No Better Death

by John Crawford

  A watercolour sketch of Gallipoli at sunset on 17 May 1925. The artist is unknown, but was probably one of the New Zealanders who attended the unveiling of the New Zealand Memorial on Chunuk Bair on 12 May 1925. The memorial bears the inscription: In Honour of the Soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force 8th August 1915. ‘From the Uttermost Ends of the Earth.’

  Malone Family Collection Wellington (now in ATL)

  In the 1980s there was a resurgence of interest in the Gallipoli campaign in general and in Malone and the struggle for Chunuk Bair in particular. This process effectively got underway with Maurice Shadbolt’s 1982 play Once on Chunuk Bair, which was later adapted for the screen. Shadbolt was prompted to write the play by ‘an emotionally numbing visit to Anzac Cove and Chunuk Bair’.83 Once on Chunuk Bair is a work of literature that does not adhere rigidly to the historical facts. In the play Malone is renamed Connolly. Shadbolt did this because of the angry reaction by members of the Malone family to his brief, inaccurate and unflattering portrayal of Malone in his 1980 novel, The Lovelock Version.84 It was not, however, until the publication of Christopher Pugsley’s influential Gallipoli: The New Zealand Story in 1984 that Malone’s actions on Chunuk Bair and the reasons for them became well known in New Zealand. Pugsley’s book was produced in conjunction with an award-winning television documentary. Ted Malone greatly assisted Pugsley’s research by providing him with access to William Malone’s diaries, letters and associated papers.85 Ted Malone was also one of the editors of the 1988 book, The Great Adventure: New Zealand soldiers describe the First World War, which included substantial extracts from William Malone’s diary.86

  Although there was an increasing interest in William Malone at this time, Ted Malone’s efforts shortly before his death to interest an Australian publisher in producing an edition of his grandfather’s diary were unsuccessful. The reader contracted by the publisher to review the manuscript considered that the diary was of limited interest, and found Malone to be ‘narrow, fastidious, and irritating’.87 This reader’s report is rather unbalanced, but without reading his letters, especially those to Ida, it is not possible to get a good appreciation of all the aspects of Malone’s character. When the full range of Malone’s writings are examined, a much clearer and well-rounded picture of this complex man emerges.

  Malone’s Gallipoli diaries and letters have, especially since the 1980s, featured in discussions about the development of an appreciation of what it is to be a New Zealander. Malone’s many references to his growing sense of national identity and pride have struck a receptive chord with an increasing number of New Zealanders.88 Other aspects of Malone’s thinking and writing, however, sit less well with New Zealanders of the twenty-first century because he was very much a man of his time. Malone was a firm believer in the concept of an heroic death in pursuit of a just cause, which had such a hold on men of his generation and background. The title of this book, No Better Death, is taken from comments made by Malone in his diary on 5 June 1915 about the death of a ‘splendid young fellow’.89 He was a great admirer of Ruskin and marked in a copy of The Crown of Wild Olive he gave to Godley the following passage:

  I found, in brief, that all great nations learned their truth of word, and strength of thought, in war: that they were nourished in war, and wasted by peace; taught by war, and deceived by peace; trained by war and betrayed by peace–in a word, that they were born in war, and expired in peace.90

  Although he was increasingly aware of the grim realities of war, Malone rather enjoyed the challenges of active service, writing in his diary as late as 4 August 1915 that ‘the prospect of action is inspiriting’.

  In the years preceding the 90th anniversary of Malone’s death there was a campaign for him to receive some form of posthumous official recognition. In 2005 the anniversary of Malone’s death was marked by a range of events that were attended by members of the Malone family from both New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In Wellington the Prime Minister unveiled a commemorative plaque in Parliament, a wreath-laying was held at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul and the first edition of this book was launched.91 Interest in the battle for Chunuk Bair and Malone remains strong in New Zealand.92 Malone has always figured prominently in Taranaki’s memory of the Great War, and each year on 8 August a ceremony is held at the Malone Gates in Stratford to commemorate a man who is now recognised as a national hero.93

  On Anzac Day 2005 crosses were put up in Stratford for all the local war dead. To the left of the cross commemorating William Malone is a cross for Trooper Edward Sexton of the Wellington Mounted Rifles. Sexton was killed on Chunuk Bair on 9 August 1915; like Malone, he has no known grave.

