No Better Death Read online

  John Crawford

  February 2014

  Glossary

  Note: When an abbreviation or a contraction appears only once or twice, its meaning is noted in the text, but it has not been listed in the glossary.

  A Australian

  a acting

  A/C Account

  abt about, a contraction used by WGM

  affect, affectly affectionate, affectionately

  AIB Auckland Infantry Battalion

  AIF Australian Imperial Force

  Ammn Ammunition

  AMR Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment

  ann annum

  ANZ Archives New Zealand, Wellington

  ARRC Associate (or 2nd Class) Royal Red Cross

  ATL Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga O Aotearoa

  att attached

  Aust and Austn Australian

  aye forever

  BAC Brigade Ammunition Column

  Bde Brigade. WGM often used Bgde

  Bgadier Brigadier, a contraction often used by WGM

  Bn Battalion

  Brig Brigadier

  Bty Battery

  C Celsius

  Capt Captain

  CB Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath

  CBE Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

  CG Croix de Guerre, awarded by France and Belgium

  CIB Canterbury Infantry Battalion

  CMG Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George

  CMR Canterbury Mounted Rifles

  Col Colonel

  Corp Corporal

  Cour Ordre de Couronne, awarded by Belgium

  Coy Company

  DAC Division Ammunition Column

  Dan Ordre of Danilo, issued by Montenegro

  DCM Distinguished Conduct Medal

  Div or Divn Division

  Divl, Divnl Divisional, contractions used by WGM

  do do ditto

  DOD Died of Disease (sickness)

  DOW Died of Wounds

  DSO Distinguished Service Order (2 = ‘& Bar’, a second DSO)

  E East

  eno enough

  ere before

  FA Field Artillery

  Fd Field

  GCB Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath

  Gen General

  Genl General, WGM sometimes wrote the word in full

  GOC General Officer Commanding

  HG Home Guard

  HQ Headquarters. WGM also used HdQrs and Hdqrs

  HQNZDF Headquarters New Zealand Defence Force, Wellington

  I Infantry

  IKM Ida Katherine Jemima Malone

  Inf infantry

  Inst abbreviation of instant, meaning ‘this month’

  Kara Star of Karageorge, issued by Serbia

  KBE Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

  KCB Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath

  KCMG Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George

  KIA Killed in Action

  KMARL Kippenberger Military Archive and Research Library, Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum, Waiouru

  L/Cpl Lance-Corporal

  Leo Ordre de Leopold, awarded by Belgium

  LH Légion d’Honneur, awarded by France

  Lt Lieutenant

  Lt-Col Lieutenant-Colonel

  M/gun machine gun

  Maj Major

  MBE Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

  MC Military Cross

  MFCL Malone Family Collection London

  MIA Missing in Action

  mid Mention in Despatches (number of times)

  MM Military Medal

  MR Mounted Rifles

  N North

  NCO Non-Commissioned Officer

  nd no date

  NZ New Zealand

  Nzder New Zealander

  N Zealander New Zealander

  NZAOC NZ Army Ordnance Corps

  NZASC NZ Army Service Corps

  NZE NZ Engineers

  NZEF NZ Expeditionary Force

  NZFA NZ Field Artillery

  NZPS NZ Permanent Staff

  NZSC NZ Staff Corps

  OBE Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

  OC Officer Commanding, refers to all Commandant and Commanding Officer positions

  OIB Otago Infantry Battalion

  OMR Otago Mounted Rifles Regiment

  Pdrs Pounders

  P/F Personal File, files opened on every member of the New Zealand Military Forces

  POW Prisoner of War

  Pte Private

  QM Quartermaster, as in QM-Sgt

  RA Royal Artillery

  Refts Reinforcement drafts

  Regt Regiment

  Reinfcts Reinforcements, a contraction generally used by WGM

  RFA Royal Field Artillery

  RND Royal Naval Division

  S South

  S A Salvation Army

  Sam Samaritan Cross, awarded by Serbia

  2i/c Second In Command

  2/Lt 2nd Lieutenant

  Sfd Stratford

  Sgt Sergeant

  Sgt-Maj Sergeant-Major

  Sigs Signals

  SSWar Brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War (number of times)

