Howard Mace Retraces Great Grandfathers Footsteps

​November 2018 | Written by H. M. Mace
Howard Mace recently returned from a trip to UK and France. While there he followed up on his great grand father on his mother’s side, Benjamin Ralph Jackson.

This is the sort of uniform he would have been wearing in the Redoubt Fort.

He was born in the parish of St Clements in Oxford in England on 4 July 1838. His father Edward was a groom and died in 1846 when Benjamin was only 8 years old. Benjamin’s mother Sarah remarried and lived till 1902. Benjamin was recorded in a census as living in his stepfather’s house in Caroline Street in Oxford at the age of 12 as an errand boy in 1850. He is then recorded in a census as a Lance Corporal in the 24th Regiment at the age of 22 in the Circular Redoubt in Eastbourne in 1860.

On 25 July 1862 he married Elizabeth Isabella Spearing in Rowner, Hampshire. Their union was blessed with the birth of four children one of whom was born in Camo Curragh, Kildare in Ireland. Later in 1871 he was serving at the Citadel Barracks, Western Heights, Kent as a Colour Sergeant.

On 26 April 1872 the family boarded the fine clipper ship Celestial Queen for Auckland. They arrived after a passage of 94 days on 30 July 1872 he was listed as a carpenter. Subsequently Benjamin and Eliza had Ellen (Nellie) Spearing Jackson (later Swney)(Howard’s Grandmother) in 1874, Ada Jackson (later Rohrlach) in 1880 and Jessie Emma Jackson in 1884 although she died within a year.

They lived for a time in Hill Street, Thames and Benjamin died in Richmond Street, Thames on 3 September 1914 and was buried in the Shortland Cemetery PUB-PLOT-3551 on 4 September 1914.

While in the UK Howard witnessed this amazing display of poppies in Gloucester Cathedral.

From left: Chris Mullane, Rebecca Nelson, Howard and Joy Mace

The second part of Howard’s trip was to Le Quesnoy/Sambre.  There he met up with  Chris Mullane and Rebecca Nelson who were also there to attended the centenary commemorations of the liberation of the town of Le Quesnoy by the New Zealand Rifle Brigade one week before the end of the Great War (as it was known at the time.) Rebecca sang at several functions and Chris Mullane was the MC for the dedication of the New Zealand War Memorial in France. Howard and his wife Joy were attending because his uncle was awarded a Military Medal for his actions leading to the capture of the town.

The New Zealand Division was a leading light in the advance to capture the bridges over the River Sambre to the East of Le Quesnoy. The plan was to spare the town from bombardment because of the safety of the inhabitants and possible British prisoners of war in the town.

This meant that the New Zealanders suffered higher casualties in surrounding the town and advancing through the Forest of Mormal to the Sambre River. They lost 139 killed. Eventually the Auckland 4th Battalion succeeded in getting up to the inner ramparts where they climbed the wall with a ladder and forced the surrender of the German garrison and other troops who retreated to the safety of the fortress. In climbing the walls they created international news reported in “The Times” of London and “The New York Times.” This caught the imagination of the world. Instead of the brutal fighting with heavy artillery and machine guns the image of the knight climbing the walls to rescue the princess was evoked and so for the first time the world heard of New Zealand.

New Zealand War Memorial Museum link www.nzwmm.org.nz

Howard Mace

Howard is a current Executive Committee member