John (Jock) Corrigall and Ellen (Sophie) Sophia Pearson - my generation’s g granduncle and aunt

John Corrigall was known as Jock. He was born on the 23rd of September, 1888 in Omakau (Registration number 1887/12755). He was the second eldest son and fourth child of James and Jean Corrigall. Jock attended Blacks School beginning there in 1893.

Along with his brothers, Jock was a keen sportsman, and similar to his brothers, he had his name in various newspapers for cricket, football and other sports. However, as most reports only refer to the initial of their first name it unclear whether J. Corrigall is Jock or his older brother by three years, Jim. There are numerous mentions of a J. Corrigall playing cricket from 1909. Jock would have been twenty years old at this time..

No doubt as a young man, Jock participated in the regular social events of the time. Unfortunately, the newspapers usually only described what the women were wearing and so we are unsure as to which men attended these events, or what they wore! One exception was, however, the 1914 plain and fancy dress masked ball held at Becks on the 22nd of May. Many of the Corrigall clan were in attendance at this function, which included music, dancing, a highland fling and a roller skate exhibition by a champion skater. Apparently dancing was kept up till the early hours and everyone enjoyed the best ball ever held in Becks! Jock who was twenty six years old, was dressed as a Red Indian and was accompanied by 5 of his siblings all in fancy dress as well.

Jock Corrigall in his WW1 uniform, circa 1917

In November 1916, Jock was selected by ballot to join the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. At this time World War One was in progress and New Zealand had introduced conscription to the military service a few months earlier. Jock appealed to delay his selection. The sitting was held at Alexandra on the 20th of January 1917 and was attended by Jock and his father, James. The reason he requested a delay was because Jock was working on his parent’s 500 acre property and he was a vital part of the harvest team, especially since his father had a disabled hand and his younger brother Samuel was already in Featherston military camp, completing military training. Jock wanted to go to war but requested that be after harvest season. His father James also gave evidence on Jock’s behalf. The outcome of the appeal was that Jock was not to be called up before April 1917, however he did have to officially enlist before this time.

Jock was nearly 28 and a half when he completed his ‘Attestation for General Service’ paper work at Ranfurly in February, 1917. His military records reveal that Jock had brown curly hair and blue eyes with a fresh complexion. He was 5 foot 7.5 inches and weighed 135 pounds.

Jock commenced military duty of the 11th of April and left as part of 28th reinforcements on the 12th of April 1917. This was at the same time as another Omakau man, Josiah (Jos) Lee Jones. Jos was married to Lill Paterson, sister of Gordon Paterson, who was Maggie Corrigall’s husband.

Before leaving New Zealand for World War One, taken in camp, most likely at Featherston, north of Wellington, May 1917. Jock is third from the right in the back row and I believe Josiah is in the front row, seated on the right.

After completion of his NZ military training, Jock embarked on the ‘Tahiti’ on the 2nd of June 1917. Ten weeks later, on the 16th of August, he disembarked at Devonport in England. The following day he ‘marched in’ with the Otago Infantry Regiment to Sling Camp, the NZEF base on Salisbury Plain, Southern England.

Jock at Sling Camp the NZEF base on Salisbury Plain, England, August - September 1917

Jock’s postcard written to Addie Corrigall from Sling Camp on the 9th of September, 1917

On the 9th of September, 1917 Jock sent the above photo as a postcard to Addie Corrigall nee Naylor, his brother, Bill’s wife thanking her for the letter. He said the training at Sling camp kept them very busy with only Sundays to themselves, when they could go for a stroll in the surrounding neighbourhood or write letters to family and friends. He mentioned he was writing several letters that day.

Jock would have been at Sling Camp when ten New Zealanders were killed in a tragic accident when they were hit by a train at nearby Bere Ferrers. This horrific accident happened on the 24th of September, 1917. These men had just arrived in Britain and were heading to Sling Camp the NZEF base to complete their training.