  Stan Order of St Stanislav, awarded by Russia

  TD Territorial Decoration

  Ulto abbreviation of ultimo, meaning ‘of last month’

  VC Victoria Cross

  VD Volunteer Decoration

  W West

  WE Order of the White Eagle, awarded by Serbia

  WGM William George Malone

  Wgton, Wgtn Wellington, contractions generally used by WGM

  WIA Wounded in Action

  WIB Wellington Infantry Battalion

  WMR Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment

  WO Warrant-Officer

  yd yard

  yday yesterday, a contraction almost always used by WGM

  Yr your

  Introduction

  A full and varied life

  * * *

  Lieutenant-Colonel William George Malone lived and died by the doctrine he set out for his children in a letter he wrote before he sailed from New Zealand in 1914: ‘work and duty – duty to themselves – their fellows and above all to their country!’1 He would certainly have approved of the way in which he met his end: heroically leading his men in desperate fighting on Chunuk Bair at Gallipoli on 8 August 1915. In fact as Malone put it, he could imagine ‘no better death’.2

  During his 56 years he had achieved a great deal in farming and legal affairs, as well as being a devoted husband and father. There can, however, be no doubt that he regarded the last year of his life, from August 1914 to August 1915 as the year of his most significant accomplishments. This was the year in which Malone prepared and then led in battle the Wellington Infantry Battalion.

  William George Malone has probably become the best-known New Zealander to serve at Gallipoli. His name is forever connected with the epic capture and defence of Chunuk Bair. It is perhaps less well known that it was he who introduced the ‘lemon squeezer’ hat that has become an icon of the New Zealand Army. His status as a representative of the generation of New Zealanders who fought in the Great War was emphasised when one of his last letters to his wife was read by the Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright at the memorial service honouring New Zealand’s Unknown Warrior on 11 November 2004.

  On 24 January 1859 William Malone was born in the village of Lewisham in Kent, which is now a suburb of London. Although his birth certificate refers to him as William Malone he was always known as William George Malone. Other members of the Malone family generally called him Willie.3 He was the second child of Thomas Augustine Malone and Louisa Malone, née Childs.4 Malone’s grandfather had emigrated from Ireland to England
and his father was born in England. Thomas Malone was an able chemist, who had since the mid-1840s been an assistant to the leading scientist and developer of the negative-positive system of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot. After working for Fox Talbot in Reading, where he had previously been employed in a shop that sold the scientist chemicals, Thomas Malone moved to London where he continued to work for Fox Talbot until his death. He became a Fellow of the Chemical Society and was acquainted with a number leading British scientists of the day.5

  Thomas Malone, who was a staunch Roman Catholic, died in 1867 at the age of 44. His death left the family in reduced circumstances financially. His son William was educated at a succession of Catholic schools. He first attended St Joseph’s College in the London suburb of Clapham. Later he went as a boarder to a Marist Brothers school in Plymouth, before spending two years at another Marist Brothers school in Lille, France. During his time in Lille, Malone became fluent in French.6 He was a competent pianist with a strong interest in music, especially classical music.7

  William George Malone in 1879, as he prepared to set out for a new life in New Zealand.

