4/1499 - Lance Corporal

Henry

CORNWELL

Main Body - Section No.4

Timeline


1915

1915

12 October

Enlistment

Otago Military District

Initial training

Avondale, Auckland

1915

18 December

Transfer to England

S.S. Ruapehu

1916

1916

3 February

Marched in to the Company Training Camp, Falmouth

1916

9 March

Embarked for France

1916

16 March

From the Front

The Company joined the underground warfare in the North of France

Chantecler, Sector of Arras

1916

24 June

Detached to Mine School

1916

2 July

Rejoined the Company

1916

21 August

Admitted to hospital with pyrexia

1916

25 August

Rejoined the Company

1916

11 October

Granted leave

1916

20 October

Rejoined the Company

1916

16 November

From the Front

The Company began the operations to connect old underground quarries in Arras in order to accommodate thousands of soldiers for an upcoming battle

1917

1917

4 April

Detached to Mine School

1917

9 April

Battle of Arras

British Offensive


From the Front

The Company was employed to rebuild a major road leading to the Front during the battle

Arras-Cambrai Road

1917

11 April

Rejoined the Company

1917

5 May

From the Front

The Company moved to Monchy, ten kilometres east of Arras, to work on the fortification of the new front line

The Billets in Monchy

1917

17 August

Appointed temporary 2nd Corporal

1917

4 September

Awarded 3 years penal servitude and reverted to Sapper for drunkenness, offering violence, absence without leave and entering in a cellar in search of plunder

1917

15 October

Sentence suspended by General Officer Commanding IIIrd Army

1918

From the Front

The Company was still carrying out the digging of underground premises and defences on the Front near Arras

The Workshop in Arras

1918

8 February

Detached to 31st Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery

1918

27 February

Rejoined the Company

1918

28 February

Granted leave

1918

18 March

Rejoined the Company

1918

21 March

Spring Offensive

German Attacks


From the Front

The Company was engaged in the defence of Arras by digging new trenches and dug-outs under constant enemy shellfire

1918

8 August

100 Days Offensive

Allied Attacks

1918

27 September

From the Front

The Company experienced its newly reconversion in bridge construction

In front of the Havrincourt Bridge

1918

11 November

Armistice

Cessation of Hostilities


From the Front

The Company continued to build bridges to reconnect a fragmented territory

Over the Sambre River, Maubeuge
1919

1919

4 January

Marched in to NZ Sling Camp, Bulford, after leave

1919

20 January

3 years penal servitude remitted by General Officer Commanding IInd Corps

1919

1 February

Transfer to New Zealand

S.S. Hororata

1919

13 April

Final discharge

End of Service

Decoration

British War Medal
British War Medal

Victory Medal
Victory Medal

Sources and bibliography

  • Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, AABK 18805 W5530 101/0028586, Military Personnel File: Henry CORNWELL - 4/1499.
  • Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira, Online Cenotaph He Toa Taumata Rau: Henry CORNWELL.
  • Nominal Roll of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 1915. New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company, Wellington, Government Printer, 1916, p. 5.

How to cite this page

Anthony BYLEDBAL, “Henry CORNWELL (4/1499)”, New Zealand Tunnellers, 2024 (2009). Accessed: 21 December 2024. URL: https://www.nztunnellers.com/roll/details.php?id=161