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Thank you Natasha, a lovely tale and one that stimulates us all to carry on and preserve our history. Congratulations on having an eagle eye and also the wit to follow up your find for your son. What a good mum you are, and something your son will remember all his life.
What your discovery has reminded all of us, is that NZMR records are still out there to be found and cherished.
In 2006 I recorded a film interview with Major Charles Mackesy's son Richard,(and Colonel Charles Mackesy's grandson). He himself had been a serving soldier during WW2. He told me that his Uncle, (Captain) William had an only child, a son who died of disease in the 1920's. His Uncle Harry (Lieutenant) who was Killed in Action on Gallipoli had two daughters, born prior to the Great War and whom he had never met. He was unaware of what happened to them as his family had lost track of Harry's wife and girls from the 1920's. He himself was the only child of Charles and Lilly, and although he had married and had a son, that boy died in a gas explosion in a hotel while he was on holiday in Spain in the 1970's - so he was saddened to realise that there was no known family members left to carry on the Mackesy name after he dies.
The Mackesy page and the Colonel's diary may be read HERE and diary HERE.

thanks for your reply. I think it's amazing that these saddles are still in use, despite a lack of regular saddle soap and TLC. As your website says, they were designed to be fixed with string and a screwdriver... and they certainly are in Egypt!

We were wondering if there is any market in Australian and New Zealand for these saddles, albeit in rough shape and need of restoration? The same with the bits. The reason we ask is that members fly over a few times a year, bringing supplies with them. They could bring back a saddle or two on their return trip to raise funds for the charity if it were viable. 

Cheers

Hayley

The shadows of noon keep the features of these men from the Auckland Mounted Rifles from being identified. This is a further previously unpublished photograph from the collection of Kingston Hull.
This image taken from the first page in an album that appears to be arranged by date. Other photos on the page are dated October and November 1916. The assumption is that this camp is somewhere to the North of El Arish in the Sinai Desert and before the attack on Magdhaba.
The tantalising hand written script written on the front of the original photo reads:-
"Section from squadron. 2nd from right, Ted Davies horse."
(Probably referring to Papatoetoe man, 13/2554 Trooper Edward Bently Davies, of the 8th Reinforcements AMR. The same area and reinforcement detail as Kingston Hull)

Burton Hull on board the "Tofua" with the 34th Reinforcements arrived in the Middle East December 1917.
Like many, Burton was following in his older brothers footsteps by joining the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade.
The war in the Middle East was to continue for another ten months, and the actions to capture Jericho and Amman were still to come.

Burton's brother, Kingston Hull wrote home to their parents on the 2nd January 1918:

"...In your letter you did not know when Burton would be leaving, so I got a surprise when I learned he had arrived in Moascar. He sent a note up by Syd Wyllie, Syd says he looks well. I don't know when I will be seeing him. I have sent him a note, to hurry up in any of the drafts, as he will be called on quick enough. It was very strange, he went in camp the same day [as me], left NZ the same day, and arrived in Egypt the same day and came on the same boat, so if he can continue two years with my luck, he ought to last the war out. We are expecting to move again shortly..."

On the 23rd February Kingston writes home again:

"...[13/1090 Trooper David Sands of Waiuku] Sands you mentioned as having been wounded, went away sick before the start, and [Trooper 13/1027] Les Flavell was killed instantly, he did good work on the machine gun and had bad luck being knocked out when the worst was over. I am in the same Camp as Burton and see him every day. There are usually pictures on or concerts every night and we go together. When he has finished growing he will be as big as I am. He has been telling me of little changes that have taken place and it appears you both work a bit too hard sometimes ..."

Trooper Leo Flavell - Killed in Action
Ayun Kara, November 14th 1917


Information at right from the
Auckland War Memorial Cenotaph Database

In an UPDATES article a few weeks back I posted three images of Trooper Kingston Hull's fellow Auckland Mounted Riflemen. The three men were among a number of soldiers from various units, all from the Waiuku farming community South of Auckland that Kingston had kept as mementos in the back of his photograph album.
One of the photos had been ripped from the newspaper without a name printed below, and I suggested that as I could not source a photograph on the Cenotaph Database to compare, that this image could be of another Waiuku man, Captain Maxwell Aldred.

