REMEMBERING WATTIE

Walter Vallender6.1.1894 - 12.10.1917

Introducing Walter Vallender.Evan Vallender, an Englishman from Gloucestershire, migrated to New Zealand in 1874 when he was just 16 years old. He settled at Temuka in the South Island and there he married Susan Eagle, a daughter of Henry Eagle and Elizabeth Neal. The first of Evan and Susan’s children were born at Temuka, but Evan’s butchery business failed in 1892 and the family relocated to Johnsonville near Wellington in the North Island. It was here that Walter Vallender was born in January 1894.

Evan then moved his family to the Longburn district near Palmerston North, where he settled onto a dairy farm at Kairanga. He later moved his family again to a dairy farm that lay not far to the west of Rongotea, which he named ‘Maisemore’ after the village in England in which he was born. This became their permanent home; Evan lived there for the remainder of his life, becoming successful as a dairy farmer.

Evan and Susan Vallender had 15 children together; of these eleven survived into adulthood. Walter, known to the family as “Wattie”, was their tenth child. Three of the children who had been born at Temuka died in their infancy, possibly as a result of the swamps that surrounded Temuka and made it an unhealthy place in which to live. Rongotea was also situated in low lying land with many swamps in the area, but vigorous farm development saw most of the swamps drained. Walter and his siblings thereby came to be living a typical rural New Zealand lifestyle of the time; hard-working and industrious, with family at the centre of their lives.

Walter was working as a farm hand on Henson’s Estate at Feilding when the turmoil that led to the outbreak of the First World War erupted, and he joined the army on 6th October 1916. Walter was 6ft 2in in height, weighed 13 stone, with lightish brown hair and grey eyes. After training in New Zealand he embarked on the SS Corinthic on 2nd April 1917 and disembarked in England on 10th June 1917, the voyage being made via Capetown in South Africa. He was at Sling Camp on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire from 10 th June, and then was at Etaples in France from 10th July to 11th August. Walter actually commenced active service with the Otago Regiment from August 11; he was posted to the 4 th Company of the 2nd

Battalion, which was in the 2nd Brigade of the New Zealand Division.

It needs to be said that Walter did not want to go to war. He had already trained with the Territorials prior to the outbreak of the war, but this military training was compulsory for men in New Zealand at the time. Walter actually tried to avoid his enlistment, or at least to delay it, and he was fined 5 pounds for his trouble. In his later letters to his brothers Lon and Percy he advises them to delay enlistment if they possibly can. He clearly hated army discipline. Perhaps he disliked the anti-worker legislation that the Massey Government was then forcing on the country, coming as he did from a community of farmers. His home town of Rongotea also had a large proportion of expatriate German colonists living in the area, many having moved north from the German settlements in Nelson Province, so perhaps that fact also influenced his reluctance to join up.

Walter was killed in the assault against Bellevue Spur at Passchendaele on October 12, 1917.

THE VALLENDER FAMILY AT THE “MAISEMORE” HOME AT RONGOTEA AROUND 1910.

PHOTO ABOVE:Back row from left : Percy; Walter; George Arnott; Lon; and Evan Vallender (holding his hat);Middle row : Susan; Florence (Floss); Jeanetta (Tot) with baby; Susan Vallender (nee Eagle);Front row : Bertha; Evan (jnr).

“In the yard at Rongotea”

A TRANSCRIPT OF A LETTER SENT BY WALTER VALLENDER TO HIS BROTHER, PERCY:

Walter Vallender commenced active service with the Otago Regiment from August 11 th 1917, being posted to the 4th

Company of the 2nd Battalion, which was in the 2nd Brigade of the New Zealand Division. It seems that Walter would have spent around 2 weeks at the front line during August 1917, before withdrawing with his battalion to a rear area for rest and training. It was during this rest period that Walter penned this letter to his brother, Percy.

Walter was killed on October 12th in the ill-fated attack on Bellevue Spur near Passchendaele, only weeks after this letter was written.

