Thomas James Heenan (abt. 1898 - 1915)

Born about May 1898 in Hokitika, New Zealand

Ancestors

Died 7 Aug 1915 at about age 17 in Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli

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Private Thomas Heenan was Killed in Action during World War I.

Biography

Thomas Heenan served as a private with the 12th company of the Canterbury Regiment of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He joined the army at Nelson, Hokitika on August 18, 1914. He was killed in action on August 7, 1915, less than a year after joining the army, on a day that marked one of the biggest losses

His army records indicates that at the time he enlisted he was 24 years and 3 months old and was working as a trapper. He gave his religion as Anglican and his last address as Mrs Jenner, Hardy Street, Nelson.

His medical examination recorded that he was 5ft 6 inches tall and weighed 9 stones 1 pound and had good eyesight and hearing.

His nearest relative was documented as his father James Heenan of Revell Street, Hokitika.

Prior to his enlistment, Thomas said he had been a member of the Garrison Band at Westport, the Volunteer Band of Hokitika and the first Westland Rifles. He had also been a second lieutenant in the senior school cadets. It's reasonable to suppose that because of those experiences he was given the rank of bugler with the Canterbury regiment.

Thomas' grandparents John Heenan and Margaret Kelly may have originated in Ireland but emigrated in the late 1840s or early 1850s. By 1862 they had a daughter Margaret born in Ballarat. Thomas' father Thomas James Heenan was born in Ballarat the following year.

The family then moved to New Zealand where they had two more sons: William Joseph Heenan and David Alexander Heenan.

Thomas James Heenan (Bugler Heenan's father) worked variously as a labourer and a miner. He married Mary Cecilia Kearns in Hokitika in 1899. They had four children of whom Bugler Thomas Heenan was the second, born in 1898 in Hokitika.

About his time in the army, there is little information available. He may have spent some time in Egypt (the records are very faint and difficult to read) prior to being sent to Gallipoli in April 1915.

The allied forces of Russia, Britain and France had launched a campaign at the Gallipoli peninsula (also known as the Dardanelles) in February that year with the aim of opening a way to the the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). Additional forces were sent to the peninsular in August to support a new plan to secure the Sari Bair Range of hills and capture high ground. Part of that plan involved an attack on the Chunuk Bair summit by the New Zealand Infantry Brigade who were required to battle their way through deep and steep-sided gullies choked up with dense jungle to reach their target.

The 12th company of the Canterbury Regiment were within 500 metres (550 yds) of the near peak of Chunuk Bair by dawn on 7 August. Later that morning they came under heavy fire. A history of the Canterbury Regiment records that just after midday ordered to mount another attack: "the remainder of the battalion moved forward and lay down in the open. It at once came under heavy shrapnel fire from the left flank and suffered severe casualties, losing one officer killed and six badly wounded, in addition to three officers previously wounded."

The New Zealand Infantry reached the summit and held onto it for two days before being relieved by other battalions but it was at severe cost of human life.

Reporting on Bugler Heenan's death, the Dominion newspaper on August 28, 1915 said that the campaign of August 7/8 had been the heaviest list yet of those killed in the Dardanelles. Of the 140 men from New Zealand killed in those days, 49 came from the Canterbury Regiment.

Sources

• World War 1 service:New Zealand, World War I Service Records, 1914-1920. Archives New Zealand; Wellington, New Zealand; Series Number: 18805
• Gallipoli campaign: The History of the Canterbury Regiment NZEF 1914-19 accessed at New Zealand Electronic Text Collection, University of Wellington, Victoria
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission [1]
• New Zealand Army WW1 Roll of Honour 1914-1918
• Dominion Newspaper: Volume 8, Issue 2552, August 28, 1915 via PapersPast. [2]
• Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922