HALL MARTIN DOWMAN
10 December 1883 – 28 July 1915
Regimental number 8/1454
Hall Martin DOWMAN, usually known as Martin, was born in the south Wairarapa town of Martinborough. The town itself was new when he was an infant, dating from 1879 when a wealthy runholder by the name of John Martin founded it and named it after himself.
Martin was named after both his parents, Hall after his father Hall Carr Dowman and Martin after the family of his mother Mary, née MARTIN. His parents had married in 1878, and Martin was the third of an eventual nine children – five sons and four daughters.
School records show that Martin spent his first ten years in various small towns in south Wairarapa: Martinborough first, followed by Featherston and then Greytown, with his father working in the earlier years as a livery stableman and subsequently as a carrier. During the 1890s, the family moved to Mitchelltown in the Aro Valley, and Martin attended the Te Aro school for the rest of his schooling although his younger siblings were enrolled at the local school in Mitchelltown. Martin’s father was included in successive Wises Directories as a contractor, until about 1912 when the family moved again, this time to Taranaki.
Martin did not go with them. In the 1905/06 electoral roll, he was recorded as a labourer, living in Mitchelltown, but some time over the next few years (perhaps coinciding with his parent’s’ move to Taranaki), he went back to the Wairarapa, working as a shearer according to the 1914 electoral roll, and perhaps more generally as a labourer. He was working for a Mr Oganfeldt when he enlisted. He was one of the early group of volunteers. His Army service dates from 15 December 1914 when he began at Trentham Camp. He was then 32, and taller than many at 5 feet 11 inches. The description of him on his enlistment record says that his hair was ‘black with grey in it’, explained as ‘a family peculiarity’.
Martin was assigned to the Otago Infantry Battalion. He left Wellington on the troopship Aparima on 14 February 1915 as part of the Third Reinforcements, bound for Egypt. On 26 March 1915 the 62 officers and 2,147 other ranks of the Third Reinforcements arrived in Suez, and three days later joined the rest of the New Zealand Division for an inspection parade in front of General Sir Ian Hamilton, the senior British Army officer who had just been appointed Commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.
More training was the order of the day. To prepare for the planned campaign in the rough and mountainous country of the Gallipoli Peninsula, the troops undertook long distance route marches with the weight of packs being increased to at least 70 pounds or well over 30 kilograms.[1] During the second week of April, the Otago Regiment sailed on the Annaberg, a captured enemy vessel that was ‘filthy beyond description, and abominably louse-ridden’ to join the rest of the fleet of transport ships in the harbour of Lemnos waiting for the signal to proceed. The troops used the waiting time to practise disembarking from the ship’s side and more route marches on shore, but they continued living on board ship. At about midnight on 24 April, the New Zealand transports weighed anchor and moved out into the Aegean Sea, heading for Gallipoli.
The first troops of the Otago Battalion landed at about 2.30 during the afternoon of the 25th, with everyone ashore by 4pm. The Official History paints a chaotic scene: the fighting was continuous and increasingly heavy, many companies had to adapt to unexpected changes to their orders, field guns were not available until later in the day, and casualties were mounting.
The troops forming the front line had suffered heavy punishment from enemy shrapnel and rifle [fire]; there were also considerable gaps in the line and serious disorganisation of commands consequent upon casualties and the inevitable intermingling of units.[2]
It was clearly a very tough time: constant digging and fighting, little sleep, the need to be constantly watchful. At the beginning of May, the Otago Battalion formed part of an attempted but unsuccessful advance to reach higher ground. It was a costly failure.
Otago suffered badly, losing practically half its strength in both officers and men… The net results in respect of ground permanently gained were nil.[3]
Two days later, on 4 May, fresh orders saw the Battalion withdraw to move south to Cape Helles to prepare for what became known as the Second Battle of Krithia as the Allied forces tried to move up the peninsula to capture the forts controlling the passage through the Dardanelles. The attack opened on 6 May, continued through the 7th and again on the 8th, with the Otago troops in reserve because their much-reduced numbers from a week earlier. As the battle raged and the casualties rose, however, the Otago Battalion was called upon to provide support until the New Zealand Brigade was relieved on 12 May.