France, Sept 2nd 1917.Dear Perce,

Now I take the pleasure of answering your welcomed letter I received a few days ago & was very pleased to hear from you & to know you are quite well & Annie and the family the same & hope it will keep so, It seem[s] an awful long time since I saw any of you now & it also seem[s] as though it will be a long while yet but still I must keep on living in hopes of getting back someday I suppose, I would not mind if I were back now working the old team & my own boss again instead of here where one cannot please himself whether he goes out or not or what he does & being ordered about comes hard on us when we are not used to that sort of thing. It will go hard on Lon when he gets into it properly, It will not be like running to town & everywhere he likes & doing what he likes, it will be [slightly] different to working the farm & having the good old times like we used to have & at the same time he will find them camps out there a home to what they are over here where one has a lot to put up with…

… & I reckon it a bit off making a married man come, especially like Lon, He will have to sacrifice a lot & then Ethel, it will come hard on her too breaking up the home & Lon going away, but still I suppose there are a lot more happy homes broken up too & also a lot of poor boys lost their lives after a lot of hardship. I believe Lon sold his stock & leased the farm, Did he do any good out of it & did he have a good sale? I hope he did.There is one thing about this life, a chap sees a lot of the world & a lot of life & a lot of ups & downs & it is surprising how close one will be to getting a smack from [ ??] without getting even a scratch, & then there are others who get blown up so quick, I suppose you heard about Leroy Henson getting hit the first night he was up on fatigue, It may seem a bit sudden but after all said & done he is jolly lucky to get out of it so light & so soon, especially if he gets across to Blighty & misses the winter by it, as the winters here are not the best, not like the NZ ones …

… Well Perce, how are things progressing with you? How are the horses keeping? Did you do much contracting this year? Any up Mount Stewart or the old town board job, did you do anything with the grader this year? I suppose the wet weather would hold things back a bit, They tell me you have had a bad winter this year, a terrible lot of wet, How are chaff and oats, well up in price I suppose, It is a pity to see the crops spoiled over here with the wet, A lot of it is in the stook and some of it not cut yet, but it takes them so long to do their reaping, They do most of it with the hook, You see a [reaping?] binder in the field but [it] seems to me they are frightened of it or do not understand it or something, They are well behind in everything, They could learn many lessons off the colonies, The threshing is done by the old horse power & a terrible lot of women slogging in for all they are worth, I often feel sorry for them [in] the way they toil but still they seem happy enough. We are billeted out here in barns …

… & anywhere we can, having a spell out of the line for a while but the drill is sickening, We are back to the first days of our training [saluting??] arms & one thing & another & cleaning buttons & all brass on our gear. I do not know if all this business is helping to win the war or not, but speaking the truth, Perce, it is enough to drive one silly. I will be glad when it is all over & I am out of it altogether, It seem[s] as though they are trying to [ ??] the man or something. I must close now, Hoping this finds you alright as it leaves me just now, with love to you all,

I remain, yours sincerely, Wattie.

My thanks go to Noeline and Dudley Stevens of Pukekohe, New Zealand, for forwarding a copy of this letter on to us. Noeline is a grand-daughter of Percy Vallender, who received Walter’s letter. Leonidas [Lon] Vallender, another brother mentioned in the letter, arrived in England with troop reinforcements in 1918, but the war ended before he was involved in any fighting.Allan Tonks, October 1st, 2006.

Some explanatory comments about Walter’s final letter of Sept 2 nd 1917:

Walter’s continuing interest in all things agricultural brings to mind the saying that “you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy”.

In his letter Walter makes the observation that the farmers of Belgium and France “do most of their reaping with the hook … they are well behind in everything … they could learn many lessons off the colonies”.

Walter states that “you see a reaping binder in the field but it seems to me they are frightened of it or do not understand it or something”. Harvesting technology was at that time still quite new to European countries, but the observation that binders sat unused in fields is interesting. The war was just into its third year at the time Walter wrote his letter, and astonishing numbers of French and Belgium men had already been killed defending their homelands. It is very probable that all farmers knowledgeable in the use of the new agricultural technologies were either serving in the armed forces or were already dead. That the women left behind to toil in the fields seemed not to understand the new machines would have been understandable.

