JOSEPH FUTTER
Regimental No. 12/1629,
15 October 1887 - 30 August 1918
Private Joseph FUTTER was the sixth of seven children of Mr William and Mrs Emma Futter (nee Brimmacombe) of Mulgrave Street, Thorndon. Joseph was born 15 October 1887 in Wellington, and his siblings were William (1876), Walter (1880), John (1882), Louisa (1883), Laura (1886) and Emma (1889). Joseph’s early education was at Thorndon School, Wellington. By 1911 the family were living at Ngahauranga (Ngauranga), Wellington.
Joseph enlisted on 14 December 1914 and was posted to Auckland Regiment 2nd Battalion. Unfortunately the page in Joseph’s military personnel file on which his physical details and results of his medical examination at the time of enlistment would have been recorded is missing so there is no basis for a description of him. His records do note though that he was a carpenter, working for someone called Martin, and that he lived in Pukeatua, Waikato. Pukeatua is about halfway between Te Awamutu and Putaruru. It also noted that he purported to be an Anglican.
After a few weeks training in New Zealand he embarked on 14 February 1915 on one of the ships in HMNZT 17, 18 or 19, the “Maunganui”, “Tahiti”, or “Aparima”. He was one of 1,719 men who embarked on these three ships, as the 3rd Reinforcement for the NZ Expeditionary Force. They landed in Suez and Joseph was shortly after sent to the front at Gallipoli, arriving there on 8th May 1915, about three weeks after the initial landing of Allied troops on the peninsula. He remained on Gallipoli for about three months, but at the end of August had succumbed to dysentery so severe he had to be admitted to hospital on the 31st, and was then sent to the auxiliary hospital at Heliopolis, located in an upmarket suburb of Cairo where the Australians had established a large field hospital. Dysentery was a very common complaint for the soldiers at Gallipoli due to the very poor living conditions they had to endure.
It is not clear what happened next to Joseph as there is nothing recorded until 9th February 1916 when he was employed on staff at the Emergency Clearing Camp at Zeitoun, which was the main training camp for New Zealand troops in Egypt. He can’t have fully recovered as his file notes he was to be on “light duties”. His file also notes that he was to be an Officer’s Orderly in the Emergency Ambulance Service at Zeitoun.
The next entry in the file indicates Joseph rejoined his unit on 25th March, at Ismailia. Ismailia is a city in north-eastern Egypt, situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal. During WW1 it was an isolation camp for screening soldiers for two weeks on arrival in Egypt, checking for any illnesses such as measles which can break out when people are crowded together for long periods. It presumably also served this purpose for soldiers being prepared to leave for the Front.
Joseph left for France from Port Said on the HMT Franconia on the 6th of April and was attached to the 1st Brigade HQ on 1st May. Only two days later he had been attached to the ANZAC Headquarters as an Orderly, at Morbecque, just over 60 kilometers inland from Etaples. He was then transferred to No. 1 Australian Field Ambulance on 25th May, and from then on for the rest of 1916 and until July 1918 he seems to have been attached to 1st ANZAC Headquarters in the field. It is unclear what his role was, and whereabouts he was located for this period of more than two years. His only leave period on record was taken from 26 October to 8 November 1917.
In July 1918 finally Joseph was detached to the New Zealand Division, joining the Battalion on the 17th. He then joined the 2nd Brigade Auckland Regiment on 29 August, and one day later was killed in action. Again, his file is silent on his location or what he was doing when killed, but from a small detail in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website we can assume he was in the thick of fighting for the village of Bancourt:
“Bancourt was occupied by Commonwealth forces in March 1917. It was lost a year later during the German offensive in the spring of 1918, but recaptured by the New Zealand Division (in particular, the 2nd Auckland Battalion) on 30 August 1918.”[1]
This indicates that Joseph was in the Second Battle of Bapaume, 21 August–3 September, part of the second phase of the Battle of Amiens, the British and Commonwealth attack that was the turning point of the First World War on the Western Front and the beginning of the Allies' Hundred Days Offensive. Bapaume is less than 3 kilometres west of the village of Bancourt.
Joseph was buried at Bancourt British Cemetery which now contains 2,480 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,462 of the burials are unidentified, but Joseph is in a marked grave. He was 31 years old and had been at war for almost four years.
Joseph was entitled to the 1914-1915 Star, the Victory Medal 1922, the British War Medal 1924, and the Scroll 1921 and Plaque 1922. All of these were sent to his father William.
For several years on the anniversary of his death, his family published memorials in the Evening Post newspaper, in the New Zealand Roll of Honour section. Initially these were accompanied by poignant verses such as
“He has borne his cross, he has worn his crown,
Though he lies in a far off grave;
And we think of his life – a duty done
Manly, unselfish and brave.”
And
“We picture Joe returning,
And thought to clasp his hand,
But God has postponed the meeting,
It will be in the Better Land.”
In the memorials inserted in 1923 reference is made to Joseph being killed at Bapaume. Joseph's name is included amongst those inscribed on the obelisk in the grounds of the war memorial Church in Pukeatua (located at 2127 Arapuni Road).[2]
Having served through the bitterly waged Gallipoli campaign in 1915 and then survived until near the end of the war three years later Joseph Futter can certainly be said to have done his time.
Joseph’s mother died on 23rd June 1927 and his father in July 1929. They were buried in Taita Cemetery-Old Section not far from Joseph’s older brother William who had died in 1922 aged 46. All are in a Presbyterian section of the cemetery. None of his brothers appear to have served.
