Sgt. Kenneth Wrigley Commons

Kenneth Wrigley Commons was born in Tauranga on 19 September 1894 (reg. 1894/12398). His parents were William McKenzie and Catherine Sarah Commons (nee Wrigley) who married in 1881 (reg. 1881/224). His early education was largely in Tauranga before attending Auckland Normal School and Auckland Grammar School followed by two years at Nelson College.

A representative footballer, he was also captain of a Dominion Secondary Schools Shooting Team that travelled to Canada. He became a Civil Engineer Student at Auckland University.

Kenneth was underage upon his enlistment in World War I (Service No. 12/63) on 9 August 1914. He embarked from Auckland on 16 October 1914 for Suez, Egypt. He served with the Auckland Infantry Battalion (3rd Company), becoming a Marksman and later a Sergeant.

Kenneth's older sister, Daphne Rowena Commons (1881-1968), had enlisted as a nurse on 6 April 1914, three days before him. She served with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service Corps.

On the first day of the Gallipoli landings, 25 April 1915, Kenneth's friend Sergeant Roy Wilson Lambert was killed. Kenneth penned the following letter to Roy's father (Alexander Turnbull Library MS PAPERS 3974) which was reproduced in the book Letters from Gallipoli: New Zealand Soldiers Write Home (2011):

Dear Mr. Lambert, I don't know what I can write to you, only that I am heartbroken myself. Roy was the best friend I have ever known. Since the time we enlisted there has scarcely ever been an hour of leisure that we have not been together. Our company was scattered over the whole length of the line. We had to scatter on the way out owing to heavy shrapnel fire on the intermediate ground we had to cross. Roy's party arrived at an advanced spot in the line where they were badly needed. I was some distance further on the right in the support trenches waiting all night for a bayonet charge which never came. I wish I had been with Roy. From what I can hear it seems that he was hit in three places and died almost immediately. The enemy must have brought enfilade fire to bear on that section of our line. After 36 hours we were relieved and it was then I heard about Roy. It is only constant work which has enabled me to keep my mind on other things and throughout the whole company there is no one more missed and grieved for than Roy. I have just been listening to a few words from Parson Taylor. He sticks to the boys right through and is a great help to us. Please convey my deepest sympathy to Roy's sisters. He often spoke to me of them. If God permits I hope to see you myself. I am, Yours most sincerely, Kenneth Commons

Included in the file is a poem referring to Roy Lambert:

A Hero R. W. L.

One of a gallant host

On that serener shore,

Who point back to Gallipoli

As heaven's sudden door.

Roslyn Auckland, June 1915

The following month, on 8 May 1915, Kenneth himself was reported missing during the second battle of Krithia at Gallipoli, believed dead. He was 20 years of age (reg. 1918/72478).

On 17 June 1915 the New Zealand Herald reported: Men who have fallen. Personal paragraphs. Sergeant Kenneth Wrigley Commons, aged 20, who is reported missing is the second son of Mr. W. M. Commons of Mountain Road, Mount Eden. He was educated at the public school, Tauranga, the Normal School, Auckland, the Auckland Grammar School and Nelson College. In each of the two latter institutions he spent two years. As a representative footballer he was well known. He was cadet-captain of the shooting team which represented the secondary schools of the Dominion in Canada. The team won seven out of eight championships. Sergeant Commons was following the profession of a civil engineer and was studying at the Auckland University when he enlisted. Sergeant Commons has a sister, who is a nurse in the first nurses contingent which left for the front.

On 17 June 1915 the Press reported: SERGEANT K. W. COMMONS. Sergeant Kenneth Wrigley Commons (Auckland Battalion, missing), formerly resided in Auckland, and attended the Auckland Grammar School for about two years. He took a keen interest in sport while at the College, especially in football and he also showed marked ability in his class work. On leaving the Grammar School, Sergeant Commons went South, and was later one of the members of the shooting team which represented the Secondary Schools of New Zealand in the shooting contest in Canada.

Source: Biography by Debbie McCauley (2014). Part of the Tauranga Roll of Honour: World War One project

Documents:

• Military Personnel File Links:
• Cenotaph Record
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission Record
• New Zealand War Graves Record

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• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Jan 23 2017, 10:18:32 UTC

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Kenneth Wrigley Commons was born in Tauranga in 1894. He was reported missing, believed dead, at Gallipoli on 8 May 1915. Source: Researched and written by Debbie McCauley (21 October 2014, http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/remembering_war/topics/show/2233).