Walter was correct in his view that the colonies were more advanced in terms of agricultural efficiency. The Australian states – especially Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania – along with the United States of America and Canada were world leaders in harvesting technology. Farmers in those regions were quick to embrace labour saving machines and farmers in New Zealand were no exception. This trend gave them a competitive advantage over European farmers in the years leading up to the First World War.

The following excerpt, taken from Eric Rolls’ book ‘A Million Wild Acres’ (“The Forest Takes Over” pp 214 – 215), published by Penguin Books in 1981, demonstrates the impact that new agricultural machinery was having during this period:

“Donald Magann of Baradine rode in to see a trial of H. V. McKay’s harvester in Coonabarabran about 1908 or 1909. This astonishing machine had been in use in Victoria and South Australia for over twenty years but few northern farmers had seen one. They ran behind it holding out their hats to catch the tailings then shook them and blew on them, checking for wasted grain. The paddock where the trial was held is now part of the town of Coonabarabran.Built by Hugh Victor McKay when he was only eighteen the stripper harvester reaped, winnowed, and filled bags with clean grain as it moved. The first models were framed with Tasmanian Blackwood, hard, knot-free and strong yet light in weight, a great timber. This Australian machine changed the method of harvesting throughout all that part of the world anxious to use machinery instead of men. Even in the 1970s a huge amount of the world’s grain was grown by methods that had not changed in a thousand years”.

The above map, showing the area where Walter Vallender fell during the attack on October 12 1917, is reprinted here by kind permission of Stan Verrinder and Sue Kirby. It originally featured on page 37 of their August 2005 special edition of “VERRINDER VIEWS” – the LEST WE FORGET tribute to the 26 Vallenders, Vellenders, Verinders, Verrenders, and Verrinders killed in the two world wars.

Considering the aftermath at Passchendaele:

“General Monash was frustrated and angry, but his letter about the Battle of Passchendaele was restrained. It is dated 15 October… of the events of 12 October he said:

‘Just in the degree that the battle of 4 October was brilliantly successful, so were the operations of 12 October deeply disappointing, although the 3 rd Australian Division did magnificently under the most adverse circumstances.

It is bad to cultivate the habit of criticism of higher authority and, therefore, I do so now with some hesitation, but chiefly to enable you to get a correct picture of what the situation was ….

Considerable rain began to set in on 6 October. The ground was in a deplorable condition by the night of 8 October, and, in consequence, the 66 th and 45th Divisions [in their attack against Bellevue Spur on October 9] … failed to accomplish more than about quarter of a mile [400m] of their projected advance. Even in the face of this the Higher Command insisted on going on, and insisted, further, that the uncompleted objectives of this fourth phase should be added to the objectives of our fifth phase; so that it amounted to this that Russell [the NZ commander] and I were asked to make an advance of 1 & ¾ miles [2.8 km].

The weather grew steadily worse on 10 and 11 October. There was no flying and no photographing, no definite information of the German re-dispositions, no effective bombardment, no opportunity of replenishing our ammunition dumps; and the whole country from Zonnebeke forward to the limits of our previous captures was literally a sea of mud, in most places waist deep. Even in spite of all these difficulties, I might have succeeded in accomplishing the goal aimed at but, most unfortunately, the division on my left (the New Zealanders) had in the first stage of their advance to cross the Ravebeek, which not only proved physically impossible, but the banks of it had been strongly wired on the enemy’s side. Consequently, the New Zealand Division could obtain no footing upon the Bellevue Spur, and the left flank of my advance was, therefore, fully exposed to the enfilade fire of a large number of concrete forts scattered over the spur ….’

The above extract was taken from Passchendaele: The Hollow Victory by Martin Marix Evans, Campaign Chronicle Series, Pen & Sword Military, 2005.