[1] http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/21001/BANCOURT%20BRITISH%20CEMETERY
[2] 'Pukeatua war memorial church', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/pukeatua-war-memorial-church, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 20-Dec-2012
Regimental No. 12/1629,
15 October 1887 - 30 August 1918
Private Joseph FUTTER was the sixth of seven children of Mr William and Mrs Emma Futter (nee Brimmacombe) of Mulgrave Street, Thorndon. Joseph was born 15 October 1887 in Wellington, and his siblings were William (1876), Walter (1880), John (1882), Louisa (1883), Laura (1886) and Emma (1889). Joseph’s early education was at Thorndon School, Wellington. By 1911 the family were living at Ngahauranga (Ngauranga), Wellington.
Joseph enlisted on 14 December 1914 and was posted to Auckland Regiment 2nd Battalion. Unfortunately the page in Joseph’s military personnel file on which his physical details and results of his medical examination at the time of enlistment would have been recorded is missing so there is no basis for a description of him. His records do note though that he was a carpenter, working for someone called Martin, and that he lived in Pukeatua, Waikato. Pukeatua is about halfway between Te Awamutu and Putaruru. It also noted that he purported to be an Anglican.
After a few weeks training in New Zealand he embarked on 14 February 1915 on one of the ships in HMNZT 17, 18 or 19, the “Maunganui”, “Tahiti”, or “Aparima”. He was one of 1,719 men who embarked on these three ships, as the 3rd Reinforcement for the NZ Expeditionary Force. They landed in Suez and Joseph was shortly after sent to the front at Gallipoli, arriving there on 8th May 1915, about three weeks after the initial landing of Allied troops on the peninsula. He remained on Gallipoli for about three months, but at the end of August had succumbed to dysentery so severe he had to be admitted to hospital on the 31st, and was then sent to the auxiliary hospital at Heliopolis, located in an upmarket suburb of Cairo where the Australians had established a large field hospital. Dysentery was a very common complaint for the soldiers at Gallipoli due to the very poor living conditions they had to endure.
It is not clear what happened next to Joseph as there is nothing recorded until 9th February 1916 when he was employed on staff at the Emergency Clearing Camp at Zeitoun, which was the main training camp for New Zealand troops in Egypt. He can’t have fully recovered as his file notes he was to be on “light duties”. His file also notes that he was to be an Officer’s Orderly in the Emergency Ambulance Service at Zeitoun.
The next entry in the file indicates Joseph rejoined his unit on 25th March, at Ismailia. Ismailia is a city in north-eastern Egypt, situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal. During WW1 it was an isolation camp for screening soldiers for two weeks on arrival in Egypt, checking for any illnesses such as measles which can break out when people are crowded together for long periods. It presumably also served this purpose for soldiers being prepared to leave for the Front.
Joseph left for France from Port Said on the HMT Franconia on the 6th of April and was attached to the 1st Brigade HQ on 1st May. Only two days later he had been attached to the ANZAC Headquarters as an Orderly, at Morbecque, just over 60 kilometers inland from Etaples. He was then transferred to No. 1 Australian Field Ambulance on 25th May, and from then on for the rest of 1916 and until July 1918 he seems to have been attached to 1st ANZAC Headquarters in the field. It is unclear what his role was, and whereabouts he was located for this period of more than two years. His only leave period on record was taken from 26 October to 8 November 1917.
In July 1918 finally Joseph was detached to the New Zealand Division, joining the Battalion on the 17th. He then joined the 2nd Brigade Auckland Regiment on 29 August, and one day later was killed in action. Again, his file is silent on his location or what he was doing when killed, but from a small detail in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website we can assume he was in the thick of fighting for the village of Bancourt:
“Bancourt was occupied by Commonwealth forces in March 1917. It was lost a year later during the German offensive in the spring of 1918, but recaptured by the New Zealand Division (in particular, the 2nd Auckland Battalion) on 30 August 1918.”[1]
This indicates that Joseph was in the Second Battle of Bapaume, 21 August–3 September, part of the second phase of the Battle of Amiens, the British and Commonwealth attack that was the turning point of the First World War on the Western Front and the beginning of the Allies' Hundred Days Offensive. Bapaume is less than 3 kilometres west of the village of Bancourt.
Joseph was buried at Bancourt British Cemetery which now contains 2,480 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,462 of the burials are unidentified, but Joseph is in a marked grave. He was 31 years old and had been at war for almost four years.
Joseph was entitled to the 1914-1915 Star, the Victory Medal 1922, the British War Medal 1924, and the Scroll 1921 and Plaque 1922. All of these were sent to his father William.
For several years on the anniversary of his death, his family published memorials in the Evening Post newspaper, in the New Zealand Roll of Honour section. Initially these were accompanied by poignant verses such as
“He has borne his cross, he has worn his crown,
Though he lies in a far off grave;
And we think of his life – a duty done
Manly, unselfish and brave.”
And
“We picture Joe returning,
And thought to clasp his hand,
But God has postponed the meeting,
It will be in the Better Land.”
In the memorials inserted in 1923 reference is made to Joseph being killed at Bapaume. Joseph's name is included amongst those inscribed on the obelisk in the grounds of the war memorial Church in Pukeatua (located at 2127 Arapuni Road).[2]
Having served through the bitterly waged Gallipoli campaign in 1915 and then survived until near the end of the war three years later Joseph Futter can certainly be said to have done his time.
Joseph’s mother died on 23rd June 1927 and his father in July 1929. They were buried in Taita Cemetery-Old Section not far from Joseph’s older brother William who had died in 1922 aged 46. All are in a Presbyterian section of the cemetery. None of his brothers appear to have served.
[1] http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/21001/BANCOURT%20BRITISH%20CEMETERY
[2] 'Pukeatua war memorial church', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/pukeatua-war-memorial-church, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 20-Dec-2012