A SOLDIER'S END
DEATH OF COLONEL MACKESY.
SENSATIONALLY SUDDEN.
Quite a gloom was cast over Whangarei today when the news spread that Colonel Charles Ernest Randolph Mackesy, C.M.G.,, C.B.E., D.S.0., one of the most distinguished officers who served in the N.Z.E.F. in the Great War, had died suddenly at 11.30 a.m. at his home, "The Hill," between Whangarei and Onerahi. Deceased, who was 64 years of age, was born in Dublin in 1861, and was a son of the late Captain E. R. Mackesy, of the 97th Regiment. He was educated in France, Switzerland and Germany, and was an accomplished linquist in several languages. In his younger days he was a good athlete and took many prizes in various sports. After his marriage to a daughter of the late Thomas Adam, of Kilmarnock, deceased went to fhe United States where he spent several years. He came to Whangarei in 1891 as the outcome of a notification from the New Zealand Government that the grant of land which he made his home, and which had been alloted to his father for services in the Maori war, would be forfeited if he did not occupy it. Deceased took up the land and during the intervening years he developed it into a first-class farm and orchard property. His wife and three sons, one of whom, Lieutenant H. E. Mackesy, was killed at Gallipoli, followed him from America shortly after he settled in Whangarei. His first wife predeceased him five years ago, and he subsequently married again, his widow and two sons, Messrs. C. R. E. Mackesy and W. B. Mackesy surviving him. Col. Mackesy had been a volunteer and territorial officer in North Auckland for twenty years and when the war broke out he immediately offered his services and left in the Main Body in charge of the Auckland Mounted Rifles. For five years and a half he served the colours, and returned soldiers will recollect many incidents which made him a popular officer during the hard times on the Peninsula. After the evacuation Col. Mackesy became Commandant of Zeitoun Camp, an
Public - Sandra - Researcher - 31 May 2018 - Paperspast online (NORTHERN ADVOCATE, 20 NOVEMBER 1925)