Mountaineers who served but returned from the war

The text was originally published in the New Zealand Alpine Journal, 2014; v.66:p.134-139.

Alex Graham

Alex Graham was a mountaineering guide and First World War Serviceperson.

Two men dressed in suits stand behind a seated woman. Both men are holding pickaxes and there is a mountain behind them. — Alex Graham (left) and Peter Graham (right) with Emmeline Freda Du Faur (centre) who the brothers guided on her ascent of Aoraki / Mt Cook on 3 December 1910.
Source: Emmeline Freda Du Faur with Alec and Peter Graham. Making New Zealand : Negatives and prints from the Making New Zealand Centennial collection. Ref: MNZ-1296-1/2-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. Emmeline Freda Du Faur with Alec and ... | Items | National Library of New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand

Alexander (Alex – pronounced Alec) Graham [Service No.3/2752] was a pioneering guide and explorer, making first recorded ascents up the Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe and Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere, as well as elsewhere, such as Mount Aspiring / Tititea and Mount Malcolm.

Alex Graham enlisted in November 1916, left for England three months later, and was in France by the end of May 1917. Initially attached to the 4th New Zealand Field Ambulance, he felt he should be doing more so on 27 August 1917 he transferred to the Canterbury Regiment as a stretcher bearer. He worked hard at Passchendaele, showing calm leadership, courage and endurance. On 23 October 1917 his exceptional efforts were recognised with the Military Medal:

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. At the assault on Belle Vue Ridge on October 12th this man worked heroically all day as a stretcher bearer under exceptionally heavy fire, and with great courage and grit constituted a fine example to the remainder of his Company.

Graham was seriously injured with a gun shot wound on 2 December 1917 and sent back to England. It was ten months before he could rejoin his unit. He was wounded again on 5 November 1918 and again sent to England to recover. Before he could return to the front, the war was over.

Alex returned to New Zealand on 3 September 1919 and was discharged at the end of the month. The extended Graham family ran the Franz Josef Hotel until it was sold to the Government in 1947.

Alex Graham died on 12 July 1957.

Places

Jack Clarke

Jack Clarke was a mountaineering guide around Aoraki / Mt Cook and served in the First World War.

A young man posing for a photograph holding a pick and a coil of rope — Jack Clarke, photographed by Joseph James Kinsey in 1895.
Jack Clarke. Kinsey, Joseph James (Sir), 1852-1936 : Photographs relating to Antarctica and mountaineering. Ref: PA1-q-137-12-2. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22848472

Jack Clarke [Service No.9/436 & 8/2873] was a mountain guide from 1894 to 1914 and Chief Guide at the Hermitage Hotel, Aoraki / Mount Cook from 1897 to 1906.

He also made significant first recorded ascents away from Aoraki / Mount Cook, including Mount Aspiring / Tititea on 23 November 1909 and Mount D’Archiac on 12 March 1910. He did much to influence the early development of guiding and recreational climbing.

Clarke enlisted in August 1914, giving 12 November 1880 as his birth date, reducing his age by five years to be accepted. He sailed to Egypt with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in October 1914 but never made it to Gallipoli. He was sent home as a hopeless alcoholic in March 1915.

Only weeks after returning to New Zealand he enlisted again, giving his year of birth as 1882. Whether he really wanted to serve, or just needed an occupation is unclear. He proved to be an unreliable soldier in Egypt, France and England, because of his drinking and absences without leave (AWOL), once when in the front lines. He was wounded in the arm in September 1916 and spent time in hospital in England. After more time in the field in France he was sent back to England and classified unfit for active service in September 1917.

While waiting to be shipped back to New Zealand he continued to get drunk and go AWOL, though he was never violent in his drunkenness. Nearly a month after he returned home he was finally discharged on 3 April 1918 ‘no longer physically fit for war service’. In the Army alcohol had been too easily available for Clarke. Some men drank to forget what they were experiencing; Clarke, once he started, just could not stop drinking.

After the war he tried to distance himself from the temptation of alcohol by burying himself in the hills, working for the Public Works Department at Lake Coleridge power station extension and as a storeman on the construction of the electricity transmission line through Arthur’s Pass. He then worked in Christchurch until he was 75 (at the same job) and died in 1952.

Places

Tom Fyfe

Tom Fyfe was an accomplished mountaineer and served on the front during the First World War.

Three men posing in amongst NZ native bush. Each one holds mountaineering gear such as a coil of rope or a pick. The photo is low quality from age. — Portrait from left to right Jack Clarke, George Graham, and Tom Fyfe. Accessed from -The first conquerors of Mount Cook - Adamson Collection | South Canterbury Museum

Thomas Camperdown Fyfe [Service No.14094] was the most dynamic of the early climbers in New Zealand, leading the first recorded ascent of Aoraki / Mount Cook on Christmas Day 1894, making a number of other excellent climbs, and acting intermittently as a guide from 1893 to 1914.