  Malone Family Collection Wellington (now in ATL)

  After completing his education in France, Malone started work in an office in London in 1876. The same year he demonstrated an early interest in military matters by joining the London and Westminster Rifle Volunteers. In 1877 he transferred to the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers. He served in that unit as a Seaman Gunner until 1879, when he sailed for New Zealand on the Western Monarch.8 Throughout the rest of his life Malone seems to have been interested in small boats and boating.9

  Malone travelled as a steerage passenger [the cheapest type of passage], landing in New Zealand in January 1880. On arriving in the colony, Malone transferred to a smaller ship which took him to Opunake beach where he and his luggage were rowed ashore. The young immigrant tipped the lighterman sixpence, but he returned it saying: ‘You’ll be needing this yourself before long’.10 The following month he enlisted in the Armed Constabulary. His older brother, Austin, had already emigrated to New Zealand and had been serving in the Armed Constabulary since May 1878. Both brothers apparently served at Opunake. Austin Malone left the Armed Constabulary in November 1880. A year later William Malone was part of the force that suppressed Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu’s community at Parihaka. In April 1882 he took his discharge from the Armed Constabulary. He worked for a short period on the surf-boats operating on the Opunake coast. William then went into partnership with Austin in a small block of 79 acres of bush country at Stratford in Taranaki. William Malone, it appears, first became acquainted with the Stratford area in 1881 when he was made Drill-Instructor Sergeant for a newly raised Volunteer Corps, the Stratford Rangers. Shortly after they began farming, the Malone brothers were joined by their mother and their two sisters, Louisa [known as Louie] and Agnes. They may well have provided some of the capital to purchase the block of land on the Opunake Road, Stratford, which was valued at £220.11 In January 1886 the Malone brothers’ farm suffered significant damage in a huge bush fire that devastated much of the Stratford area.12 William Malone had a reputation for being a good neighbour, who would go out of his way to help others. On one occasion, Austin and William went, in the middle of the night, to assist a neighbour in the awkward and strenuous task of rescuing a horse or a cow that was stuck in a waterhole.13

  William George Malone was a man of great energy and drive and in a few years succeeded through hard work in converting his bush-covered land into productive farmland.14 He was also a keen rugby player who in 1889 and 1890 represented Taranaki.15 The partnership between the Malone Malone’s first family house, near Stratford, in July 1902. Two of Malone’s sons can be seen wearing distinctive lemon squeezer hats. Malone Family Collection Wellington (now in ATL) brothers was dissolved in 1889, after which Austin Malone farmed on his own account near Stratford.16 Austin later fell on hard times. He moved away from Taranaki and was killed in an accident while working with a railway construction gang in South Auckland on 19 February 1915.17

  Malone’s first family house, near Stratford, in July 1902. Two of Malone’s sons can be seen wearing distinctive lemon squeezer hats.

  Malone Family Collection Wellington (now in ATL)

  In New Plymouth, on 27 November 1886, Malone married Elinor Lucy Penn aged 22, a member of a well-to-do Taranaki family.18 They had five children: Edmond Leo born in September 1888, Terence Joseph in August 1890, Brian in May 1893, Maurice Patrick in May 1895 and Norah in October 1897.19

  Malone’s ‘personality and ability speedily earned him the confidence and respect of his fellow settlers, whom he ably served on local bodies.’20 During the 1880s he was as a member and for a time chairman of the Ngaire Road Board and a member of the Hawera County Council. In 1890 Malone set himself up as a land and commission agent in Stratford.21

  In June 1890, Malone was a member of a delegation of local people who went to Wellington to lobby the government to open the East Road to facilitate settlement of the area from Stratford to Otorohanga. Some local people saw this initiative as being prompted, at least in part, by the self-interest of large landholders in the area and others who stood to benefit from the development of this district. Later in the year Malone was a key figure in the successful campaign to establish the Stratford County Council. At the public meeting to initiate steps to form the new local body, Malone attacked the Hawera County Council for failing to undertake essential public works in the area, in particular the East Road. The new local body took over the responsibilities of four roads boards and the Stratford Town Board and was an important step in the development of the area. The following year Malone was appointed the new county’s first clerk-treasurer, a part-time position carrying a salary of £52 a year. Within a few years Malone was regarded as an expert on municipal law whose advice was ‘eagerly sought’ by and ‘generously given’ to other local body officials. He held the post until he resigned in 1900. For much of this time the council’s office was in Malone’s business premises, an arrangement for which he initially received five shillings a week in rent.22 After the introduction of compulsory military training in 1910, Malone lent, then rented out, rooms in his premises to serve as the offices for the regular military personnel based in Stratford.23