On the 14th of October 1917, two days after his brother Samuel was terribly wounded, Jock left for France, marching into camp at Etaples on the 16th. I imagine Jock would have been looking forward to meeting up with his little brother, Samuel, so it would have been devastating for him to learn of Samuel’s death. I wonder when he did hear the news? It would be made all the more tragic by the fact that the two brothers were in such close proximity to one another and really only missed seeing one another by a matter of days.

By the end of October, 1917, Jock was posted to Company 24 with the 2nd Battalion Otago Regiment. From all accounts after the defeat at Passchendaele the mood amongst the NZ troops was extremely sombre and morale was rock bottom. A horrendous water logged landscape filled with detritus of war was their home, and it was winter. Another failed attack at Polderhoek in December added to their misery.

From his military records, Jock seems to have endured seven months in France on the front line. It is hard to imagine the conditions and contrast from home, missing out on birthdays, Christmas and family. To make matters worse, the Spanish Flu swept through France and Jock became ill in May 1918. He was admitted to General Hospital Number 6 at Rouen on the 22nd of May where he remained till the end of the month. Jock was then discharged from the hospital to Number 2 Convalescent Depot for another week before joining the NZ base Base Depot in Etaples on the 6th of June.

On the 23rd of June, Jock marched out to join the 2nd Entrenching Battalion made up of largely Otago and Canterbury men digging trenches and other earthworks. At the end of July, Jock rejoined the 2nd Battalion Otago Regiment and fought with them until being wounded in action on the 23rd of August. He had a severe gun shot wound to his left foot. Jock was admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station the next day and then on the 25th he was admitted to the General Hospital at Rouen before being transferred to England on the 27th of August.

Once in England, Jock was admitted to Brockenhurst Hospital, Number 1 General NZ Hospital on the 31st of August. Here he remained until the 4th of October until he was admitted to the Hornchurch Convalescent Hospital. Jock couldn’t bear much weight on his foot and he was deemed 50% disabled in mid October, 1918. The medical board found him to be ‘unfit for war service permanently’, ‘unfit for home service for 6 months’, and he was classified ‘C2’.

By the 9th of November Jock was discharged to Torquay on leave, and it was probably around this time that Jock went to visit his extended family on the Orkney Islands. On the 3rd of December 1918, Jock embarked on the ‘Tahiti’ at Liverpool to begin his return to New Zealand.

Map of England showing the WW1 hospitals and Sling Camp where Jock was during 1917 and 1918.

Meanwhile back in New Zealand the newspapers on the 7th of September, 1918 had listed Jock as among the wounded and said that he had been sent to hospital. His photo was published in the Otago Daily Times on the 25th of September 1918. Jock's wound was reported as not severe in the Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Dunstan Times and elsewhere, and stated that he was returning to New Zealand in January 1919. He eventually arrived in Port Chalmers on the 11th of January 1919. Jock was finally discharged from military service nearly two years after beginning later on the 4th of March, 1919.

Photo of Jock published in the Otago Daily Times on the 25th of September 1918

A welcome home social was put on for Jock and the 23 other Omakau/Ophir men returning from war on Friday the 21st of March, 1919. Soldiers specially honoured included Jock and Jos Jones. The Dunstan Times reported that the event had a ‘splendid programme’ including singing by Addie, Bill Corrigall’s wife. The returnees were each presented with a ‘framed certificate and a suitable inscribed gold medal’, which they humbly accepted, grateful for the ‘hearty welcome and the kind appreciation’ from the people of the district. There was a minute’s silence to remember Samuel, who of course would not be returning home.

Jock received the British War Medal on the 21st of March 1921 and the Victory Medal on the 30th of June 1922. This was actually before Samuel received the same medals posthumously.

I am very grateful to Wilma McLeod and Edna Thomson, Jock’s daughters, who told me about their father. Edna said Jock never talked about the war. Wilma said that he did not want her to become a nurse because of what he had seen during the war. Although, he did however agree to her become a maternity nurse.

