Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Major C. R. Neale, a founding father of the New Zealand Veterinary Corps, who was cited for his bravery at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli

1914-15 Star (17/294 Mjr., N.Z.E.F.); British War Medal 1914-20 (17/294 Major, N.Z.E.F.), together with assorted N.Z. Military Forces badges (7), including three of the New Zealand Veterinary Corps, and a rare N.Z. Department of Agriculture Veterinarian’s badge, shield format with crown above, in red and white enamel, very fine and better (10)

Charles Raymond Neale was born at Piershill Barracks in Edinburgh in 1872, the son of the Riding Master of the 2nd Dragoons. In 1899, having graduated from Edinburgh University’s Royal School of Veterinary Studies, where he was described as ‘an unusually gifted and brilliant student’, Neale arrived in New Zealand to take up an appointment in the Department of Agriculture.

More or less immediately, however, he volunteered for service in South Africa, being appointed a Veterinary Surgeon in the rank of Captain in the 1st Contingent, initially on ‘a special engagement to attend the horses for the voyage to South Africa only’, but latterly ashore on attachment to the 1st and 10th Contingents, services that resulted in him being awarded the Queen’s Medal with 6 clasps, including those for ‘Relief of Kimberley’ and ‘Paardeberg’.

Having returned to New Zealand to take up his original appointment in the Department of Agriculture, Neale was employed as a Manager and Inspector in Gisborne, North Island, but in May 1908 resumed his military career with an appointment as Major in the first cadre of the newly formed New Zealand Veterinary Corps (N.Z.V.C.). He was placed on the Reserve of Officers in February 1913.

On the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Neale was recalled to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in his old rank in the N.Z.V.C., and embarked for Suez in February 1915. He subsequently became the first New Zealand Veterinary Surgeon to be landed at Gallipoli and, in August 1915, was mentioned in despatches for showing ‘great bravery and coolness in Anzac Cove beach, bandaging wounded mules under heavy artillery fire’. In the new year, as part of the Sinai operations, he was re-employed as a Veterinary Officer to No. 1 Company at Moascar, but was re-embarked for New Zealand in May 1916, where he was placed back on the Reserve of Officers in the following month.

Neale died in Hawera Public Hospital in February 1921, aged 49 years, a local obituary reporting the cause of his death as injuries sustained as a result of a horse kick. His death certificate, however, states that he died as a result of ‘Delirium Tremens - 4 days’.