“The fighting around Ypres in the third battle to bear the town’s name advanced the British line by almost six miles towards the objectives that had been set for the first two weeks of the campaign. The cost to achieve this ground was 275,000 casualties, of which 70,000 were killed. The British army lost the equivalent of ten to twelve divisions from its total of sixty …”

“The 3rd Australian Division casualties numbered 3,200 or 62 percent of those involved … the 4th Australian Division also had 1,000 casualties. New Zealand losses for the morning’s action were catastrophic: 117 officers and 3, 179 men within a few hours. The attack carried the British positions forward from their original line 500 yards on the left and 200 yards on the right. Many New Zealanders had died to make these paltry gains... the death toll reached 1,190, nearly a third of the total casualty figure …”

“Certainly the men forced to attack knew they had been given an impossible task. That they still tried to do it regardless of the cost was an abuse of their trust.”

The above extracts were taken from Glyn Harper’s book Massacre at Passchendaele: The New Zealand Story, HarperCollins, 2000.

So what happened to Walter’s brother, Lon?

Leonidas Vallender, born 1st September 1886, was married to Ethel Oliver and was self-employed as a farmer. New Zealand had adopted conscription to ensure sufficient recruitment for the war effort, and Lon was one of many drafted into service. This caused significant difficulties for the couple. Lon was forced to lease his farm and sell off his stock in order to meet his service obligations. With the war creating a manpower shortage, it was clearly a bad time to be leasing, or selling, a farm.

The following transcript is taken from a column in the ‘Feilding Star’ newspaper; Volume Xlll, Issue 3140, 13 January 1917; page 4.

“THE THIRD BALLOT FOR MILITARY SERVICE - MEN DRAWN IN THE FEILDING DISTRICT: Following are the names of the men in Feilding and district drawn in the third ballot for military service:-

- VALLENDER, Leonidas, farmer, Rongotea” (among 64 names listed).

The following article appeared in the ‘Feilding Star’ newspaper on 15 February 1917:

“MILITARY APPEAL BOARD – MORE FEILDING CASESThe Board continued its sittings at Palmerston yesterday, Mr. D. G. A. Cooper presiding.READY TO GOLeonidas Vellender, dairy farmer, Rongotea, appealed on the grounds of public interest and undue hardship. Appellant stated he was 29 years of age, and was married in May of last year. His farm was 100 acres, and he had been working it for eight years. He took it up as a leasehold, and made it a freehold four years ago, but there was a mortgage on it. There were 30 cows in milk, which he milked by hand. He had no assistance but his wife. He was preparing to go to camp and his farm was in the market, but he had been unable to sell it.To Captain Walker: He had a brother in camp, and a brother who was in the second division.”

The following transcript is taken from a column in the ‘Feilding Star’ newspaper; Volume XIII, Issue 3214, 13 April 1917; page 4.

“MILITARY SERVICE BOARD. MORE FEILDING DISTRICT CASES.The first Wellington Appeal Board continued its sitting in Palmerston yesterday, before Mr. D. G. A. Cooper and Messrs. W. Perry and D. McLaren. Captain Walker represented the military authorities. A RONGOTEA CASE: The appeal of Leonidas Vallender, dairy farmer, Rongotea, was re-heard, having been adjourned from the previous season in order to ascertain if appellant could sell out. Appellant said he had placed the farm in the hands of an agent for sale, but so far no sale had resulted. He employed no labour and did all the work himself. To Captain Walker: His cows would dry off about the end of May. They were very good cows. The board reserved its decision till next day, as it was desirable to get further information.”

Lon eventually enlisted and went to Trentham Army Camp for training, and in 1918 he embarked with reinforcements bound for England. He entered Sling Camp on the Salisbury Plain just as Walter had done before him, but the war ended before he ever saw active service in the field. Lon returned to New Zealand on 18th August 1919 on the SS Mamari.

So what happened to Walter’s brother, Percy?

Percy Vallender was called up for military service but successfully appealed against his conscription on the grounds that his work was indispensable to the local district.

The following transcript is taken from a column in the ‘Feilding Star’ newspaper; Volume XIV, Issue 3583, 12th September 1918; page 4.

