Effects Bag : Private Arthur Elderton
Elderton’s possessions were sent home to his mother, Sarah, in this cotton effects bag. The text on the bag reads: “6/3008 Pte A Elderton. Disc, Gold locket, Photos, Testament, Wallet, Badge, Coin, Purse, Diary, Compass, Scissors, Button, 2 Studs 18th July 1916”. Private Elderton’s disk, wallet, badge, purse, diary and button are also held at Canterbury Museum.
Institution: Canterbury Museum
Link: Canterbury 100
Identifying number: CM 1999.128.19
Henry Thomas Norton – Letters
8/3816 Quarter Master Sergeant Henry Thomas Norton was born in 1880. He served with the 2nd Otago Infantry Battalion in France during World War I. He trained at Trentham Military Camp and Tauherenikau Camp in New Zealand in 1915 before sailing to Egypt aboard HMNZ Transport No. 39, arriving in Suez on 14 February 1916. He embarked for France on 9 April 1916. From the letters it appears that Norton was a sniper. He was killed by a shell on 15 September 1916 at the Battle of Flers, France and is buried at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery.
Many letters included flowers or seeds collected from the battlefield in France and other ephemera. Folder 7 contains official letters about Norton’s grave written during the 1920s.
Norton, Henry Thomas. Letters, 1900 – 1938
Institution: Auckland War Memorial Museum Library
Link: Auckland Museum
Identifying number: MS-2004-16.
Roy Longstaff’s Violin
This violin belonged to Roy Longstaff who etched all the concert stops between 1917 and 1919 on the back underneath his name.
Institution: Canterbury Museum
Link: Canterbury Museum
Identifying number: EC177.185
WW1 hussif sewing kit
This is a holder for needles, pins, safety pins, buttons and thread – used as a sewing kit by men in the field to alter or mend their own clothing. They were rolled up and tied with the tapes for easy transport and storage.
Institution: Auckland Museum
Link: Auckland Museum
Identifying number: 1995×2.90
Alexander Smillie Kennedy Diaries
Having enlisted to serve on December 13, 1914, Corporal Kennedy 8/1528 embarked on board the Aparima with the 3rd Reinforcements of the Otago Infantry Battalion on February 14, 1915 and arrived in Egypt 6 weeks later. His pocket size diaries travelled with him and recorded his daily activities and experiences.
Institution: Kā Kohika o Macmillan Brown
Link: CANTEBURY 100
Identifying number: Kā Kohika o Macmillan Brown MB581- 79156
TPR. F.R. Haydon
Auckland M.R., Missing, believed killed. Auckland Weekly News 1915
Died 8 August 1915
Institution: Australian War Memorial Museum
Link: Australian Imperial Force unit war diaries, 1914-18 War
Identifying number: RCDIG1016925