Partial View of the Crown Grant Index Record Map of Tiger Hill District, September 1913, showing the grazing run 223i of Tiger Hill, that was leased by Jock and Jack MacDonald in 1919

Several months after returning from war, Jock worked with Jack MacDonald for a few years. Jock and Jack applied for a lease transfer of the grazing run 223i of Tiger Hill from Daniel Brown in November 1919. This is a large block of land to the west of Corrigall Road, as seen in the survey map from 1913. I have not found documentation, but they must have been successful in leasing this block as Jock and Jack sold 40 lambs for 13s and 21 wethers up to 18s 9d at Burnside in July 1921.

Jock also farmed in conjunction with his brother Jim and their mother Jean. Jock and Jim were the Corrigall brothers that sold stock at Burnside between 1923 and 1931 as reported in the Otago Daily Times. Examples of their sales include:

• May 1923 40 lambs for 22s 6d

• July 1923 44 wethers for 20s 6d

• May 1925 21 lambs for 28s 3d

• August 1926 25 lambs for 23s and 17 for 22s 3d

• May 1927 27 lambs for 26s , 42 lambs for 25s and a pen of lambs for 20s

• June 1928 6 wethers for 31s

• August 1928 16 wethers for 38s 9d and 44 for 36s 6d

• July 1929 13 wethers for 32s and 14 for 20s

• June 1930 a pen of wethers for 43s

• October 1930 20 wethers for 22s 9d, 23 for 22s 6d and 17 for 21s

• March 1931 17 ewes for 4s 9d

Eight years after returning from war, Jock married Ellen Sophia Pearson (known as Sophie) on Tuesday the 5th of April, 1927 at the North East Valley Presbyterian church in Dunedin (Registration number 1927/1545). Jock was 39 and Sophie was 23, having been born on the 9th of April, 1904 in Dunedin. Sophie’s mother was Sophia Pearson nee Drake. Sophia Pearson’s brother was Henry Drake, father of Charlie Drake, who went on to marry Mary (Polly) Corrigall.

Jock and Sophie’s wedding, from left to right, Jo Pearson, Sophie’s sister, Jock and Sophie, Stan Drake and Sophie’s friend Bessie Blyth

Jock and Sophie had two girls:

1. Edna Joan who was born on the 15th of December, 1927 in Alexandra, There is a mention of Edna at the children's Folk and Fancy Dress dance at the Ophir Memorial Hall in September 1930 when she dressed as a star fairy with my grandmother Dulcie Paterson, who was a bush fairy. Edna was nearly 3 years old and Dulcie was nearly 8 years old. Later in 1933 at the Omakau Golf Club’s children’s dance, she wore blue crepe de chene, and at the 1936 function she wore a blue woollen suit. Then in 1937 Edna came first in a 3 legged race under 11 with a friend at an Omakau sports day. As a young woman, Edna worked as a domestic, initially for the Whites in the Omakau area, and later she worked in the Mosgiel Woollen Mills where she met her husband. In 1952, on the 15th of February she married Ronald (Ron) Charles Thomson at East Taieri. I have been fortunate to meet with Edna who now lives in Mosgiel. She is a talented artist, gardener, former golf player, a great grandmother and a lovely friendly helpful person.

2. Wilma Jean who was born on the 4th of July, 1929 in Alexandra. At the 1933 Omakau Golf Club’s children’s dance, Wilma wore apricot crepe de chene, and at the 1936 version she wore a red woollen suit. The only other mention I have found of Wilma in the newspapers was when she visited Dunedin in 1946. She was living in Clyde at that time. She later married Donald (Don) Archibald MacLeod on the 20th of October, 1951 in Dunedin. I am very grateful to have met with Wilma and she tells me that she is now the only Corrigall living in Omakau. Wilma recalls keeping ferrets to catch the rabbits and she would love going rabbiting with her up the hill on the ‘run’. She remembers the hillside moving with rabbits. Like her sister, Wilma is a lovely friendly helpful person, with an extended family, who keeps a very pretty garden.

