Portrait:
Surname: Pendergrast
Forenames: James
Age at Death: 28
Honours & Awards:
Date of Death: 15/09/1916
Last Residence or Enlistment Address:
Pokeno
Family and other Information:
Son of Mr. and Mrs. John Pendergrast, of Pokeno Valley, Waikato.
Memorial: Pokeno
Service No: 23/254
Rank: Rifleman
Regiment: New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Unit: 1st Bn. 3rd
Embarkation Date:
Place of Death: France
Cemetery Name: Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial
Grave Reference:
Cause of Death: Killed in action
Memorial Image:
Rifleman Pendergrast's gravestone or cemetery
Eye Colour: Grey Brown
Hair: Dark Brown
Height:
5ft 11in
180cm
Weight:
11st 7lb
73kg
Date of Birth: 25/08/1887
Occupation: Farmer
Religion: Presbyterian
Next of Kin: John Pendergrast (father)
THE SOMME (NZ INVOLVEMENT SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1916)
The battle of the Somme began in July 1, 1916, with a disastrous attack by British forces in which 20,000 men died. The New Zealand Division joined the battle in mid-September 1916, as part of the second big “push”. 15,000 members of the division went into action. Nearly 6000 were wounded and 2000 lost their lives. Over half the New Zealand Somme dead have no known grave. By the end of the campaign in November 1916, the Allies had advanced, at most, 12 kilometres into German-held territory. Over a million men had died on both sides.
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/the-battle-of-the-somme
Researcher:
Editor:
Click one of the site links and it will be loaded either in the previous tab or a new window
To put a photo from another website on the Soldier’s Page, first make sure you are viewing the image at full size (try clicking on a small image to bring it up to full size).
Then right click (or on a Mac: control + click) on the image and “copy URL” or save image to your computer.
Close the Research page and open the Edit box at the appropriate place on the Soldier’s Page. Paste the URL in the box provided. Press “Download and Save”, then “Change Image”.
Alternately select and load the image from your computer or use an image in the site’s media library.
One of the best websites for finding soldiers’ portraits is Auckland Libraries.
The best way to search for portraits on this site is to type in the surname, or surname and initial. If there are too many choices, try typing in surname + abbreviated rank:
Research the information online from the linked websites (or other sources you have found). The press “Edit” and type in the information.
We have a collection of memorial images on this website’s media library. Click “Edit” then select the Media Library tab. Search under name of location.
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website has images of most WW1 cemeteries. You can usually find these just by typing in the Surname and Initial and ticking “Served with NZ Forces” (ie you don’t have to fill in all the fields). When you reach the “Casualty details” page click on “Find out more” in the box with the thumbnail image for larger images of the cemetery.
Findagrave.com has images of many soldiers’ individual gravestones. You can find many of these by entering the first and last name and date of death (ie you don’t have to fill out all the fields in the form).
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
The Cenotaph Database holds many images for some soldiers.
The Auckland Libraries site contains many images of NZ places (as well as soldier portraits).
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
The military records of nearly all NZ soldiers and nurses who served in WW1 are scanned and held on the Archives NZ site, Archway. In addition to military information the soldier records also contain quite a lot of information about the individual: eye colour, height, weight etc.
Enter the full name of the soldier or nurse and click through to view their military record (this will open in a separate tab). The records are fairly large files and, depending on your internet connection, may take some time to download. Personal information is often found on the Attestation and Medical pages which are usually in the second half of the record.
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
If you have personal images and objects you’d like to add, please scan them and upload the images, if you need help with scanning them, please get in touch.
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
We have provided a selection of paragraphs about different battles, places and units relevant to NZ soldiers and nurses. Feel free to use these as appropriate.
For example, if you deduce from the date that a soldier was killed in action and the place of death that he died in a particular battle or campaign, you may want to use a paragraph about that.
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
If the person you want to connect the soldier to is not on our list, please contact us with the details and we will be happy to add it. Although our starting list of names is of soldiers and nurses who had a connection to the region when they signed up, we’re also interested in any ancestors or family members of people in the Waikato today who were involved in the war in any way.
Some soldiers are remembered on more than one memorial. You can select more than one memorial from the drop down list on the Soldier’s Page by clicking on one memorial name, then holding down the Control button on a PC (or Command button on a Mac) and clicking on the next one.
love and memories of our great man james pendergrast.albert pendergrast
name and graved on his father’s name John Pendergrast at Pokeno cemetery