Informations sur naissance

Date de naissance:
31/10/1885
Lieu de naissance:
Pine Bush, New Zealand

Informations générales

Dernière résidence connue:
Gore, Southland, New Zealand
Profession:
Fromager
Religion:
Presbyterian

Informations service militaire

Pays:
New Zealand
Force armée:
New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Rang:
Corporal
Numéro de service:
29753
Incorporation date:
30/06/1916
Incorporation nom de lieu:
Trentham, Wellington, New Zealand
Unités:
 —  Otago Regiment, 3rd Bn.  (Dernière unité connue)

Informations sur décès

Date de décès:
24/11/1917
Lieu de décès:
Cameron Covert, Zonnebeke, Belgique
Cause du décès:
Killed in action (K.I.A.)
Âge:
32

Cimetière

Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood
Parcelle: special Memorial IX
Rangée: AA
Tombe: 13

Distinctions et médailles 2

British War Medal
Médaille
Victory Medal
Médaille

Points d'intérêt 4

#1 Lieu de naissance
#2 Dernière résidence connue
#3 Lieu d'enrôlement
#4 Lieu du décès (approximatif)

Mon histoire

Corporal Thomas Dunlop was already 31 years of age, when he enlisted the 3rd Battalion of the Otago Regiment part of the New Zealand Division.
The former cheesemaker lived in the town of Gore, New Zealand with his wife and three children.

In November 1917, just beyond the New Zealand Divisional boundary a well-marked spur ran eastward like a finger from the edge of the general plateau down to the flats. On the north its sides drained into the Reutelbeek and on the south to the corresponding valley of the Scherriabeek.
The British line had been arrested at the edge of the plateau, and the spur remained in German possession. From it the enemy not only enfiladed the forward trenches about Cameron Covert and Reutel, but fully commanded and incessantly harasses the whole of the British approaches to this sector of the front. On it were perched the piled ruins of Polderhoek Chateau and groups of pillboxes which occupied sites of the attached buildings amid the shattered trees of the once luxuriant and beautiful pleasances. The Ypres Battle had seen 3 assaults delivered on the spur, and the Chateau had been temporarily won, but only to be lost again to German counter-attacks.

For the satisfactory occupation of the Division’s sector, it was highly desirable that a fresh effort should be made to capture the Polderhoek Spur.

On the night of the 14th-15th November 1917 the New Zealand Division had relieved the 21st Division in its holding of the line from the Reutelbeek in the south to Noordemdhoek in the north, the Otago Regiment, now as part of the 2nd Brigade, being then in Divisional reserve at Chateau Segard. On the night of the 25th-26th November, as previously indicated, the Division entered into possession of the sector immediately to the right, the 2nd Battalion of Canterbury occupying the front line.

It was during these preparations that Corporal Thomas Dunlop, 32 years of age, was killed in action near Cameron Covert where he was buried immediately by his mates.
Later his body was exhumed and reburied at Buttes New British Cemetery, Special Memorial IX, row AA, grave 13.

Fichiers 1

Maps Consulter

Sources 3

Byrne A.E., Official History of the Otago Regiment, NZEF in the Great War 1914-1918, 2nd Edition, (Uckfield, The Naval & Military Press Ltd Unit, 2003), p 230-232.
Sources utilisées
Stewart H., The New Zealand Division 1916 - 1919, (London, Authority of the New Zealand Government, Intype London Ltd, 1920),p304 - 306.
Sources utilisées
Stewart H., The New Zealand Division 1916 - 1919, (London, Authority of the New Zealand Government, Intype London Ltd., 1920), p310, map23.
Sources utilisées

Complément d’informations 5