James Gordon May
I whānau mai i te 9 Oct 1885 - I mate atu i te 21 Oct 1917
- Nama Hōia
- WWI 42152 AWMM
- Ingoa kārangaranga
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- Te Ope o Tū / te peka
- Army AWMM
- Te tūnga whakamutunga
- WW1 Private AWMM Auckland Infantry Regiment AWMM
- Pakanga
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
E pā ana ki
- Taitara
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- Ngā ingoa tuatahi
- James Gordon AWMM
- Ingoa whānau
- May AWMM
- Ingoa
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- Ingoa kārangaranga
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- Nama Hōia
- WWI 42152 AWMM
- Ira tangata
- Male AWMM
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
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- Pono
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Mātātuhi
Ngā tuhinga
Te whānautanga
- Whānautanga mai
- 9 Oct 1885 Public Source
- Rā i whānau mai ai
- 9 October 1885Public - Audrey - Other Relative - 8 April 2015 - Birth registration and family papers
- Wāhi Whānau
- Sandwell, Port Adelaide, AustraliaPublic - Audrey - Other Relative - 8 April 2015 - Birth registration and family papers
- Tuhinga mō te whānautanga
- He was the first son and eldest child of Henry and Catherine May, who had emigrated from KingsbridgePublic - Audrey - Other Relative - 8 April 2015 - Birth registration and family papers
- Wāhi noho i mua i te whakaurunga
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- Mahi whai muri i te pakanga
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- Uri kiritahi
- Miss Eva McLaren (adopted sister), 57 Waitoa Road, Hataitai, Wellington, New Zealand AWMM
- Note: Eva was his sister, who had been adopted as a child, by the McLaren family after the death of her birth parents.Public - Audrey - Other Relative - 8 April 2015 - Family papers
- Mēnā he hoa rangatira tōna
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Ngā pakanga me ngā whawhai
- Pakanga
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
- Kauhanga riri
- 1917 AWMM Passchendaele AWMM
- Te Ope o Tū / te peka
- Army AWMM
- Nama Hōia
- WWI 42152 AWMM
- Urunga ki te ope taua
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- Whakapikinga / Tukunga / Whakawhitinga
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Ngā tohu taumata rau ope taua
- Mētara me ngā Tohu
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Te Whakangungu me te Urunga atu
- Whakangungu ope taua
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- Branch Trade Proficiency
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- Te urunga
- WW1 Unknown AWMM Railways Employee/Civilian AWMM
- December 1916.Public - Audrey - Other Relative - 8 April 2015 - Military Personnel files.
- Pakeke i te whakaurunga
- 31Public - Audrey - Other Relative - 8 April 2015 - Birth registration.
- Mahi i mua i te ekenga waka
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Te maha o ngā ekenga waka
- Taipitopito ekenga waka
- WW1 05 Apr 1917-10 Jun 1917 AWMM
HMNZT 81 AWMM Vessel was Devon AWMM Private AWMM 24th Reinforcements, E Company AWMM New Zealand Expeditionary Force AWMM
Mauhere o te pakanga
- Kia mau ki ngā taipitopito
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- Ngā rā i mauherehia ai
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- Rā i puta ai
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- Ngā kōrero mō te puta i te mauhere pakanga
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- Te rā i whakahokia atu ngā hōia i mauherehia ai
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- Nama motuhake mō te mauhere pakanga
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Whakapapa hauora
- Tuhinga hauora
- Died of Disease, Cause of Death AWMM
Died of disease AWMM
Te tūnga whakamutunga e mōhiotia ana
- Te tūnga whakamutunga
- WW1 Private AWMM
Auckland Infantry Regiment AWMM - Te tūnga whakamutunga
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Kōrero taurongo
- James May was the son of Henry and Margaret May, of New Zealand.
Next of Kin: Mr H. T. May, Korito, New Plymouth (Roll of Honour, Auckland Province 1914-1918 (Volume 2)) AWMM - Jim had left school at 13 and was working on a farm at this time, but later he obtained a job with the NZ Railways and was working at Ohaupo when the war began in 1914.
