JAMES DUNN
REGIMENTAL NO. 71202
16 January 1897 – 18 September 1918
James DUNN was born at 5 Park Street, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland on 16 January 1897. He was the only child of James and Mary (nee QUINLAN), who had married on March 13 the previous year. James was a coal miner. According to the 1901 Scottish Census James and Mary, aged 35 and 26 respectively, were residing at 4 Park Street, Cambuslang on Census night, and James was noted as being 4 years old. Cambuslang is a suburban town on the south-eastern outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland, just south of the River Clyde and about 6 miles (10 km) south-east of the centre of Glasgow. It has a long history of coal mining, iron and steel making, and ancillary engineering works.
The Dunn family immigrated to New Zealand in 1907, and settled in Wellington, taking up residence in Roseneath where James was enrolled at Roseneath School. On finishing school James found work as a plumber’s assistant.
In January 1917 James turned 20, and was therefore eligible for conscription, which had been introduced the previous year. In May the same year the family suffered a cruel blow when James (senior), who was a coal-worker on the wharves, accidentally drowned on 25 May 1917. A coroner’s inquest noted that James was of sober habits and an excellent worker. It was thought he suffered from palpitations, and had fainted and fallen off the side of the wharf at Jervois Quay. James (senior) was interred in Karori Cemetery on 28 May, and his accidental death noted on his headstone.
Mother and son continued to live at 1 Palliser Road, Roseneath, as this was the address James gave when he enlisted three months later. On 14 September 1917 he attested at Trentham camp, and was medically examined, passing as fit for active service. James was described as 5 feet and ¼ inches tall, with fair complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair. He was classified “Fit A” and assigned to the NZ Field Artillery as a Gunner. He was given the regimental number 71202. James claimed to be Presbyterian, not surprisingly, given his Scottish birth, and said he was a plumber working for A&T Burt, a firm of plumbing and electrical engineers, metal founders and manufacturers. The business was established in Dunedin in 1862 by Scottish brothers Alexander and Thomas Burt and by 1912, when it celebrated its 50th Jubilee, it employed 850 people.
In his attestation James recorded his father as having been deceased 12 years, but resident in NZ 10 years (in 1917). Clearly this was a clerical error. The next-of-kin information was Mrs Dunn, 1 Palliser Road, but this address was crossed out at some time, and an address for Mrs E Quinlan, 41 Austin Street, was substituted. Perhaps Mary had some of her Quinlan family living in Wellington, and she had gone to live with them once she had been widowed and her only child was serving overseas. In 1911 there was a newspaper report of a fire in Grafton Road, Roseneath at the home of Mr Andrew Quinlan. The house next door, owned by Mr James Dunn, also caught fire. Although the addresses are different the houses were in fact adjacent (1 Palliser Road has recently been demolished). This proximity also suggests there was a strong connection between the Quinlans and the Dunns.
James was in training camps in New Zealand until July 1918. On the 10th July he boarded the Tahiti as one of the 40th Reinforcements, comprising 21 officers, 10 NZ Army Nursing Service nurses and 1080 men. This turned out to be an ill-fated troopship as it became subject to a virulent influenza pandemic, infected after contact with H.M.S. Mantua, a cruiser infected by a serious and fatal form of influenza at Sierra Leone in West Africa.
“Within a few days of the sailing of the convoy, influenza broke out in the Tahiti, and It is hardly possible to realise the difficulties of dealing with such a pandemic on board a crowded transport in a submarine zone, where ventilation was limited by reason of the closing of portholes at night, and where practically everyone suffered from the disease, including the three medical officers, the nursing sisters and the N.Z.M.C. orderlies. Much could be said of the zeal and fortitude of the O.C. troops, Lieut.-Col. R. Allen, D.S.O., and the devotion of the N.Z.A.N.S. and the medical officers who were unremitting in their attentions to the sick. The deaths which occurred daily and in daily increasing numbers until no less (sic) than 20 bodies were committed to the sea on the 4th of October, had a depressing effect on all, and led to a despondency and apathy in the sick, which in many cases seemed to determine a fatal issue.”
The New Zealand Medical Service in the Great War 1914-1918, Chapter XXI. Demobilisation, page 492
[http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Medi-t1-g1-t1-body-d21.html]
James was not one of those buried at sea, but by the time the Tahiti docked in Plymouth on 10 September he was amongst those who were so sick they had to be transferred to hospital. James was placed on the seriously ill list at Fargo Hospital in Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, on the 16th, and died six days later, of bronchitis, one year and two weeks after signing up.
He was buried on the 25th September at Tidworth Military Cemetery which was directly connected with training grounds on, or near, Salisbury Plain. A Presbyterian officer clergyman officiated – Reverend H. McLean. During the First World War the cemetery was used for burials from Tidworth and Fargo Military Hospitals and the 417 graves, many of them of Australian or New Zealand servicemen, are scattered throughout the cemetery.
On 27 September a Death Notice was inserted in the Evening Post, with a touching verse from his mother. The next notice in the same column was for Charles Huntly Rose, who had died in France on 13 September and is named on the Brooklyn Memorial.
In 1920 Mary Dunn married again, to John ALEXANDER. She died in January 1938 at her residence at 1 Palliser Road and was buried at Karori Cemetery, in the same plot as her first husband, James Dunn. There is no extant plaque acknowledging Mary, although there is a commemorative one for her son, her only child.
Researched and written by Barbara Mulligan.
