Members of the Everton Football Club in Auckland, New Zealand who died on active service in World War One. Whilst researching the Everton players who had died during the two world wars I discovered, to my surprise, that there had been an Everton Association Football Club in Auckland, a port in North Island, New Zealand. The Auckland Football Association was founded in 1887 and several football clubs were formed. At the event in 1903 to celebrate its 48 years existence it was reported that The Auckland Baptist Tabernacle Church had “held Sunday School Athletics games and had a football club for boys controlled by teachers.” The separate Tabernacle Church also had a football team and the two eventually amalgamated. In spring 1907 there was a split between the clubs and Everton Association Football Club was born in the March from the former Tabernacle club “out of the ashes of a defunct combination”. The local newspaper commented that it was hoped that Everton would be as successful as the English team who had won the FA Cup the previous season and it had been promised “that the effort would be second to none.” It would appear that the Auckland Club was directly named in honour of their English team. The club had twenty players and wore black shirts with white facings. Almost half of the following casualties were born in Liverpool before moving to New Zealand and may have been Everton FC supporters. Although players were signed from abroad, including Natal, South Africa, several former players with the now defunct Tabernacle club signed. As distant as it was, there were strong links with England for the local paper published the Football League results weekly under the heading “HOME RESULTS.” Immediately under the article about the new club there was a long and detailed description of the finances of the English Everton FC in the season 1906-7. Even the result of the Parliamentary by-election for the Everton seat was reported. A further link, which may have influenced the naming of the new club, was the regular arrival of the passenger liner ss EVERTON GRANGE which sailed from Liverpool to ports in New Zealand, including Auckland, and in December 1906 arrived with over two hundred immigrants. Everton’s first game was on 4th May 1907 against Corinthians on the Domain Cricket Ground. It seems that the new club had problems fielding players, for in a knock out competition game lost against Shore’s second team, they could only field six players. In the early days the home games seem to have been played on several different grounds before playing regularly in the Bayswater area in Auckland. It was reported in The Everton FC Minutes for 1909 that Jack Sharp, the double international, had decided not to go coaching in New Zealand. Could it have been to the Auckland Everton? By 1913 the club had four teams including a junior’s team. However, in 1916 the number of boys joining had fallen due to the call for military service. In October 1915 after two drawn games the team beat Brotherhood to win the Falcon Cup. In September 1919 an Auckland Select team played HMS New Zealand and four Everton players were selected. In a March 1923 edition of the Auckland Star Mr F Clayton, the honorary secretary, placed a notice concerning the club’s Annual General Meeting but there may have been a poor turnout for he advertisers the meeting again to be held at the local YMCA on 3rd April stressing” all intending members must attend.” Everton were to play the YMCA reserves on 13th April but I can find no further mention in the local press so it must be assumed that the Everton Club closed. New Zealand responded quickly to the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914. Military training had been compulsory from 1912 and the country had over thirty thousand territorials and twenty six thousand senior cadets available. However the equipment was of a very poor standard and inadequate. The first convoy, as part of the 2nd Reinforcement New Zealand Expeditionary Force consisting of three ships, sailed on 14th December and arrived in Egypt six weeks later. The research for this paper was done over ten years ago and the following soldiers were identified at the time as having played for the Everton FC in Auckland before making the ultimate sacrifice. It may be that other researchers have added to the list. Sergeant Harold Waddington BOYNE A notice in The Auckland Weekly News states “Harold, the son of William and Mary Ellen Boyne of Hamilton Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland was reported missing last November and believed killed in action. A private cable now shows that his death is unfortunately a certainty. The family have three sons all fighting in the war.” Sergeant Boyne, a sign writer, left New Zealand from Wellington in the original Samoan Advance Party on 15th August 1914 and landed at Apia two weeks later to capture a wireless station used by the Germans. The island was German territory and was the first island in German control occupied by the Allies in the name of King George V. This