WW1 Military Service - James Leslie Guilford

Written by Grandson Peter Harman: My mother Grace told me that her father James Leslie Guilford enlisted in the army and actually got himself shipside before being ordered back to camp because he had too many children. It looks like his army record in part supports that oral history but not the shipside part of it. His records show he sat a medical to join the army on October 30 1915 and was passed fit. He was 165 pounds and 5ft 10" tall. He gives his religion as Church of England and says he does not remember the name of his last employer. Occupation is farmer. We had been told he went to Australia in 1914 following those libelous allegations of cattle rustling and this has him back in New Zealand late in October 1915. In January 1916 He signed up at Turerihikau to fight the Kaiser - his wife Mabel his witness.
His record states that in July 1916 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, corporal 7 days later and almost immediately to Sergeant. It also states he was sentenced to 120 hours in the can for drunkenness 5 days after joining the army. Probably another malicious lie. At the time of enlistment he had 5 named children and a 6th was added whilst he was in service (my mother Grace). In those days drunkenness was an offence but to get jail you needed a degree of violence so presumably someone got hit and quite hard. Soldiers were moving through the camp all the time and there was not much point in storing them in detention when they were only passing through, was there. The only other probable reason why he wound up in jail was because he did or said something to an officer but that is unlikely given his promotion record. He was in the PEASC which is the Peace Establishment Army Service Corps. This was a dedicated corps who were not intended for immediate shipment overseas whereas everyone else in camp was. His promotion was rapid primarily because potential officers were a moving target as members were transferred out. In all probability he had a special skill that the army wanted and he got promoted because as time went by he was a rare commodity a long serving member of the corps. He was in the PEASC which is the Peace Establishment Army service Corps. This is a unit of soldiers who are not destined for immediate transfer overseas because of several reasons He qualified on two grounds ,one his age and secondly he had 5 rising to 6 children. He never received his injections which all soldiers got before they went overseas and based on this circumstantial evidence one can assume that he was never considered for overseas duty. He would not have received any medals nor would he have got a gratuity. If one were taking guesses one would assume that he was there breaking in remounts (horses) for overseas. His skills did not really suit him for much else did they. He underwent another medical on September 28 1917 perhaps to ascertain his fitness for active service overseas. This was a medical board which only happens because it is requested. He passed fit. By the look of the form they were responding to an injury which had healed. In any event there is no indication he had injections at any time These documents came from Archives New Zealand and have been scanned. They don`t re scan that well. If anyone wants to see them I will see what I can do. My source at the Army Museum was Ian Topham who is away looking for more on Bob Guilford. He says he has never struck one quite like this and is very keen to follow up. For the record a significant number of his relatives went through that Camp. Henry Tracy Guilford, Cecil Guilford, Robert Guilford to name but a few. Here are the numbers Registration number 17978 PEASC