Kenneth Wrigley Commons was born in Tauranga on 19 September 1894 (reg. 1894/12398). His parents were William McKenzie and Catherine Sarah Commons (nee Wrigley) who married in 1881 (reg. 1881/224). His early education was largely in Tauranga before attending Auckland Normal School and Auckland Grammar School followed by two years at Nelson College.

A representative footballer, he was also captain of a Dominion Secondary Schools Shooting Team that travelled to Canada. He became a Civil Engineer Student at Auckland University.

Kenneth was underage upon his enlistment in World War I (Service No. 12/63) on 9 August 1914. He embarked from Auckland on 16 October 1914 for Suez, Egypt. He served with the Auckland Infantry Battalion (3rd Company), becoming a Marksman and later a Sergeant.

Kenneth's older sister, Daphne Rowena Commons (1881-1968), had enlisted as a nurse on 6 April 1914, three days before him. She served with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service Corps.

On the first day of the Gallipoli landings, 25 April 1915, Kenneth's friend Sergeant Roy Wilson Lambert was killed. Kenneth penned the following letter to Roy's father (Alexander Turnbull Library MS PAPERS 3974) which was reproduced in the book Letters from Gallipoli: New Zealand Soldiers Write Home (2011):

Dear Mr. Lambert, I don't know what I can write to you, only that I am heartbroken myself. Roy was the best friend I have ever known. Since the time we enlisted there has scarcely ever been an hour of leisure that we have not been together. Our company was scattered over the whole length of the line. We had to scatter on the way out owing to heavy shrapnel fire on the intermediate ground we had to cross. Roy's party arrived at an advanced spot in the line where they were badly needed. I was some distance further on the right in the support trenches waiting all night for a bayonet charge which never came. I wish I had been with Roy. From what I can hear it seems that he was hit in three places and died almost immediately. The enemy must have brought enfilade fire to bear on that section of our line. After 36 hours we were relieved and it was then I heard about Roy. It is only constant work which has enabled me to keep my mind on other things and throughout the whole company there is no one more missed and grieved for than Roy. I have just been listening to a few words from Parson Taylor. He sticks to the boys right through and is a great help to us. Please convey my deepest sympathy to Roy's sisters. He often spoke to me of them. If God permits I hope to see you myself. I am, Yours most sincerely, Kenneth Commons Included in the file is a poem referring to Roy Lambert:

A Hero R. W. L. One of a gallant host On that serener shore, Who point back to Gallipoli As heaven's sudden door.

Roslyn Auckland, June 1915

The following month, on 8 May 1915, Kenneth himself was reported missing during the second battle of Krithia at Gallipoli, believed dead. He was 20 years of age (reg. 1918/72478).

On 17 June 1915 the New Zealand Herald reported: Men who have fallen. Personal paragraphs. Sergeant Kenneth Wrigley Commons, aged 20, who is reported missing is the second son of Mr. W. M. Commons of Mountain Road, Mount Eden. He was educated at the public school, Tauranga, the Normal School, Auckland, the Auckland Grammar School and Nelson College. In each of the two latter institutions he spent two years. As a representative footballer he was well known. He was cadet-captain of the shooting team which represented the secondary schools of the Dominion in Canada. The team won seven out of eight championships. Sergeant Commons was following the profession of a civil engineer and was studying at the Auckland University when he enlisted. Sergeant Commons has a sister, who is a nurse in the first nurses contingent which left for the front.

On 17 June 1915 the Press reported: SERGEANT K. W. COMMONS. Sergeant Kenneth Wrigley Commons (Auckland Battalion, missing), formerly resided in Auckland, and attended the Auckland Grammar School for about two years. He took a keen interest in sport while at the College, especially in football and he also showed marked ability in his class work. On leaving the Grammar School, Sergeant Commons went South, and was later one of the members of the shooting team which represented the Secondary Schools of New Zealand in the shooting contest in Canada.

References:

• Ancestry.com
• Births, Deaths & Marriages Online (New Zealand).
• Cenotaph Record (Auckland War Memorial Museum).
• Fiona Kean (Tauranga Heritage Collection).
• Free Lance (25 February 1916, p. 5).
• From Tauranga to the Trenches (2014) by Fiona Kean.
• Lest we forget: Tauranga soldier remembered (2003) by Mickayla Sievers (Bay of Plenty Times, 12 November 2003, p. 18).
• Letters from Gallipoli: New Zealand Soldiers Write Home (2011) edited by Glyn Harper (pp. 302-303)
• Military personnel file (Archives New Zealand).
• Press (17 June 1915, p. 9).