expedition, and especially those who took part, is highly regarded in New Zealand’s military history. The Germans offered no resistance. Harold spent two hundred and forty six days in Samoa. All of the 1400 soldiers were volunteers from the New Zealand Territorial Forces. After returning to New Zealand in April 1915 Harold took his own discharge but re-enlisted and sailed from Wellington on 13th November 1915 to Suez with the 8th Reinforcements Force that consisted of over two thousand and five hundred soldiers. At the time Harold had sergeant’s stripes and the marksman badge which he had gained at Trentham Military Camp near Wellington before leaving New Zealand. He was later recommended for a commission. His obituary states “A keen association footballer he played for the Everton Club.” Harold, whose father was a machine maker, was born in Chapel Allerton near Leeds in 1894 and when a small child the family moved to Blackpool, where it appears that his mother had a boarding house. He probably sailed from London to Wellington on New Year’s Day 1906. Harold was admitted to hospital in Cairo in January 1916 with “eye trouble” but was soon discharged. In September he was admitted to the No. 12 Casualty Clearing Station at Rouen. Harold was in the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Auckland Infantry Regiment when he listed as missing, but later confirmed as killed in action, at Messines in Belgium on 21st February 1917 aged twenty two years. Harold is buried in Pont-du-Hem Military Cemetery in La Gorgue, a small hamlet on the main road between La Bassee to Estaires in northern France. By the end of the war, of the original members of the Samoan invaders, over two hundred had been killed in action or died of wounds, mainly in France, and a further five were killed serving with the Australian Imperial Force. AUCKLAND WEEKLY NEWS 29.3.1917. Private Jeoffreys CARMICHAEL Jeoffreys, known to his friends as Scottie, was the second son of William, a green fruit merchant, and Diana of Edinburgh. His mother had been born in Java but became a British citizen. Jeoffreys was a native of Edinburgh but by 1891 the family had moved to England and lived at 297 Prescott Road and later 27 Stanley Street in Liverpool. He was working as a farm cadet when, aged eighteen, he sailed from London on 7th February 1900 on ss Whakatane for Wellington. Before enlisting Jeoffreys worked in a brewery. He sailed from Wellington on14th March 1917 on SS Ruapehu as part of 23rd Reinforcements Auckland Infantry Regiment consisting of ten thousand soldiers and landed at Devonport, near Plymouth. He became a member of “A” Company of the 1st Battalion of the Auckland Infantry Regiment. He was killed in action at Ypres aged thirty five years on 4th October 1917 and is commemorated on the New Zealand Apse at the Tyne Cot Memorial. His brother James died of wounds sustained on the Somme in July 1916. They are both mentioned on the family tombstone in Corstorphine Hill Cemetery, Edinburgh. Jeoffreys listed a friend, P Ansell of Auckland, as his next of kin. AUCKLAND WEEKLY NEWS 18.10.1917. Lieutenant Thomas BREWER Thomas, the youngest son of Thomas Edmond and Elizabeth Brewer of Liverpool, was in the 4th New Zealand Machine Gun Corps when he died of wounds on 3rd October 1917 aged twenty seven years. His father was a chief engineer with the Northern Steamships Company based in Auckland. He was born in Liverpool and lived for most of his childhood with his widowed mother in 56 Falkner Street and in the 1871 Census was employed as an apprentice engineer. Thomas junior seems to have sailed to New Zealand on SS Athenic in 1902. He was working as a clerk at the head office of the Auckland Gas Company before enlisting on 10th October 1915. The entry in Auckland Weekly News states that he was a member of Everton Football Club. He gained 2nd Lieutenant experience in the Camel Defence Infantry before being promoted to 1stLieutenant on the field. Thomas sailed with the three ship convoy of the 12th Reinforcements in the Otago Infantry Battalion, D Company, in ss Ulimaroa to Suez on 1st May 1916. On 28th September 1916 Thomas was embarked on the Hospital Ship STAD ANTWERPEN for England and described as “sick”. Promoted to Lieutenant in January 1917 he was transferred for training as a Machine Gun Officer. He joined the 4th Machine Gun Corps, which had been established and equipped ear at Belton Park near Grantham, in the August before sailing to France from Southampton in February 1917. It moved to Le Bizet in Belgium and six guns were ordered to take over the offensive in a new sector. Thomas died at 4.20am on 3rd October 1917 in the Canad. Casualty Clearing Station of wounds to his head and chest received at S’Gravenstafel in Belgium and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery near Poperinge. His widow remarried and lived in Hamilton. Private Henry George Stratford CHURCHILL A joiner by trade Henry was the son of Richard and Thurza Lizzit Churchill of High Street, Deddington, near Oxford. His father was a carpenter and