Arthur Athelstane Currey

Born 17 Jul 1885 - Died 23 May 1981

Service number: WWI 2/494 AWMM
WWII 800534 AWMM
Also known as: Currie AWMM
Athelstane AWMM
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: WW1 Major/Military AWMM New Zealand Field Artillery AWMM
War: World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM

Enquire

Lay a poppy

Arthur Athelstane Currey — Portrait Gunner A.A. Currey NZGA July 1912 - No known copyright restrictions No Known Copyright Restrictions

Show empty fields Hide sources

Wars and conflicts

War: World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM
Campaign: 1915-1916 AWMM Gallipoli AWMM
1914-1919 AWMM Western Front AWMM
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Service number: WWI 2/494 AWMM
WWII 800534 AWMM
Military service: New Zealand Field Artillery, 1st Battery AWMM
Y Battery, Medium Trench Mortars, New Zealand Field Artillery AWMM
Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers: —

Military decorations

Medals and Awards: Military Medal (MM) AWMM
MM. Corporal, T Battery, Trench Mortars, NZ Field Artillery. [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/30023/supplements/3700/page.pdf London Gazette, 17 April 1917, p3700] "At Bois Grenier on the morning of the 21st February during the raid by the 2nd Auckland Battalion this NCO in the face of heavy shelling effected the repair of his mortar and was thus able to keep it in action during the whole period of the raid, as a defective rifle mechanism required constant adjustment he set a splendid example to the rest of the detachment by his courage and fearlessness under heavy fire." AWMM
1914-1915 Star AWMM
British War Medal (1914-1920) AWMM
Victory Medal AWMM

Training and Enlistment

Military training: —
Branch Trade Proficiency: —
Enlistment: WW1 Fruit grower/Civilian AWMM
Age on enlistment: —
Occupation before enlistment: —

Embarkations

Embarkation details: WW1 16 Oct 1914-03 Dec 1914 AWMM
HMNZT 7 or HMNZT 10 AWMM Vessel was Arawa or Limerick AWMM Bombardier/Military AWMM New Zealand Field Artillery AWMM Main Body AWMM
WW2 Major/Military AWMM
3rd Embarkation AWMM

Medical history

Medical notes: Hospital Diseases , Wounds, WWI AWMM
Contracted enteric fever at Gallipoli, August 1915. AWMM

Last known rank

Last rank: WW1 Major/Military AWMM
New Zealand Field Artillery AWMM
Last rank: —

Biographical information

Arthur Athelstane Currey was born in England on 17 July 1885. His middle name appears as Athelstane on some records and Athelstan on others, while his surname also appears as Currie in some contemporary sources. He came to New Zealand at about 16 years of age and later worked as a fruit grower at Lower Hutt. His brother, H. Currey of Wroughton, Wiltshire, England, was recorded as his next of kin.

Currey enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and embarked with the Main Body on 16 October 1914 as Bombardier 2/494, New Zealand Field Artillery. After training in New Zealand and Egypt, he landed at Gallipoli with the 1st Battery.

In a detailed letter written between 15 and 23 June 1915, Currey described the landing, moving guns up the steep terrain, digging positions and living under fire with limited food and water. Recalling the landing, he wrote that boatloads of wounded men were already returning to the ships while the Australian and New Zealand infantry went ashore under heavy fire. He also described helping stretcher-bearers carry a mortally wounded soldier and assisting with his burial, noting that less than an hour passed between the man being shot and the erection of a wooden cross over his grave. The letter is held in Currey, Arthur Athelstan: Letters and diary extracts at Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira and was made accessible through Pou Kanohi New Zealand at War (MS-88).

By July 1915 Currey was working as an assistant observer at a forward observation post near Lone Pine, attached to the 1st Australian Infantry Brigade. He observed enemy positions, maintained communication with the artillery and helped direct fire. He described the post as “the warmest place of the lot” because it was shelled almost every day. During the attack on Lone Pine on 6 August, one shell smashed his periscope and another demolished part of the observation post. Currey continued his duties throughout the four days of fighting. He later recalled that the captured trenches were crowded with wounded men and the dead, writing that “words fail to describe the stench, flies, and heat” (MS-88-4).