  Ian Maxwell

  William George Malone has no known grave and is commemorated along with more than 300 of his men on the New Zealand Memorial to the Missing on Chunuk Bair.94 He, however, as General Sir Alexander Godley wrote, ‘died at the head of the men who loved him well – a Happy Warrior – a glory to New Zealand and a shining light and example to the youth of the Dominion for all time.’95

  Notes

  * * *

  Preface

  Diary 29 Nov 1914; William George Malone [WGM] to Ida Katherine Malone [IKM], 3 Jan 1915.

  WGM to IKM 20 Oct 1914, 29 Nov 1914, diary, 23 Dec 1914.

  WGM to IKM, 24 May 1915, 23 Jul 1915, WGM to Louie, 29 May 1915.

  Diary, 23 Dec 1914, MSX 2543, Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL).

  ‘Denis Malone’ note by Dr Christopher Pugsley, encl. to email from Pugsley to editor,10 Dec 2013. Barney Malone also typed out a partial transcript of the diary. Email Anita Young to editor, 3 Mar 2014, NZDF 1325/11/4, HQ NZDF. Emails from David Colquhoun, ATL to the editor, 14 and 23 Feb 2005. The bound typescript copy of William Malone’s diary with annotations in the Malone Family Collection Wellington (MFCW) is the copy given to Brian Malone, email Dr Judy Malone to editor 7 Mar 2014, NZDF 1325/11/4. Comments by Sir James Allen indicate that at least a partial transcript of the diary was in existence by August 1921. Allen to Ida Malone, 17 Aug 1921, Malone Family Collection London (MFCL) [copy, MS-Papers-9049-3, ATL].

  Otago Daily Times, 20 Jul 1915, p.6.

  See for example the letter to the father of Corp Copeland, Wanganui Chronicle, 1 Jul 1915, p.4.

  ‘Denis Malone’ note by Dr Christopher Pugsley, encl. to email from Pugsley to editor, 10 Dec 2013, NZDF 1325/11/4, HQ NZDF.

  Introduction

  WGM to IKM, 25 Sep 1914, MFCL.

  WGM diary, 5 Jun 1915.

  See for example, WGM’s cousin Sister Teresa to WGM, 16 Apr 1915, MFCL.

  Copy of birth certificate, dated 9 Jul 1993, WGM Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (DNZB) file, Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH), Wellington.

  H.J.P. Arnold, William Henry Fox Talbot: Pioneer of Photography and Man of Science (London, 1977), pp.151, 159–60; Louisa Sanders (WGM’s sister) to Brian Malone, 1 May 1921, MS-Papers-11408-14, ATL.

  Sanders to Brian Malone, 1 May 1921, MS-Papers-11408-14; Christopher Pugsley, ‘William George Malone’, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Vol III, 1905–1920 (Auckland, 1996), p.326.

  WGM diary, 1 Oct 1914; 30 Nov 1914.

  NZEF Statement of Service Form, William George Malone personal file (P/F), Archives New Zealand (ANZ); information provided by Dr Judy Malone.

  WGM diary, 22 Oct 1914.

  An anecdote told by Norah Crum (née Malone) to E.P. Malone in 1969, information provided by Dr Judy Malone; Taranaki Herald, 2 May 1907, p.7.

  Register No.1, Armed Constabulary Description Book, pp.131 and 183, P8/1, ANZ; obituary in the Stratford Evening Post of 12 Aug 1915; Taranaki Herald, 2 May 1907, p.7; Sanders to Brian Malone, 1 May 1921, MS-Papers-11408-14; A Return of Freeholders of New Zealand, October 1882 (Wellington, 1884), p. m6; Carved from the Bush: Stratford, 1878–1928, The Town and District’s Record of Effort (New Plymouth, 1928), p.16. WGM’s mother died in August 1907, Taranaki Herald, 19 Aug 1907, p.2.

  Rollo Arnold, New Zealand’s Burnin
g: The Settlers’ World in the Mid 1880s (Wellington, 1994), pp.56, 287.

  Taranaki Herald, 13 Dec 1889, p.3, 20 Oct 1908, p.3; Stratford Press, 18 Sep 1991.

  Obituary, Taranaki Herald, 12 Aug 1915, p.3.

