GEORGE GILKES

Private George Gilkes is somewhat of a curiosity. He is not commemorated at the main Papanui War Memorial, but is remembered on the Papanui School War Memorial Honours Board. He had been born in Christchurch on 3 January 1891. He had moved to Auckland , where he worked as a labourer in Mount Roskill. At the time of his early enlistment on 13 August 1914, his parents lived in Mersey Street in St Albans, a suburb adjacent to Papanui. He joined the 3rd Company of the Auckland Infantry battalion and his company was one of the first New Zealanders to land on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. He survived the initial battles and served for a number of months. However, like many other Main Body men at Gallipoli, he suffered from diseases such as influenza and diarrhoea, and despite being evacuated to Mudros, he died of septicaemia and is buried on that island. A comrade in his 3rd Company who had returned to New Zealand told his father that there were only eighteen surviving members of the company that had gone into action (including at that stage, George Gilkes).

Back to The Men from Papanui