The Roll of Honour of soldiers from the Nelson-Tasman region who died in World War I has been posted on the Tasman Libraries website as part of a project to mark this year’s 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War.
Library staff have spent the last year digitising the World War I section of Cyd Daughtrey and Eileen Thawley’s roll of honour series and finished posting it on the library’s Kete Tasman website last month. It contains information on the estimated 430 service men from the Nelson-Tasman region who died in the war that started on July 28, 1914 and now the library is inviting people to add their own family photos, diaries and letters to site.
Information services librarian Cathy Vaughan says WWI had a big impact on families in the region and they wanted to put the Roll of Honour online to make it more accessible. It contains the names of the servicemen, the names of their parents, where they lived and where they served and died.
It also provides a link to the Auckland War Memorial Cenotaph Record which includes additional information including the soldier’s occupation, the vessel they sailed on and their destination and where they are buried.
“About 2500 people from this area served in World War I in some capacity and nearly one in five didn’t return so it had a very big affect on the region. The aim of our project was to get all the information on these servicemen out there and then encourage families who had relatives in the war to add their own stories.”
Cathy says librarians Karen Dickerson and Louise Gribbon did most of the work digitising the information and were deeply affected by some of the stories.
The Roll of Honour shows that one set of Nelson brothers, Leo and Vernon Hoult, died just days apart in France with Vernon dying on August 22, 1918 and Leo dying on September 3 but they are buried in different cemeteries in France.
However, the roll shows the greatest tragedy was endured by the Harvey family who lost three brothers, Charles, Percy and Frederick, in combat – a fourth brother, William, returned home but died later of wounds.
Cathy says people who want to add their own stories and photos to the Kete can book Richmond Library staff to help them digitise and upload the material. The Richmond Library’s Imaginarium can be used free of charge recording and scanning information and photos.
The digitised version of the Roll of Honour can be found by searching on the Kete Tasman website at ketetasman.peoplesnetworknz.info.