One thing that both Edna and Wilma talked about when I met with them was Aunty Bess’s feather bed. They remember getting in there when the adults were playing cards after football or cricket in the evening, and the girls just loved it! They had a round stone hot water bottle and they would cosy up together.

When Edna and Wilma were 10 and 8 years old, they were flower girls for their cousin, Mavis (Bill and Addie’s daughter). An article in the Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette on the 27th of April, 1938, page 5 stated: ‘The two little flower girls, Misses Edna and Wilma Corrigall (cousins of the bride) were attired in ankle length Victorian frocks made of gold taffeta, a charming colour note being introduced with a scarlet velvet sash and scarlet shoes. They carried Victorian posies of gold and scarlet chrysanthemums, and wore a wreath of scarlet flowers in their hair.’

Edna and Wilma as flower girls for their cousin, Mavis on the occasion of her wedding, 18th of April, 1938

Both girls attended Spottis Creek school, although Wilma was only went there for a year, at Omakau School opened in 1935. She said it was freezing in winter in the hall where the children were to begin with as there was no heating at all. Edna and Wilma were both at the 1985 Omakau and District School Jubilee events. They are pictured with their cousins and others who attended Spottis Creek school in the photo.

Wilma and Edna (front row third & fourth from the left) with others who attended Spottis Creek school including with their cousins Jim junior Corrigall (back row right at the end) and Dulcie Robinson and Jean Robertson nee Paterson (second row fourth and fifth from the left)

Gwen Rowley nee Huddleston, Jock’s niece wrote about Jock in Grant Barrett’s unpublished book (c.2008) ‘Joseph Barrett and Mary Dodd and the descendants of Richard James Barrett’. On page 95, she described Jock as having deep blue eyes, curly hair and a gentle personality. Gwen remembered Jock helping on the home farm but also having his own farm, driving a little 1934 Ford V8 truck and being a keen fisherman.

Jock and Sophie, probably in Dunedin, possibly sometime in the 1940s

As has been mentioned above in regards to cricket, it is sometimes difficult to discern which J. Corrigall is being referred to in newspaper articles. Jock was probably the Mr Corrigall involved with euchre at Chatto Creek, where he won the Booby prize in 1931! It is also possible that it was Jock who was with the Returned Soldiers’ Association from at least 1935.

It was definitely Jock who spoke on behalf of his mother Jean when she was presented a bouquet of flowers at the Chatto Creek euchre dance in 1945 for her help in organising social events over a period of years. Jock must have been a good speaker as he was called upon to be an emcee in 1946 at a welcome home social for local Chatto Creek WW2 soldiers. As mentioned earlier, Jock was involved with cricket and it was definitely him who was on the Omakau Cricket Club Committee in 1940.

Sophie was mentioned a couple of times in the newspapers of the time. Once for her back crepe de chine dress at the Omakau Golf Ball in September 1933 and for her prizewinning preserved apricots, pickles and blackcurrant jelly in 1939. She was possibly one of the Mrs J. Corrigall’s who had prizewinning baking as well in 1939 and over other years as well. It is also likely that Sophie was the Mrs J. Corrigall of Chatto Creek who enjoyed euchre parties including the one in 1930 where she won the ladies prize.

In 1939 Jock developed TB and went into the Waipiata Sanatorium on the 16th of November. He spent some time there before he was fit enough to come out, but returned periodically.

Many years later he developed stomach cancer. Jock passed away aged 69, on the 29th of August 1957, Omakau (Registration number 1957/32759). Sophie died some years later on the 9th of November, 1989 in Omakau (Registration number 1989/7247). They are both buried in Omakau Cemetery in Lot VIII, plot 20.