Alfred Aghan
Born 19 Jul 1890 - Died 14 Oct 1961
- Service number
- WWI 13300 AWMM
- Also known as
- Alf AWMM
- Ah Gan AWMM
- Alfred John Aghan AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Last rank
- WW1
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
About
- Title
- —
- Forenames
- Alfred AWMM
- Surname
- Aghan AWMM
- Ingoa
- —
- Also known as
- Alf AWMM
- Ah Gan AWMM
- Alfred John Aghan AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 13300 AWMM
- Gender
- Male AWMM
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
- —
- Religion
- Church of England, Christian AWMM
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 19 Jul 1890 AWMM Victoria AWMM
- Date of birth
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- Place of birth
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- Birth notes
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- Address before enlistment
- Unknown AWMM 417 Queen Street, Hastings, New Zealand AWMM
- Post war occupation
- —
- Next of kin
- William Young Aghan (father), 23 Mountfield Street, Brunswick East, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia AWMM
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
- Campaign
- 1914-1916 AWMM Egypt AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 13300 AWMM
- Military service
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- —
Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
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Training and Enlistment
- Military training
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- Branch Trade Proficiency
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- Enlistment
- WW1 Unknown AWMM
Age 25 AWMM
French Polisher/Civilian AWMM - Age on enlistment
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- Occupation before enlistment
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Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW1 Vessel was Willochra AWMM Trooper AWMM New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade AWMM New Zealand Expeditionary Force AWMM
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
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- Days interned
- —
- Liberation date
- —
- POW liberation details
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- Liberation Repatriation
- —
- POW serial number
- —
Medical history
- Medical notes
- Height, Unknown Period AWMM
5 feet 9 inches AWMM - Weight, Unknown Period AWMM
10 stone AWMM - Complexion, Unknown Period AWMM
Dark AWMM - Eye colour, Unknown Period AWMM
Dark brown AWMM - Hair colour, Unknown Period AWMM
Black AWMM - Hospital Diseases , Wounds, WWI AWMM
Inflammation of stomach , Egypt (11 June 1917) AWMM - Hospital Diseases , Wounds, WWI AWMM
Chronic Gastritis, Suez AWMM
- Height, Unknown Period AWMM
Last known rank
- Last rank
- WW1 30 Jan 1918 AWMM
No longer fit for active war service AWMM - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Alfred John Aghan (13300) was an Australian-born New Zealander of Chinese descent who served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during World War I. He was born in Victoria in 1890, the son of William Ah Gan, a migrant from Guangzhou in southern China, and Eliza Southgate, who was English. In 1904 the family anglicised their surname from Ah Gan to Aghan. He was the elder brother of David George Aghan (13299), who enlisted and served alongside him.
In 1916 the brothers left Melbourne for New Zealand and enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, where enlistment proved more straightforward. Both joined the Auckland Mounted Rifles. Alfred’s personnel records list service with 13 Squadron, 13th Reinforcements, Auckland Mounted Rifles, initially with the rank of Private. He was briefly transferred to the New Zealand Veterinary Corps before joining the 13th Mounted Rifles, New Zealand Mounted Rifles, with the rank of Trooper. His total war service amounted to 1 year and 358 days.
Alfred arrived at Devonport, England, marched from Sling Camp to Tidworth, returned to Sling, and proceeded overseas to Egypt around 8 December 1916. While serving in Egypt he fell ill with inflammation of the stomach. He was admitted to the New Zealand Convalescent Home at Port Said, later transferred to Aotea New Zealand Convalescent Hospital in Heliopolis, and was ultimately invalided back to New Zealand. His brother David continued active service in Egypt and Palestine, contributing to mounted operations across Sinai and the Middle East.
Although Alfred’s overseas service was curtailed by illness, his notebooks and photograph albums document daily life and campaigning conditions in the desert. In 2016, the Aghan family gifted the brothers’ wartime collection, including albums, identity discs, badges, pay books and personal effects, to Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira. These taonga are now held in the Museum’s Human History and Documentary Heritage collections, ensuring that the story of both brothers remains visible within New Zealand’s wartime record.
After the war Alfred returned to Melbourne, where he married Violet Catherine Reardon in 1921. He entered business with David and remained active within returned soldiers’ networks. Alfred died in 1961. In later generations, the family consciously reclaimed their Chinese heritage (Profile written for “A Flight to Remember”, an Anzac Day 2026 initiative by Online Cenotaph and Air New Zealand). AWMM
About death
- Death
- 14 Oct 1961 AWMM
New South Wales AWMM - Date of death
- —
- Age at death
- —
- Place of death
- —
- Cause of death
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- Death notes
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- Cemetery
- Newcastle Memorial Park, Beresfield, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia AWMM Loggia Court 1 G/25 AWMM
- Cemetery name
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- Grave reference
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- Obituary
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- Memorial name
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- Memorial reference
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Memorial
- Memorial name
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Related objects
Related Serviceperson
Sources
- External links
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R22269482
Further Reference - White, Georgina. Aghan Brothers. Auckland War Memorial Museum - Tāmaki Paenga Hira. First published: 18 May 2021.
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/features/alfred-aghan
Further Reference - Wikipedia Entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Aghan
Further Reference
- Military personnel file
- References
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
33: 2 - Kennedy, A. (2015). Chinese Anzacs : Australians of Chinese descent in the defence forces 1885-1919 (revised to include New Zealand-born Chinese of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force 1914-1919) (2nd ed). Wellington: New Zealand Chinese Association.
- 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. 4: Includes portrait - This record was part of “A Flight to Remember”, an Anzac Day 2026 commemorative partnership between Online Cenotaph and Air New Zealand, where service stories were shared onboard a dawn flight from Auckland to Sydney.
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
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