Life for the men of the Otago Battalion continued in a similar vein over the next two months. The Official History comments:
From the moment of landing [the infantry] had lived in a narrow strip of country with the sea at their backs and surrounded on all other sides by the enemy. At the most it was only a mile in depth; and whether in “rest” or in the line the men were always within rifle shot of the enemy, and nowhere were they free from the harassing attentions of his guns.[4]
Towards the end of July, Martin was reported to be missing. It is not clear whether this occurred during a period of so-called rest, when he was digging, carrying stores or undertaking similar hard work, or during one of the endless counter-attacks mounted by the Turks. Initially there was uncertainty about what had happened to Martin, and his personnel file records simply that he was missing. Many months later, notes were added to say: ‘No trace in England’ and ‘All inquiries made in Egypt and Malta. No trace’. Finally, on 4 May 1916, there is a concluding note: ‘Missing – Believed Dead. Dardanelles, on or about 28.7.15’.
The Evening Post on 10 May 1916 carried a report of New Zealand casualties with a subheading ‘Believed Killed in Action’. It included Martin in that list, with the note ‘Reported missing 28th July 1915, now believed killed in action.’
Martin’s name is listed on Panel 75 at the Lone Pine Cemetery and Memorial at Canakkale, Turkey, as one of those whose final resting place is unknown. In New Zealand he is remembered at the Aro Valley War Memorial, close to where he lived in Mitchelltown, and on the War Memorial in the centre of Martinborough.
Martin’s younger brother, William Francis, signed up for military service in 1916, and served overseas o the Western Front. Although he was wounded a couple of times he survived and returned to New Zealand in mid-1919 to resume family life with his wife and children.
[1] Official History of the Otago Regiment, NZEF in the Great War 1914–1918, A E Byrne, J Wilkie and Co, 1921, p14.
[2] Ibid p23.
[3] Ibid p32; emphasis in original.
[4] Ibid p44.
10 December 1883 – 28 July 1915
Regimental number 8/1454
Hall Martin DOWMAN, usually known as Martin, was born in the south Wairarapa town of Martinborough. The town itself was new when he was an infant, dating from 1879 when a wealthy runholder by the name of John Martin founded it and named it after himself.
Martin was named after both his parents, Hall after his father Hall Carr Dowman and Martin after the family of his mother Mary, née MARTIN. His parents had married in 1878, and Martin was the third of an eventual nine children – five sons and four daughters.
School records show that Martin spent his first ten years in various small towns in south Wairarapa: Martinborough first, followed by Featherston and then Greytown, with his father working in the earlier years as a livery stableman and subsequently as a carrier. During the 1890s, the family moved to Mitchelltown in the Aro Valley, and Martin attended the Te Aro school for the rest of his schooling although his younger siblings were enrolled at the local school in Mitchelltown. Martin’s father was included in successive Wises Directories as a contractor, until about 1912 when the family moved again, this time to Taranaki.
Martin did not go with them. In the 1905/06 electoral roll, he was recorded as a labourer, living in Mitchelltown, but some time over the next few years (perhaps coinciding with his parent’s’ move to Taranaki), he went back to the Wairarapa, working as a shearer according to the 1914 electoral roll, and perhaps more generally as a labourer. He was working for a Mr Oganfeldt when he enlisted. He was one of the early group of volunteers. His Army service dates from 15 December 1914 when he began at Trentham Camp. He was then 32, and taller than many at 5 feet 11 inches. The description of him on his enlistment record says that his hair was ‘black with grey in it’, explained as ‘a family peculiarity’.
Martin was assigned to the Otago Infantry Battalion. He left Wellington on the troopship Aparima on 14 February 1915 as part of the Third Reinforcements, bound for Egypt. On 26 March 1915 the 62 officers and 2,147 other ranks of the Third Reinforcements arrived in Suez, and three days later joined the rest of the New Zealand Division for an inspection parade in front of General Sir Ian Hamilton, the senior British Army officer who had just been appointed Commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.
