Frank Hadfield Statham

Forenames

Frank Hadfield AWMM

Surname

Statham AWMM

Service number

• WWI 8/977A AWMM
• WWI 8/977B AWMM
• WWI 8/977 AWMM

Gender

Male AWMM

Address before enlistment

Unknown AWMM Otago, New Zealand AWMM

Next of kin

Mrs Mary P. Statham (wife), care of C.H. Statham, 26 Dowling Street, Dunedin, New Zealand AWMM

Relationship status

Pre 16 Oct 1914 AWMM Married AWMM

War

World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Campaign

1915-1916 AWMM Gallipoli AWMM

Armed force / branch

Army AWMM

Service number

• WWI 8/977A AWMM
• WWI 8/977B AWMM
• WWI 8/977 AWMM

Medals and Awards

• Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) AWMM
  London Gazette, 28 January 1916, p1210: AWMM
• Victory Medal AWMM
• British War Medal (1914-1920) AWMM

Enlistment

WW1 Unknown AWMM

Embarkation details

WW1 16 Oct 1914 AWMM
HMNZT 5 or HMNZT 9 AWMM Vessel was Ruapehu or Hawkes Bay AWMM Major/Military AWMM Otago Infantry Battalion AWMM Main Body AWMM

Medical notes

8 Aug 1915 AWMM Killed in Action, Cause of Death AWMM

Last rank

WW1 Major/Military AWMM
Otago Infantry Battalion AWMM

Son of Rev. Charles Hadfield Statham and Annie Sutton Statham of Dunedin

Husband of May Pierpoint Statham of 139 London Strett, Dunedin

Two sons, brothers were killed at Gallipoli Frank Hadfield Statham (8/977A) and Clive Heathcote Falk Statham (8/801).

Member of the Otago Institute. AWMM

Death

8 Aug 1915 AWMM

Cause of death

Killed in Action AWMM

Death notes

Extract from the Memoirs of Private William Anderson - Attack on Chunuk Bair

It was fortunate for the success of the action that the leading company (10th, North Otago) had a real leader (Major Statham) and that he survived long enough to see, like Nelson, that his task was accomplished. …... From there the now mixed, straggly, column made it's toilsome way, Major Statham at its head. Weary, weakened, giving no display of military precision we hauled ourselves up cliffs where roots from bushes above were exposed by the action of the weather, along knife edged ridges and down into deep ravines.

Like a meteor leaving a spread and sometimes ragged trail, Major Statham alone, carried the battalion over this rugged terrain to the more open but also more actively contested territory. For though the 10th started out as the leading Company there was now a well mixed following. Coming to the last big gully Major Statham asked William and another chap to locate a trench supposed to be in the vicinity.

Major Statham and his followers apparently halted near the crest of the rise but bushes gave little view of where stray bullets were coming from. Away to the right the Turks could be seen but the fire didn't come from there. When a good number had gathered Major Statham called on all 10th men. …. The picture is still clear in my mind's eye of that hero calling for his company men, for I knew and they knew that few would survive.

Public - Ross - 28 January 2016 - Extracts from the Memoirs of Private William Anderson, 8th Company, Otago Battalion

Memorial name

Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial, Chunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey AWMM

Related Serviceperson

External links

• Births, Deaths and Marriages (New Zealand) Historical Records online
  https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz
  Sources Used
• Military personnel file
  https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R7880930
  Further Reference
• A Street Near You record
  https://astreetnearyou.org/person/680412/-
  Further Reference
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
  https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/680412
  Further Reference
• New Zealand Institute. Roll of Honour Showing Members of The Institute Who Were on Active Service During The War. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 53, 1921, Unnumbered Page
  https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TPRSNZ1921-53.2.6
  Further Reference

References

• McDonald, W. (2013). Honours and Awards to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914-1918. (3rd ed.). Hamilton, N.Z.: Richard Stowers.
• New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
  Page No: 687
• Beattie, P.J. & Pomeroy, M. (2013-2020). Onward : portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (vols 1-5). Auckland, New Zealand: Fair Dinkum Publications
  Vol. 1: Includes portrait
• The Fields of Remembrance Trust: Brothers Field, Auckland Museum (Armistice, 2018)
• Waite, F. (1919). The New Zealanders at Gallipoli. Auckland, N.Z.: Printed and published under Authority of the New Zealand Government by Whitcombe & Tombs.