“MILITARY APPEALS FROM FEILDING DISTRICT.The sitting of the First Wellington Military Service Board was continued in Palmerston yesterday.PLOUGHMAN AND CONTRACTOR Percival Vallender, Rongotea, deposed that in addition to contracting for the Manawatu County Council and Rongotea Town Board, he did ploughing by contract. Some of the residents of the district wanted him to do ploughing for them this season. He was the only man in the district who had a plant for doing ploughing work. When war broke out he had three men working for him, [but] at the present time he had nobody to assist him. He had been asked to do four or five miles of road metalling for the Manawatu County Council. William Darragh, chairman of the Rongotea Town Board, deposed that [the] appellant had a contract from the Board for putting 150 cubic yards of metal on the road. Appellant had been doing work for the Board for three years past, and in addition to carting metal, he also spread it. Vallender had also done carting for farmers in the district, and contract work on farms. If Vallender went into camp it would be a great inconvenience to the Town Board. Mr Young: You think Vallender is essential to the district? Witness: Undoubtedly.Decision was reserved.”

Acknowledgements: the previous digital newspaper transcripts were sourced using ‘PAPERS PAST’.Stan Verrinder, of Seaford in the United Kingdom, brought to my attention two of the Feilding Star excerpts that relate to Lon’s experience. Peter Tonks, formerly of Hastings, NZ, supplied me with the article above about Percy Vallender.

A Considerate Letter

Leroy Henson, who knew Walter Vallender, had been wounded and repatriated to Walton-on-Thames Hospital in Surrey, England. He was later transferred to the New Zealand convalescent hospital at Hornchurch in Essex. While he was there he learnt that Walter had been killed and he wrote a compassionate letter to Walter’s parents. That letter became the subject of a news article in the Wanganui Chronicle newspaper of 27th December 1917.

The transcript of that article is as follows:-

Mr E Vallender, of Rongotea (whose son, Private W. Vallender, has been killed in action in France), has received a touching letter, giving some details of how his boy made the supreme sacrifice. The writer was Private Lervy Hensen (Leroy Henson), of Mount Stewart, who at the time of writing was an inmate of Hornschurch Hospital. He says: “The first I knew of Wattie’s death was a few days ago, when a young fellow in the same company told me Wattie had been killed in the big offensive on October 12th. He had dug himself in to get shelter, but it was no use. He was a fine fellow, a real Christian, and if we were all like him this world would be a better place to live in. I was told he was very brave under fire, and he died while doing his duty.”

Wanganui Chronicle – 27 December 1917.

PostscriptIt was reported in a short article in the FEILDING STAR newspaper dated 8th September 1917 that Leroy Alfred Henson, of Mount Stewart, was at “the Walton”. In the article it stated that Leroy had “gunshot wounds in arm and neck. He is doing well”. This is the Leroy Henson that Walter had written about in a letter to his brother Percy, dated September 2 nd 1917, when he stated: “I suppose you heard about Leroy Henson getting hit the first night he was up on fatigue”.

Ken Treanor, Capt (rtd), curator at the RNZAMC Museum at Burnham Camp, states that: “Our medical corps had 4 major hospitals overseas during WW1; No 1 in Brockenhurst, No 2 at Walton-on-Thames, No 3 at Codford, and a stationary hospital at Wisques in France”. Leroy Henson was sent to Walton-on-Thames Hospital after being wounded. This was at a large villa at Mt Felix, Walton-on-Thames, in Surrey. It was in use by the NZ Medical Corps from August 1915.

Leroy was later transferred to the Grey Towers New Zealand Convalescent Hospital at Hornchurch in Essex, England. It was here that he wrote the letter of condolence to the parents of Walter Vallender. From Hornchurch, men were transferred to the Command Depot Codford to be rendered fit again for active service.