Much to my pleasure, the ardent followers of the NZMR web site set about to put the record straight.
The first contact was from John Winter who sent in this photograph (top left) of a Weekly News clipping, showing quite clearly that the photo I presented was not Captain Aldred. The man looks nothing like Kingston Hull's man. (Taken from the supplement to the Auckland Weekly News 31st August 1916 p046 )

Today Roger Shephard, a source of many images that have appeared on this site, writes:

Hi Steve   I hope life is treating you well and I am very pleased to see the updates page getting some love on your fascinating site. I recently purchased a selection of old weekly news's from the 1915-1918 period.   I see on your update page that you have three Waiuku men, the centre one - which you are unsure on is Tpr F L (Leo) Flavell of Waiuku.   He is in the 24th January 1918 edition. I see that his MF is online at archives   Cheers Roger

Full Name:	Francis Leopold Flavell
Rank Last Held:	Trooper
Serial No.:	13/1027
First Known Rank:	Trooper
Next of Kin:	Henry Flavell (father), Waiuku, New Zealand
Marital Status:	Single
Enlistment Address:	Waiuku, New Zealand
Military District:	Auckland
Body on Embarkation:	5th Reinforcements
Embarkation Unit:	Auckland Mounted Rifles
Embarkation Date:	13 June 1915
Place of Embarkation:	Wellington, New Zealand
Vessel:	Maunganui or Tahiti or Aparima
Destination:	Suez, Egypt (24 July - 6 August 1915)
Last Unit Served:	Machine Gun Squadron
Place of Death:	Palestine
Date of Death:	14 November 1917
Cause of Death:	Killed in action
Memorial Name:	Ayun Kara Memorial (destroyed), Palestine
Biographical Notes:	According to the Official History, Trooper Flavell was buried at the Top of the Hill, half a mile West of Jaffa-Gaga Road, 1 mile west of Azin Kara, Palestine.

 

A very rare action photograph from WW1. Here members of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles run at pace along the Turkish Railway line at Asluj.
The men are in the process of destroying a large section of line while on a raid out of the Sinai Desert on the 23rd May 1917. This party of six men is made up of two teams, each section responsible for the destruction of one side of the line.
The two troopers on the left of the picture run out rolls of "Gun-Cotton" (Nitrocellulose) from packs on their hips, this material was used to great effect by the Navy as explosive packing to fire large shells from heavy guns. Gun cotton is relatively safe until compressed and fused. The other four men carry shoulder bags packed with detonators, and leap-frog each other along the track, waiting for the gun-cotton. Nimble fingers then push the material under the steel rail, followed by a fuse and charge. A dangerous job.
Colonel Guy Powles wrote

The led horses were followed by the two teams of dismounted demolition men moving in single file at the walking pace. Setting the explosive charges began with the leading man placing a slab of gun cotton in the middle of a rail and then, missing a rail, to repeat his action, while the leading man of the second team put down a slab of gun cotton in the middle of the rail on his side which paired with the rail missed by the other team. The next man of both teams then wired the gun cotton to the rail and walked on to the next prepared rail, while the third man put into the gun cotton the detonator and fuse and the fourth man lit the charge. Each squadron blasted a 12–15 inches piece of rail along the 5 miles. In this way about 15 miles of railway line was destroyed

Note: This photo was used in the 1922 publication "The New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine" by Colonel Guy Powles, and some sources attribute the photo to him. However the only reproductions of this photo available in the past have been taken from the pages of this publication, the results of which have been very grainy owing to the quality of the paper in the printed book. This higher gloss photo taken and preserved in Trooper Russell's photo album looks to be the original print. It was not unusual to use photos from many sources, and the soldiers readily made their "snaps" available for publications.