Cpl
Thomas Dunlop

Informatie over geboorte

Geboortedatum:
31/10/1885
Geboorteplaats:
Pine Bush, Nieuw-Zeeland

Algemene Informatie

Laatst gekende woonplaats:
Gore, Southland, Nieuw-Zeeland
Beroep:
Kaasmaker
Geloof:
Presbyterian

Informatie legerdienst

Land:
Nieuw-Zeeland
Strijdmacht:
New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Rang:
Corporal
Service nummer:
29753
Dienstneming datum:
30/06/1916
Dienstneming plaats:
Trentham, Wellington, Nieuw-Zeeland
Eenheden:
 —  Otago Regiment, 3rd Bn.  (Laatst gekende eenheid)

Informatie over overlijden

Datum van overlijden:
24/11/1917
Plaats van overlijden:
Cameron Covert, Zonnebeke, België
Doodsoorzaak:
Killed in action (K.I.A.)
Leeftijd:
32

Begraafplaats

Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood
Plot: special Memorial IX
Rij: AA
Graf: 13

Onderscheidingen en medailles 2

British War Medal
Medaille
Victory Medal
Medaille

Points of interest 4

#1 Geboorteplaats
#2 Laatst gekende woonplaats
#3 Dienstneming plaats
#4 Plaats van overlijden (bij benadering)

Mijn verhaal

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.

Bestanden 1

Maps Bekijken

Bronnen 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.
Gebruikte bronnen
Stewart H., The New Zealand Division 1916 - 1919, (London, Authority of the New Zealand Government, Intype London Ltd, 1920),p304 - 306.
Gebruikte bronnen
Stewart H., The New Zealand Division 1916 - 1919, (London, Authority of the New Zealand Government, Intype London Ltd., 1920), p310, map23.
Gebruikte bronnen

Meer informatie 5