richard Ibbotson:-
(D.o.W. 17-11-1915)
Richard Ibbotson was born in Dunedin in 1882. His parents were Walter Ibbotson and his wife Martha (née Sampson). They lived at 8, Pine Hill Terrace, North East Valley, Dunedin.
On October 24th, 1914 Richard enlisted into a field ambulance section of The New Zealand Medical Corps, prior to joining the army Richard had been working as a salesman for “Mollisons”, a firm of drapers and clothiers, George and Frederick Streets, Dunedin.
He sailed from home on 14th December, 1914 and arrived at Alexandria, Egypt on 2nd February, the following year joining the forces preparing for the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign which began on 25th April, 1915. Almost exactly three months later on 24th July Private Ibbotson suffered shrapnel wounds to his back and thigh.
After initial treatment on the battlefield he was evacuated on a hospital ship to Malta where he was admitted to a shore facility and placed ‘on the danger list” on 14th August. Three weeks later he was taken of the list and on the 9th October, 1915 was thought to have sufficiently recovered to be repatriated to England, arriving in Manchester (Ducie Avenue) on the 23rd. Less than a month later he finally succumbed to his wounds on 17th November, 1915.
Trooper Andrew Gordon Herbert
(D.o.W.19-10-1915)
Trooper Herbert was born in Dunedin in 1886 to John David Herbert and his wife Mary Lane (née McKinnon).
His father passed away in 1903 and his mother in Dunedin’s hospital on 23rd October, 1907, consequently on his enlistment into The Otago Mounted Rifles on 15th December, 1914 he had to cite his elder brother David Andrew, a telegraph operator at Nelson, New Zealand, as his next of kin.
The enlistment form also gives is civilian trade as butcher and his former employer as Elliot Brothers of South Dunedin. Andrew Gordon embarked for Europe on Valentine’s Day (February 14th) 1915 and arrived in Egypt on 28th March, joining the ANZAC force about to land on the Turkish beaches.
On the 21st August Trooper Herbert was badly wounded in the thigh and a week later on the 28th was placed on a hospital ship bound for England where he was admitted to the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester on 17th September dying just over a month later on 19th October, 1915.
Apart from their deaths occurring far from home and at relatively young ages what is also so sad is the fact that their wounds seem not to have been immediately life threatening. It is highly likely that if these men had received similar wounds in later conflicts their chances of survival would have been much greater thanks to advances in both surgery and the treatment of infections.
© Tony Goulding, 2019
Pictures; supplied by Tony Goulding
The New Zealand Archives website provided me (free of charge) with a rich vein of information. There were a number of similarities in the stories of these two men – both were born in Dunedin in the Otago district of New Zealand’s South Island and were part of the initial wave of New Zealand’s volunteers in 1914. Wounded at Gallipoli less than a month apart each after partial recovery was transported back to England only then for them both to die at the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester within weeks of each other. Finally occupying the two adjacent graves pictured above.
(D.o.W. 17-11-1915)
Richard Ibbotson was born in Dunedin in 1882. His parents were Walter Ibbotson and his wife Martha (née Sampson). They lived at 8, Pine Hill Terrace, North East Valley, Dunedin.
On October 24th, 1914 Richard enlisted into a field ambulance section of The New Zealand Medical Corps, prior to joining the army Richard had been working as a salesman for “Mollisons”, a firm of drapers and clothiers, George and Frederick Streets, Dunedin.
He sailed from home on 14th December, 1914 and arrived at Alexandria, Egypt on 2nd February, the following year joining the forces preparing for the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign which began on 25th April, 1915. Almost exactly three months later on 24th July Private Ibbotson suffered shrapnel wounds to his back and thigh.
After initial treatment on the battlefield he was evacuated on a hospital ship to Malta where he was admitted to a shore facility and placed ‘on the danger list” on 14th August. Three weeks later he was taken of the list and on the 9th October, 1915 was thought to have sufficiently recovered to be repatriated to England, arriving in Manchester (Ducie Avenue) on the 23rd. Less than a month later he finally succumbed to his wounds on 17th November, 1915.
(D.o.W.19-10-1915)
Trooper Herbert was born in Dunedin in 1886 to John David Herbert and his wife Mary Lane (née McKinnon).
His father passed away in 1903 and his mother in Dunedin’s hospital on 23rd October, 1907, consequently on his enlistment into The Otago Mounted Rifles on 15th December, 1914 he had to cite his elder brother David Andrew, a telegraph operator at Nelson, New Zealand, as his next of kin.
The enlistment form also gives is civilian trade as butcher and his former employer as Elliot Brothers of South Dunedin. Andrew Gordon embarked for Europe on Valentine’s Day (February 14th) 1915 and arrived in Egypt on 28th March, joining the ANZAC force about to land on the Turkish beaches.
On the 21st August Trooper Herbert was badly wounded in the thigh and a week later on the 28th was placed on a hospital ship bound for England where he was admitted to the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester on 17th September dying just over a month later on 19th October, 1915.
© Tony Goulding, 2019
Pictures; supplied by Tony Goulding
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