Bert E Barnett

Bertie (Bert) Edward Barnett 5/884
New Zealand Army Service Corps
 & attached to the New Zealand Engineer Tunneling Company

31 December 1893 - 8 March 1917

Bert is my great uncle, from my father's side of the family. 

He was my great grandmother's brother. 

I have researched the following information about Bert 

from his military records and other related texts. 

I have endeavored to record the story of 

his involvement in the war as accurately as possible. 

From the Auckland Weekly News 29 March 1917

Sir George Grey Special Collections, 

Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19170329-45-48 

Bertie (Bert) Edward Barnett

(31 December 1891 - 8 March 1917)

Family background
Bertie (Bert) Barnett was born in Auckland on New Years Eve, 1891. His parents were Walter Henry (Harry) Barnett (1 Aug 1844 - 7 May 1908) and his wife Elizabeth Lanfear (9 Oct 1853 - 17 Aug 1937) who were both English-born immigrants to New Zealand.

Bert was one of eleven children. The first five of the Barnett children were born in Christchurch while the last six were born in Auckland.

• Rachel (Ray) Barnett (25 Oct 1877 - 10 Sep 1939)
• Harriet Louisa (Loo/Lou) Barnett (6 Nov 1878 - 22 Mar 1965)
• Isabella (Bell) Barnett (31 Aug 1880 - 16 May 1959)
• Emily (Em) Barnett (24 Aug 1882 - 2 July 1970)
• Sydney (Syd) Walter Barnett (26 June 1884 - 20 Aug 1971) 
• Alice Nellie Barnett (8 Aug 1886 - 4 Mar 1888)
• Chrissie Barnett (24 Dec 1888 - 8 Jan 1889) 
• Stanley (Stan) James Barnett (20 Dec 1889- 31 July 1964)
• Bertie (Bert) Edward Barnett (31 Dec 1891 - 8 Mar 1917)
• Arthur William Barnett (24 Oct 1895 - 27 Mar 1980)
• Baden (Bay/Barney) Thomas Barnett (29 Aug 1900 - 15 Jan 1993)

Bert's childhood

It is believed that Bert was born at the family home on Richmond Road, Ponsonby, Auckland. The Barnett family lived at the following addresses during the first ten years of Bert's life:

• 1892/93 - Richmond Road, on the right hand side from Ponsonby Road, and after the Brown Street intersection.
• 1898/99 - Howe Street - The house was situated after the Beresford Street intersection.
• 1900 - Beresford Street - The home was on the right hand side from Pitt Street, after the Day Street intersection and a few houses before Howe Street.
• 1902 - Arney Street [Remuera?]

At present we know nothing about the education that Bert received. We do know that his sister Em attended the Newton West School for a short period before moving to the Richmond Road school along with their brother Stanley. It is possible that Bert also attended this school or another nearby.

Bert and his siblings were sent by their mother to the Plymouth Brethren Church. It is unknown if he ever joined the church formally.

The Barnett family photograph shown below was taken at the end of 1895 or early 1896, when Bert was about 4 years old. He is pictured standing in front of his father, Harry.

Photo taken 1895-96. Photographer unknown.
Photo courtesy of L Prole.

A difficult life

According to a letter written by Em (dated 6 July 1964), we know that their father, Harry, was an alcoholic and was frequently drunk and violent. In the letter (written to Em's son, Maurice), she wrote how her three older sisters, Ray, Loo and Bell all left home (without warning) at their earliest convenience to get away from the dysfunction and abuse. The sisters all lived around Wellington.

Around this time, we know (according to Em's marriage certificate) that Harry Barnett was working as a general dealer.

Family weddings
Eight year old Bert may have attended two Barnett weddings in 1902. The first wedding was on Wednesday 12 November 1902, when his sister Em married 38 year old English-born, Charles (Charlie) Robert Bland (14 Aug 1864 - 13 Feb 1931) at the home of Reverend C H Garland of the Methodist Church, who lived on Karangahape Road, Auckland Central. Charlie and Em initially settled in Birkenhead, on Auckland's North Shore.

The second wedding in 1902 was of Bert's sister, Bell, who married English-born Symon Henry Williams (9 Mar 1870 - 9 Jan 1958) on 24 or 25 December 1902. Symon and Bell lived on a farm in Foxton.

