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Cenotaph record

Hugh Montagu Butterworth

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Portrait from In Memoriam, 1914-1918 [Wanganui Collegiate School], 1919[?] - No known copyright restrictions

Portrait from In Memoriam, 1914-1918 [Wanganui Collegiate School], 1919[?] - No known copyright rest …

Identity

About

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  • Title
  • Forenames
    Hugh Montagu AWMM
  • Surname
    Butterworth AWMM
  • Ingoa
  • Also known as
    Hugh Montague Butterworth AWMM
  • Service number
  • Gender
    Male AWMM
  • Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
  • Religion

Civilian life

About birth

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  • Birth
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Birth notes
  • Address before enlistment
  • Post war occupation
  • Next of kin on embarkation
    WW1 Miss M. Butterworth (sister), Barton Court School, New Milton, Hampshire, England AWMM
  • Relationship status
    Unknown AWMM Single AWMM

Service

Wars and conflicts

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  • War
    World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
  • Campaign
    • 1914-1919 Western Front AWMM
    • 1914-1919 Western Front AWMM
  • Armed force / branch
    Army AWMM
  • Service number
  • Military service
  • Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers

Military decorations

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Training and Enlistment

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  • Military training
  • Branch Trade Proficiency
  • Enlistment
    WW1 School Master/Civilian AWMM
  • Occupation before enlistment
  • Age on enlistment

Embarkations

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Prisoner of war

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  • Capture details
  • Days interned
  • Liberation date
  • Liberation Repatriation
  • POW liberation details
  • POW serial number

Medical history

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  • Medical notes
    Killed in Action, Cause of Death AWMM

Biographical information

Biographical information

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    • Hugh Butterworth was the son of George Montagu Butterworth and Catherine Lucie Butterworth (née Warde), of Cashmere, Christchurch.

      Schoolmaster at Wanganui Collegiate "For rather more than seven years a master here, joined the staff in September, 1907, and immediately endeared himself to everybody with whom he became associated. In the face of what is now so well known of his life and work among us, it would be superfluous to add further expressions of the honour in which he was held. Leaving for England in January 1915, he was given a commission in the 9th Battalion Rifle Brigade, and left for 'Bulletville,' as he humorously described it, towards the end of May. During the few weeks of training he received at Aldershot, and indeed up to the actual date of his death, he wrote almost without interruption, and described in detail his experiences of military life in an altogether delightful style. Cheerful under all conditions, and full of enthusiasm for everything he undertook, he faced the war in a true spirit of self-sacrifice, his personality winning for him an affection that can never be adequately described. He saw but four months of active service, and this in the neighbourhood of Ypres, being killed in action on September 25th, 1915. The news of his death caused universal sorrow, but his life of unselfish devotion to duty will serve as a pattern for many years to those who had the good fortune to know him. His father, in a letter, alluded to him in these few words, which seem peculiarly appropriate:– 'If he died as we believe he did, charging at the trenches, do you pity him? I cannot. Fancy trying to keep up with him! At that supreme moment as he glanced at his men whom we know loved him and would follow him anywhere, he tasted life's elixir, and what mattered it whether it lasted only for seconds. It was the rapture of a lifetime!" (In Memoriam, 1914-1918 [Wanganui Collegiate School])

      Name spelled as Montague inIn Memoriam, 1914-1918 [Wanganui Collegiate School] AWMM
    • Book ‘Letters From Flanders’ - Letters written in the trenches near Ypres between May and September 1915. By H M Butterworth. 9th Rifle Brigade, who fell in Action on September 25 th 1915
      Published 1916 by Whitcombe and Tombs Limited Wellington.
      Gives a little of his life before joining up. Public - Liz - 2 November 2024 - As in added biography section
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Death

About death

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  • Death
    25 September 1915 AWMM
    Age 29 AWMM
    France, Europe AWMM
  • Date of death
  • Age at death
  • Place of death
  • Cause of death
    Killed in Action AWMM
  • Death notes
  • Cemetery
  • Cemetery name
  • Grave reference
  • Obituary
  • Memorial name
  • Memorial reference

Memorials

Memorial

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  • Memorial name
    Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium AWMM

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Sources

Sources

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Contributors

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DateFirst namesLocationRelationshipContact
02 November 2024Liz Auckland New ZealandOther

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