ANZAC - the WESTRUPP family of soldiers

The WESTRUPP Family

Starting with (grandfather) John Westrupp, many members of the family were involved in shipping. Emigrating from England, he build a life and a business in the Nelson district. Interestingly, despite so many in the family being merchant seamen, almost all of the men who went off to war enlisted as soldiers instead of being naval men.
westrupp chart.jpg

I made this family chart to show the relationship between the family members who fought in WWI (showing in bottom orange boxes)

The soldier we are highlighting is Walter Westrupp, as he died at Gallipoli and so is part of the ANZAC commemoration - but I included other family members who also fought in WWI to show just what a contribution one family (of cousins) made to the war effort, and to give an idea of just how stressful it must have been for their parents and siblings waiting anxiously back in New Zealand for any word of them. Luckily, the other seven soldiers made it home safely.
Newspapers up and down the country were kept busy filling their pages with news of the war, both bad and good.
(I am listing snippets by individual rather than via timeline.)

Philip John Westrupp

(son of Samuel)
His cenotaph record says he was also at Gallipoli.

newspaper notice, 19 May 1915
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newspaper article, 22 Nov 1915
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newspaper article, 1 Mar 1919
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newspaper article, 22 Oct 1915
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newspaper article, 25 Oct 1915
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Sidney Douglas Westrupp

(son of Samuel)
His cenotaph record shows he joined the merchant navy, and earned both the British War Medal and the Mercantile Marine War Medal.

Albert William Westrupp

(son of Samuel)
His cenotaph record does not give much personal information.

newspaper article, 29 Sep 1915
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James Westrupp

(son of George)
His cenotaph record has little personal information, except that he was discharged due to heart disease.

newspaper notice, 9 May 1916
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Percy Edward Westrupp

(son of George)
His cenotaph record.

newspaper notice, 31 Aug 1915
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10 Jul 1916
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newspaper article, 21 Mar 1916
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Douglas Westrupp

(son of William)
His cenotaph record shows he was a blacksmith before enlistment.

newspaper notice, 26 Jun 1918
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Robert Westrupp

(son of William)
His cenotaph record says little.

Returned Soldiers' Day, 5th Aug 1919

there were celebrations organised throughout NZ to welcome home and thank soldiers for their service - it isn't clear just which 'Mr Westrupp' this is in the article - either William, Samuel, or George
newspaper article, 20 Aug 1919
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Even once home, the ex-soldiers found themselves in heroic situations.

Albert William Westrupp

newspaper article, 16 Aug 1919
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Finally we come to the one man in the family who lost his life at Gallipoli, and is therefore the real focus of our ANZAC Day remembrance.

Walter Westrupp

(son of William)
His NZ cenotaph record shows he signed up with the Australian Imperial Force - he was listed as a miner so it is likely he had emigrated to Rockhampton, Queensland for work. There is a copy of his Australian archival record available as well, which has his military documents.
For a month he was simply declared 'missing'.

newspaper notice, 8 Nov 1916
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page one (of 45) from his Australian archival records
His name can be found on the Lone Pine Memorial, Lone Pine Cemetery, Anzac, Turkey

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Notes:
There have been various spellings and misspellings of the surname WESTRUPP, such as WESTRUP and WESTROP. This made finding information a little more challenging.

John WESTRUPP and Margaret PARKER may have had more children, but I've listed all that I could definitely attribute to them. They lost several of their children to accidents; and not all of their sons had their own sons who went off to the war. I did not explore whether any of their daughters' sons did so as I felt it would have made the scope of the research far too large and distant from the original goal.

An anecdote:

A descendent of John Westrupp said that his grandfather took the family along the coast in his little boat, the Jubilee, on high days and holidays, and they would spend the day at the Moutere Inn, where prizefighting was organised. Supporters of each protagonist loudly urged their champion to greater efforts, while bets were laid and the women and children prepared a picnic meal.
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Here is a published letter from Philip John Westrupp to his parents, and it is very descriptive about his time overseas. An interesting read (too long to show here). Article dated 10 Jul 1915.

The 'Lady Liverpool Committee' stemmed from the efforts of Lady Liverpool, Annette Louise Monck, as she encouraged women throughout New Zealand to provide "comforts and necessaries" to the soldiers. Her own story is well worth reading.

Annette, Lady Liverpool, the wife of Governor Lord Liverpool, inspired women and children throughout New Zealand to contribute to the war effort. They sewed shirts, knitted socks and collected money. Many soldiers expressed their gratitude for the parcels they received from the Lady Liverpool Fund.
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Obituary for the grandfather:
John Westrupp

obituary, 27 Sep 1897
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A soldier's letter to Mrs George Westrupp, on the death of her nephew, which I've included for interest.

newspaper article, 22 Mar 1918
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Bibliography:

http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/search

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/video/lady-liverpool-great-war-story

https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/travel/stroll-park

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