Currey became ill with dysentery and enteric fever shortly afterwards. He left Gallipoli on 14 August 1915 and was taken to Malta with a temperature of 104.8 degrees Fahrenheit. In a letter from Imtarfa Military Hospital, dated 24 September 1915, he wrote: “While I write this I am lying in bed with Enteric Fever.” He added that he was well cared for, although he expected that his fighting service was over for at least six months (MS-88-2). He was later transferred to St John’s Hospital in Liverpool, where he described having been reduced to “skin and bones and as helpless as a baby” during his illness (MS-88-4).

Currey returned to active service on the Western Front. As a corporal with T Battery, Medium Trench Mortars, New Zealand Field Artillery, he was awarded the Military Medal for his conduct at Bois-Grenier on 21 February 1917. Under heavy shelling, he repaired and repeatedly adjusted a defective mortar mechanism, allowing the weapon to remain in action throughout an infantry raid.

By 1918 Currey had been commissioned as a second lieutenant and commanded a mobile section of Y Battery, Medium Trench Mortars. His diary records operations near Bucquoy, Bapaume, Bancourt and Gouzeaucourt. It describes guns and bombs being transported forward by mule, mortars being positioned close to the front line, and weapons being manhandled for the final 1,000 yards when enemy fire prevented the animals from advancing. During one bombardment, the six guns fired an average of 59 rounds each in 12 minutes (MS-88-5).

Currey completed more than four years of overseas service and was discharged on 11 September 1919. He received the Military Medal, 1914–15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

He continued serving in the New Zealand Territorial Force after World War I. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1922 and captain in 1925 and served with New Zealand artillery units. He was appointed as the president of the Auckland Commercial Gardeners' Society in 1937 and married Gwen Edith Lily Wilson in 1931. During World War II he served in New Zealand under service number 800534. He was associated with the Auckland Regiment, Countess of Ranfurly’s Own, and was placed on the Retired List with the rank of Major on 19 February 1943. His World War II records describe him as a fruit grower living at 53 New Windsor Road, Avondale.

He died in Auckland on 23 May 1981, aged 95, and was cremated at Purewa Cemetery and Crematorium. AWMM

Sources

External links: Byrne, J. (1922). New Zealand Artillery in the Field, 1914 - 18. Auckland, N.Z.: Whitcombe and Tombes Ltd. Digital copy
http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1NZAr.html
Sources Used
Military Personnel File
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R24097241
Further Reference
Military Personnel File
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R24055611
Further Reference
ENGAGEMENTS ANNOUNCED, Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 80, 6 April 1931, Page 10
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19310406.2.168.6
Further Reference
COMMERCIAL GARDENS. Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 127, 31 May 1937, Page 9
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19370531.2.93
Further Reference
Jonson, Ian, active 2003. Glass-house tomatoes; New Windsor brand, grown by A. A. Currey, Avondale. 20 lbs. nett. Unity Press Ltd. [1930-50].. [Ephemera and labels related to New Zealand fruit, fruit production, orchards, fruit export. 1900-1978]. Ref: Eph-B-FRUIT-1930s-01. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23152327
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R24097241
Further Reference
References: Information kindly provided by family
New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
Vol1: 169
Currey, Arthur Athelstan. Letters and diary extract, 1915 - 1918. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-88.
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
McDonald, W. (2013). Honours and Awards to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914-1918. (3rd ed.). Hamilton, N.Z.: Richard Stowers.
Waite, F. (1919). The New Zealanders at Gallipoli. Auckland, N.Z.: Printed and published under Authority of the New Zealand Government by Whitcombe & Tombs.

The development of the Online Cenotaph is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.

Online Cenotaph Data by Auckland War Memorial Museum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Arthur Athelstane Currey