Last veteran dies

Press, 2 April 1980, Page 1

Last veteran dies

Mr Ben Lewis Symonds, the only surviving New Zealand-born veteran of the South African War, died in Christchurch yesterday. He was 96. Mr Symonds, a well known figure at Leithfield .Beach where he lived for the last few years, died in the Christchurch Hospital. His great-grandfather came to New Zealand in the Isabella Hercus, the sixth emigrant ship to arrive at Lyttelton, where Mr Symonds was born in 1883 When he was 14, Mr Symonds’ father moved to Omihi where he bought a farm. Mr Symonds was quickly learning how to farm when he went away to the South African War with the Eighth Contingent. He was 18. He returned in the Bri-

tannic in 1902, and upon his return widely criticised the conditions on board under which 38 men died. Back to the land again, Mr Symonds spent the rest

of his working life as a farmer, first at Murchison and then at Waipara. • He was present in Christchurch Cathedral in 1972 when the South African War Veterans’ flag was officially laid up._At that service were four New Zealand veterans. Three veterans of the war still live in Britain. A funeral service will be conducted by the Dean of Christchurch (the Rev. M. L. Underhill) tomorrow at the Glenmark Church, at 11 a.m. Official representatives of the New Zealand Army will attend and a bugler and firing party will be present. Mr Symonds is survived by his second wife, and a son and a daughter, both of whom live in Christchurch.,