Forenames

James Robert AWMM

Surname

Dennistoun AWMM

Gender

Male AWMM

Birth

7 Mar 1888 AWMM

Next of kin

WW1 George James Dennistoun (father), Peel Forest, South Canterbury, New Zealand AWMM

War

World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Armed force / branch

• Army AWMM
• Air Force AWMM

Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers

Royal Flying Corps AWMM

Enlistment

WW1

Embarkation details

WW1 North Irish Horse AWMM

Medical notes

Killed or died while a Prisoner of War, Cause of Death AWMM
Died whilst a Prisoner of War of wounds received in action AWMM

Last rank

WW1 Lieutenant/Military AWMM
Royal Flying Corps, 23 Squadron AWMM

Death

9 Aug 1916 AWMM
Age  33 AWMM

Cause of death

Killed or died while a Prisoner of War AWMM

Cemetery

Niederzwehren Cemetery, Kassel, Hessen, Germany AWMM IV.H.2. AWMM

Obituary

Lieutenant James Robert Dennistoun, Irish Horse, attached R.F.C., died at Ohrdruf, in Thuringia, Central Germany, on August 9, from the effects of wounds received while flying. His biplane caught fire and he had to descend in the enemy lines. He was the elder son of George James Dennistoun, of Peel Forest, Canterbury, New Zealand, a member of a younger branch of the old family of Dennistoun, of Dennistoun and Colgrain. He was born at Peel Forest, was educated at Wanganui and Malvern College, and was a Justice of the Peace for New Zealand. Lieutenant Dennistoun was a member of Captain Scott’s Antarctic Expedition, 1910-11, and was awarded the King’s Antarctic medal and that of the Royal Geographical Society. After leaving school he had taken up sheep-farming, but he took the keenest pleasure in mountaineering. He made the ascent of many of the snow-capped Southern Alps in New Zealand, amongst them that of several virgin peaks. He also climbed, alone, Mitre Peak, in Milford Sound, which had up to that time been considered inaccessible. Lieutenant Dennistoun, who did a considerable amount of exploration work, was a member of the Alpine Club. On the outbreak of war he returned to England and obtained a commission in the Irish Horse. He went to the front last November, and was for some months intelligence officer to a division, afterwards joining the Royal Flying Corps. His brother, Lieutenant-Commander George Dennistoun, D.S.O., R.N., is on active service abroad. (The Times, 2 September 1916, p. 8)

Obituary: Chronicles of the NZEF 1916 (2) p. 33 AWMM

Related Serviceperson

External links

• Base records file 1916 - 1917
  https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R22205085
  Further Reference
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
  http://www.cwgc.org
  Sources Used
• SCRoll profile (South Canterbury Roll of Honour)
  https://museum.timaru.govt.nz/explore/scroll/profile?id=1333
  Further Reference

References

• In Memoriam, 1914-1918. (1919).Wanganui, N.Z.: Collegiate School.
• The New Zealand Alpine Journal
  1921, vol. 3, no. 11, pp. 89-90.
• Chronicles of the N.Z.E.F.: Records of Matters Concerning the Troops and Gazette of Patriotic Effort [London, England] : New Zealand War Contingent Association, [1916-1919]
  Obituary: 1916 (2) p. 33
• The Times
  Obituary: 2 September 1916, p. 8.
• Harper, G., Clements, C., & Johns., R. (2019). For King and Other Countries: The New Zealanders Who Fought in Other Services in the First World War. Auckland, New Zealand: Massey University Press.