When he volunteered to serve in early 1916, Fyfe was a plumber, married with four children, the youngest nine years old. Seeking further adventure, he gave a birth year of 1872, two years younger than reality. He went overseas on 26 June 1916, had just over a month of preparation in Sling Camp in England, and was in the field on the Somme by 14 October.

The long marches took their toll and Fyfe’s old leg injury flared up. He was pulled out of the front lines on 14 December 1916 and sent back to England. After spells in Hornchurch and Brockenhurst hospitals and Codford camp from 9 January 1917 to 5 April 1917, a Medical Board decided he was unfit to serve. He was finally discharged in New Zealand on 23 October 1917 ‘no longer physically fit for war service’. Like many soldiers, his conduct record was not unblemished as he overstayed leave several times, was drunk and once was absent without leave. He attempted to enlist again on 28 May 1918, giving a different birthday and 1878 as his birth year, but a medical examiner ruled he was only fit for service in New Zealand.

Fyfe continued work as a plumber. He died in Hawke’s Bay in 1947.

Place

Fyfe Pass - NZGB Gazetteer | linz.govt.nz

Alfred Fitchet (Alf) Grenfell

Alf Grenfell was a mountaineer and First World War Serviceperson. But it was something else that led his friends to know him by another name.

Alfred Fitchet (Alf) Grenfell [Service No.SA5874 & 9/536] made exploratory trips with William (Bill) Grave in 1900 from Lake Te Anau to Hāwea / Bligh Sound, and then in three more during summers 1904-1908. They explored the route from Lake Te Anau to Te Hāpua / Sutherland Sound, Clinton River North Branch, and possibilities out of Milford Sound / Piopiotahi for a route to Hollyford River / Whakatipu Kā Tuka.

Born in Oamaru on 13 June 1868, Grenfell was a school teacher, mostly in Invercargill. He volunteered for the South African War, but as a member of the 8th Reinforcements in 1902 had little active involvement. He volunteered for the next war on 25 August 1914 and went overseas on 15 October with the Otago Mounted Rifles in the first New Zealand Expeditionary Force contingent. Later he served in the Wellington Infantry Regiment.

Grenfell was a quartermaster with the rank of Captain. He filled that key role throughout the war, at camps in England such as Sling and from time to time in Rouen and other bases in France. His superiors felt he was not suited to a front line posting because of his age and lack of battle experience, but he gave valuable service right through the war and beyond, not returning to New Zealand until 7 March 1920. At five years and 226 days, all but 85 days overseas, his service was unusually long.

After the war he taught until retirement in 1926. He was also an entertainer, as Grave and his companions well-knew, and he demonstrated his ability as a keen and talented actor in many Invercargill productions up to his death in 1936.

Places

Malcolm Ross

Malcolm Ross was a leading mountaineer. He held a unique role for the New Zealand government during the First World War.

Portrait of a man with a serious expression and wearing a suit — Portrait of Malcolm Ross. S P Andrew Ltd : Portrait negatives. Ref: 1/1-014723-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22478485

Malcolm Ross was a journalist and pioneer New Zealand climber 1885-1906, a founder of the New Zealand Alpine Club in 1891, and one of a party of four who made the first traverse of Aoraki / Mount Cook in 1906. In 1890 he married Forrestina Elizabeth Grant (known as Forrest), also a mountaineer and journalist, and together their writing did much to popularise mountaineering in New Zealand.

Malcolm Ross [Service record N/N] was the official New Zealand war correspondent in the First World War. For a variety of reasons, mostly outside his control, he could not do justice to the role. First, the government dithered about any appointment, partly because of the cost, and Government ‘economising’ remained an issue for Ross throughout the war. Second, despite the coalition government during the war, Liberal MPs and newspapers saw Ross’s appointment as a political one, even though his friend Prime Minister William Massey had removed himself from the selection of a war correspondent. As a result of these two factors, Ross was late to Gallipoli.

Ross was attacked for his appointment and the inadequacies of his reports throughout the war. As a journalist his job was to inform, but as a government employee he was required to put a positive spin on the New Zealand war effort. Balancing the two roles was almost impossible.

In addition, cost was always a factor to the Government and Ross was not allowed to cable reports to Wellington. He had to post them, which meant they were always out of date. Newspapers could get more immediate reports by telegraph from elsewhere. Only late in the war was Ross allowed to cable reports, as long as they were brief. Censorship also affected the quality of his reports. As a responsible journalist in wartime he censored his own material, in case it fell into enemy hands. Then his reports were censored in succession in London, Sydney and Wellington to the point where they were incredibly bland and largely uninformative.

