On this day in 1915, Bro Arthur Richard Haybittle of Lodge Tawhiri No. 166 was killed in action at Gallipoli.
He was 34 years old.
Arthur was one of four Brethren of Lodge Tawhiri known to have died while serving during the First World War. He was the first Tawhiri Brother to lose his life on active service.
Arthur was a native of Feilding and worked as a painter. He was also well known in Hamilton through music and sport.
He was a member of the 16th Waikato Regimental Band and an accomplished tenor player who had competed at brass band contests and won a gold medal for solo tenor playing.
Arthur was also a leading footballer, playing for the Gordonton Club and representing Hamilton.
Freemasons New Zealand's record of members who served during the First World War lists Arthur Richard Haybittle, 12/766, as a member of Lodge Tawhiri No. 166, Frankton.
Arthur served as a Lance Corporal with the Auckland Infantry Battalion.
On 25 April 1915, he was among the New Zealand troops who landed at Gallipoli. During the fighting he was wounded and evacuated from the peninsula.
Contemporary casualty reports recorded wounds to his legs and arm. After recovering, Arthur returned to his unit and to the fighting at Gallipoli.
By August, New Zealand troops were heavily engaged in the offensive around the Sari Bair range, including the fighting for Chunuk Bair.
Arthur had survived the landing, been wounded, recovered, and returned to the firing line.
On 13 August 1915, Lance Corporal Arthur Richard Haybittle was killed in action.
He has no known grave.
His name is recorded on the Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial on the Gallipoli Peninsula, among the New Zealand soldiers who died during the campaign and have no known grave.
News of his death was reported in Hamilton later that month. The Waikato Times remembered Arthur as a man who was well known locally through the 16th Waikato Regimental Band and sporting circles.
The New Zealand Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic Review also remembered the musician behind the soldier, recording his involvement in brass band contests and his gold medal for solo tenor playing.
His death was also recorded by Lodge Tawhiri.
At the meeting of 31 August 1915, the Brethren were advised that Bro Arthur Haybittle had become the first member of Lodge Tawhiri to lose his life on active service.
Three years later, as Tawhiri welcomed returned soldiers home, the Lodge arranged for three trees to be planted in Kowhai Memorial Park as a lasting memorial to Brethren who had fallen during the war. The surviving Lodge history does not identify the men represented by those individual trees.
More than a century later, Arthur Haybittle's name remains part of the story of Lodge Tawhiri.
On 13 August, we remember our Brother.
Bro Arthur Richard Haybittle
12/766
Lance Corporal, Auckland Infantry Battalion, NZEF
Killed in action, 13 August 1915
Aged 34
Lest we forget.