WW100NZ on Family Tree Circles

Looking for a photo of John Brungess Gillett who like many other single United Kingdom men came to New Zealand to work in Mental Institutes and on the outbreak of World War One enlisted in the New Zealand Army.
John returned to England in 1917 so it would be great to complete 'his' story.

Draft story below

3/79 Private John Brungess Gillett

John Brungess Gillett was born in London on 16th April 1888, the youngest son of John and Bridget Lawrence. In 1914 John?s father was listed as holding the rank of 1st class artificer in the Navy and his son also served time in the Royal Navy. John Brungess bought himself out of the service prior to relocating to New Zealand.
When war was declared in August 1914 John Brungess Gillett was working as a carpenter at Porirua Mental Hospital and also played soccer (Association Football) for the Hospital team . John was one of a number of hospital staff who quickly enlisted and on 15th August 1914 and as 3/79 Private Gillett, sailed for Samoa as a member of the New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC), Samoa Advance Party. The NZMC was under the command of Captain McKillop who, prior to the war, was the Superintendant of Porirua Hospital. The expedition to Samoa meet no resistance and Private Gillett, like others in the Force settled into the routine and boredom of occupying Samoa until they were relieved in early 1915.
Private Gillett returned to New Zealand on 14th April 1915 and re-enlisted in the NZMC sailing with the No 1 Stationary Hospital on 21st May 1915 for Egypt. The No 1 Stationary Hospital was initially based in Port Said, Egypt but it was decided to send the hospital to Salonika, Greece which was close to Gallipoli and could assist with the treatment of the heavy number of casualties from the Dardanelles Campaign.
On 19th October 1915 the transport ship Marquette sailed from Alexandria for Salonika with a total complement of 741: the No1 Stationary Hospital (36 nurses, 12 officers and 143 other ranks), the Ammunition Column of the British 29th Division (10 officers and 439 other ranks) and the crew.


SS Marquette depicted in a pre-war postcard prior to her sale in 1914 to the Atlantic Transport Line.

On 23rd October 1915 the Marquette was torpedoed 35km off Salonika with the loss of 167 lives, thirty two of these from No1 Stationary Hospital, 10 of them nurses. Private Gillett survived the sinking but of the 11 men on board who also served in the 1914 Samoa Advance Party, five were lost with the Marquette.
Private Gillett?s exploits as the Marquette Hero were the topic of an article in the Marlborough Times on 29th December 1915:
?How he saved nurses. Graphic story of the disaster.
New Zealand has sent many heroes to the European war, but no better or brave acts have been done than those which were performed by Private J B Gillett, on the No 1 New Zealand hospital staff. Gillett, who is modest, as most heroes are, joined the New Zealand expeditionary forces which went to Samoa at the outbreak of the war and on his return was transferred from the New Zealand Field Ambulance to the hospital staff which has meet with disaster. Prior to the war he was a member of the Porirua Mental Hospital staff.
From his companions I gathered the complete account of his gallant behaviour. He was operated on aboard the transport three days prior to the momentous happings of which I write, and, indeed, at the time of the disaster he had a tube inserted in his side through the wound caused by the operation for internal tumor. This tube he lost during his exertions in the water, and when he was finally brought aboard the rescuing vessel he fainted from loss of blood. After he had been swimming about two hours helping drowning nurses and men on to wreckage, etc., he set off and swam a mile to an empty boat. Sergeant-Major Baker , who accompanied him, was drowned. Gillett brought the boat to where the largest numbers of the survivors were struggling in the waves.
Time and again he dived into the rough seas to bring some exhausted nurse to the boat?s side, where she could be assisted into the boat by two members of the crew who had been the first to be succord. Five nurses and the matron were thus rescued, but unfortunately the matron had several ribs broken through being dashed against the boat by a big wave. By the means of his boat Gillett rescued twenty-four persons in all, including Private Saphir , of the hospital staff. Gillett is now progressing well in the New Zealand General Hospital, Cairo, and has I understand, been mentioned in dispatches, and will probably get some recognitions of his bravery.?

Private Gillett?s boat was the first rescued and the survivors, many of them suffering exposure, were taken to Salonika where Private Gillett was admitted to hospital. On 1st November 1915 he was transferred to the Hospital Ship Grantully Castle and returned to Egypt where he was admitted to the NZ General Hospital still suffering the effects of the internal tumour and the trauma of the sinking. It was while Private Gillett was in hospital that he was mentioned, on 12th December 1915 by Brigadier General Woodward, Adjutant General MEF (Mediterranean Expeditionary Force):

?Special Order of the Day
Special mention for gallant behaviour in assisting and saving lives of others at great personal risk on 23rd October 1915, on which date HM Transport was sunk by a torpedo.?

Private Gillett was discharged on 5th January 1916 for service on the New Zealand Hospital Ship Marama but in May 1916 was assessed by a medical board on the HS Marama:

?Gillett has been out of sorts since the sinking of the Marquette. Since posting on the Marama, 23rd January 1916, he has been constantly off duty: first with pneumonia: and latterly with Malaria.?

The board determined that Private Gillett was not fit for service and should be returned to New Zealand for treatment. Private Gillett left Egypt in June 1916 for New Zealand where after five months a NZ Medical Board assessed that he was ?No longer fit for war service on account of illness contacted on active services? and on 18th November 1916 he was discharged from the NZEF.
John Brungess Gillett was provided passage back to the United Kingdom in 1917 and he married Sarah Turner on 25th December 1917 in Millwall, London.
John Brungess Gillett died on 29th April 1963 aged 75.

