(The image shows part of the stained-glass window of the New Zealand War Memorial at the Auckland Museum where John Oliver Lamb is commemorated).
Despite having three brothers enlist with the A.I.F., John Oliver Lamb (family at 138 High Street, Northcote) served with the New Zealand forces, dying in Greytown Military Hospital from unspecified wounds in June, 1916. he is a notable omission from the AWM’s Commemorative Roll which records the sacrifices of Australians serving with forces of Allied countries
Lamb was one of around half-a-dozen locals that died while serving with the New Zealand infantry.
The circumstances that saw Lamb serving with the New Zealand forces is unknown : a brother, William Henry Lamb enlisted in the A.I.F. and was Killed In Action at Bullecourt on 3 May, 1917, and a cousin, William Robert Hancock from 269 High Street, Northcote died of wounds at Corbie, France on 22 June, 1918. Two of Lamb’s brothers, Bertie and Harry also enlisted with the A.I.F.
New Zealand War Memorial records confirm his attachment to the Otago Mounted Rifles and have his pre-enlistment address as the Club Hotel, Martinborough, New Zealand, but reveal nothing of his occupation or military history and he is not listed a casualty of the war, despite his death in the Greymouth Military Hospital and his mother’s suggestion he died “from war injuries”.
The family appear to moved from Northcote around 1924 – the family patriarch, Henry Oliver Lamb, described as a blacksmith from Sunshine, died in the Melbourne General Hospital on 6 September, 1926 after being struck by a car in High-street, Northcote and was interred in what appears to have been a family plot at Lancefield.
Link to the history for John Oliver Lamb
Link to the history for William Henry Lamb
Link to the history for William Robert Hancock
Link to ozsportshistory.com downloads for WW1
