2/Lt Augustus AB Tegner, IARO d.6/3/1918

[christine liava'a]

Remembering Today:

2/Lt Augustus Alfred Becher TEGNER, Indian Army Reserve of Officers, who died aged 29 on 06.03.18. Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq

Name: TEGNER, AUGUSTUS ALFRED BECHER

Initials: A A B

Nationality: Indian

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Regiment: Indian Army Reserve of Officers

Secondary Regiment: Supply and Transport Corps

Secondary Unit Text: attd. (4th Quetta Div.)

Age: 29

Date of Death: 06/03/1918

Additional information: Son of Clara Tegner, of Wellington, New Zealand, and the late Louis Ferdinand Tegner. Born in London.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: XII. M. 4.

Cemetery: BAGHDAD (NORTH GATE) WAR CEMETERY

Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery is 800 metres beyond the North Gate of the City of Baghdad on the south-eastern side of the road to Baguba.

Historical Information:

In 1914, Baghdad was the headquarters of the Turkish Army in Mesopotamia. It was the ultimate objective of the Indian Expeditionary Force 'D' and the goal of the force besieged and captured at Kut in 1916. The city finally fell in March 1917, but the position was not fully consolidated until the end of April. Nevertheless, it had by that time become the Expeditionary Force's advanced base, with two stationary hospitals and three casualty clearing stations.

The North Gate Cemetery was begun In April 1917 and has been greatly enlarged since the end of the First World War by graves brought in from other burial grounds in Baghdad and northern Iraq, and from battlefields and cemeteries in Anatolia where Commonwealth prisoners of war were buried by the Turks. At present, 4,142 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War are commemorated by name in the cemetery, many of them on special memorials. Unidentified burials from this period number 2,729. The cemetery also contains the grave of Lieutenant General Sir Stanley Maude, Commander-in-Chief of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, who died at Baghdad in November 1917 and the memorial to the 13th Division which he commanded. A memorial to the 6th Battalion Loyal (North Lancashire) Regiment was brought into the cemetery from the banks of the Diyala River in 1947.

During the Second World War, Baghdad was again an objective of Commonwealth forces. The 20th Indian Infantry Brigade reached the city from Shaiba by the Euphrates route on 12 June 1941 and the 21st Indian Infantry Brigade, part of the 13th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers, together with the 157th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, arrived on 19 June via the Tigris. An advanced base was established later near the city and remained in use until 1946. Most of the 296 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried in the cemetery died of illness or by accident when serving with PAIFORCE.

Again, a number of the graves were brought in from other burial grounds. Within the cemetery is the Baghdad (North Gate) (Khanaqin) Memorial, commemorating 104 Commonwealth and 439 Polish servicemen of the Second World War buried in Khanaqin War Cemetery which, owing to difficulty of access, could not be properly maintained. A memorial has also been erected at Khanaqin. The North Gate Cemetery also contains 127 war graves of other nationalities from both wars, 100 of them Turkish, and 41 non-war graves.

[christine liava'a]

Surname TEGNER

Given Name Augustus Alfred Becher

Category Nominal Roll Vol. 1

Regimental Number 11/154

Rank Trooper

Body or Draft Main Body

Unit or Regiment Wellington Mounted Rifles

Marital Status S

Surname TEGNER

Given Name Augustus Alfred Becher

Category Nominal Roll Vol. 3

Regimental Number 11/154

Rank Sergt-Major

Next of Kin Title Mrs Clara

Next of Kin Surname TEGNER

Next of Kin Relationship Mother

Next of Kin Address C/- G P O Wellington

Comment Ex Main Body attached for voyage

Roll Roll 53

Page Page 3

Occupation Farmer

Last NZ Address Pohonui

Next of Kin Title Mrs Clara

Next of Kin Surname TEGNER

Next of Kin Address C/- Sub-Inspector Marsack Palmerston North

[christine liava'a]

Louis Ferdinand Mellbye Tegner was a schoolteacher. He died in Pohonui, near Wanganui in 1908, leaving his wife Clara nee Marsack and children They had married in 1884 in NZ

As well as Augustus, there were 2 other sons in the NZ forces

Surname TEGNER

Given Name Ferdinand

Category Second Reserves

Last NZ Address Pohonui via Hunterville

Occupation Farm Hand

Classification A

and

Surname TEGNER

Given Name Louis Ferdinand Marsack

Category Second Reserves

Last NZ Address Utiku Rangitikei

Occupation Bushfeller

Classification F

A refers to the fact that he is a reservist with no children

F refers to the fact that he is a reservist with 4 or more children.

LFM Tegner had married in 1911

[christine liava'a]

Mellbye and Tegner are obviously of Scandinavian origin, but whether

L F Mellbye Tegner was from a Scandinavian country, and had migrated to NZ, or whether his family had been domiciled in Britain for years cannot be determined from the above facts

[christine liava'a]

Pohonui is a tiny little town/village in one of the coldest areas of the North Island of NZ, near Taihape. Augustus Tegner must have found the climate in Baghdad very different from home