Alexander Sherrock (1880 - 1937)

Born 6 Jun 1880 in Picton, Marlborough, New Zealand

Ancestors

Died 24 Jan 1937 at age 56 in Palmerston North, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand

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Biography

Alexander was born in 1880. He was the son of Edward Sherrock.

He was quite politically active and probably socialist leaning in beliefs. In 1911 he wrote a letter to the Maoriland Worker opposing compulsory military service.^[1] Another letter to the editor in 1913 refers to a visiting battleship to Auckland as a "murder ship".^[2]

Of the 286 objectors imprisoned between early 1917 and the Armistice in November 1918, about a quarter professed socialist beliefs.

According to his NZ Expeditionary Force Recruitment Papers he was a Labourer / Engine Driver. He was 5'3" and religion - "Freethinker"^[3] Shortly after his arrival into Trentham Military Camp, he refused to accept his military kit. This resulted in a short period of imprisonment during which he was meant to reconsider his position. it seems Alexander did not as in 1917 he was court-martialled and imprisoned for two years for ‘disobeying a lawful command’.^[4]

Opting for prison over military service was no easy way out, however. Hard labour included being set to work building roads and bridges or planting trees in Rotoaira Prison, a hugely inhospitable environment.

In 1921 he was fined by the Police Court in Auckland for distributing "inflammatory literature", one of which was the book Red Europe, a socialist publication out of Australia and banned from importation into New Zealand in 1919.^[5][6]

He passed away in 1937 at Palmerston North Hospital and is buried at Kelvin Grove Cemetery.

Sources

1. ↑ Maoriland Worker, Vol 2, Issue 31, 6 Oct 1911 [PapersPast] - https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MW19111006.2.42.6
2. ↑ Maoriland Worker, Vol 4, Issue 114, 23 May 1913 [PapersPast] - https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MW19130523.2.7
3. ↑ http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE16169975
4. ↑ New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9802, 27 Oct 1917 [PapersPast] - https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19171027.2.78
5. ↑ Late NZ News. Poverty Bay Herald, Vol XLVII, Issue 15481, 30 March 1921 [PapersPast] - https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19210330.2.69
6. ↑ 'Index of wartime laws and regulations, 1914-21', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/index-wartime-laws-and-regulations-1914-21, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 20-Apr-2015, accessed 14-Jul-2019

• NZ BDM Birth Registration 1880/10086
• NZ BDM Death Registration 1937/20199
• 'Imprisoned conscientious objectors, 1916-1920', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/the-military-objectors-list, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 1-Aug-2016, accessed 14-Jul-2019.