Pte. John Cairncross

Scottish couple John and Agnes Cairncross (née 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. John Cairncross was born in Langholm, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 25 November 1876. He was the eldest son of James and Grace Cairncross (née 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. WWI 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. In 2014 Tauranga's 'Field of Remembrance' was created by the Tauranga WW100 Committee. It comprised 107 white crosses in memory of the men from the Tauranga area who died during World War I. Each cross carries a red poppy and the name of an individual who died. Source: Biography by Debbie McCauley (8 December 2014) https://debbiemccauleyauthor.wordpress.com/biographies/tauranga-rol....

Sources

1. Ancestry.com: 1905-1906 New Zealand Electoral Roll.
2. Ancestry.com: Scotland, National Probate Index (Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories), 1876-1936.
3. Archives New Zealand: Military Personnel File.
4. Auckland War Memorial Museum: Cenotaph Record.
5. Bay of Plenty Times (1914, September 3, p. 2): Local and General.
6. Births, Deaths and Marriages Online (New Zealand).
7. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Record
8. District Electors' Roll, Borough of Tauranga, 1913 via Tauranga City Libraries, Research Collections.
9. Robertson, Derek (editor) (2014). Hawick and the War 1914-1918: A Pictorial Record (p. 143) via Hawick & the Great War.
10. New Zealand War Graves Record