From London to Leeston

After receiving an injury to his buttock while serving in France in 1917, Albert (Bert) Gill left the Western Front and was reassigned as a clerk to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force Division Headquarters in London.

He returned to New Zealand in 1920 and settled in Leeston, Canterbury, where a friend of his was a farmhand. Through the farm’s owners, Margaretta and David Lochhead, Bert met Maud McLachlan, Margaretta’s sister. Bert and Maud fell in love and married in 1923.

Bert Gill's Victory Medal (1914–19)

Courtesy of Helen McArthur

Bert Gill's British War Medal (1914–20)

Courtesy of Helen McArthur

Bert kept his unassembled British War Medal 1914–20 (left) and Victory Medal 1914–19 (right) in the original envelopes and boxes he received them in and packed them away in a trunk along with his other war items.

This online exhibition is representative of Canterbury and World War One: Lives Lost Lives Changed, a temporary exhibition which ran from 30 November 2017 to 11 November 2018 at Canterbury Museum.

From London to Leeston

On the Eve of War

Going to War

The War Away

The War at Home

Illness, Injury and Death

Lives Changed

Reflections

Roll of Honour

From London to Leeston

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