WW1 Private Herbert Norman Carter 74080

Herbert Norman Carter (Service number 74080), known as Norman, was born on 22 March 1898 in Auckland to an Auckland dentist, Arthur Morton Carter and Edith Annie Carter (nee Smith) of Sarsfield Street, Ponsonby, later moving to Norana Avenue, Remuera.

Herbert Norman Carter’s paternal grandfather, Charles Henry Carter, was a Baptist minister and missionary in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) who produced the first translation of the Old Testament into Sinhalese in 1876 before retiring to Ponsonby, Auckland in 1881. Norman Carter was educated at Bayfield School in Ponsonby, Hamilton High School, and from 1913 at Auckland Grammar School. He passed the Civil Service Entrance Examination in 1914. He was a keen sportsman – winning his age group swimming races while at Hamilton High School and a successful cyclist, winning first place at a “patriotic athletics and cycle meeting” held in Onehunga on 4 December 1915 and the secondary schools’ handicap mile and was second in the half mile. When he left school, Norman Carter worked as a law clerk at the Auckland Farmers Freezing Company (AFFCO).

He tried to volunteer for the war effort and passed the medical examination on 23 February 1916 but was rejected because of his young age (17). He volunteered again on 6 October 1917, having been given permission by his parents on the condition he remained home until after Christmas. He was described as 5ft 7 ½ inches, with blue eyes and fair hair. On 9 May 1918 Norman sailed on the vessel ‘Maunganui”, for Liverpool, England arriving on 24 June 1918 as a Private with 37th Reinforcements, C Company, New Zealand Expeditionary Force. [1, 2] In England, he was hospitalised in early September 1918 with influenza. When he had recovered, he was sent to France, where battles were being fought for land near what was known as the Hindenburg Line where the Germans had hoped to hold the advance in that sector. The New Zealand Division came out of reserve for the final phases of the Battle of the Canal du Nord (27 September 1916 – 1 October 1916), fighting their way through the main Hindenburg Line, near Havrincourt. He was killed in action on 30 September 1918 in Havrincourt, France. [3]

There is an obituary to him in the Auckland Grammar School Chronicle. Third Term, 1918 and the N Z Herald. [4]. There are many additional details about Herbert Norman Carter written by his family and put on a website.

He is remembered on:

• Auckland Grammar School War Memorial, Auckland, New Zealand

• Roll of Honour, Epsom Presbyterian Church, 10 Gardner Road, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand

• Hamilton Memorial Park, Memorial Drive, Hamilton East, 3245