The New Zealand 12 Years Territorial Service Medal awarded to the notable New Zealand soldier, memoirist, painter and farmer, Major H. H. S. Westmacott O.B.E., Auckland Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force

New Zealand Territorial 12 Years Service Medal, G.V.R. (Capt. H. H. S. Westmacott. O.B.E. Cantby Regt) extensive edge damage and patches of corrosion to both obverse and reverse, therefore fine £160-£200

O.B.E. London Gazette 3 June 1919 - ‘Captain (Temporary Major), Auckland Regiment’

M.I.D. London Gazette 31 December 1918 (France) - ‘Captain, 1st Battalion, Auckland Regiment’

Herbert Horatio Spencer Westmacott was born in 1885 at Christchurch, New Zealand and was educated at Christchurch Boys’ High School and later at Waitaki Boys’ High School. An early King Country pioneer settler, he first travelled north in 1910 to buy land and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 16th (Waikato) Regiment on 27 April 1912. With the onset of war in Europe, he was appointed Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Auckland Regiment on 5 August 1914 and sailed for Europe with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. One of the first New Zealanders to head up the steep hills to join the Australians, he remembered it as ‘the most glorious day of my life’ but he later lost an arm due to wounds received in action and also sustained a severe gun shot wound to the leg. He was taken to England to recover before subsequently serving in France as a Staff Officer. He was mentioned in despatches for his war services and awarded an O.B.E. for subsequent services on the War Graves Commission.

A talented amateur artist, Westmacott painted an evocative watercolour of the Auckland Infantry Battalion landing at Anzac Cove. He described the scene in his memoir: ‘A man stark naked was bathing in the sea. A stream of wounded was straggling down from the hills...The beach seemed sheltered and very quiet.’ (The after-breakfast cigar; selected memoirs of a King Country Settler, by Spencer Westmacott, edited by Honor Westmacott). He is also mentioned extensively in Christopher Pugsley’s definitive account of the N.Z.E.F. during the campaign, Gallipoli, The New Zealand Story.

Westmacott returned to New Zealand after the war. His son, Commander ‘Percy’ Westmacott went on to become one of the most distinguished and decorated submarine officers of the Second World War. His grandson, Captain H. R. Westmacott, Grenadier Guards was murdered by the I.R.A in 1980 whilst on extra regimental employment with the S.A.S.

Note: Spencer Westmacott’s full entitlement is O.B.E., 1914-15 Star, BWM, Victory (MiD), NZ 12 Year Service Territorial Medal, NZ Long Service and Efficient Service Medal, Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal and Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers’ Decoration. His four long service awards possibly represent a unique achievement. The 12 Year Territorial Medal was not supposed to be worn after the award, at 16 years (war service counts as double), of the New Zealand Long Service and Efficient Service Medal, although it could be retained. This could explain how it became separated from the other medals.