More training was the order of the day. To prepare for the planned campaign in the rough and mountainous country of the Gallipoli Peninsula, the troops undertook long distance route marches with the weight of packs being increased to at least 70 pounds or well over 30 kilograms.[1] During the second week of April, the Otago Regiment sailed on the Annaberg, a captured enemy vessel that was ‘filthy beyond description, and abominably louse-ridden’ to join the rest of the fleet of transport ships in the harbour of Lemnos waiting for the signal to proceed. The troops used the waiting time to practise disembarking from the ship’s side and more route marches on shore, but they continued living on board ship. At about midnight on 24 April, the New Zealand transports weighed anchor and moved out into the Aegean Sea, heading for Gallipoli.
The first troops of the Otago Battalion landed at about 2.30 during the afternoon of the 25th, with everyone ashore by 4pm. The Official History paints a chaotic scene: the fighting was continuous and increasingly heavy, many companies had to adapt to unexpected changes to their orders, field guns were not available until later in the day, and casualties were mounting.
The troops forming the front line had suffered heavy punishment from enemy shrapnel and rifle [fire]; there were also considerable gaps in the line and serious disorganisation of commands consequent upon casualties and the inevitable intermingling of units.[2]
It was clearly a very tough time: constant digging and fighting, little sleep, the need to be constantly watchful. At the beginning of May, the Otago Battalion formed part of an attempted but unsuccessful advance to reach higher ground. It was a costly failure.
Otago suffered badly, losing practically half its strength in both officers and men… The net results in respect of ground permanently gained were nil.[3]
Two days later, on 4 May, fresh orders saw the Battalion withdraw to move south to Cape Helles to prepare for what became known as the Second Battle of Krithia as the Allied forces tried to move up the peninsula to capture the forts controlling the passage through the Dardanelles. The attack opened on 6 May, continued through the 7th and again on the 8th, with the Otago troops in reserve because their much-reduced numbers from a week earlier. As the battle raged and the casualties rose, however, the Otago Battalion was called upon to provide support until the New Zealand Brigade was relieved on 12 May.
Life for the men of the Otago Battalion continued in a similar vein over the next two months. The Official History comments:
From the moment of landing [the infantry] had lived in a narrow strip of country with the sea at their backs and surrounded on all other sides by the enemy. At the most it was only a mile in depth; and whether in “rest” or in the line the men were always within rifle shot of the enemy, and nowhere were they free from the harassing attentions of his guns.[4]
Towards the end of July, Martin was reported to be missing. It is not clear whether this occurred during a period of so-called rest, when he was digging, carrying stores or undertaking similar hard work, or during one of the endless counter-attacks mounted by the Turks. Initially there was uncertainty about what had happened to Martin, and his personnel file records simply that he was missing. Many months later, notes were added to say: ‘No trace in England’ and ‘All inquiries made in Egypt and Malta. No trace’. Finally, on 4 May 1916, there is a concluding note: ‘Missing – Believed Dead. Dardanelles, on or about 28.7.15’.
The Evening Post on 10 May 1916 carried a report of New Zealand casualties with a subheading ‘Believed Killed in Action’. It included Martin in that list, with the note ‘Reported missing 28th July 1915, now believed killed in action.’
Martin’s name is listed on Panel 75 at the Lone Pine Cemetery and Memorial at Canakkale, Turkey, as one of those whose final resting place is unknown. In New Zealand he is remembered at the Aro Valley War Memorial, close to where he lived in Mitchelltown, and on the War Memorial in the centre of Martinborough.
Martin’s younger brother, William Francis, signed up for military service in 1916, and served overseas o the Western Front. Although he was wounded a couple of times he survived and returned to New Zealand in mid-1919 to resume family life with his wife and children.
[1] Official History of the Otago Regiment, NZEF in the Great War 1914–1918, A E Byrne, J Wilkie and Co, 1921, p14.
[2] Ibid p23.
[3] Ibid p32; emphasis in original.
[4] Ibid p44.