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Cenotaph Record
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Full Name
Charles Ernest Kirk
Rank Last Held
Private
Forename(s)
Charles Ernest
Surname
Kirk
War
World War I, 1914-1918
Serial No.
10/1550
Place of Birth
Great Barrier Island, New Zealand
First Known Rank
Private
Next of Kin
Robert Butler (cousin), 321 Ormond Road, Gisborne, New Zealand
Marital Status
Single
Enlistment Address
321 Ormond Road, Gisborne, New Zealand
Military District
Wellington
Body on Embarkation
3rd Reinforcements
Embarkation Unit
Wellington Infantry Battalion
Embarkation Date
14 February 1915
Place of Embarkation
Wellington, New Zealand
Transport
Vessel
Maunganui or Tahiti or Aparima
Page on Nominal Roll
397
Last Unit Served
Wellington Infantry Battalion
Place of Death
Salonika, Greece
Date of Death
23 October 1915
Year of Death
1915
Cause of Death
Drowned
Biographical Notes
  • His Father was working at the Kauri Timber Company on the Island at the time of his birth (information supplied by Mrs Fallon, a descendant).
  • One of twenty nine crew and 182 troops lost on the torpedoed Marquette 23 October 1915
Description of Image
Portrait, Auckland Weekly News 1915
Additional Information
  • The Marquette was a British Merchant ship of 7,057 tons. It sank when a torpedo launched from a submarine hit it 36 miles south of Salonica Bay. Twenty nine crew and 182 troops were lost. Ten of those who died were New Zealand nurses who had been working at No.1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital in Port Said in October 1915 when they were ordered to prepare to go to Lemnos. The hospital was to be set up there to care for casualties being brought back from the Dardanelles.
  • The Transport Ship Marquette took on board officers and men of the New Zealand Medical Corps, 36 New Zealand Army Nursing Staff, 610 officers and med of 29th Divisional Ammunition Column , 541 mules and some ammunition in mid October sailed for Salonika. The French torpedo destroyer Tirailleur joined the convoy on 22 October which gave credence to the idea that there was a real danger of being attacked by German submarines in the Mediterranean. The torpedo destroyer left the convoy on 22 October and at 9.15 am on 23 October the Marquette was hit by a torpedo on the starboard side and began to list. Within about 15 minutes she had sunk.
Archives NZ source
Military personnel file
Sources Used
Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume I. Wellington: Govt. Printer, 1914-1919