NZ Military Records - especially WW1, and Worgan (General)

by jhopkins , Friday, October 17, 2014, 23:32 (3684 days ago)

The NZ Government have placed online freely searchable military records of people serving in the NZ Military during WW1.

The beginning point for a search is http://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/

Some of the records relate to people born in the Forest of Dean who migrated to NZ, or those of their children.

I recently saw a photo in a Greymouth newspaper of a group of soldiers, including one "Jack Worgan", who was probably a miner, considering his home town was Denniston, Westland. I cannot find a military file for Jack Worgan, but there is one for a John Richard Worgan who may be him (many men called John were referred to as "Jack"). Although his military file shows he was born in NZ in 1892, I cannot find a birth record for him here. However, if you have a John Richard Worgan in your family tree, you may find his NZ military file of interest. He served in WW1, and enlisted again in WW2 but was manpowered out of the Army by his employer, after he had started his service. He was awarded the MSM in WW1, as well as the usual service medals. Many NZ miners served in France building tunnels (e.g. at Arras).

There is a file for one Jesse Worgan, a dental surgeon, who served during WW1. He was the son of John Holder Worgan, who can be found here in FoD Parish Records. Jesse's military file records that he was born in the "Forrester Den, Gloucester", presumably written by someone with limited knowledge! In his file, there is reference to a brother and sister in NZ.

A simple search for the name "Worgan" on the Archway site revealed 52 records of various kinds - some are freely available and some have to be ordered. If you have relatives who came to live in NZ, you may find the above site both interesting and useful. Three of my uncles served in WW1 and I have been able to access their military records.