In 1911, my great uncle, Archibald Frank Mortimer, emigrated from Chiswick, England to New Zealand to work as a farmer. In 1914, he enlisted in the New Zealand Canterbury Mounted Rifles as a trooper (7/881). Because many New Zealanders had migrated there, they were very interested in their homeland and recruitment was easy. Recruitment levels were high and conscription was not brought in until 1916. He went to Egypt on 14th February 1915 where a lot of his comrades perished. Originally intended for the defence of Suez, they were diverted to Gallipoli under General Sir Ian Hamilton's Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. With other ANZACs, he was involved in fighting at Chunuk Bair on the 6th August and most of the rest of the month for little gain of territory. On 27th August 1915, he was involved in an attack on Kaiakij Aghala. He was killed in action and his death was officially listed on 28th August. Of the 16 officers and 280 others in his unit, only 1 officer and 39 others survived.

My father, Jim Burrowes, was from Clara in Co. Offaly, Ireland. He also had three brothers who served and died in The Great War: Frank, George and Luke. All the boys in the family were carpenters. George, the eldest, was a Sergeant with the 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. He was wounded at Bailleul, near Ypres and died in 1915, aged 37. Corporal Frank Burrowes served with the 2nd Battalion, the Connaught Rangers and was killed near Mons in the early weeks of the war in 1914, aged 31. Luke was a Gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was killed near Ypres in 1917, aged 29. Jim was inspired by John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, to enter the army. He enlisted on 31st August 1914 at age 20 and was posted to the Royal Engineers. In 1915 he was sent to the Dardanelles and survived the trenches at Sulva Bay, Cape Helles and Lala Baba. He served also in Egypt/Mesopotamia, and was in India. He was shot in Gallipoli, but a cigarette case, with a picture of St. Theresa folded behind it, prevented the bullet from killing him. He was demobbed in 1919 and emmigrated to America, where he married an Irish woman and subsequently returned to Ireland. He had contracted Malaria in Gallipoli, and in his very early fifties suffered from heart illness due to this. He died aged 51. || • Cigarette Case (with bullet hole); • Regiment Bracelet; 3 medals plus pouch ; • Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners Clearance Cert; • Stencil Form No. 1; • Handwritten sheet re the Kit required by 72nd Field General; • The Small Book; • Photographs; • Picture of St. Theresa; • Information sheet on Jim Burrowes; • Letter from Daddy (Jim) to his daughter (Marie); • Ministry of Supply, Receipt for anti-tank trip mine

File detailing the military career of Sidney Diamond