More family weddings followed. On 2 March 1907, Bert's sister Harriet, married Joseph Nicholas Williams (24 July 1886 - 24 Nov 1976) in the registry office, Palmerston North. [Joseph Williams was the brother of Symon Williams, who had married Bell Barnett.]

There was another Barnett wedding in 1907 when Bert's brother, Sydney, married Ethel Amy Trevelyan (10 May 1886 - c17 Nov 1976).

Father's death

At least one week before Bert's father Harry died, he was bed-ridden with a lot of pain. Em recorded in her diary that he was unconscious a lot of the time. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance on Tuesday 5 May 1908. He died around 11 pm on Thursday, 7 May 1908. Bert was 14 years old at the time. 

Most family members gathered at the hospital at 2pm on Sunday 10 May, then drove to Waikumete Cemetery. There, the Grand Master of the Orange Lodge conducted the burial service. Harry was buried not far from the graves of his daughters, Alice and Chrissy, both of whom died as infants. 

Family matters

On Tuesday 19 May 1908, just 12 days after the death of their father, Bert's oldest sister, Ray (30), married 23 year old John (Jack) White (22 Sep 1884 - 15 July 1916) at the Parsonage in Ponsonby. Jack was an Auckland-born descendant of a prominent pioneer missionary family. Jack and Ray settled in Masterton.

In 1911 Bert's mother moved to Foxton to be closer to her married daughter Bell Williams. It is unknown if Bert also moved with her. As he would have been around 20 years of age, and already working, it seems more likely that he stayed on in Auckland.

World War I - family involvement
New Zealand declared war on the Germans and their allies on Tuesday 4 August 1914 and immediately mobilised thousands of young men to go off to fight in Europe. The war affected all families in New Zealand, including the Barnett family.

Bert's brother-in-law, Jack White was the first in the family to enlist for war, doing so on 16 November 1915.

Interestingly, Bert's military record dates his enlistment as occurring in Avondale, Auckland, on 11 December, 1915, two months after he began military training. While Bert volunteered to be a transport mechanic or driver he was enlisted to serve as a tunneler, and departed New Zealand on the ship Ruapehu from Auckland, on 18 December 1915.

Less than six weeks later his brother-in-law, Jack White, a rifleman, also embarked on a troop ship bound for the war. It was a journey neither Bert or Jack would return from.

Unfortunately, Jack White (31) was killed in action on 15 July 1916 in the Somme, northern France as a result of shell-fire. He was buried in France.

Bert's brothers, Arthur and Stan also served in the Great War. Arthur left for front line duties on 2 April 1917 and Stan departed on 13 October 1917. Fortunately, both of them returned home at the end of their service in the army.

Military Training

Bert was working as a chauffeur and living on Edenvale Road, Mt Eden, Auckland, at the time of enlistment. He was one of almost 450 men who began basic military training exercises at the Avondale Racecourse in Auckland on 11 October 1915 to prepare them for their role as tunnelers. Training consisted of a morning run around the racecourse and then drills. Most of the men in training were professional miners, but others, like Bert, were unskilled. They eventually became the Main Body and First Reinforcements of the New Zealand Tunneling Company. (Incidentally, it is interesting to note that the tunnelers were paid three times more than the other corps.)

Embarking for war

On 18 December 1915, the tunnelers made their way into Auckland city and boarded the ship Ruapehu where they were given a meager meal of old biscuits and cheese. This was because the ship's cooks were on strike to highlight their discontent at the conditions on board. After lunch, the tunnelers disembarked and paraded through the city to the intersection of Queen Street and Grey's Avenue where the official farewell was given by Auckland's Mayor, Christopher Parr and New Zealand's Minister of Defense, James Allen. The tunnelers were not excited about the speeches as they were thinking more about their rumbling stomachs. The speeches over, the tunnelers walked back through crowds of well-wishers and re-embarked. They were relieved to learn that the ship cooks had ended their strike! The ship set sail for Europe that evening. 

Bert received all his inoculations, including one for typhoid, before Christmas 1915. It seems that some of these vaccinations were administered on board the troopship as they headed to Europe. While on the ship Ruapehu, Bert's medical record shows that he was admitted to 'hospital' with constipation from 10-12 January, 1916. Maybe a change in diet contributed to this condition.

