More Info →Shannon- Characters From and During the War

Description

Name: Edward Law

Born: 6 March 1864, Near Blenheim

Age in 1914: 50

Whereabouts during war: Shannon

History: Born in 1864, by the age of nineteen Edward Law was farming for himself. He married in 1892, and arrived in Shannon in 1893, along with his wife and four children. While in Shannon, Edward and Jane Law had a further four children, making a family of six sons and two daughters.

Edward and Jane Law were very active in local affairs, and Edward was later an elder in the Presbyterian Church there. Edward Law was also a member of the Horowhenua County Council, Shannon School Committee, founded the Shannon Co-operative Dairy Company and was its first chairman. Jane Law died in 1910, aged 46, and Edward Law sold their original property and moved to a hill country farm.

Three of his sons went to the war, and although Archie and Wilfred returned, his second son, Henry, was killed at Gallipoli.

Edward, Archie and Wilfred moved to a farm in the Bay of Plenty in 1919 where he farmed for many years before moving to Whakatane, where he died at the age of 75, in 1939.

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Name: Father Patrick Dore, S.M., M.C.

Born: 1886, Ireland

Age in 1914: 28

Whereabouts during war: Gallipoli, England, New Zealand.

History: Father Dore came out to New Zealand in 1910, at the age of 24. At first he worked in Palmerston North, then Kaikoura, and in 1913 he came to Foxton as Parish Priest.

When World War-One started, he went away as padre with the main body of the NZEF to Gallipoli where he distinguished himself by his bravery and dedication. He was seriously wounded in the back and leg while bringing in a wounded soldier, and was almost completely paralysed. He received a Military Cross for his courage and, after treatment in England, returned to New Zealand where he once again became a Parish Priest.

In 1918 he went to Auckland for an operation hoped to restore some mobility.

Although the operation was carried out successfully, the strain of his injuries proved too great and he died on July 15. He was awarded a military funeral, and recently the RSA contributed some money towards a memorial, which was spent on a new road leading to the church he preached at, and a plaque alongside the road.

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Name: John Thomas Bovis

Born: 1887, Wellington

Age in 1914: 27

Whereabouts during war: Serving overseas.

History: John Thomas Bovis, born the same year as Shannon, worked in Palmerston North for a while before coming to Shannon in 1909 as secretary-accountant to Carter Bros, and for the next 50 years was involved in almost every organisation in Shannon. He served overseas during the First World War, and shortly after he returned, he convened the meeting which declared Shannon a Borough, and was appointed the first town clerk, in 1917. In 1918 he married Olive Minnie Laurvig, and in 1919, he resigned as town clerk, only to be re-appointed in 1923, and he kept the position for the next 45 years, until his resignation in 1958. After the war, he was also the Shannon agent for the HEPB, the secretary for the Buckley Drainage Board and representative for the New Zealand Insurance Company - both for around 40 years. He also acted as an accountant on a private basis for many others.

He was a Horowhenua representative in hockey, and also played athletics, bowls, tennis, rugby and cricket. He was also a good and sought-after public speaker, and was often an MC for various events. Olive Bovis was also highly involved in community groups, and was a member of almost all women's organisations in Shannon.

John and Olive Bovis were given a public farewell when John resigned in 1958, with almost 250 people attending. He died in 1962, at the age of 75.

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Name: Rewi Moynihan

Born: 1895, Wellington

Age in 1914: 19

Whereabouts during war: Gallipoli, then Shannon.

History: Mr Moynihan moved from Wellington to Shannon with his parents at the age of six months. He went to Shannon School, and afterwards went to Palmerston North High School, where he began an illustrious rugby career. He left school to start farming, but enlisted when war was declared, and left with the Main Body in 1914. He took part in the landing at Gallipoli, and was wounded twice, on the second occasion being sent home in October 1915, being the first wounded man to return. On recovering enough to run the farm, he took over while his two brothers, W. and T. Moynihan, went to the front. When they returned, he took over the running of the Club Hotel, along with his brother Tom, taking over from their father.

A prominent sporting figure in Shannon, he represented Shannon both as a junior footballer, and in the senior team, where he was also selected to play for the Union. He played for the Manawatu-Horowhenua team against the Springboks in 1921, and was included in the North Island All-Black trials, and represented Wellington-Manawatu-Horowhenua against the All-Blacks before they left to go to England in 1924.

He died in 1927, at the age of 32.

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Identification

Date

1989