Thomas McFarlane

Forenames

Thomas AWMM

Surname

McFarlane AWMM

Service number

WWI 39284 AWMM

Gender

Male AWMM

Birth

30 Jun 1889 Public source

Next of kin

John McFarlane (father), Drummond, New Zealand AWMM

War

World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Armed force / branch

Army AWMM

Service number

WWI 39284 AWMM

Military service

On 6.6.17 Left for France. 8.6.17 landed Etaples and assigned to the Otago Infantry Regiment, Captain D. White; 8th (Southland) Company. AWMM

Enlistment

WW1 Farmer/Civilian AWMM

Embarkation details

WW1 16 Feb 1917-02 May 1917 AWMM
HMNZT 76 AWMM Vessel was Aparima AWMM Lance Corporal/Military AWMM 22nd Reinforcements, Otago Infantry Regiment, D Company AWMM New Zealand Expeditionary Force AWMM

Medical notes

• Died after Discharge from Wounds Inflicted or Disease Contracted while on Active Service, Cause of Death AWMM
  Died after discharge from the NZEF from wounds inflicted or disease contracted while on active service AWMM
• Other, WWI AWMM
  Nature of Injury: T.B. lung Percent of disability: Not assessed Source: New Zealand. Army (1920). List of the names of all ex-members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, suffering permanent disability from 20% to 100% AWMM
• Other, WWI AWMM
  Nature of Injury: T.B. lung Percent of disability: 70 Source: New Zealand. Army (1920). List of the names of all ex-members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, suffering permanent disability from 20% to 100% AWMM
• Medical, WWI AWMM
  On the 31.08.1916 Thomas is recorded as being a farmer in Drummond, 27 years old, 5 foot 5-7 inches, 124lb, with chest 32-36 inches, grey eyes and brown hair. He was approved in Invercargill by a medical officer John B Sale in Invercargill. AWMM
• Wounds Diseases Etc., WWI AWMM
  Following gassing, Thomas was admitted to No 3 General Hospital in Rouen 23 Aug 1917 with influenza. By October he was back in London at Brockenhurst, Hornchurch, Codford and Sling. 19.3.18 Classified as unfit by Medical board with recurring bouts phthisis. From Walton, Thomas embarked NZ from Liverpool via the ship Maunganui. AWMM

Last rank

WW1 Private AWMM
Otago Infantry Regiment AWMM

Death

16 Aug 1920 AWMM
Age  31 AWMM

Cause of death

Died after Discharge from Wounds Inflicted or Disease Contracted while on Active Service AWMM

Obituary

Obituary: Southland Times, 8 September 1920, Issue 18922, p.4.

MR THOMAS McFARLANE.
On August 16 last, Mr Thomas McFarlane, fourth son of Mr John McFarlane, Drummond, one of Southland's oldest settlers, succumbed to the effects of a severe gassing in France. He went to England with the troopship Aparima, thence to France, where he contracted a severe illness.
On recovery he entered the fighting line where he was gassed with results that ultimately proved fatal. Returning to New Zealand with the troopship Maunganui, he was about nine months at Palmerston North, and on returning home after about a month’s severe illness, to the great regret of his many friends, he never rallied.
Tom was highly esteemed and respected, and in fact liked by everyone, being a young man of unblemished reputation, good-natured, kind, and obliging, and possessing all those characteristics which win the approbation of friends and neighbours. It is worthy of note that Tom was in many essentially good characteristics typical of a large section of young men and women, the offspring of the early settlers in the Drummond and surrounding districts, who are proving themselves capable of upholding the reputation of those pioneers, who so worthily fulfilled all the requirements of successful settlement in their public and private capacity.
Their numbers are fast diminishing, but the very large cortege, comprising of many young people, following our friend to his resting place at Calcium not only showed their respect and esteem, but was indicative of an appreciation of true worth. His remains were carried from his residence to the hearse and from the hearse to the grave by six returned soldiers.
While it is satisfactory to acknowledge that those who have been fortunate enough to return are doing their part in the common duties of life, it is with a pang of deep regret, we have to bear the loss of those line young men who sleep in foreign soil, and who gave such rich promise of useful careers in doing their part in public and private life. AWMM

Memorial name

Drummond Soldiers' Memorial AWMM

Related objects

External links

• Military personnel file
  https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R10924113
  Further Reference
• Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, 14 December 1926, p.3
  https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OSWCC19261214.2.14
  Further Reference
• https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19200908.2.21?query=John%20McFarlane
• A Street Near You record
  https://astreetnearyou.org/person/642771/-
  Further Reference
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
  https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/642771
  Further Reference

References

• Information kindly provided by family
• New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1918). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume III. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
  55: 13
• New Zealand. Army (1920). List of the names of all ex-members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, suffering permanent disability from 20% to 100%, compiled from returns supplied by the Commissioner of Pensions, in respect to: a) Permanent War Pensions, and from returns supplied by the Director-General of Medical Services, regarding: b) Discharged and undischarged hospital patients, assessed as suffering permanent disability, but not yet in receipt of a pension at date (28-4-20). New Zealand. Director-General of Medical Services. NZ Times Co. (Printer).
• Byrne, A. E. Official History of the Otago Regiment, NZEF in the Great War, 1914–1918. Dunedin: J. Wilkie, 1921.
• HMNZT 76 - The moa : the journal of the Twenty Seconds on troopship "Aparima" (No. 76). Drew, H.T.B. (Henry Thomas Bertie), editor. Digby, H.W.L. (Henry William Lockyer), editor. -- At sea : Twenty-Second Reinforcements : [1917