My
great-grandfather, Andrew George Douthett, served in World War I. He was born in 1873 and so must have been one
of the older men who enlisted for active service, at the age of 42. Great-grandad had joined the New Zealand
Permanent Militia at the age of 19, and in 1896 he was turned down for entry
into the Police force because he was considered too young at the age of
23 years. Perhaps these two events signal that he was looking for action and
willing to serve his country.
He married
great-grandma, Jane, in 1897, and they had six children. However in 1916 he
enlisted for active service and left his family behind.
His
military record shows that he served in Egypt and Western Europe in the New
Zealand Rifle Brigade, at times attached to the 2nd ANZACs battalion. By the end of 1916 he was
sent to a military hospital, having contracted influenza. In total he served 2 years and 264 days in
active service from 1916-1918, with various spells in hospitals suffering from
ongoing pneumonia.
He was finally
shipped back to New Zealand in 1918, being too ill to continue in active
service. Records show that he returned
to the West Coast, and took up farming in his later years – on Utopia (!) Road,
Westport.
Until I
began this search for our Crow’s Feet war story, I knew nothing of my
great-grandfather’s involvement in the war.
~ Denise
Hitchcock
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| Application for Enrolment in the New Zealand Permanent Militia, for World War One. |
