Timeline of Frederick Joseph Docherty - New Zealand Tunnellers

1916

24 August

Enlisted at the age of 20

3rd Reinforcements

1916

4 October

Trained

Narrow Neck, Auckland

1916

15 November

Transfer to England

HMNZT 69 Tahiti

1916

16 November

Two New Zealand Tunnellers working underground during World War I; one man shovels rubble while the other digs into the chalk tunnel wall.

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

1916

20 December

Admitted to hospital at sea with venereal disease

1917

7 January

Returned to duty

1917

29 January

Marched in to NZ Depot, Boscombe

1917

2 March

Embarked for France

1917

4 March

Marched in to NZ Base Depot, Etaples

1917

19 March

Admitted to hospital with synovitis of the knee

1917

30 March

Embarked for England

Admitted to hospital

1917

2 April

Marched in to NZ Depot, Hornchurch

1917

9 April

British Offensive

Battle of Arras

Soldiers marching along a road carrying shovels, heading toward a section of the road that requires repair during World War I.

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

1917

5 May

A group of New Zealand Tunnellers posing inside their billet in an underground quarry near the front line; four of them are playing cards while others look on.

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

1917

22 May

Granted leave

1917

30 May

Classified unfit for active service

1917

6 June

Marched in to NZ Depot, Torquay

1917

23 July

Transfer to New Zealand

Troopship Ionic

1917

23 October

End of Service

Demobilization

How to cite this page

Anthony Byledbal, “World War I Timeline of Frederick Joseph Docherty“, New Zealand Tunnellers Website, 2025 (2009), Accessed: 8 November 2025. URL: www.nztunnellers.com/tunnellers/210/wwi-timeline

World War ITimeline

1916

1917

How to cite this page