Photos:
SS Marquette (prior to 1914) ? Wikipedia

References:
Archway Archives New Zealand, Military Files: 3/79 Private John Brungess Gillett

looking for a photo of John William Reichart who was born in Brighton, England on 6th April 1890 and served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces.

The photo would go with the draft copy of his service.

11/713 Trooper John William Reichart
John William Reichart was born on 6th April 1890 in Brighton, England.

In 1908, as an 18 year old, John Reichart enlisted in the British Army serving three years as 7927 Private Reichart, Coldstream Guards where it is noted he specialised in the machine gun. In July 1911 Private Reichart left the Coldstream Guards but remained on the Reserves List being liable for call up for another three years.

John, like many other single British men, was recruited to come to New Zealand to work in Mental Institutes and he left England in 1911 after his discharge from army.

At the outbreak of war in August 1914 John was employed as an attendant in the Porirua Mental Hospital. He enlisted in the Wellington Mounted Rifles and because of his previous service, was posted to the Machine Gun Section of the 6th (Manawatu) Mounted Rifles. Following training, 11/713 Trooper Reichart sailed as part of the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) on 16th October 1914. Also sailing with the Machine Gun Section of the 6th (Manawatu) Mounted Rifles was 11/26 Trooper Cobb. Walter Cobb had also, prior to enlisting, worked at the Porirua Mental Hospital.

On arrival in Egypt the Wellington Mounted Rifles with other New Zealand and Australian mounted units began training for the defence of Egypt. In April 1915 the Wellington Mounted Rifles units remained in Egypt while the New Zealand infantry regiments and support units sailed for the Gallipoli landings. The heavy loss of men at Gallipoli meant a need for replacements and as 11/24 Lance Corporal Hector Craw noted in his diary on 5th May 1915:

?Heard rumours about going to Dardanelles as infantry leaving horses here. The rumours confirmed going Saturday.?

The Wellington Mounted Rifles (WMR) sailed on the 9th May 1915 arriving off the Dardanelles on the 11th May 1915 when they landed at ANZAC Cove. The WMR squadrons would be engaged at ANZAC Cove from May 1915 leading up to the August 1915 Battle of Chunuk Bair.

The objectives for the Wellington Mounted Rifles as part of a ?Right Covering Force? were to capture ?Destroyer Ridge? and ?Big Table Top?. The attack started at 21:30 hours on 6th August 1915 with the 6th Squadron overpowering Turkish positions and then scaling the north-eastern face of the hill where they attacked the Turks from the rear, capturing their first objective. All day on 7th August they were under heavy attack from Turkish forces which continued into the night. That day the regiment had lost forty-three dead and seventy ?four were wounded. Early on 10 August the regiment, including the 6th Squadron, moved back to the rear. Trooper Hector Craw noted in his diary:

?On 6 & 7 big advance on left of ANZAC was not there info from camp our Squadron was practically annihilated out of 90 odd about 13 remained.?


Survivors of the Wellington Mounted Rifles after the Battle of Chunuk Bair

(Insert photo)


11/713 Trooper John William Reichart was killed on 9th August 1915 his body was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Chunuk Bair Memorial.

(Insert photo )

Panel 9
Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial
Chunuk Bair Cemetery
Gallipoli
Turkey


Trooper Reichart?s medals and memorial plaque were sent to his mother Mrs Fanny Reichart, 45 Franklin Street, Brighton, England.

11/26 Trooper Walter Cobb was the only survivor of the machine gun section of the 6th Manawatu?s and later served in Palestine, being commissioned in the field and winning the Military Cross. Walter Cobb will feature in another article on the men from Porirua Hospital.


Allan Dodson ? November 2014

References:
Military files ? Archway Archives New Zealand ? 11/713 Trooper John William Reichart
Military files ? Archway Archives New Zealand- 11/26 Trooper Walter Leonard Cobb
Military files ? Archway Archives New Zealand- 11/24 Trooper Eric Hector Dunstan Craw
Personal Diary ? Craw family ? 1915 Dairy Hector Craw

Photos:
Wellington Mounted Rifle survivors: Wikipedia
Chunuk Bair Memorial: Private collection

I am researching men and women from Porirua, New Zealand who served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force 1914-1919.
There were a large number of young single men from the United Kingdom who were recruited in the early 1900's to work in New Zealand mental hospitals, including the Porirua Mental Hospital.
On the outbreak of WW1 a number of these men enlisted in the New Zealand Medical Corps, serving in the Samoa Advance Party (1914) and also the NZEF in campaigns in Egypt, Dardanelles and France.
With the 100th annivesary of the landings at ANZAC Cove the present focus is on those Porirua Hospital men who were in Egypt and the Gallipoli 1914 - 1916.

Stories of the following men are being prepared:
Reichart John William - KIA 1915
Gillett John Brungess
Skinner William
Hughes George William
Topham Arthur Harold
Foley Archibald

Articles on the following have been published.
3/97 Lance Corporal Wilfred Singleton DCM MID died of wounds June 1915
3/43 Temporary Major Alexander Cameron McKillop