  Malone was made a Justice of the Peace in December 1892.24 Even though he was busy with his farming, business and community affairs, Malone still found time for part-time legal studies. In April 1894 he was admitted as a solicitor and in September 1899 he qualified as a barrister. He began to practise in Stratford by himself, before in 1903 going into partnership with James McVeagh and William Anderson. The opening of new land, its subdivision and the expansion of the dairy industry meant that it was an auspicious time to be a lawyer in Taranaki. Malone’s firm acted for a range of clients including local farmers, businessmen, local bodies and dairy companies. Arranging for clients to take out mortgages or for clients to invest money in mortgages over property was an important part of the partnership’s business. It was a highly successful firm and within a few years had branches at New Plymouth, Inglewood, Eltham and Kaponga. Malone moved to New Plymouth in 1903 to establish a branch of his firm.25

  Malone’s active involvement in military affairs was renewed in 1900 when he was instrumental in the formation of the Stratford Rifle Volunteers. This unit was one of nearly 100 new Volunteer Corps established between July 1899 and September 1901 as a result of the patriotic enthusiasm generated by the South African War. Malone was elected by the members of the corps to command it and was commissioned as a captain in the New Zealand Volunteer Force after passing the necessary examination. The Stratford Rifles was, like other Volunteer Corps, a small unit with three officers and 28 noncommissioned officers [NCOs] and other ranks. Malone, as a prominent local lawyer and farmer, was typical of the sort of men who dominated the leadership of the Volunteer Force. Although he already had substantial personal and business commitments, Malone proved to
be a dedicated Volunteer.26

  In 1900, it appears, Malone gave up alcohol and tobacco and embarked on a regime of physical fitness and toughening intended to prepare him for the challenge of war. Reportedly, he usually slept on a military stretcher instead of a soft bed. Malone also apparently later paced out the distance from his home to his office and marched between the two at the unique Rifle Brigade rate of 140 paces a minute.27 He was, as his daughter Norah later wrote, ‘an extremely disciplined and self-controlled man.’28 Nonetheless, Malone was an outgoing man who enjoyed social events.29

  Malone’s move to New Plymouth in 1903 necessitated his resignation from command of the Stratford Rifle Volunteers in September 1903.30 The commander of the local Volunteer battalion, however, did not want to lose the services of a man he regarded as ‘a very capable officer’ and successfully requested that he be appointed adjutant of the 4th Battalion Wellington (Taranaki) Rifle Volunteers.31 Malone was clearly very well regarded by other Taranaki Volunteer officers and by regular officers in the Wellington military district. In 1904 he was made an additional member of the Wellington Local Board of Military Examination. The following year he was promoted to major and made second in command of his battalion.32 Malone’s military abilities were clearly evident during the 1908 Wellington district manoeuvres. The scenario for the manoeuvres involved a hostile ‘Blue Force’ that had landed at Paramata north of Wellington attempting to seize the capital, which was defended by a substantially larger ‘Red Force’. The ‘Blue Force’ was made up principally of Volunteers from Taranaki, Wanganui and the Manawatu. Malone, who was the force’s chief staff officer, carefully reconnoitred the hilly, rugged country north of the city and with his commanding officer devised an innovative plan to outflank the defending force by marching across country at night. During the night of 18–19 April, Malone guided the attacking troops through the screen of outposts maintained by the defending ‘Red Force’ in hills north of the city and into the capital. The ‘Blue Force’s’ attack was widely praised by senior New Zealand officers as an exemplary model of sound planning, good tactics and disciplined hard work by the troops involved. Malone was one of the officers singled out for particular praise.33