REGIMENTAL NO. 71202
16 January 1897 – 18 September 1918
James DUNN was born at 5 Park Street, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland on 16 January 1897. He was the only child of James and Mary (nee QUINLAN), who had married on March 13 the previous year. James was a coal miner. According to the 1901 Scottish Census James and Mary, aged 35 and 26 respectively, were residing at 4 Park Street, Cambuslang on Census night, and James was noted as being 4 years old. Cambuslang is a suburban town on the south-eastern outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland, just south of the River Clyde and about 6 miles (10 km) south-east of the centre of Glasgow. It has a long history of coal mining, iron and steel making, and ancillary engineering works.
The Dunn family immigrated to New Zealand in 1907, and settled in Wellington, taking up residence in Roseneath where James was enrolled at Roseneath School. On finishing school James found work as a plumber’s assistant.
In January 1917 James turned 20, and was therefore eligible for conscription, which had been introduced the previous year. In May the same year the family suffered a cruel blow when James (senior), who was a coal-worker on the wharves, accidentally drowned on 25 May 1917. A coroner’s inquest noted that James was of sober habits and an excellent worker. It was thought he suffered from palpitations, and had fainted and fallen off the side of the wharf at Jervois Quay. James (senior) was interred in Karori Cemetery on 28 May, and his accidental death noted on his headstone.
Mother and son continued to live at 1 Palliser Road, Roseneath, as this was the address James gave when he enlisted three months later. On 14 September 1917 he attested at Trentham camp, and was medically examined, passing as fit for active service. James was described as 5 feet and ¼ inches tall, with fair complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair. He was classified “Fit A” and assigned to the NZ Field Artillery as a Gunner. He was given the regimental number 71202. James claimed to be Presbyterian, not surprisingly, given his Scottish birth, and said he was a plumber working for A&T Burt, a firm of plumbing and electrical engineers, metal founders and manufacturers. The business was established in Dunedin in 1862 by Scottish brothers Alexander and Thomas Burt and by 1912, when it celebrated its 50th Jubilee, it employed 850 people.
In his attestation James recorded his father as having been deceased 12 years, but resident in NZ 10 years (in 1917). Clearly this was a clerical error. The next-of-kin information was Mrs Dunn, 1 Palliser Road, but this address was crossed out at some time, and an address for Mrs E Quinlan, 41 Austin Street, was substituted. Perhaps Mary had some of her Quinlan family living in Wellington, and she had gone to live with them once she had been widowed and her only child was serving overseas. In 1911 there was a newspaper report of a fire in Grafton Road, Roseneath at the home of Mr Andrew Quinlan. The house next door, owned by Mr James Dunn, also caught fire. Although the addresses are different the houses were in fact adjacent (1 Palliser Road has recently been demolished). This proximity also suggests there was a strong connection between the Quinlans and the Dunns.
James was in training camps in New Zealand until July 1918. On the 10th July he boarded the Tahiti as one of the 40th Reinforcements, comprising 21 officers, 10 NZ Army Nursing Service nurses and 1080 men. This turned out to be an ill-fated troopship as it became subject to a virulent influenza pandemic, infected after contact with H.M.S. Mantua, a cruiser infected by a serious and fatal form of influenza at Sierra Leone in West Africa.
“Within a few days of the sailing of the convoy, influenza broke out in the Tahiti, and It is hardly possible to realise the difficulties of dealing with such a pandemic on board a crowded transport in a submarine zone, where ventilation was limited by reason of the closing of portholes at night, and where practically everyone suffered from the disease, including the three medical officers, the nursing sisters and the N.Z.M.C. orderlies. Much could be said of the zeal and fortitude of the O.C. troops, Lieut.-Col. R. Allen, D.S.O., and the devotion of the N.Z.A.N.S. and the medical officers who were unremitting in their attentions to the sick. The deaths which occurred daily and in daily increasing numbers until no less (sic) than 20 bodies were committed to the sea on the 4th of October, had a depressing effect on all, and led to a despondency and apathy in the sick, which in many cases seemed to determine a fatal issue.”
The New Zealand Medical Service in the Great War 1914-1918, Chapter XXI. Demobilisation, page 492
[http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Medi-t1-g1-t1-body-d21.html]
James was not one of those buried at sea, but by the time the Tahiti docked in Plymouth on 10 September he was amongst those who were so sick they had to be transferred to hospital. James was placed on the seriously ill list at Fargo Hospital in Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, on the 16th, and died six days later, of bronchitis, one year and two weeks after signing up.
He was buried on the 25th September at Tidworth Military Cemetery which was directly connected with training grounds on, or near, Salisbury Plain. A Presbyterian officer clergyman officiated – Reverend H. McLean. During the First World War the cemetery was used for burials from Tidworth and Fargo Military Hospitals and the 417 graves, many of them of Australian or New Zealand servicemen, are scattered throughout the cemetery.
On 27 September a Death Notice was inserted in the Evening Post, with a touching verse from his mother. The next notice in the same column was for Charles Huntly Rose, who had died in France on 13 September and is named on the Brooklyn Memorial.
In 1920 Mary Dunn married again, to John ALEXANDER. She died in January 1938 at her residence at 1 Palliser Road and was buried at Karori Cemetery, in the same plot as her first husband, James Dunn. There is no extant plaque acknowledging Mary, although there is a commemorative one for her son, her only child.
Researched and written by Barbara Mulligan.