People on board

DOYLE, Henry Thomas

Henry Thomas Doyle was born in Auckland in 1890 to Michael Doyle and Mary Ann McCarthy. A brother, Charles Michael, was born the following year. In both the 1911 and 1914 Electoral Rolls Henry’s occupation was ‘Traveller’, Charles was an ‘Insurance Agent’, while their father was a ‘Labourer’. When Henry enlisted, his mother’s address was Halston Road, Mount Eden, while Michael was given as c/o Kempthorne & Prosser, Manure Works, Westfield, Otahuhu. Kempthorne & Prosser also called themselves the New Zealand Drug Company, with Acid and Manure Works in Westfield.

Henry enlisted in September 1915, giving his occupation as ‘Commercial Traveller’ and is recorded as ‘Barrack Quartermaster Sergeant’, 3rd Battalion, A Company. He arrived in Suez in June 1916 and served with the Expeditionary Force in Egypt. In 1917 he was sent to France and from April 1918 he was on an Officer Cadet training course in England. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on the 29th September 1918.

He was presumably returning from leave in Ireland when he travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th October. He did not survive the sinking of the ship but his body was recovered. He was buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery in Dublin after a funeral with full military honours. His parents and brother inserted a ‘In Loving Memory’ notice in the New Zealand Herald on the 10th of October 1919. His brother Charles, who had also served in the war, died in Auckland in 1920 following an accident.