Henry was born in Stratton Audley in Oxfordshire in 1885. He was still in England in the 1901 Census and his parents stayed in England. Henry sailed from Wellington on SS Aparima as part of 16th Reinforcements Force of two thousand soldiers on 19th August 1916 and disembarked at Devonport on 25th October. He joined the British Expeditionary Force three weeks later and on 3rd December he was transferred in the field to the 2nd Battalion Auckland Infantry Regiment. Henry was killed in action at Messines on 7th July 1917 aged thirty three years and is commemorated on the Messines Ridge (New Zealand) Memorial. Acting Sergeant Arnold Charles CANTELL Arnold was the son of Charles and Mary Hickey of Kingsland, Auckland, and was born on 1st April 1891. A saddler in civilian life he spent five years’ service in No. 6 GA (? Garrison Artillery.) He was a member of the 6th Howitzer Brigade of the New Zealand Field Artillery, which sailed from Wellington to Suez in June 1915 as part of the 5th Reinforcements. He served at Gallipoli before being posted to France where he was killed on 4th October 1916 in the Somme aged twenty five years. He is buried in the Flatiron Copse Cemetery in Mametz near Albert. His younger brother, Edwin, was killed in 1917 and is buried in the Brandhoek New Military Cemetery in Belgium. Private John Falconer CAMPBELL A farmer, John was a member of the 41st Reinforcement Regiment (New Zealand Training Unit,) H Company. He sailed on ss Ulimaroa on 27th July 1918 for London. His last posting was with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. After discharge from the New Zealand Expeditionary Force John died on 26th May 1919 aged thirty eight years. He was born in Dunedin but lived in Auckland with his wife. John collapsed suddenly at home whist attending to his wife, who was unwell. He died before the doctor arrived and it was thought that he had died of heart failure. John is buried in Devonport Cemetery in New Zealand. There are thirteen J Campbell deaths but John F Campbell seems to be the only one with an Auckland link. Private Edward George ATKINSON A warehouseman employed by the New Zealand Consolidated Dental Company, Edward was the son of John and Hannah of Mount Albert, Auckland. He was born on 19th February 1891.He was in the A Battery of the Auckland Field Artillery before enlisting in summer 1916. He sailed from Wellington on 11th November 1916 in ss Willochra for Devonport as part of the 18th Reinforcements in the Specialist Machine Gun Section. After training he left Grantham for Camiers in France on 24th April 1917.Edward was killed in action at Ypres on 12th October 1917 whilst serving with Number 1 Company New Zealand Machine Gun Corps aged twenty six years. The burial party buried him where he was killed and placed his rifle in the ground with his identification disc tied to it.His body must have been lost for he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. Corporal Alfred Stanley CORLETT Alfred was born at 49 Rutland Street in Liverpool on 2nd September 1891and was one of eleven children of John, a clerk, and Sarah. He immigrated to New Zealand in 1910 and at one time was a wharf carpenter for the Auckland Harbour Board and later worked as a clerk at the Australian Consulate in Auckland. Alfred remained single and lived with his sister Mrs G M Pimblott. His obituary states that he was well known in football and cricketing circles and was an ex member of the North Shore District Cricket Club in Auckland and the North Shore and Everton Association Football Clubs. In 1913 he won a junior representative cap of the Auckland Football Association touring Goldfields and the North as a member of the representative team. Alfred enlisted as a gunner in the Royal New Zealand Artillery in 1911 but after several minor offences he bought his own discharge after one year. After the outbreak of the war he reenlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Auckland on 10th August being promoted to Corporal one week later. Alfred sailed from Auckland on either ss Star of India or Waimana on 16th October 1914 for Suez with the Auckland Infantry Battalion, 3rd Company. He was wounded in his neck on 25th April 1915 whilst fighting in Gallipoli, and was transferred to the 21st General Hospital in Alexandria in Egypt, situated in the Egyptian Army Barracks near Ras-el-Tin, where he died on 16th May age twenty three years. He is buried in Chatby Military Cemetery in Alexandria. In 1987 Everton FC were invited to visit New Zealand to commemorate the centenary of the Auckland Football Association. Under the management of Howard Kendall three games were played. The final game against an Auckland XI on 1st June in Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland, before a crowd of over 16,000, was won 2-1. I wonder if the hosts were aware of the link between the former Everton team in Auckland and their English namesakes. John Rowlands 2014
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 08:59:19 +0000
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