FRANCIS CLARENCE CASSIDY
Regimental Number 53476
14 November 1889 - 7 May 1918
According to New Zealand Births Deaths and Marriages Registration records Francis Clarence Cassidy was born 14th November 1889 at Clarence River in Marlborough, between Blenheim and Kaikoura. His father was Francis Cassidy, born in 1847, and formerly of Enniskillen, Ireland, who had been resident in New Zealand since 1870. His mother Margaret, nee Hearon, had migrated from England in 1877.
Francis and Margaret married in St Mary and St Francis church in Rangiora in June 1885, by which time Francis was 38 years old (though he claimed to be 35), and Margaret was 22. Francis was a farm labourer and Margaret was a servant. Their only child, Francis Clarence, was born four years later.
By 1911 the family had shifted to Paparangi, Johnsonville. Land on the Paparangi hills to the north of the motorway had been settled under the Small Farms Settlement scheme introduced under legislation in 1892. This scheme allowed people with limited capital sums to join together to purchase tracts of land in smaller units. It is unknown whether Francis Cassidy owned or leased such a farm, or whether he was simply employed as a farm worker.
By the time Rifleman Francis Cassidy signed up on 24 February 1917 his father was 70 years old and dependent on Francis working the farm at Paparangi. Having been called up Francis had little option but to serve, although there must have been concerns about how his elderly father would cope in his absence.
On Francis’ attestation papers his middle name was spelt as “Clarance”, and his date of birth was stated to be 14 November 1888, making him one year older than he really was. Presumably both the incorrect birthdate and misspelling of his middle name were clerical errors.
His attestation papers also record him as not married, 5 foot 7 inches tall, with a dark complexion, light blue eyes, dark hair, and with a dimple on his chin. Following his medical examination on the 24th February 1917 he was pronounced fit for military service duty with good eyesight and hearing, well-formed limbs, a normal heart and lungs, and free from hernia, varicose veins and haemorrhoids and any other “slight defects”. His religious beliefs were that of the Roman Catholic church and his next of kin was his father, William Cassidy.
Francis, Regimental Number 53476, was then attached D. Coy, 1st Battalion, 2nd New Zealand Rifle Brigade, before embarking on 12 June 1917 with F. Coy, 27th Reinforcements, New Zealand Expeditionary Force on the HMNZT 86 Maunganui sailing to Devonport, Plymouth, England. After arrival on 16 August 1917 his company was taken to Tidworth, a garrison town in Wiltshire near Salisbury Plain. Tidworth became well known to thousands of New Zealanders, Australians and Canadians posted there during the war years as the location of Sling Camp. There is a somewhat lively description of Tidworth and Sling Camp available online at http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Effo-t1-body-d15-d2.html
Francis remained at Sling Camp for two months further training before being posted to Etaples on the coast in northern France on the 23 October 1917 with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Etaples was a principal depôt and transit camp for the British Expeditionary Force in France and also the point to which the wounded were transported. It was not an especially happy place, and there were a series of mutinies during 1917. Officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) in charge of the training had a reputation of not having served at the front, which inevitably created a certain amount of tension and contempt, particularly when they were training battle weary soldiers from the front line. Under atrocious conditions, both raw recruits and battle-weary veterans were subjected to intensive training in gas warfare and bayonet drill, and long sessions of marching at the double across the dunes.
The records covering the war service of Francis provide very limited information, and there is no indication of his location when he was killed in action on 7 May 1918. He is, however, commemorated on the Grevillers (New Zealand) Memorial. The Grevillers Memorial is one of seven in France and Belgium to those New Zealand soldiers who died on the Western Front and whose graves are not known. The memorials are all in cemeteries chosen as appropriate to the fighting in which the men died. Grevillers Memorial is less than three kilometres west of Bapaume and not far from Rossignol Wood, both areas where New Zealand troops were active at various times during 1918. It commemorates almost 450 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the defensive fighting in the area from March to August 1918, and in the Advance to Victory between 8 August and 11 November 1918. The cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. [i]
Francis’ war service entitled him to be issued posthumously with the Memorial Plaque and Scroll and the British War Medal. Several years passed before these were sent to his family, by which time his father had died (in Wellington on 27 December 1922) and been buried in the Roman Catholic section of Karori Cemetery). When the medal, plaque and scroll were finally available in mid-1924 they were sent to his mother who was by then living at 51 Thorndon Quay.
Francis trod lightly on the earth during his somewhat short life. He seems not to have married and there are therefore no known descendants. As an only child his father and mother also had no further descendants. The brief notice in the Evening Post following his death in action noted only (in addition to his date of death, etc.) that he enjoyed playing rugby for the Johnsonville Club and was educated in Nelson.
Research conducted by Vivienne McIsaac with supplementary input from Barbara Mulligan and Zane Kidd.
