

Tauranga man Gerard Edwin Chater Mayfield died from his wounds in 1944. The Mayfield house was later shifted from Bethlehem to Tauranga Boys' College to be used as a sports pavilion and tuition centre.
Gerard Edwin Chater Mayfield was born in England on 1 June 1904. His parents were Edwin and Margaret Susan Mayfield who married on 19 June 1895 at St Matthew, Bayswater, Middlesex in England.
The family departed from London, England on 10 December 1908, arriving in Wellington, New Zealand.
Gerard went to Tauranga District High School.
He was a self-employed orchadist in Bethlehem. He married Claire Rishton Mason in 1929 (reg. 1929/187). They had one daughter.
Gerard was posted to Egypt and Italy where he was wounded on 25 April 1944. He died from his wounds on 29 July 1944.
The Mayfield house was shifted from Bethlehem to Tauranga Boys' College to be used as a sports pavilion and tuition centre.
Gerard is remembered in Tauranga's Memorial Grove, two rows of totara trees located on Fifteenth Avenue which stand as a memorial to 41 former Tauranga District High School students killed during World War II (1939-1945).
Claire died in 1979 (reg. 1979/26811).
Sources:
Ancestry.com
Births, Deaths and Marriages Online (New Zealand)
Reunion leads to hunt for war dead - research by Betty Eaton-Woodcock (Bay of Plenty Times, 25 April 2011, pp. 10-11).
Year: | 1944 |
Note: | Service Number: 23845 |
First Names: | Gerard Edwin Chater |
Last Name: | Mayfield |
Date of Birth: | 1 June 1904 |
Country of birth: | England |
Date of death: | 29 July 1944 |
Place of death: | Italy |
Place of burial: | Florence War Cemetery, Italy |
Occupation: | Orchardist |
Date of sailing: | 10 December 1908 |
Sailed from: | London, England |
Spouses name: | Claire Rishton Mason |
Spouses date of birth: | 14 March 1897 |
Spouses date of death: | 1979 |
Date of marriage: | 1929 |
Fathers name: | Edwin Mayfield |
Fathers date of birth: | c1871 |
Fathers place of birth: | Brantingham, Yorkshire |
Fathers date of death: | England |
Mothers name: | Margaret Susan Mayfield |
Mothers date of birth: | c1869 |
Mothers place of birth: | Southolt, Middlesex |
Mothers date of death: | England |
Name of sibilings: | Margaret Joan Mayfield (1898-?), Carlyon Athelstan Chater Mayfield (1902-1995), Susan Jocelyn Mayfield (1904-?), Alleyne Guy K Mayfield (1907-?), and Miles Godfrey Mayfield (1909-1994) |
Military Service: | World War II (1939-1945) |