was the last to edit John Cairncross (1876-1917)
on Oct 3rd, 2017 at 10:47 AM
created John Cairncross (1876-1917)
on Dec 8th, 2014 at 11:30 AM
Topic: John Cairncross (1876-1917)
Topic type:
Scottish couple John and Agnes Cairncross (nee Thomson) arrived in New Zealand on 18 July 1904 and later made their way to Tauranga. On 28 February 1917 John was killed in action at Messines in Belgium whilst serving during World War I. Story by Debbie McCauley.
Does this article look wrong? Click here for an archived version.
John Cairncross was born in Langholm, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 25 November 1876. He was the eldest son of James and Grace Cairncross (nee Irving) who married at Gretna in Scotland on 6 January 1872. James was an aerated water manufacturer of Hawick.
On 12 July 1901 John married Agnes Beck Thomson at Wilton in Roxburghshire, Scotland. Agnes was the daughter of Adam and Agnes Thomson. John was employed in the furnishing department of Hawick Co-operative Society.
John and Agnes arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, on board the 'Ionic' on 18 July 1904. The 1905-1906 New Zealand Electoral Roll lists Agnes living in Sheehan Street in Auckland.
John and Agnes are both listed on the District Electors' Roll for the Borough of Tauranga in 1913. John worked as a motorman and carpenter, rowed in his spare time, and was also part of the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce.
In 1914 John underwent a 'serious' operation in Auckland Hospital as reported in the Bay of Plenty Times. His 1916 war enlistment record mentions an appendix scar so this is likely the operation that took place in Auckland.
By 1916 John seems to have been working for Geraghty & Williams at their Te Kopua Flax Mill at Broad’s Bend on the western bank of the lower Kaituna River near Te Puke [Richard Henry Williams was killed at the Somme in 1918 whilst fighting during World War I and James Geraghty and family moved to Australia].
On 3 April 1916 John enlisted at Trentham to serve during World War I (Service No. 15871). He served as a rifleman with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 3rd Battalion.
Rifleman John Cairncross was killed in action at Messines in Belgium on 28 February 1917, aged 41. He was buried in the Berks Cemetery Extension at Comines-Warneton, Hainaut, Belgium (Grave Reference: I. L. 12.).
It is uncertain as to when Agnes returned to Scotland, but she died at Portobello in Edinburgh on 26 September 1922. The Scotland National Probate Index records:
CAIRNCROSS, Agnes Beck Thomson or, 6 Wilton Hill, Hawick, died 26 September 1922 at Portobello, testate. Confirmation Jedburgh, 2 November to Margaret Wilson Thomson, 1 Teviot Crescent, Hawick, Executrix. Will dates 27 March recorded Jedburgh 2 November 1922. Value of Estate, £113:10:2.
John's medals were sent to his maternal aunt, Agnes's Margaret Wilson Thomson (c1864-?), at Hawick in Roxburghshire, Scotland.
References:
Ancestry.com: 1905-1906 New Zealand Electoral Roll.
Ancestry.com: Scotland, National Probate Index (Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories), 1876-1936.
Archives New Zealand: Military Personnel File.
Auckland War Memorial Museum: Cenotaph Record.
Bay of Plenty Times (1914, September 3, p. 2): Local and General.
Births, Deaths and Marriages Online (New Zealand).
Robertson, Derek (editor) (2014). Hawick and the War 1914-1918: A Pictorial Record (p. 143) via Hawick & the Great War.
Tauranga City Libraries, Research Collections: District Electors' Roll, Borough of Tauranga, 1913.
___
A version of this article was archived in August 2016 at Perma CC https://perma.cc/NRP7-Z8NT
John Cairncross
Walter John Cairncross