Sources
Archives New Zealand: http://archway.archives.govt.nz/
Auckland Museum Cenotaph Database: http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/locations
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: http://www.cwgc.org
National Library of New Zealand – Papers Past: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast
New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs Births Deaths & Marriage Online: https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
[i] http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/166400/GREVILLERS%20%28NEW%20ZEALAND%29%20MEMORIAL
Regimental Number 53476
14 November 1889 - 7 May 1918
According to New Zealand Births Deaths and Marriages Registration records Francis Clarence Cassidy was born 14th November 1889 at Clarence River in Marlborough, between Blenheim and Kaikoura. His father was Francis Cassidy, born in 1847, and formerly of Enniskillen, Ireland, who had been resident in New Zealand since 1870. His mother Margaret, nee Hearon, had migrated from England in 1877.
Francis and Margaret married in St Mary and St Francis church in Rangiora in June 1885, by which time Francis was 38 years old (though he claimed to be 35), and Margaret was 22. Francis was a farm labourer and Margaret was a servant. Their only child, Francis Clarence, was born four years later.
By 1911 the family had shifted to Paparangi, Johnsonville. Land on the Paparangi hills to the north of the motorway had been settled under the Small Farms Settlement scheme introduced under legislation in 1892. This scheme allowed people with limited capital sums to join together to purchase tracts of land in smaller units. It is unknown whether Francis Cassidy owned or leased such a farm, or whether he was simply employed as a farm worker.
By the time Rifleman Francis Cassidy signed up on 24 February 1917 his father was 70 years old and dependent on Francis working the farm at Paparangi. Having been called up Francis had little option but to serve, although there must have been concerns about how his elderly father would cope in his absence.
On Francis’ attestation papers his middle name was spelt as “Clarance”, and his date of birth was stated to be 14 November 1888, making him one year older than he really was. Presumably both the incorrect birthdate and misspelling of his middle name were clerical errors.
His attestation papers also record him as not married, 5 foot 7 inches tall, with a dark complexion, light blue eyes, dark hair, and with a dimple on his chin. Following his medical examination on the 24th February 1917 he was pronounced fit for military service duty with good eyesight and hearing, well-formed limbs, a normal heart and lungs, and free from hernia, varicose veins and haemorrhoids and any other “slight defects”. His religious beliefs were that of the Roman Catholic church and his next of kin was his father, William Cassidy.
Francis, Regimental Number 53476, was then attached D. Coy, 1st Battalion, 2nd New Zealand Rifle Brigade, before embarking on 12 June 1917 with F. Coy, 27th Reinforcements, New Zealand Expeditionary Force on the HMNZT 86 Maunganui sailing to Devonport, Plymouth, England. After arrival on 16 August 1917 his company was taken to Tidworth, a garrison town in Wiltshire near Salisbury Plain. Tidworth became well known to thousands of New Zealanders, Australians and Canadians posted there during the war years as the location of Sling Camp. There is a somewhat lively description of Tidworth and Sling Camp available online at http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Effo-t1-body-d15-d2.html
Francis remained at Sling Camp for two months further training before being posted to Etaples on the coast in northern France on the 23 October 1917 with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Etaples was a principal depôt and transit camp for the British Expeditionary Force in France and also the point to which the wounded were transported. It was not an especially happy place, and there were a series of mutinies during 1917. Officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) in charge of the training had a reputation of not having served at the front, which inevitably created a certain amount of tension and contempt, particularly when they were training battle weary soldiers from the front line. Under atrocious conditions, both raw recruits and battle-weary veterans were subjected to intensive training in gas warfare and bayonet drill, and long sessions of marching at the double across the dunes.
The records covering the war service of Francis provide very limited information, and there is no indication of his location when he was killed in action on 7 May 1918. He is, however, commemorated on the Grevillers (New Zealand) Memorial. The Grevillers Memorial is one of seven in France and Belgium to those New Zealand soldiers who died on the Western Front and whose graves are not known. The memorials are all in cemeteries chosen as appropriate to the fighting in which the men died. Grevillers Memorial is less than three kilometres west of Bapaume and not far from Rossignol Wood, both areas where New Zealand troops were active at various times during 1918. It commemorates almost 450 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the defensive fighting in the area from March to August 1918, and in the Advance to Victory between 8 August and 11 November 1918. The cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. [i]
Francis’ war service entitled him to be issued posthumously with the Memorial Plaque and Scroll and the British War Medal. Several years passed before these were sent to his family, by which time his father had died (in Wellington on 27 December 1922) and been buried in the Roman Catholic section of Karori Cemetery). When the medal, plaque and scroll were finally available in mid-1924 they were sent to his mother who was by then living at 51 Thorndon Quay.
Francis trod lightly on the earth during his somewhat short life. He seems not to have married and there are therefore no known descendants. As an only child his father and mother also had no further descendants. The brief notice in the Evening Post following his death in action noted only (in addition to his date of death, etc.) that he enjoyed playing rugby for the Johnsonville Club and was educated in Nelson.
Research conducted by Vivienne McIsaac with supplementary input from Barbara Mulligan and Zane Kidd.
Sources
Archives New Zealand: http://archway.archives.govt.nz/
Auckland Museum Cenotaph Database: http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/locations
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: http://www.cwgc.org
National Library of New Zealand – Papers Past: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast
New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs Births Deaths & Marriage Online: https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
[i] http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/166400/GREVILLERS%20%28NEW%20ZEALAND%29%20MEMORIAL
Photos Barbara Mulligan April 2018