McLEOD, Amelia Ann Forman (Dolly)
Born 25 July 1888; died 29 November 1918; buried 30 November 1918; age 30
Amelia McLEOD, usually called Dolly, was born in Woodville, the first daughter of Edward Richard WILLIAMS and Mary Ann GREEN.
Her father was brought to New Zealand from Kent, England, when he was about 2 and spent his childhood on Banks Peninsula. His future wife was born and brought up in Greymouth. Edward and Mary met in Christchurch and married in the Registry Office in 1884 before moving to the North Island. Initially they were based in Taranaki, where Edward took up farming, but by 1890 they had moved to Ohau in the Horowhenua district. Dolly spent her childhood there. She had one sister and 12 brothers, although two of the boys died as small children.
Dolly was recorded in the electoral rolls for 1911 and 1914 living and working at the Hawera Hospital, presumably as a nurse. Hawera may also have been where she met Horace Norman McLEOD, a railway porter then based in Eltham. Horace, the middle child of three sons of Daniel and Louisa McLeod, was born in Greymouth where working for the railways would have been a good career move.
Dolly and Horace were married in Wanganui’s Registry Office in 1915. However, it seems that they then began living in Eltham as this was the address Horace gave when he enlisted in Hawera in August 1917. During the following year, perhaps when Horace was called up, the couple moved to Wellington.
Horace sailed with the 36th Reinforcements in April 1918. After further training at Sling Camp – occupied by New Zealand troops near the town of Bulford on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England – he was transferred to France. After barely a fortnight at the front he was shot in the thigh on 1 October. Transferred to hospital at Codford, England, he remained there until leaving for New Zealand on Christmas Eve 1918.
By then he was a widower.
Dolly, 30, had fallen ill with influenza in the second half of November and was taken from her home at 13 Kent Terrace to the temporary hospital at nearby Wellington College where she died. The couple had no children. A year later, a memorial notice appeared in the Taranaki Daily News on 29 November 1919 placed by her mother, brothers, and sister.
Horace moved to Wanganui after his return home, and in 1922, he married Adelaide May CARRUTHERS.
Researched by Penny Holden and Max Kerr, written by Max Kerr
Grave Information:
Section: PUBLIC2
Plot: 282 J
Born 25 July 1888; died 29 November 1918; buried 30 November 1918; age 30
Amelia McLEOD, usually called Dolly, was born in Woodville, the first daughter of Edward Richard WILLIAMS and Mary Ann GREEN.
Her father was brought to New Zealand from Kent, England, when he was about 2 and spent his childhood on Banks Peninsula. His future wife was born and brought up in Greymouth. Edward and Mary met in Christchurch and married in the Registry Office in 1884 before moving to the North Island. Initially they were based in Taranaki, where Edward took up farming, but by 1890 they had moved to Ohau in the Horowhenua district. Dolly spent her childhood there. She had one sister and 12 brothers, although two of the boys died as small children.
Dolly was recorded in the electoral rolls for 1911 and 1914 living and working at the Hawera Hospital, presumably as a nurse. Hawera may also have been where she met Horace Norman McLEOD, a railway porter then based in Eltham. Horace, the middle child of three sons of Daniel and Louisa McLeod, was born in Greymouth where working for the railways would have been a good career move.
Dolly and Horace were married in Wanganui’s Registry Office in 1915. However, it seems that they then began living in Eltham as this was the address Horace gave when he enlisted in Hawera in August 1917. During the following year, perhaps when Horace was called up, the couple moved to Wellington.
Horace sailed with the 36th Reinforcements in April 1918. After further training at Sling Camp – occupied by New Zealand troops near the town of Bulford on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England – he was transferred to France. After barely a fortnight at the front he was shot in the thigh on 1 October. Transferred to hospital at Codford, England, he remained there until leaving for New Zealand on Christmas Eve 1918.
By then he was a widower.
Dolly, 30, had fallen ill with influenza in the second half of November and was taken from her home at 13 Kent Terrace to the temporary hospital at nearby Wellington College where she died. The couple had no children. A year later, a memorial notice appeared in the Taranaki Daily News on 29 November 1919 placed by her mother, brothers, and sister.
Horace moved to Wanganui after his return home, and in 1922, he married Adelaide May CARRUTHERS.
Researched by Penny Holden and Max Kerr, written by Max Kerr
Grave Information:
Section: PUBLIC2
Plot: 282 J