James Preacher

1st Battalion 3rd, New Zealand Rifle Brigade

Killed in action

14 July 1883 - 5 October 1918


James is my great uncle by marriage, on my mother's father's side. 
He married Mabel, the sister of my great grandmother 
Alice Maude Cobb (nee Gardner, 1883-1850). 

I have researched the following information about James 
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. 






James Preacher (known as Jim), youngest son of William and Margaret Preacher, was a blue eyed Scotsman from Edinburgh who had immigrated to New Zealand alone 16 years prior to enlisting. Scottish Census Records for 1891 state that the Preacher family lived at 27 Panmure Place, Edinburgh. His father is listed as being a beer, wine and spirit merchant. The Census of 1901 states that James was an apprentice joiner.

James Preacher is on the left with his friend, also a Scotsman, on the right.
This postcard picture was taken in Cole's Book Arcade, Melbourne,
and was sent to Mabel on 6 April 1914.


James was a carpenter by trade and lived in Northumberland Street, Waipukurau with his wife Mabel (nee Gardner) whom he married on 11 November, 1915.

James Preacher & his wife Mabel (nee Gardner).
About 1915. Photo by Fischer's Studio, Napier.



Mabel Preacher.
Photo by Bunting, Palmerston North & Napier. Date unknown.

James and Mabel's daughter Gladys Mary was born on 7 July, 1917.

Gladys Preacher aged 6 months. 

James with an unidentified child.

James enlisted on 14 September 1917. By 18 October he was in training at Trentham Military Base near Wellington. He was part of the 34th, then 35th and finally the 36th reinforcements for the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, also known as the 3rd Brigade. (The Rifle Brigade was nicknamed The Dinks.)

More than 1500 men, including James, left for The Great War from Wellington on 23rd April 1918 on the troopship Willochra which took them to Suez.

The following photos of the troop ship Willochra have been taken from the National Library of New Zealand and shows the ship leaving from Wellington on an unknown date, sometime between 1914 and 1918.  Perhaps Mabel and baby Gladys are there in the crowd of well-wishers on the wharf saying their final farewells to James.

Willochra sails from Wellington (John Dickie)
Ref 1/2-014602 Alexander Turnbull Library 

Willochra sails from Wellington (John Dickie)
Ref 1/2-016769 Alexander Turnbull Library 


According to James' military record he was encamped at Suez Camp from 31 May until 4 July when the troops were transported to Taranto, Italy on board the ship Ormonde. The onward journey to Southampton, England was on the ship Duchess of Argyle. James spent his 35th birthday on the ship. It finally reached England on 18 July 1918. James was posted to Brocton Camp the same day.

Brocton Camp was situated in central England, in County Staffordshire. It was the camp of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. A camp for British soldiers was nearby. While at Brocton, James would have particpated in firearms training. There was plenty of evening entertainment for him to enjoy, from movies and concerts to billiards! A large garden supplied the troops with fresh produce.

On 21 September James left the shores of England bound for France. He spent five days at Etaples Military Camp in northern France before joining the troops in the field on 27 September.

At the time James arrived at the front lines, the 1st and 2nd Brigades were stationed in the Cambrai Sector in northern France and were preparing to advance over the Escaut Canal before advancing towards the town of Creveceour. The date for this mission was scheduled for 29 September, beginning at 3:30am. The Australian 5th Division were working on the right of the New Zealanders. The  British 62nd Division was on their left.

There was heavy fighting in the area around Crevecoeur in the first few days of October but it was captured by the 1st Brigade. In John Gray's book, From the Uttermost Ends of the Earth, he writes that the 3rd Brigade (including James), took over from the 1st Brigade on 3 October under cover of darkness. German soldiers were in the nearby Cheneaux Wood. According to The Auckland Regiment 1914 - 1918 (page 255-256), the 2 Brigade and the Rifle Brigade continued to advance towards the German line, forcing their way through the towns of Serranvillers and Esnes, Fontaine-au-Pire and Beauvois, then on towards the Cambrai - Le Cateau road.

By 5 October there were signs that the Germans were retreating but it came too late for James. He was killed in action on 5 October 1918, aged 35. The Auckland War Memorial Museum's Cenotaph database suggests that James was killed in Le Cateau. He was initially buried at the Crevecoeur Courtyard Cemetery. The sad thing is, James had only been at the front line a mere eight days when he was killed.

The Second Battle of Le Cateau occurred just after James' death, from 8-12 October, and resulted in the British troops (including the NZ Rifle Brigade) forcing the German soldiers to retreat 11 miles. Interestingly too, a month after James died, the New Zealand Division were involved in liberating the French town of Les Quesnoy just before the Armistice.

James' body was re-buried in the Anneux British Cemetery, near the town of Cambrai, in Nord, France (plot III B 37) alongside just over one thousand other casualties of the war who fought in the nearby countryside. 85 New Zealanders are amongst the dead there.

James's name is engraved on the War Memorial in the small, quiet town of Waipukurau in the Hawkes Bay.

War Memorial in Waipukurau. (2015)
War Memorial in Waipukurau. (2015)
War Memorial in Waipukurau. (2015)

Click here to see a picture of Jame's grave on The War Graves Photographic Project website.


The replica war medals for J Preacher.



James' wife Mabel lived in New Plymouth until her death on 31 August 1968. It appears she never remarried. Some family records suggest that Gladys married Mr George later in life. They had no children. She died in 1994 aged 77.


Mabel Preacher, with her daughter Gladys.
Date unknown.


1 comment:

Glenn said...

So sad! If only James had returned to Mabel and Gladys for a deserved happy life.
I wonder what address the Preacher family lived at on Northumberland Street. My Gt Gt Uncles grew up at 25 Northumberland St. Two of them; George Douglas and Charles Thomas Fox were both killed during the First World War and along with James Preacher, are recorded on the Waipukurau War Memorial. Lest We Forget.
More info can be found on my blog...http://100nzww1postcards.blogspot.co.nz/ or in my book..."Just to let you know I'm still alive" published in 2015.
Best, Glenn Reddiex.