The ship sailed around the bottom of South America, making a stopover in Montevideo, Uruguay to reload with coal, then another in Dakar, Senegal. The ship finally arriving in Plymouth, England on 3 February 1916. While on board, the tunnelers did gymnastics, practiced drills, and listened to lectures. 

Military training in England

When the tunnelers disembarked, they immediately traveled by train to the Hornwork military camp at Falmouth where the town welcomed them with an evening meal. According to a tunneler that kept a diary, it rained or snowed almost every day while they were at Hornwork. While encamped, the tunnelers practiced marching and received training on how to use their weapons from British officers. 

On 7 March 1916 the reinforcements stayed behind at Hornwork while Bert and the rest of the tunnelers moved on to Hornchurch, then Southampton. On the evening of 9 March, they traveled by ferry across the English Channel to Le Havre in Normandy, France. It was bitterly cold and was snowing on arrival.

Reaching the front line 

By 15 March the tunnelers took over from the French in the 'Labyrinth' sector, between Roclincourt and Ecurie, which was just a short distance north of the city of Arras. Here they began working underground. On 22 March 1916 Bert was appointed Lance Corporal. On 29 March the New Zealand tunnelers shifted a kilometer south and took over at Chantecler.

On 7 April the German forces attacked the tunnelers. A month later, the New Zealand tunnelers detonated four underground mines

Over the European summer the New Zealand tunnelers continued their work underground at Chantecler. Bert, however, served in the Army Service Corps (A. S. C.) Repair Shop from 5 August 1916. It is unclear where this workshop was. 

Promotion to the rank of Corporal

On 1 November 1916 Bert was promoted to Corporal with the Tunneling Company. He was in charge of the 12 men in his Section. Two weeks later, on 16 November, the New Zealand Tunneling Company began excavating the quarries under the Arras-Bapaume road. This is now known as the Ronville system as it was under the neighbourhood of Ronville which is located on the east side of Arras. Their British counterparts were extending the quarries under the Arras-Camrai road. Their tunnels are known as the Saint-Sauveur system.

The work under Arras was extensive and involved expanding the 17th century tunnels under the town and extending them into the German held areas nearby. The tunnels were the remains of quarries which were dug under the city to excavate blocks of chalk for the construction of buildings.

Working in the Arras tunnels

Fifteen Tunnelers, along with an officer, sergeant, corporal and a lance-corporal, worked in 8 hour shifts underground. At the end of their shift they returned to their camp in Arras and were permitted to rest between 16 and 24 hours. The tunnelers dug 24 hours a day in shifts. They usually worked by candlelight. The sappers had to work silently in case the Germans heard them. Life as a tunneler was stressful as they were constantly living with the threat of being blown up or of suffocating underground. 

As the tunnelers dug out the Ronville system, the New Zealanders connected nine quarries. They left place names on the walls of the tunnels, reflecting their home towns: Russell, Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch, Dunedin and Bluff. These names were arranged in order of their locality in New Zealand, from north to south, and were used as location markers. The cavern named 'Christchurch' is reported to have been the largest of all the caverns. 

The chalk that was excavated from the quarries was removed from the site by rail lines which were put into the tunnels. Timber supports were used in entrances to line the walls of the caves.

By 23 December 1916, seven quarries were interconnected and the tunnelers were working hard to connect even more.

Electricity was brought into the tunnels in January 1917 and was first used in April. The Christchurch cavern had 248 lights in it. From 25 January, a railway was put into the tunnels.

The tunnels covered a vast distance of 12 miles and became a city beneath a city. The tunnels were prepared to accommodate 20 000 soldiers. Each cavern of the tunnel became a suburb and was named and signposted. There was electricity and running water in the underground city, along with specific areas designed for eating, sleeping, working and relaxing. There was even a 700 bed hospital!

Bert contracts meningitis

Bert was rushed to the field ambulance on 8 March 1917, then was taken to the 12th Stationary Hospital in St Pol, France. He died the same day, aged 24, reportedly, from spinal meningitis. Bert was buried at plot E13 at St Pol Communal Cemetery Extension at Pas de Calais, France, around 34 kilometers from Arras.

A photograph of Bert's grave is shown below. 

