WW1 Victor Roy Crowhurst (WW112/1934 & WWII 576999)

Victor Roy Crowhurst was born on 22 July 1893, to Samuel George Crowhurst and Catherine Elizabeth Crowhurst (Breen) of Newmarket, who had eleven sons and three daughters.

He was one of five sons who served in WW1, three of whom died. They were Arthur Frederick Livingstone Crowhurst (24/99) died; Francis Ernest Crowhurst (60080) killed in action, and Samuel Alfred Crowhurst (12/1933) killed in action, and two other brothers fought and returned to New Zealand Leslie Upton Clifford Crowhurst (60081), Victor Roy Crowhurst (12/1934).

Prior to his enlistment, he was working as a Civil servant, as an Official Assignees Officer for C.B. Jordan the Under Secretary in the Department of Justice, Wellington. He had been in the Territorials since 1913 and was currently serving as a Corporal with the Wellington East Coast Rifles H Company. He noted on his enlistment form 16 January 1915 that his brother has also enlisted for the next reinforcements and that he would like to go with him. He was 5ft 11inches tall, with brown eyes and brown hair. (1)

He joined his brother Samuel Alfred Crowhurst (12/1933) and embarked on 17 April 1915 from Wellington, New Zealand for Egypt as a Private with the Auckland Infantry Battalion, 4th Reinforcements A. He joined his unit at the Dardanelles (Gallipoli) on 8 June 1915. He was injured on 22 July 1915, was sent back to Egypt and on 31 August 1915 to Hornchurch, England where he was hospitalised. He was sent back to Egypt on 7 April 1916, and then on to France 4 December 1916 as a Lance Corporal. He was promoted to Corporal on 1 March 1917. (2)

He was wounded in action 8 June 1917 at Messines by a gunshot to the left hand with the loss of the 2nd and 3rd phalanges, 4th and 5th fingers of his left hand. He was discharged on 3 February 1918, with a pension of 10 shillings, listed as suffering from a permanent disability in the category 20% to 100%. He was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal He re-enlisted for the Second World War as a Private in the Infantry Reinforcements, 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

He married Myrtle Gribble and had 3 sons, including Sergeant Samuel Victor Crowhurst (RNZAF 402854) born in 1920 and died in 1941 in air operations over Germany. He is remembered on the memorial on The Borough of Newmarket War Memorial, Auckland Council Archives. Jack Crowhurst (RNZAF 416822) who was born in 1925 and served in NZ and Pacific died at Blenheim in 1945, and Colin, born 1928 and who died in 2016 at Mandurah. (3). Their daughter Myrtle Jean (1921-2013) served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF 2998) and married William Bongard.