JAMES WOOD BREWER
17 February 1887 - 8 August 1915
At School 1899 - 1901
9th (Hawke's Bay) Coy. Wellington Regiment New Zealand Expeditionary Force
James was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, to mother Esther, originally from Manchester and father Richard. Richard was a sea captain working for the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. On 13 May 1899 Richard died when his ship, S S Ohau, foundered in a gale off the North East Coast of South Island and was lost with all 22 hands. Their bodies were never recovered. Following his father's death James, his mother, brother William and sister Frances returned to Manchester, arriving in London on 5 November 1899 on the vessel S S Papanui. In 1901 the family was living at 22 Grosvenor Road, Whalley Range, Manchester and
James was attending School. On 18 November 1903 at the age of 16 James returned alone to New Zealand on the S S Corinthic. His occupation on the list of passengers was noted as "Farmer". By 1914 he was working as a Station Hand for a Mr B Holdsworth in Waikohu, North Island.
S S Corinthic
On the outbreak of war James volunteered to join the Army and on 18 August 1914 attested at the local recruiting office at Gisborne. He was described on his enlistment papers as 5 feet 6 and 3/4 inches tall, weighing 142 lbs, with brown hair and blue eyes and a tattoo on his right forearm. He joined the Wellington Infantry Battalion, 9th Hawkes Bay Company, and left Gisborne to join the battalion on the evening of 21 August in drizzling rain but to a hearty farewell from the city band and the local townspeople. On 16 October 1914 the Battalion embarked for Egypt, arriving on 3 December 1914.
Private Brewer, who was killed on August 8th at Gallipoli, joined the 9th Wellington Infantry, of the New Zealand contingent, shortly after war broke out, and trained with his Battalion in Egypt. He entered the school in September 1899 and left July 1901. He was in the charge of the “Anzacs” at Suvla Bay, and his company was right in the front. No other details are known of the circumstances under which he fell.