An interesting website by Glenn Reddiex shows a postcard view of Walton-on-Thames Hospital. This website can be seen at: 100nzww1postcards.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/no2-new-zealand-general-hospital-walton.html

Glenn Reddiex writes: “Private Leroy Henson of the Canterbury Infantry Regiment, and a farmer from Feilding New Zealand was a patient here in September 1917. He sent the above postcard to his sister Eileen and wrote:”

“My dear Eileen,Just a P.C. to let you know that I haven’t forgotten you. It is a part of the

hospital where most of the Officers are. The post office is just inside the door. I have been there a few times. My arm is getting on slowly. This morning the Dr injected some stuff into it and then cut the skin away from the flesh a bit and then put a few stitches in it to draw it together a bit. It was about an inch wide all fleshy so it will look better now when it is healed up. He put about four stitches and I might tell you it was no caper at all. I have seen a good lot of Louis (Rifleman Louis Mathews) lately but he is going on a fortnight’s leave today and then he expects to be going back to NZ. I get up and go about a bit now. We have been going about together and enjoying ourselves. I must close now and send one to Dulcie (Leroy’s younger sister) with much love to yourself and all at home.Your loving Bro., Leroy XX”

Leroy Henson survived the war and returned home to New Zealand. He married Olga Irene Harris at Sanson on 23rd July 1919.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My research into Walter Vallender’s war experience has been just one part of an extensive interest in family history research. It has been quite a journey, and I have received much help from many people over many years. Specifically with regard to researching Walter, I would like to thank the following people for the help that they gave:

The late Florence Claasen (nee Vallender); she was Walter’s younger sister and the only grandparent that I ever really got to know. To my great disappointment Floss died before my interest in family history had become serious, and very many questions that I now have must go unanswered. Florence nonetheless gave me a tangible connection to Walter, especially through the keepsakes and family photographs that she had. She did not have an easy life; she was close to her brother Walter, who was killed in 1917; her husband-to-be William was killed in 1918; and she lived through the depression years and through the tough times of the Second World War.

The late Ken and Lee Mossop of Rongotea; these generous family members provided a link to Walter’s home town and were supportive of my interest in Walter, in particular helping with several useful photographs that have been used with this material.

The late Steve (Clifford John) Claasen of Palmerston North; who was a son of Walter’s sister Bertha. Steve shared an enthusiasm for Walter’s story, and he once showed me an embroidered postcard that Walter had sent to his mother. He also took me on a guided tour of the Rongotea cemetery; his informative commentary, his anecdotes, and his humour were a delight.

Stan Verrinder and Sue Kirby of England; these two cousins and long-term family historians have made an enormous contribution to my knowledge and have been very supportive of my own efforts. They have produced a quarterly magazine – VERRINDER VIEWS – as well as their splendid ‘special edition’ in 2005 commemorating the 26 family members who were killed in the two world wars (all having the derivative family names of Vallender, Vellender, Verinder, Verrender, or Verrinder). To contact them, e-mail Sue Kirby at VERRENDER@AOL.COM

The late Bert Vallender of Rongotea; who gave me the contact details for Stan Verrinder in England.

Noelene and Dudley Stevens of Pukekohe; who passed on to me copies of two of the letters written by Walter. Noeline, a grand-daughter of Percy Vallender, also provided several family photographs.

The late Kerry Payne of Cambridge, New Zealand; who provided a considerable amount of material about Eagle family history. From this I learnt that five of the grandchildren of Henry and Elizabeth Eagle were killed during active service in the First World War.

The New Zealand Defence Force, and in particular Walter Guttery; who in response to a letter I sent in 1998 forwarded a photocopied chapter of Byrne’s ‘Official History of the Otago Regiment’ along with useful comments about Walter Vallender’s service and files. This material was sent at a time when gaining access to material about the Passchendaele battles was difficult.

To these people should be added many others, not least of which include my late uncle Don Claasen; my late father Trevor Tonks and my mother Betty (nee Claasen) who all freely offered their time, their photographs, their patience, and their memories; and my brother Peter Tonks for bringing to my attention a number of historical newspaper articles. My thanks go to one and all.

Allan Tonks, October 2017. Feedback is welcome via e-mail to: ab_tonks@hotmail.com