Ross’s war actually began in Samoa. He went there of his own accord in 1914, convincing the commander of the invading force (a contact of his) that his previous visit to Samoa made him the best person to send. Then he was finally selected as the official war correspondent, ‘enlisted’ on 1 April 1915 and left New Zealand on 8 April. He was at Gallipoli from June 1915 until withdrawal, and able to spend quite a lot of time ashore with the troops. He was made a Captain on 1 April 1916 to give him the same rank as other official war correspondents.

After Gallipoli, Ross went to the Western Front. Much of the period from July 1916 to November 1918 Ross spent in the field in France and Belgium, taking leave in England with his wife and son Noel. Noel had been wounded at Gallipoli and rendered unfit for further service; he died of typhoid fever late in 1917.

Malcolm Ross was hospitalised with bronchitis in France on 26 November 1918 and then moved to Brockenhurst. He did not embark for New Zealand until 9 August 1919 and was discharged there on 23 September.

It had originally been intended that Ross would write or co-ordinate volumes of an official history of New Zealand’s war, such as Australia produced, but nothing came of the idea because of opposition from sections of the press and the Government’s unwillingness to commit the resources needed to the project. He wrote chapters for a British war history, but nothing else. After the war Ross continued as a journalist and he died in 1930.

Place

Malcolm Peak - NZGB Gazetteer | linz.govt.nz

George Moir

George Moir was a mountaineer and dairy industry scientist. He enlisted late in the First World War.

Close up of an older man's face and shoulders. He is wearing a suit and has deep smile lines. — Portrait from later in life – accessed from George Morrison Moir - Online Cenotaph - Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Born in rural Otago on 20 December 1897, George Moir [Service No.74676] attempted to enlist in November 1917 when he was a university student in Dunedin. He was finally accepted on 5 March 1918 and attested at Featherston Camp on 2 July.

Above average in height but of slight build, Moir embarked with the 40th Reinforcements only eight days after his enlistment, reaching London in early September. He trained at Larkhill and Brocton camps for the Rifle Brigade, but the war was almost over when he was admitted to hospital on 20 October. He seems to have been ill for months, so he never saw active service. In May 1919 he was moved to the Army’s Education Wing and he was not discharged in New Zealand until 18 October 1919.

Moir returned to his scientific studies in New Zealand after the war and worked for the dairy industry for most of his professional life. Moir retired from scientific work in 1962 but never lost his interest in New Zealand’s valleys and mountains. He died on 23 July 1978.

Place

Mount Moir - NZGB Gazetteer | linz.govt.nz

Ebeneezer Teichelmann

Dr Ebeneezer Teichelmann was an enthusiastic mountaineer and doctor during the First World War.

A portrait of a man with a beard and moustache. He wears a suit. — Portrait, Ebeneezer Teichelmann Collection – accessed from Ebenezer Teichelmann | Hocken Digital Collections.

Dr Ebeneezer Teichelmann [Service No.3/884a] was born in South Australia. In 1897, he became Surgeon-Superintendent of the Westland Hospital. He soon became interested in mountaineering, making numerous expeditions between 1899 and 1924, particularly up Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe and Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere between 1902 and 1907.

After earlier being turned down for military service, perhaps because of his age or his surname (his father was a German missionary), Teichelmann was finally accepted on 25 August 1915 when he became a captain in the New Zealand Medical Corps. He could not wait to get overseas and sailed privately to Egypt, joining the No.1 Stationary Hospital at Port Said on 9 October 1915. Ten days later he left Alexandra on the Marquette, a troopship carrying the basis for a hospital in northern Greece. The ship was torpedoed on 23 October in the Gulf of Salonika. Chaos ensued and Teichelmann spent hours in the water before being rescued. 167 people on board did not survive, including ten nurses and 22 others from the New Zealand Medical Corps.

The Stationary Hospital was established at Lembet Camp just outside Salonika, on 12 November 1915. It was bombed several times between 30 December 1915 and 31 January 1916, as the front line came closer. The New Zealanders were relieved on 3 March 1916 and sailed for Port Said four days later.

On 2 July 1916 Teichelmann was attached to the No.2 General Hospital at Le Havre, France, then on 25 September moved to Hornchurch hospital in England. .

For a time during the war, there was pressure on the government by select groups to re-name geographic features that had German or Austro-Hungarian names. ‘Mount Teichelmann’ (named for Dr. Teichelmann) was on a list of names slated for possible re-naming. On the date of the list – 6 August 1917 – Teichmann was still serving with the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station. No geographic features were actually renamed as a result of this movement

Teichelmann died at Hokitika on 22 November 1938.