In memoriam ![]()
Lieutenant James Robert Dennistoun


Lieutenant James Robert Dennistoun. Son of George James and Emily Dennistoun, Peel Forest, Timaru, New Zealand. Mountaineer and explorer. Dennistoun was one of the ship's party on Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition. Arrived France 18 November 1915 with F Squadron North Irish Horse, he transferred to the 23rd Squadron, Royal Flying Corps on 16 June 1916. Probably flying in an FE2b out of Le Hameau at the time, he was reported as missing just 10 days later. Died of wounds on 9 August 1916 in a hospital in Ohrdruf, Thuringia, Germany while a prisoner of war, aged 33. Buried in Niederzwehren Cemetery, Germany, grave IV.H.2. The gravestone inscription reads:
LIEUTENANT
JAMES ROBERT DENNISTOUN
NORTH IRISH HORSE
ATTD. ROYAL FLYING CORPS
9TH AUGUST 1916 AGE 33
THOU WILT SHEW ME
THE PATH OF LIFE
IN THY PRESENCE
IS FULLNESS OF JOY


Image of gravestone in winter kindly provided by Wolfgang Paland via the Great War Forum http://www.1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums. Second gravestone image kindly provided by Steve Rogers, Project Co-ordinator of the The War Graves Photographic Project, www.twgpp.org, via Gerry Chester. Image of obituary from Flight, 7 September 1916, sourced from www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive. Image of Dennistoun on board the Terra Nova sourced from www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ~nzlscant/dennistoun.htm. Image of Dennistoun in uniform sourced from Auckland Museum website www.auklandmuseum.com.