  James McLeod, 50 Years Rugby in Taranaki: 1885–1935 (New Plymouth, 1935), p.5.

  Taranaki Herald, 5 Dec 1889, p.3, 10 May 1897, p.2; Ian Church, The Stratford Inheritance: a History of Stratford and Whangamomona Counties (Waikanae, 1990), p.48; Alison Robinson, Finnerty Road School and the Lowgarth District (Lowgarth, 1992), p.27.

  Taranaki Herald, 2 Mar 1915, p.2; email Debbie Sheehy (Austin’s great-granddaughter) to editor, 21 Dec 2004.

  WGM DNZB file, MCH; Bellini to editor, nd, but Nov 2004; Thomson to Judy Malone, 12 Aug 1991, MS-Papers-11408-19, ATL.

  ‘Particulars of Children’, History Sheet, W.G. Malone P/F; Terence, Brian and Maurice Malone History Sheets P/Fs, ANZ.

  Taranaki Herald, 12 Aug 1915, p.3.

  Taranaki Herald, 9 Jun 1890, p.4; The Star Almanac Directory, Calendar and Diary 1887 (Hawera, 1887), pp.216, 250; 1889 edition, pp.164, 199; 1891 edition, p.227; Taranaki Herald, 12 Aug 1915, p.3; A.P.C. Bromley, Hawera: An outline of the development of a New Zealand community (Hawera, 1981), p.84.

  Taranaki Herald, 28 Feb 1900, p.2, 21 Jun 1890, p.3; Church, pp.174–77, 200–7.

  Lampen to Assistant Adjutant-General Wellington, 21 Apr 1911; Chaytor to HQ NZ Military Forces, 25 Apr 1911, AD1, 3/157, ANZ.

  New Zealand Gazette, 1892, Vol. II, p.1641.

  Taranaki Herald, 6 Feb 1903, p.6; Taranaki District Law Society, 1879–1979: A brief history to mark the Centennial of the Taranaki District Law Society 1879–1979 (New Plymouth, 1979), p.90; Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Volume Six, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Wellington Provincial Districts (Christchurch, 1908), p.172; Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR) 1905, C4, pp.1128–29. Supreme Court of New Zealand, Northern (Taranaki) District: Admission as a Solicitor, 19 Apr 1894; Admission as a Barrister, 22 Sep 1899, MS-Papers-11408-15, ATL.

  Form V.-14, dated 16 Sep 1903, W.G. Malone P/F; J.A.B. Crawford, ‘The Role and Structure of the New Zealand Volunteer Force 1885–1910’, MA thesis in History, University of Canterbury, 1986, pp.69–86, 183; New Zealand Gazette, no.4, 1901. During the 1901–2 year WGM attended 30 parades. Stratford Rifle Volunteers, Nominal Capitation Roll for the Year Ending 28 Feb 1902, ARM41 69, 1910/4p, ANZ.

  Obituary, Taranaki Herald; E.P. Malone typescript, ‘Diary of Lt Col W.G. Malone 1914–15, New Zealand-Egypt-Gallipoli’, pp.9–10; Kathleen Laverty to Judy Malone, 11 Aug 1991, MS-Papers-11408-19; Murray Moorhead, First and Strong: The Wellington West Coast and Taranaki Regimental Story (Wanganui, 2002), p.81.

  Norah Crum (née Malone) to Denis Malone (copy), 7 Mar 1965, MS-Papers-11408-11, ATL.

  Taranaki Herald, 14 Jan 1909, p.7; E.P. Malone typescript, pp, 7, 12–13, MS-Papers-11408-28, ATL.

  WGM to Officer Commanding 4th Battalion Wellington a Rifle Volunteers, 3 Sep 1903, Form V-14 (resignation), signed by Webb, 29 Sep 1903, W.G. Malone P/F.

  Officer Commanding Taranaki Battalion to Officer commanding Wellington district, 26 Sep 1903, Form V-14 (appointment), signed by Webb, 29 Sep 1903, Appointment or Promotion of Volunteer Officer form, signed by Babington, 16 Nov 1904, W.G. Malone P/F.

