12 October 1917, Stanley Victor Carthew Vincent

[Nanna52]

12 October 1917, Stanley Victor Carthew Vincent (Lance Corporal) age 20 years.
Number 28927, "C" company, 2nd battalion, Canterbury Regiment, NZEF was killed at Passchendaele.
He was the eleventh child of Alfred and Eliza Vincent (nee Peace), born July 3rd 1897 in Timaru, NZ and my first cousin twice removed. 

His parents were from Cornwall and Yorkshire and met and married in New Zealand.
He is remembered with honour on the Tyne Cot Memorial and the Albury War Memorial, South Canterbury, NZ.  A sister Bertha donated a stained glass window in Woodlands Road Methodist Church, Timaru, in memory of him and their parents in 1978.  From his Army Records he was buried at Bellevue  Spur. 
He joined up in June 1916, left New Zealand in October 1916, arriving in Plymouth on 29 Dec 1916 and left for France on 1 Feb 1917.

At home he had been a farm labourer on his brother Richards farm, he was 5 feet 10 inches, with brown hair, grey eyes and complexion between dark and fair.

I was going to add a photo and asked our lovely photo restoration people for help, but how could I choose just one?

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=694328.msg5380900

All I had was the photo with some information written on the back, but through researching him I found a great niece of his who helped greatly with this part of my tree.

[Nanna52]

One hundred years ago today.
 Since first writing this I have made contact with cousins in New Zealand and found that his name is carried on within the family.

According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

"The New Zealand Division suffered 2,700 casualties in a disastrous attack at Bellevue Spur. More than 840 were killed. In terms of lives lost in a single day, 12 October 1917 remains the greatest disaster in New Zealand’s military history."

His service record says that he was buried at Bellevue Spur, but he was not found after hostilities ceased.

[mirl]

Lest we forget, any of them.