Te Tauihu and World War One

The Prow remembers World War One, August 1914 to November 1918

Stories which speak of Nelson connections with the war have been added to the Prow over the years. These are collected together on this page, where we will also feature new stories. We welcome your story. Please add it to the site or contact the Prow.

On 15 September 1916 New Zealand suffered its greatest loss of life in WWI, after entering the Battle of the Somme. Nelson men who lost their lives are recorded on the Prow, with links to stories of those who fought - see more.

Regional Resources

• WW1 Index - Nelson Anglican Centre Archives: a project of the Nelson Branch of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists. This is an index of the names of people cited in the Archives who were associated with WWI activities.
• Researching World War One: a guide to local resources from Nelson Public Libraries. 
• Nelson Historical Society Journal articles: especially Stade, K (2015) WWI: the war at home. Nelson Historical Society Journal. 8(1) pp.41-59.
• Tasman Heritage Includes a Roll of Honour with information about soldiers from the Tasman area who died or were killed during World War One, and photographs of local peace celebrations.

Our Stories

Memorial to the fallen in Nelson. Nelson City Council
Click image to enlarge

At Home

• From Cairo to Ngatimoti
  The story of the Guy and Strachan families if Ngātīmoti, and a postcard which had a very long journey. 
• Nelsons War Memorials and Anzac Park The memorials set up by the people of Nelson to commemorate the fallen of WWI and other wars. Follow the Remembrance Trail or have a look at the Peace Memorial Pipe Organ at Nelson's Baptist Church.
  
• Nelson ships and World War I
  Port Nelson, Nelson shipping and Nelson seamen, had a role to play during World War I - transporting troops from Nelson and ensuring New Zealand remained supplied.
  
• Nelson School of Music - the war years
  The World War I years in Nelson were not an easy time for the German born Principal of the Nelson School of Music, Julius Bernhardt Lemmer, or for the German community in Sarau.
  
• Fred Gibbs
  Fortunately for Lemmer, Fred Gibbs - a leading member of Nelson society of the time - was a key supporter of Lemmer.
• Farm Settlements for Returned Soldiers
  The Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act, 1915, allowed the acquisition of a number of properties in Marlborough for soldier settlement, including Erina (Wairau Valley) Alberton (Dillons Point), Moorlands (Rapaura), Linkwaterdale, Goat Hills, Wither and Bomford.
• Ralph Watson and the Everetts of Nelson
  At home and away during World War I: A tale of two families.
• Daffodil Day
  Supporting "our boys" during World War I. Crowning the Daffodil Day Queen, as well as future Anzac Day ceremonies, took place on Nelson's Church Steps.
• The Regulus and Port Kembla
  The Regulus made headlines in 1917 when she picked up the crew of the Port Kembla, which had struck a mine off Cape Farewell that had been laid by the German Raider Wolf some weeks earlier.
• Nelson's WWI Red Flag
  The beautifully embroidered flag created to raise funds for the troops
• Rifleman John Brunning
  The story of a Nelson family of German descent, who suffered in the war.
• Apple Day. Supporting our boys.
  Nelsonians supporting the boys in a very Nelson way.

Reg and Charlotte Kingsford in uniform. Photo courtesy Margaret Kingsford
Click image to enlarge

 At War

• Douglas William Batt: Uncle Dick's story
• Private William Arthur Ham
  The first New Zealand soldier to die in the War - from Ngātīmoti
• Albert Branton Doidge, Sydney Grey Davis, Ernest Guy Giblin, Albert Edward Cresswell, William Stud Bovey, Harold Bernard Jellyman, Leslie George Ching and Leonard Francis Smith. Some of the eight Stoke men to die in WWI
• The Rawsons and the outbreak of World War I
  A family story - the outbreak of war in 1914, and at sea with Capt. von Muller and SMS Emden.
• Jack Rawson - transporting the wounded
  Continues the story of Dr Jack Rawson in World War I, from letters and diaries
• Jack Rawson at Gallipoli
  Continuing the story of Dr Jack Rawson
• Anzac Old Boys - World War I
  Three Nelson College alumni died in the Great War and are commemorated in the Nelsonian, the College magazine.
• Albert Charles Jennings
  A Nelson man who served during the Boer War and died, fighting in WWI.
• Marlborough Women at War
  The stories of women who served at the front in World War I and at home during WWII.
• Albert Nalder
  A Motupipi man who became a skipper in the Royal Navy Reserve during World War I.
• A.R. Kingsford
  A well-known photographer, who was also a distinguished WWI fighter pilot.
• Constance Barnicoat
  Not at war, but a remarkable Nelson woman who worked as a WWI war correspondent from Switzerland - among many other achievements.
• Picton's Anzac losses
  The Godsiff and Brown families
• Anzac losses - the Jackson family
  The four grandsons who died in the War
• Cyril Spear's Words of War
  Nelson Evening Mail journalist, Cyril Spear, left a diary which provides a moving account of life as WWI soldier

See also

• Gamble, W. (2021, May 1) Letters from the front: 'I tried to stop a shell with my right arm'. Nelson Mail on Stuff:
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/124903525/letters-from-the-front-i-tried-to-stop-a-shell-with-my-right-arm 
• James Murcott Balck and his battlefield souvenirs (2022). Story from the Nelson Provincial Museum Collection Battlefield souvenirs support fellow returned servicemen. Nelson Mail on Stuff.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/300576351/battlefield-souvenirs-support-fellow-returned-servicemen

See also regional World War I stories from the Nelson Historical Society Journal:

Volume 7, no.6, 2014:

• Nelson and the First World War: community, loyalty and dissent, by Dr Jim McAloon, pp. 8-21.
• The Tapawera military camp, by Karen Stade, pp. 22-32.
• Nelson nurses and WWI, by Cheryl Carnahan, pp. 34-45.
• Faith under fire, by Dennis Bush-King, pp.46-57.

Volume 8, no.5, 2019

• Stade, K. & Wright, K:  Lest we forget - Part one: WWI memorials along Nelson's State Highway 6, pp. 35-47.
• Rice, Dr. G: 2018 James Jenkins Lecture: Nelson in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, pp. 7-24.

Volume 8, no. 6, 2020

• Stade, L. & Wright, K.: Lest we forget - part two: WWI Memorials in the west of Nelson Province, pp. 6-9.

Volume 9, no. 1, 2021

• Millward, P.: Le Quesnoy: The Nelson Connection, pp.35-43.
• Stade, K. & Wright, K:  Lest we forget - Part three: WWI memorials in Nelson City, pp. 59-71.

2020, updated February 18, 2025.