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Eastern Bush & Districts - Edward William Pullar, WW1 Memorial Entry, 2024

Edward William Pullar, Private, WW1 #32724 - from Eastern Bush:

Print copy of information page on Edward (Ted) William Pullar, Private, WW1 #32724 d. 12th October 1917, plus photograph from from Otago Witness, 21 Nov 1917 & NZ War Graves photo of cemetery, with attribution.

Ted as he was known, born Edward William Pullar, served from 7 July 1916 until he was KIA on 12 Oct 1917 in the battle for Passchendaele.

The text from this information page, reads as follows:

"Edward (Ted) William Pullar was born at Footscray, Melbourne, Australia, on 9th June 1892. He was the eldest son of parents William and Marion Alice Pullar, who reportedly had 14 children. The couple appear to have come to Aoteroa NZ after Ted’s birth along with their eldest child Elizabeth Jane. The family later went on to farming at Tussock Creek in Murihiku Southland. Ted’s education was said to have been undertaken at Rakiura Stewart Island and later Gummies Bush.

Ted enlisted for WW1 on 7 July 1916 at age 24, and was a Bricklayer by trade, having worked on the First Church in Waihōpai Invercargill and various Post Office Buildings. At the time of enlistment, Ted was working for TA Scobie of Eastern Bush. Joining as a Private in the Otago Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, Ted was sadly killed in action not much more than a year later, on the 12th October 1917 at age 25, in the dreadful battle for Passchendaele, in Ypres, Belgium.

Ted was also the recipient of a Military Medal, as reported in local papers and the London Gazette, in December 1917. It is recorded that Ted was awarded the Military Medal the week before he was killed. Edward’s memory lives on in the Tyne Cot Memorial at the Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen in Belgium.

Interestingly, his father William served in the Boer or South African War and also served as a Sapper in WW1, enrolling on 15 December 1915 at age 44, his trade being a painter. By the time he was 52, it is recorded that William was “no longer physically fit for war service” and he had Rheumatism. He was to pass away in 1945 at Balclutha, Otago, but was buried at Aparima Riverton Cemetery. It’s noted on the cemetery file he was also at Tihaka (Ōraka).

Then we have Ted’s brother Robert, a Sawmill Hand, who reportedly tried several times to enlist while underage, eventually managing this on 16 March 1916, but his attestation form says his birth year was 1896, while he is registered in the NZBDM as being born in 1899! It was a common occurrence however during early WW1, for boys to lie about their age so they could go off to war to supposedly ‘have a jolly good time and get to see the world.’ And none could have been prepared for the carnage, in tragic injury and loss of life that ensued.

Edward William Pullar is remembered on the following memorials:

- Invercargill Cenotaph also has Edward William Pullar recorded as below.
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission online memorial.
- Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium, see below
- Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, see field below
- And the New Zealand War Graves Project, as seen in the field below"

This history was researched and written by our own digitising archivist, Suzie Best, as part of a community project to memorialise all of the local and districts service personal from over the years. It is shareable under a CC BY Licence, with Attribution to both the creator & our CWArchive.

More information about this family and and Edward Pullar will be added in the future. In the meantime, please share your memories and stories of any of them that you know, or if you are related, please let us know, also if you have any more photos of any of them please. You can do this by adding a comment about it, at the bottom of the image page.
Central and Western Murihiku Southland Archive via DigitalNZ

http://api.digitalnz.org/records/54691088/source

#Farming #Ww1 #Anglican #Australia #BoerWar #EasternBush #TradesmanBricklayer #BelgiumBattles #DigitalImageInArchivePaperCopyInFiles #Museums #DigitalNZ #CentralAndWesternMurihikuSouthlandArchive