We were privileged to welcome Sir Clutha Mackenzie's daughter and daughter in law to the exhibition at Canterbury, where they added a few stitches to the panel dedicated to his work and the family connection with Mount Felix
PANEL 45 CLUTHA NANTES MACKENZIE
The story of Trooper Clutha Nantes Mackenzie has touched and fascinated us and we have done our very best to do it justice and to ensure accuracy in what we have portrayed. For a short while in 1915 he became part of the lives of those living and working at Mount Felix in Walton-on-Thames.
A great deal has been written about him and you will forgive us if we have inadvertently got anything wrong!
Clutha was born in 1895 in Balclutha, the seventh and youngest child of Thomas Noble Mackenzie and Ida Henrietta Nantes. Thomas had been born in Edinburgh in Scotland; his family had emigrated to New Zealand when Thomas was only four years old.
At the outbreak of WW1 Clutha enlisted with enthusiasm and went with the Wellington Mounted Rifles to Egypt. From there he was sent to Gallipoli and in the ferocious battle for Chanuk Bair, in August 1915, he lost his sight when a shell fell short from a British man-of-war.
He explains exactly what happened in an interview in the Otago Daily Times on 12th September 1915.
We received a letter from Bridget Cameron, Clutha’s granddaughter, sharing part of his memoires and it was this account that designer Andrew Crummy chose to depict for the new panel which the people of Walton-on-Thames are inviting you to stitch, whilst enjoying the larger story of Mount Felix Hospital.
“Wounded at Gallipoli I arrived in the hospital ship ‘Dongola’ at Southampton on August 29th 1915. I was met by Dad and Helen. (His father was Sir Thomas Mackenzie who was the NZ High Commissioner during WW1 and Helen was Clutha’s sister.)
During the journey (on the hospital train) my father told me we were bound for the New Zealand Hospital at Walton-on-Thames. It had been open for only three weeks and had been established as a voluntary hospital by the New Zealand Community in Britain and many British friends.
Of our family, my father was the chairman of the hospital committee, Helen was in charge of the recreational side, Mary was a V.A.D working on the ward where I would be a patient and Bruce (Clutha’s brother) was the radiologist. I would arrive as a patient, making the fifth member of the family associated with the hospital.”
After a period of recovery and rehabilitation with his family at Mount Felix, Clutha was taken under the wing of Sir Arthur Pearson who, blind himself, had founded St Dunstan’s Hospital for Blinded Soldiers and Sailors in Regents Park in London. The overriding philosophy there was one of independence and self help and Clutha responded with vigour. By 1916 he was editing a lively magazine for the troops.
It was here at St Dunstan’s he met his future wife Doris Sawyer, an English volunteer worker. He returned home on HMS ‘New Zealand’ in 1919. Doris followed and they were married later that year.
Upon his return to New Zealand he had a short stint as an MP, wrote an account of his soldiering experiences and spent the rest of his life working to improve the conditions for the blind in NZ and elsewhere. He was also instrumental in the development of a universal Braille system. He was knighted in 1935 for services to the blind.
Clutha died in 1966. Both he and his father were laid to rest in Dunedin Northern Cemetery.
Much has been written about the war horses which took part in the Gallipoli campaign, with tragic losses.
According to the Birch Hill Station (Canterbury) Memorial Ride website only four officers’ horses were repatriated to NZ.
They were Bess, owned by Captain Charles Powles, Dolly owned by General Sir Andrew Russell, Beauty owned by Captain Richard Ruddiford and Nigger owned by Lt. Col. George King.
It is generally thought that Trooper Mackenzie rode Dolly but he is shown in the new panel astride Bess posing for the ANZAC Memorial sculptors after both had returned to NZ after the war. Bess was the only horse to return home with the Main Body. Bess and Clutha had been chosen to represent others less fortunate.
Good luck to all of you and Happy Stitching!
PANEL 45 CLUTHA NANTES MACKENZIE
The story of Trooper Clutha Nantes Mackenzie has touched and fascinated us and we have done our very best to do it justice and to ensure accuracy in what we have portrayed. For a short while in 1915 he became part of the lives of those living and working at Mount Felix in Walton-on-Thames.
A great deal has been written about him and you will forgive us if we have inadvertently got anything wrong!
Clutha was born in 1895 in Balclutha, the seventh and youngest child of Thomas Noble Mackenzie and Ida Henrietta Nantes. Thomas had been born in Edinburgh in Scotland; his family had emigrated to New Zealand when Thomas was only four years old.
At the outbreak of WW1 Clutha enlisted with enthusiasm and went with the Wellington Mounted Rifles to Egypt. From there he was sent to Gallipoli and in the ferocious battle for Chanuk Bair, in August 1915, he lost his sight when a shell fell short from a British man-of-war.
He explains exactly what happened in an interview in the Otago Daily Times on 12th September 1915.
We received a letter from Bridget Cameron, Clutha’s granddaughter, sharing part of his memoires and it was this account that designer Andrew Crummy chose to depict for the new panel which the people of Walton-on-Thames are inviting you to stitch, whilst enjoying the larger story of Mount Felix Hospital.
“Wounded at Gallipoli I arrived in the hospital ship ‘Dongola’ at Southampton on August 29th 1915. I was met by Dad and Helen. (His father was Sir Thomas Mackenzie who was the NZ High Commissioner during WW1 and Helen was Clutha’s sister.)
During the journey (on the hospital train) my father told me we were bound for the New Zealand Hospital at Walton-on-Thames. It had been open for only three weeks and had been established as a voluntary hospital by the New Zealand Community in Britain and many British friends.
Of our family, my father was the chairman of the hospital committee, Helen was in charge of the recreational side, Mary was a V.A.D working on the ward where I would be a patient and Bruce (Clutha’s brother) was the radiologist. I would arrive as a patient, making the fifth member of the family associated with the hospital.”
After a period of recovery and rehabilitation with his family at Mount Felix, Clutha was taken under the wing of Sir Arthur Pearson who, blind himself, had founded St Dunstan’s Hospital for Blinded Soldiers and Sailors in Regents Park in London. The overriding philosophy there was one of independence and self help and Clutha responded with vigour. By 1916 he was editing a lively magazine for the troops.
It was here at St Dunstan’s he met his future wife Doris Sawyer, an English volunteer worker. He returned home on HMS ‘New Zealand’ in 1919. Doris followed and they were married later that year.
Upon his return to New Zealand he had a short stint as an MP, wrote an account of his soldiering experiences and spent the rest of his life working to improve the conditions for the blind in NZ and elsewhere. He was also instrumental in the development of a universal Braille system. He was knighted in 1935 for services to the blind.
Clutha died in 1966. Both he and his father were laid to rest in Dunedin Northern Cemetery.
Much has been written about the war horses which took part in the Gallipoli campaign, with tragic losses.
According to the Birch Hill Station (Canterbury) Memorial Ride website only four officers’ horses were repatriated to NZ.
They were Bess, owned by Captain Charles Powles, Dolly owned by General Sir Andrew Russell, Beauty owned by Captain Richard Ruddiford and Nigger owned by Lt. Col. George King.
It is generally thought that Trooper Mackenzie rode Dolly but he is shown in the new panel astride Bess posing for the ANZAC Memorial sculptors after both had returned to NZ after the war. Bess was the only horse to return home with the Main Body. Bess and Clutha had been chosen to represent others less fortunate.
Good luck to all of you and Happy Stitching!
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