  Withers to Officer Commanding Wellington District, 3 Mar 1904, Pitt to Governor, 19 Mar 1904, Appointment or Promotion of Volunteer Officer form, signed by Babington, 16 Nov 1904 and marginalia on form, W.G. Malone P/F; New Zealand Defence Forces Army List 30th November 1905 (Wellington, 1905), cols 16, 28.

  Manawatu Times, 18 Apr 1908, p.5; Evening Post, 20 Apr 1908, p.8.

  Taranaki Herald, 18 Jun 1904, p.4, 20 Jun 1904, p.4; information provided by Dr Judy Malone.

  Marriage certificate; Hawera and Normanby Star, 27 Sep 1905, p.4; Clemow to Judy Malone, 12 Aug 1991, MS-Papers-11408-19, ATL; email Clare Lyons (daughter of Molly Malone) to editor, 2 Dec 2004.

  Colleen Stevenson (née Malone, Terry Malone’s daughter) notes on interview with Judy Malone, 28 May 1993 MS-Papers-11408-19; recollections of Norah Crum (née Malone) given to E.P. Malone, MS-Papers-11408-11, ATL; Edith Rogers to Denis Malone, 9 Aug 1977 and to E.P. Malone, 30 Oct 1983, MS-Papers-11408-21, ATL; ‘The Family of LT. Col William Malone (England-NewZealand)’, freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kitwithers/malone/malone. html, accessed 18 Nov 2013; information provided by Penny Kidd.

  WGM to IKM, 29 Nov 1914, 8.10pm, 5 Aug 1915; WGM to Louie, 29 May 1915.

  W.G. Malone history sheet, W.G. Malone P/F; Bellini to editor, nd, but Nov 2004.

  WGM to IKM, 29 Nov 1914; Norah Crum (née Malone) to E.P. Malone, Dec 1979, MS-Papers-11408-11.

  Clemow notes on interview with Judy Malone, 12 Aug 1991, MS-Papers-11408-19. Outline plan of the house drawn by Norah Crum (née Malone) and forwarded by Mr Richards to Judy Malone, 7 Dec 1990, MS-Papers-11408-17; recollections of Norah Crum (née Malone) given to E.P. Malone, MS-Papers-11408-11, ATL; information provided by Dr Judy Malone.

  Report of Royal Commission on Land Settlement and Tenure, AJHR, C-4, 1905, minutes of evidence, p.1126, para 291.

  ‘Statement of Assets and Liabilities of W.G. Malone’ as at 10 Aug 1914, MFCL; current value calculated using the Reserve Bank New Zealand CPI Inflation Calculator.

  AJHR 1905, C-4, p.1126, para 291; Jim McAloon, No Idle Rich: The Wealthy in Canterbury and Otago 1840–1914 (Dunedin, 2002), pp.52–54, 58, 60–62.

  AJHR 1905, C4, p.1126, para 295.

  AJHR 1905, C4, p.1127, para 295.

  WGM to IKM, 11 Jul 1915.

  Unidentified newspaper report on Malone’s lecture attached to a poster advertising the lecture, MFCL; Taranaki Herald, 19 Sep 1907, p.7; Miles Fairburn, Nearly out of Heart and Hope: the Puzzle of a Colonial Labourer’s Diary (Auckland, 1995), pp.163–77.

  Notes by Thomas Malone on the endpapers of his copy of The Public and Domestic Life of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke (London, 1854) (copy) attached to ‘Note on William G. Malone’ by Dr Judy Malone, Oct 2012, MS-Papers-11408-18, ATL.

  Tom Brooking, Lands for the people? The highland Clearances and the Colonisation of New Zealand: A biography of John Mackenzie (Dunedin, 1996), pp.79–95.

  Taranaki Daily News, 24 Apr 1907, p.2 as quoted in Brian A.E. Bellringer, ‘Conservatism and the Farmers: a Study in the Political Development of Taranaki-Wanganui between 1899 and 1925’, MA thesis in History, University of Auckland, 1958, p.156.

  Ibid., p.156; Taranaki Herald, 2 May 1907, p.7.

  Bellringer, p.161.

  Ibid., p.161; Guy H. Scholefield, ed. New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840–1949 (Wellington, 1950), p.130.

  Taranaki Herald, 2 May 1907, p.7, 20 Oct 1908, p.7; Letter by C.E. Major, Auckland Star, 30 Aug 1915, p.8; Huddy Clemow to Judy Malone, 12 Aug 1991, MS-Papers-1408-19.

