WW1 Leonard Richard Grimwade and Edward Norman Grimwade

Corp. L R Grimwade

Leonard Richard Grimwade (12/744) was born 20 February 1892 in West Maitland, New South Wales, Australia.

He was the second son of Edward Ernest Grimwade (1862 – 1932) and Catherine Emily Grimwade, (nee Norman) (1864 – 1954). They had married in 1888 and in about 1908 moved to Lake House, Hurstmere Road, Takapuna, Auckland. Edward Ernest Grimwade was a councillor with the Takapuna Borough Council for many years. There were two other children, Edward Norman Grimwade (18905) (1890 – 1917) and sister, Marjorie Grimwade. (1895 – 1919) who became a nurse at the Auckland Hospital. Sadly, the parents were to outlive their children. [1, 2]

Leonard received the earlier part of his education at Newcastle-under-Lyne, England, and completed his studies in Auckland, New Zealand at St. John’s Collegiate School at The Pah, Onehunga, under the Reverend Percy Scott Smallfield. When he left school gained practical business training in the office of the Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. Leonard was an enthusiastic soldier, and at the age of 21 he obtained the rank of Sergeant in the territorial forces with the 16th College Rifles Regiment of the College Rifles Rugby Football Club. [3] Leonard studied farming and won a scholarship at Canterbury Agricultural College (now Lincoln University) from 1910 – 1911. Later Leonard gained practical farming experience at Kiwitea, near Feilding, and Mangaweka, and sheep-farming with his brother, Edward Norman Grimwade, (18905) at Waipuna Valley, Waerenga, Waikato.

On enlistment, 18 August 1914, Leonard was 22 years of age, 5ft 8 1/2 in, blue eyes and fair hair and as stated in the New Zealand Herald 15 August 1914 where members of the contingent were listed which included Leonard: The first batch of infantry from the 16th Regiment left Hamilton yesterday for Auckland, being accorded an enthusiastic send-off. [4] Leonard sailed on 16 October 1914 as a Corporal, with the Auckland Infantry Battalion as part of the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, arriving in Suez, Egypt on 3 December 1914. Leonard Richard Grimwade (12/744) was part of the New Zealand Armed Forces, which took part in the first Anzac Landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and was killed that day.

Leonard was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal Memorials remembering Leonard are:

Lone Pine Memorial, Lone Pine Cemetery, Anzac, Turkey
Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 1 Hall of Memories
Roll of Honour, College Rifles, Rugby Union Football & Sports Club, 33 Haast Street, Remuera, Auckland
Memorial plaque, St Peter’s Anglican Church, 11 Killarney Street, Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand
Hamilton Memorial Park, Memorial Drive, Hamilton East, 3293

Edward Grimwade. 1908

2nd Lieutenant E. N. Grimwade

Edward Norman Grimwade (18905)

Edward Norman Grimwade (18905) was born in New South Wales on 18 May 1890. Edward enlisted on 7 June 1915, a farmer, 25 years of age, 5ft 9 inches, light brown hair and grey eyes.

He sailed on 30 December 1916 for Plymouth, England on the vessel ‘Athenic’ as a Second Lieutenant with the 20^th Reinforcements (2^nd Draft), Headquarters Staff, Ships Adjutants with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He spent time training at Sling in England and on 4 June 1917 was then posted to Etaples, France to fight on the Western Front. On 14 July 1917, he was promoted to second lieutenant. Shortly after Edward was wounded and he died of wounds on 1 August 1917. [1]

Several letters from officers writing of the death of Lieutenant Edward Norman Grimwade (18905) in France were received by Edward’s father, Edward Ernest. Grimwade, including one from Lieutenant P. de la Mara who wrote-

” Your son was in charge of several advanced posts. Having established himself in one, he made his way across the open to see if all was well with the non-commissioned officers in charge of the others. It was a duty under the circumstances which only a very gallant man would have attempted. He placed, as he always did, the safety and comfort of his men before his own”. [2]

Edward Norman Grimwade (18905) is buried in Trois Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck, Nord, France, I.V.27

There are memorials to Edward at St Peter’s Anglican Church, 11 Killarney Street, Takapuna, Auckland, and Hamilton Memorial Park, Memorial Drive, Hamilton East

The obituary to their sister, Marjorie, shows the loss many families suffered:

MISS MARJORIE GRIMWADE. One of the nursing staff of the Auckland Hospital, Miss Marjorie Grimwade, elder daughter of Mr. E. E. Grimwade of Takapuna, died yesterday afternoon of typhoid fever, from which “she had been suffering for some weeks. Much sympathy will be felt for Mr. and Mrs. Grimwade in this further bereavement, following closely upon the loss of both their sons in the war. Corporal L. R. Grimwade having fallen at the landing on Gallipoli and Lieutenant E. N. Grimwade in one of the engagements on the western front.” [3]

WW1 Leonard Richard Grimwade and Edward Norman Grimwade

Leonard Richard Grimwade (12/744) was born 20 February 1892 in West Maitland, New South Wales, Australia.

Edward Norman Grimwade (18905)

Edward Norman Grimwade (18905) was born in New South Wales on 18 May 1890. Edward enlisted on 7 June 1915, a farmer, 25 years of age, 5ft 9 inches, light brown hair and grey eyes.

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