World War 1

On 28 June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie were assassinated in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo. The fallout from this faraway event would ultimately claim the lives of 18,000 New Zealanders and lead to the wounding of 41,000. Places thousands of miles from home with exotic-sounding names such as Gallipoli, Passchendaele and the Somme etched themselves in national memory during the First World War.

The war took approximately 100,000 New Zealanders overseas, many for the first time. Some anticipated a great adventure but found the reality very different. Being so far from home made these New Zealanders very aware of who they were and where they were from. In battle, they were able to compare themselves with men from other nations. Out of this, many have argued, came a sense of a separate identity, and many New Zealand soldiers began to refer to themselves as ‘Kiwis’.

Quick facts and figures

• The total population of New Zealand in 1914 was approximately 1.1 million
• Almost 100,000 New Zealanders served overseas in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF)
• More than 2200 Māori and around 500 Pacific Islanders served overseas with the New Zealand forces
• 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to soldiers serving with New Zealand forces
• Several thousand New Zealanders served in the Australian or British imperial forces, being awarded a further five Victoria Crosses
• In all, 550 nurses served overseas with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service, while others enlisted in the United Kingdom

New Zealand and the First World War’, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/first-world-war-overview/introduction, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage)

The Resources

Around 18,000 New Zealanders died in or because of the war, and there were 41,000 instances of wounding or illness; 2779 died at Gallipoli and more than 12,000 on the Western Front.

In the two tables below you will find the full list of New Zealanders who died in service during WW1. You can sort these using the tools in the table and search for any specific name or other information using the search bar.

To return to the full table at any time, remove your entry in the search bar.

Surnames A – D

Surnames E – L

Apologies – This information is undergoing updating but should be available again soon, please return regularly to check for updates.

NZ Roll of Honour for the Sea and Air

New Zealanders who died in the UK

This list of over 800 names was created by an NZMHS member in the Uk and details New Zealand service personnel who died in the UK during WW1. This new table below was updated in Oct 2022 with new in-depth information added regarding cause of death and next of kin.

While many of the deaths are from random accidents or sickness or caused by wounds, one of the most tragic incidents that resulted in the deaths of 10 soldiers was the Bere Ferrers Rail Accident that happend on the 24 September 1917.

The accident occurred as troops from the 28th Reinforcements for the NZ Expeditionary Force were being transported from the port of Plymouth to Sling Camp on Salisbury Plain. These men had just arrived in Britain on the troopships Ulimaroa and Norman, and were heading to the NZEF base to complete their training.

The train carrying the New Zealanders had left Plymouth Friary Station at 3 p.m. Prior to departure the men on board were informed that rations would be served at the train’s first stop in Exeter. Orders were given for two men from each carriage to collect provisions from the guard’s van when the train stopped.

At 3.52 p.m. the train made an unscheduled stop at Bere Ferrers in response to a signal. As the rear carriages stopped outside the station those on board assumed they had reached Exeter. Eager to find food and ignoring the ‘two from each carriage’ instruction, many of the men jumped off, some onto the opposite track. Moments later they were struck by an oncoming train.

The London to Plymouth express had left Exeter at 2.12 p.m. and was approaching Bere Ferrers as the troop train came to a halt. Spotting the stationary train on the other track, the driver sounded a long whistle blast before rounding the final bend into the station at 40 miles (64 km) per hour. As the engine of the express passed the rear of the troop train the crew suddenly spotted soldiers on the track. The driver immediately applied the brakes, but it was too late. Nine New Zealanders were killed instantly and another died in hospital. One of the survivors later remarked:

We never thought of express travelling at 40 miles per hour. They don’t travel at that rate in New Zealand. It was a wonder more of us were not killed. I saw the coat-tails of the man in front of me fly up, and I picked his body up afterwards some yards down the line.

The dead soldiers – William Gillanders, William Greaves, John Jackson, Joseph Judge, Chudleigh Kirton, Baron McBryde, Richard McKenna, William Trussell, John Warden and Sidney West – were buried at Efford Cemetery in Plymouth. An inquest held shortly after the accident concluded that the men had left the train on the wrong side because they assumed that the door through which they had boarded the train was also the exit. A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

A year after the tragedy a memorial to the victims was unveiled at St Andrew’s Church in Bere Ferrers. A plaque bearing the names of the dead men was also erected at the railway station. In 2001 New Zealand’s National Army Museum helped arrange a remembrance service in Bere Ferrers, during which a new memorial was unveiled in the centre of the village.

‘Bere Ferrers rail accident’, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/bere-ferrers-rail-accident, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage)

New Zealanders who served with other countries forces during WW1

New Zealanders also served across many other nations forces in WW1 and the NZMHS has created unique research that brings together the more than 12,000 names of those New Zealand citizens who also served during WW1 but may not appear in our records.

To see this fascinating research and to learn more about the process click below to go to this next page

New Zealanders who were taken as Prisoners of War in WW1

Timeline for the Maori Battalion

In early 1915 the government sent the New Zealand Maori Contingent to join the New Zealand forces in Egypt. Its soldiers were drawn from iwi across the country and it was eventually organised in companies corresponding to the four Māori electorates. This was a distinctively Maori contribution to the Imperial war effort.

The Maori Contingent was assigned to garrison duty in Malta, but manpower shortages on Gallipoli led to it serving there as an infantry unit from August to December 1915.

The Contingent was reconstituted as a ‘Pioneer Battalion’ in early 1916, as part of the newly-formed New Zealand Division about to move to the Western Front. Two of the Pioneer Battalion’s four companies were made up of the former Maori Contingent, with the other two drawn largely from the Otago Mounted Rifles.

Pioneers were not front-line fighting units but a military labour force trained and organised to work on engineering duties, digging trenches, building roads and railways, and taking on other logistical tasks. This was essential and dangerous work that was often carried out under fire.

The Pioneer Battalion served with the New Zealand forces on the Western Front from April 1916, and in September 1917 was redesignated the New Zealand Maori (Pioneer) Battalion when all its companies were filled by Māori.

‘Māori units’, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/maori-and-pacific-units/maori-units, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 26-Mar-2019