  Blue and White: The Magazine of St Patrick’s College, Wellington, Christmas 1915, p.66; Norah Malone to WGM, 17 Aug 1913, MFCL; J.L. Jeffares ed. St Joseph’s Stratford 1897–1997 (Stratford, 1997), pp.8–9.

  Ward to Malone, 11 May 1910, W.G. Malone P/F.

  Unidentified newspaper obituary dated Wellington, 12 Aug 1915, DNZB file; The Star Almanac and West Coast Directory, 1910 (Hawera, 1909), p.439 and 1911 edition (Hawera, 1910), p.379; Taranaki District Law Society 1879–1979, p.90.

  Ian McGibbon, The Path to Gallipoli: Defending New Zealand 1840–1915 (Wellington, 1991), pp.181–93.

  Taranaki Herald, 2 Nov 1908, p.4, 12 Nov 1908, p.7; Obituary, Taranaki Herald, 12 Aug 1915, p.3.

  Godley to IKM, 7 Jun 1932, MFCL; Statement of the Services of William George Malone, Malone P/F; The Quarterly Army List of the New Zealand Forces for October 1911 (Wellington, 1911), column 76.

  W.G. Malone military notebook dated 1909, MSX-9046, ATL.

  Synopses of Course of Lectures on Military Tactics, 27 May, 10 Jun, 24 Jun, 8 Jul, 5 Aug and 19 Aug 1910, MFCL.

  Ibid., Synopsis of the First Lecture, 27 May 1910.

  Welli
ngton District Report for the Year Ended 29 Feb 1912 by Colonel Edward Chaytor, AD19, 68/11, ANZ.

  Ibid.; Colonel Tait to district headquarters, Palmerston North, 18 Apr 1913; Godley to IKM, 7 Jun 1932, MFCL.

  ‘Remarks by O/C District (Wellington) Colonel Edward Chaytor Year 1913–1914, 16 Jul 1914, MFCL.

  Ibid., ‘Remarks by the Brigadier (Col R.W. Tate, W.I. Brigade, 19 Jun 1914).’

  The Quarterly Army List of the New Zealand Forces for April 1914 (Wellington, 1914), p.82; Moorhead, p.81.

  W.S. Furby, ‘The Beginning of the Lemon Squeezer Hat’, RSA Review, Nov 1970, RSA Review, March 1957, p.4; notes by G.T. Stagg, 14 May 1970, HQ NZDF Library.

  Lampden to Wellington Infantry Brigade, 9 May 1913, Malone to OC Wellington Infantry Brigade, 13 May 1913, Collins to District Headquarters Palmerston North, 29 May and 2 Jul 1913, Malone to OC Wellington Infantry Brigade, 12 Jun 1913, AD19, 22/87, ANZ.

  Court of inquiry evidence by Malone, Chaytor to HQ NZ Military Forces, 25 May 1914, AD 10, 2/11, ANZ; New Zealand Freelance, 20 Aug 1915, p.4.

  Telegram, Temperley to WGM, 8 Aug 1914, MFCL; Godley to IKM, 7 Jun 1932, MFCL; New Zealand Freelance, 20 Aug 1915, p.4; McGibbon, Path, pp.244–45; Christopher Pugsley, Gallipoli: The New Zealand Story (Reed, Auckland, 1998), pp.50–52.

  Peter Cooke and John Crawford, The Territorials: The History of the Territorial and Volunteer Forces of New Zealand (Auckland, 2011), pp.195–96; Tim Shoebridge, ‘Manawatu’s First World War Camps, 1914– 1919’, The Manawatu Journal of History, No.9, 2013, pp.11–13.

  Copy of will dated 11 Aug 1914 in Supreme Court probate file, MS-Papers-11408-15, ATL; WGM diary, 6–10 Aug 1914.

  Attestation Forms. Brian, Edmond, Terence and Maurice Malone P/Fs, ANZ. Maurice Malone’s History Sheet states he was born on 25 May 1894, a year earlier than his real birth date.

  W.H. Cunningham, C.A.L. Treadwell and J.S. Hanna, The Wellington Regiment NZEF, 1914–1919 (Wellington, 1928), pp.1–2; Pugsley, Gallipoli, p.46.