Grave of Bert Barnett who died in Somme, France 1918.
Unknown photographer.
(Photo courtesy of K J Bland)

The following picture of Bert was printed in the supplement to the Auckland Weekly News, 29 March 1917, p45.

Sir George Grey Special Collections, 

Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19170329-45-48
Portrait, Auckland Weekly News 1917

News of Bertie's death reached his family in New Zealand and hit them hard. Bertie's brother, Arthur, was in a military camp and preparing to sail to the Western Front when he was sent the news of his brother's death. In a letter written to his sister Em, he mentions the emotions he feels after losing his brother Bert. A portion of his letter reads... "I suppose you heard, Em, of the terrible news concerning poor Bert. Bay [younger brother] sent me a telegram, just as we were about to begin our journey across the Rimutakas. It quite spoiled my trip. Poor fellow, he was constantly in my thoughts. I sometimes expected to hear of his death at the hands of the enemy, but little did I ever dream of the poor old chap going down to any disease."

For his service during the war, Bert was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. His medals, plaque and scroll were sent to his mother Elizabeth, in Foxton. The following picture shows Bert's British War medal (shown on the left):

Bertie's British War Medal is the one on the left.
Photo courtesy of Mr G Rees.

Bert's name is engraved on the Auckland War Memorial Museum's World War 1 Sanctuary.

The Arras Tunnels

The tunnels were finished in April 1917, just after Bert passed away. A week before the Battle of Arras, British soldiers began arriving at the tunnels in anticipation of the battle. It is thought that more than 30 000 soldiers spent at least one night underground in the tunnels. 

The Battle of Arras occurred on the day after Easter - Monday 9 April, 1917. The majority of the tunnelers stayed back at their camp at Arras while at 5:30am a few tunnelers blew up three exits of the Saint-Sauveur tunnels which were near the German front lines and then the soldiers waiting underground emerged into the snow to attack the enemy trenches. The snow was blowing towards the German front line and visibility was poor which was to the advantage of the allied troops. Many Germans were caught unprepared. Some reports record German soldiers being captured minus their boots.

The Battle of Arras was successful for the allies as it drove the Germans back, however, there were many casualties. The Arras tunnels were used to treat many of the wounded. Inside the tunnels are many memorials carved into the chalk walls to remember those who fell in the battle.

After the Battle of Arras, the New Zealand tunnelers worked above land to help build roads and bridges. By July 1918, when the tunnelers left the area, 41 men had died (including Bert), and 151 were injured. After the war the tunnels were stopped up. They were re-discovered in 1990 by Alain Jacques. Here is a link to a newspaper article from Mail Online (dated 16 March, 2008), Inside the amazing cave city that housed 25 000 Allied troops under German noses in WW1 which explains the background behind the tunnels and information about the re-discovery. Only a small portion of the tunnels are open to the public these days. The 'Wellington' tunnel can be visited from the Carriere Wellington Musuem in Arras.

Websites that may be of interest:

• Mail Online Inside the amazing cave city that housed 25 000 Allied troops under German noses in WW1 by Robert Hardman
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-534236/Inside-amazing-cave-city-housed-25-000-Allied-troops-German-noses-WWI.html (accessed 28 September 2014)
• The New Zealand Tunnelling Company http://www.nzetc.co.nz/text/memorial.html  (accessed 28 September 2014)
• New Zealand History http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/arras-tunnels/tunnelling-company (accessed 28 September 2014)
• New Zealand Tunnellers http://www.nztunnellers.com/ (accessed 29 September 2014)

New Zealand's WW1 tunneling company

Remembering the men who served in the NZ WW1 Tunneling Company

Tunnels at Vimy Ridge

This fascinating video is about tunneling in the Somme during WW1.

 

Sources of information

• Online Cenotaph Records - Auckland War Memorial Museum
• Archives NZ - Archway Record R22272660
• Family records from the Tonson family, Maurice Bland, K J Bland, M Osborne, G & F Barnett
• Auckland Council Libraries. Heritage Images
• Diaries of Emily Bland 1908, 1909, 1914, 1927
• Recollections of Sylvia Anderson, also endorsed by notes from G & F Barnett
• Photographs courtesy of K J Bland, L Prole, G Rees

Last updated 7 March 2020