23907 Private Samuel Henry Whitehorn

1 Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment

Samuel Henry Whitehorn was born in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England on 26 March 1878, the youngest child of Thomas and Martha Whitehorn (née Godwin).  Samuel attended Emery Down School from 1881 to 1890. He appears on the 1891 Census form as living at home and employed as an Errand Boy. By 1901 he appears on the census form as a Stableman in London, and is on the 1906 Electoral Roll as living at the same London address.

Samuel first appears in New Zealand on the 1911 Wellington Suburbs and Country Electoral Roll as living in Plimmerton and working for the railways as a Surfaceman; i.e.  maintaining the railway tracks and track bed. The same information appears on the 1914 Electoral Roll for the same electorate.

Samuel entered Trentham Camp on 7 February 1916 as a member of B Company, 13th Reinforcements and was attested into the Army the following day. The usual training occurred at Trentham and Featherston and the Reinforcement completed the end-of-training route march from Featherston to Trentham over the Remutaka Hill. Samuel embarked in the troopship Willochra in Wellington on 31 May 1916 and arrived at Devonport, England on 26 July 1916; the ship having taken the usual route via Australia and South Africa. He marched-in to 3 Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment at Sling Camp on Salisbury Plain on the same day. Samuel remained at Sling until 5 September when he embarked for France, marching-in to the General Base Depot at Étaples, south of Boulogne, on the same day. He remained at the Depot until the end of the month, when he joined 1 Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment (1 Bn, WIR). When Samuel joined the battalion, it was resting out of the line having taken part in the fighting on the Somme battlefield. It is probable that Samuel was posted to 11 (Taranaki) Company.

From October 1916 until April 1917 the battalion was in the Armentières sector, both north and south of the town, moving in and out of the line on a regular basis. This sector was seen as ‘quiet’ and used as a training sector so Samuel would have had a chance to settle in and learn the art of trench warfare. On 9 November, however, he was evacuated to an Australian Casualty Clearing Station at Rouen with influenza, he returned to 11 Company on 5 December 1916. An offensive in the area of Messines was being planned and the battalion was involved in much of the preparatory trench work.

The attack on Messines began in the early morning of 7 June and, although moving forward in support, 1 Battalion was pleased to leave the assembly area as it had been heavily shelled and it had taken casualties. The battalion took its objective, a line on the map forward of Messines town, but there had been hard fighting with 11 Company having the hardest fight to secure its objectives. The Unit History notes:  “The Germans probably showed more stout resistance on 1st Wellington’s front than elsewhere”. The battalion began to dig its trenches and the Germans, realising the ridge had been lost began to shell the area and launched a counter attack. While the counter attack failed, the German artillery fire continued and casualties occurred.  Figures for the period 6 – 10 June were 73 killed, 8 missing and 337 wounded.  Although the battalion was relieved in the line on the evening of 8 June, it was 10 June before both Wellington battalions moved further back.

1 Bn now entered a period of trench warfare moving in and out of the line as required. Little mention can be made of Samuel specifically as private soldiers are seldom mentioned in the war diaries etc. Thus unless his file mentions movement in or out of the unit it has to be assumed that he remained, in this case, with 1 Bn, WIR.

Samuel spent the period 16 – 27  September in England on leave. On return to the unit he was attached to the New Zealand Training and Reinforcement Camp. On reading the War Diary it becomes apparent that he was included in those who were being Left Out of Battle (LOB). This is where a company’s worth is detached from the battalion and moved to the rear area so if the worst happens and the battalion suffers very heavy casualties there is an experienced nucleus to build on.  In 1 Battalion’s case 8 officers and 76 soldiers moved to the Reinforcement Camp at Morbecque. This was the month of the Passchendaele battles and the battalion suffered 68 killed, 186 wounded, and 8 missing. The LOBs rejoined the battalion from the Reinforcement Camp on 28 October.

The battalion was out of the line until 26 November when it moved to a position to the east of Ypres. From 27 November until 3 December the battalion suffered as the Germans brought down heavy artillery fire, in some instances causing the trenches to collapse.

On 1 December 1917 Samuel was reported as Killed in Action, presumably by the German artillery fire. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the New Zealand memorial at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood, to the east of Ypres.

Samuel is also commemorated on the War Memorial in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England, the Emery Down Lychgate War Memorial, and on the Railway Workers Memorial in Wellington Railway Station. In both New Zealand Notices of Deceased Estates, Wellington 15 May 1918, page 525 and his will, Samual’s residence is listed as Pukerua. The Railway Review dated 5 April 1918 noted, “General regret was expressed when the news came through that one of our members had made the supreme sacrifice, viz., Mr S. Whitehorn, surface-man, of Pukerua. Sam was one of those good fellows that the community can ill afford to lose, and will especially be missed around the Pukerua district.”

For his service in France with 1 Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment, Samuel was entitled to the:

British War Medal 1914-19, and Victory Medal.

These medals were forwarded to his mother, Martha Whitehorn, in Lyndhurst.

By Terry Brown