On this day in 1918, Wifred Arthur Cornish died

 

Private 67960
Wilfred Arthur Cornish
1st Battalion, Auckland Regiment
New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Died 4th November 1918
Age 37

Wilfred Arthur Cornish has the dubious distinction of being the last local man to be killed in action in WW1. He was born on 15th September 1881, the third of the six sons of William and Anne (Annie) Cornish. William was the long serving headmaster of the Luckett Board School and it was in the School House at Luckett that Wilfred lived for all of his life in the UK. His brother, John Adams Cornish, was killed in France in July 1916 and at least two of his brothers also served during the war.

Wilfred joined the Royal Navy when he was 19, enlisting at Devonport on 14th September 1900 and signing on for a 12 year engagement. His entry level was Ship Stewart Assistant (SSA) and his first postings were at a number of shore establishments around Devonport. Throughout his naval career his location alternated regularly between shore establishments and ships. His progress up the ranks culminated in his promotion to Ship’s Stewart (SS) on 9th January 1908, only for him to be demoted to SSA on 31st July 1908 for ‘returning from leave drunk’. He remained at this level until his term of engagement expired on 23rd September 1912.

SS Rotorua

Wilfred emigrated to New Zealand in 1913, leaving Plymouth as a Third Class passenger on the New Zealand Shipping Company’s vessel, SS Rotorua, on 5th July 1913. He had given his occupation as a farmer but, once in New Zealand, he gained employment as a wharf labourer or ‘watersider’ for the United Steamship Company. The Police Court News section of the New Zealand Herald of 6th June 1917 reports that ‘the previous offender Wilfred Arthur Cornish was fined 10s for drunkenness’. Wilfred did not declare this incident when he later applied to join the army.

Report from the New Zealand Herald (June 6th 1917)

On 6th August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of war, Britain accepted New Zealand’s offer of an expeditionary force of approximately 8000 men. When countrywide recruiting for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force’s (NZEF) ‘Main Body’ began on 8th August 1914, the response was overwhelming. In September 1915 Wilfred did try to join the army but was not accepted, being deemed medically unfit due to ‘flat feet (left)’. He was more successful with his second attempt in September 1917 but then only with the rating of C1 ‘likely to become fit for active service after special training’. The special training needed was never specified.

SS Balmoral Castle

He was assigned to the 3rd Reserve Battalion and then travelled to Europe on the SS Balmoral Castle, leaving Wellington on the 24th April 1918, disembarking in London on 21st June. On the same day, he was entered Sling Camp, near Bulford on Salisbury Plain, and remained there until 30th September when his battalion left for France, docking at Etaples on 3rd October. He eventually joined his unit in the field, D Company of the 1st Battalion of the Auckland Regiment, on 8th October 1918. Wilfred’s Company was soon in action and engaged the enemy in and around the town of Le Quesnoy. The Battalion War Diary for 4th November notes: ‘A miserable night but the morning broke fair and fine. At 5.45 a.m. we moved forward, 15 minutes after zero hour........ when crossing the Ruesnes - Le Quesnoy road, an enemy plane came over and immediately after this artillery opened up and heavily shelled the line of advance, but very few casualities were caused’. As there was no other incidents mentioned that day, it is reasonable to conclude that Wilfred killed during this barrage, just 17 days after he landed in the country.

He is buried in Plot I.C.3 in the Ruesnes Communal Cemetery, just to the east of Cambrai and close to the border with Belgium. There are now 84 soldiers who died in November 1918 commemorated there, nine of whom were part of the NZEF.

Wilfred Cornish's headstone in the Ruesnes Communal Cemetery

From correspondence included in Wilfred’s Service Record, it seems that there was some question over monies owing to him by the NZEF. His mother queried the fact that she had not received any War Gratuity. The explanation given was that as Wilfred had made an allotment to his mother of 3s per day from 21st April until his death, this had accounted for all the money owing to him. As a separate event, his father was granted probate of Wilfred’s estate of £60 by the Bodmin Registry Office on 15th December 1919.