He enlisted on 5 December 1916 and had been living in New Zealand for 19 years at this time. He named his youngest sister, Miss Eva McLaren of Hataitai, Wellington (who had been adopted by a family named McLaren) as his next-of-kin on enlistment. He embarked on the 5 April 1917 as a private in the 24th reinforcements, E Company of the 2nd NZ Expeditionary Force from Wellington, on the ship ‘Devon’ HMNZT81, bound for Devonport in England. His next-of-kin on embarkation was his brother, Wm. T. May, Korito, New Plymouth.
On his arrival he joined his regiment at Sling for basic training before being sent to Etaples in France on 9 July 1917. Once there he joined the 2nd Battalion of the Auckland Infantry Regiment, and served in the 2nd Company at Rouen.
However his war was to be very short, as he became ill, and was sent from a field base to a hospital at Etaples on 14 October 1917. He died there of ‘infective jaundice” just one week later, on 21 October 1917, and was buried in the Etaples Military Cemetery at Pas-de-Calais in France. He was 32 years old. His grave has his age incorrectly as 35.
Although he did not live in Te Kuiti , his name is on the Te Kuiti War Memorial, probably because of the connection that NZ Railways had with the town at the time and the fact that he had worked in Ohaupo and Te Kuiti before the war.
He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
His name is on the Roll of Honour at:
1.Railways Honour Board, Wellington Station.
2.Te Kuiti War Memorial.
3.Mangorei Was Memorial Hall, New Plymouth.Public - Audrey - 23 May 2023 - Family papers. WW1 Personnel records. Oral History.
Someone has put incorrect information in paragraph 1 about Jim's mother, who was not Margaret. She was Catherine nee Moore. - James (Jim) May was the eldest child and first son of Henry and Catherine May who had emigrated from Salcombe, Devon, England, first to Adelaide, and later to New Plymouth, New Zealand. Henry was a shipwright, and later a carpenter.
When Jim was 12 his mother died, and his father remarried, but when he was 14 his father died, and the family of seven children was split up.Public - Audrey - Other Relative - 8 April 2015 - Family papers
- James May was the son of Henry and Margaret May, of New Zealand.
Te matenga
- Matenga
- 21 Oct 1917 AWMM
Age 35 AWMM - Rā i mate ai
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- Pakeke i te matenga
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- Wāhi Mate
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- Te momo matenga
- Died of Disease AWMM
- JaundicePublic - Audrey - Other Relative - 8 April 2015 - Military records
- Tuhipoka mō te matenga
- Buried Etaples Military Cemetery, France. Plot 30 Row E.Public - Audrey - Other Relative - 8 April 2015 - Military records
- Urupā
- Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France AWMM XXX. E. 22. AWMM
- Ingoa o te urupā
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- Tohutoro kōhatu urupā
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- Pānui Matenga
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- Ingoa maumaharatanga
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- Tohutoro maumaharatanga
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Maumaharatanga
- Ingoa maumaharatanga
- Railways Roll of Honour board. Wellington Railway Station, Pipitea, Wellington 6011. AWMM
- Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 1 Hall of Memories AWMM
Mea e whai hononga ai
Ngā mātāwai
- Hononga ki waho
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R21374144
Further Reference - A Street Near You record
https://astreetnearyou.org/person/498145/-
Further Reference - Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/498145
Further Reference - Passchendaele Museum Profile
https://archives.passchendaele.be/en/soldier/3431
Further Reference - New Zealand War Graves Trust
https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/
Further Reference
- Military personnel file
- Ngā tuhinga
- Macdonald, L. (1978). Passchendaele : the story of the third Battle of Ypres 1917. London : Penguin Books.
- Harper, G. (2000). Massacre at Passchendaele : the New Zealand story. Auckland, N.Z.: HarperCollins.
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1918). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume III. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
59: 15 - Roll of Honour, Auckland Province (digital copy), 1914 - 1919. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-2016-2.
- Burton, O. (1922). The Auckland regiment : being an account of the doings on active service of the First, Second and Third Battalions of the Auckland Regiment. Wellington, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs.
- HMNZT 81 - Bulldogs' bark and Devon lyre : being the unofficial organ of the Right Wing, 24th Reinforcement. N.Z.E.F. Morgan, R.C. (Robert Carhampton), editor. Kiely, R.D. (Robert Dale), editor. -- Capetown : Printed by the Cape Times : 1917
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