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Archiver > GREATWAR > 2001-10 > 1002291775


From: "John Wilson" <>
Subject: Re: [WW1] NZ Official Historian ROSS
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 02:22:55 +1200
References: <001101c14ca2$88940720$c8928ec6@oemcomputer>


Hi Margaret:

Noël ROSS (1890-1917) had enrolled in a Canterbury (NZ) Infantry Battalion
as a private as he was keen to get to the war. He was working on the "Times"
when he died in London of typhoid/enteric in December 1917 (I have lost the
date) and, because of his writing, his death was regretted by the King and
by Kipling who he had met. He had been discharged medically unfit, although
he had attempted to get back via a territorial regiment and was a Lieutenant
in the R.F.A.

Books by/about him are:
"Light and Shade in War" by Captain Malcolm Ross & Noel Ross (1916)
"Mixed Grill" by Mrs Malcolm Ross & Noel Ross (1934) short stories
"Noel Ross and his Work" (1919) edited by his parents

His father Captain Malcolm ROSS (1862-1930) was an official war
correspondent in WWI (as Bean says) not a historian. See his entry in the
"Dictionary of New Zealand Biography" 1940 (vol 2) by Guy H. Scholefield (ie
not the later 1990+ DNZB).
His mother Forrestina Elizabeth ROSS (1862?-1936) was a parliamentary
correspondent for a newspaper.

I think he went to Christ's College, Christchurch NZ (a private Anglican
school), but will check. And will forward his death date when I find it.
Like his father, he was born in Dunedin NZ. His grandfather Alexander Ross
was from Scotland.

Yours, John Wilson (Wellington, New Zealand)

----- Original Message -----
From: Margaret Rose <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, 4 October 2001 19:02
Subject: [WW1] NZ Official Historian ROSS


> I wasn't aware that New Zealand had an official historian, and would
> appreciate any information anyone could give me about him. I am
particularly
> interested in his son Noel ROSS, a Lance-Corporal (NZ unit?) who landed at
> Ari Burnu on April 25th, and was involved in a rescue of some of the few
> survivors from the boats which had come under heavy fire on the extreme
left
> of the landing.
> In Volume I of the "Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918"
> C.E.W. Bean gives the "wonderful account" of the rescue that Ross
described
> in a letter to his father, and describes him as a "brilliant young
> journalist" who died in London in December 1917. (I can't find him on the
> CWGC.)
>
> Margaret ROSE
> Wagga Wagga
>
> Researching
> TREACHER (ROSS):Bombay, Battersea, Lewisham, Penge, Napier, Auckland
> BATEMAN :Brixton, Lambeth
> BRADSTREET :Mitcham, Anerley
> McCLEARY :Lurgan, Newmills, Farlough
> SMITH :Newmills, Farlough
>
>
>
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>
> ==== GREATWAR Mailing List ====
> For enquiries about British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in WW1 your
first stop should always be http://www.cwgc.org which is a fabulous online
source of information
>
> ==============================
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> http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist2.asp
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>



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