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BG2076
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THE RIGHT
REVEREND GEORGE VINCENT GERARD, C.B.E., M.C.,
NEW
ZEALAND CHAPLAINCY SERVICE (LATE LIEUTENANT , 4TH BATTALION EAST KENT REGIMENT). Ten: C.B.E. (Military), Commander's neck badge in
silver-gilt and enamel; Military Cross, George V; British War and
Victory Medals (2nd Lieutenant); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, Pacific
Star; Defence Medal; 1939-45 War Medal, with M.I.D. oakleaf on ribbon;
New Zealand 1939-45 War Medal. Third and fourth medal only named (as
indicated), C.B.E. loose and rest of group mounted court style, as
worn, generally Good Very Fine and better.
Group
accompanied by 14 pages of photocopied correspondence and documents
from the Reverend Gerard’s Officer’s Papers file, original 4th Army
Military Cross award certificate, signed by General Rawlinson, and
various photocopied and typed research, including Medal Index Card
details and extracts from "Men of Faith and Courage", the Official
History of the New Zealand Chaplain's Department by J. Bryant Haigh,
and "New Zealand Chaplains in the Second World War" by The Reverend
M.L. Underhill and others, Bishop Gerard being mentioned extensively in
both of these latter publications., both of which include good
photographic studies of Bishop Gerard, including one photograph of him
conducting an open air church service on the eve of battle in Greece,
and another of him distributing communion at an early morning service
in the Egyptian desert near Baggush in 1941. A modern colour photograph
of Rotherham Cathedral, where Gerard was Vicar and Rural Dean, 1945-60,
also accompanies group.
George
Vincent Gerard was born 24th November 1898 at Fendleton, in the parish
of Christ Church, New Zealand, the eldest son of George Gerard and
Frederike Marie Gerard (nee Bergh), of Snowden, Canterbury, New
Zealand. Gerard came from an agricultural background, his father being
a sheep farmer. He was educated at Waihi School, Winchester, New Zealand, Christ College, Christchurch, New Zealand, and Brasenose College, Oxford. Whilst at Christ College he was a member of the college Cadet Corps,
from January 1913, reaching the rank of Sergeant, before he left school
in 1916. Correspondence in his Officer’s Papers file indicate that he
initially came to England with the intention of going to university,
copied correspondence including a letter of reference from the
headmaster of his former school in New Zealand, Christ College,
recommending him as being eminently suitable for “admission to an
English university”. However, by the time he reached England, his plans appear to have changed somewhat.
Another copied letter dated 31st October 1917, from a New Zealand sheep
farmer by the name of Wilfred Hall, from Glenroy in New Zealand, but
then resident at the Dean Hotel in London, states that Gerard travelled
from New Zealand in his charge “with the object of applying for a
commission in the Imperial forces”, and recommending him as being
suitable for a commission. He underwent initial military training with
the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, being posted Private in that
unit on 13th August 1917. He was 18 years and 8 months of age at the
time, and gave his trade or calling as that of student. He served with
the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps for 289 days, and was
discharged on 28th May 1918, on being commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 4th
Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), and was promoted Lieutenant,
29th November 1919. Demobilised in 1919, Gerard graduated B.A., Oxon
1921, M.A., 1925, and B.T.S., New Zealand, L.Th., 1926. In the post-war years he joined
the priesthood, being appointed Deacon, 1922, took Holy Orders and
became a priest in 1923, and returned to New Zealand, where he was Canon of Timaru, 1922-26. He
returned to the UK in the late 1920's, and was Officiating
Minister, St Saviour, Croydon, London, 1927-28, and St Margarets, Barking, Essex 1928-29. Thereafter he returned to New Zealand for a second time, and was Vicar of Pahiatua,
1929-32, Petone, 1932-36, and St. Matthew, Auckland, 1936-38. Gerard was Bishop of Waipu, in St John’s Cathedral, Napier, 1938-44, and during this
latter period saw active service as Senior Chaplain to the 2nd New
Zealand Expeditionary Force, 1940-45. Taken prisoner of war at Sidi
Rezegh in 1941, he was repatriated to England in 1943 on compassionate grounds. Subsequently
Gerard was Senior Chaplain to the New Zealand forces serving in the South Pacific, 1944-45,
but in the latter year he transferred for service aboard a hospital
ship. In the years following the Second World War
Gerard was Vicar and Rural Dean of Rotherham, Yorkshire, 1945-60, Honorary Canon of Sheffield, 1947-60, and Proctor
in the Convocation of York, 1950 and from 1952. He married, 1920,
Elizabeth Mary Buckley, daughter of Eugene Charles Buckley of Christ
church, New Zealand.
Gerard
first saw active service in France and Flanders as a 2nd Lieutenant,
attached to the 7th Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), which
then formed part of 55th Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Division. He won his
Military Cross during the Final Advance to Victory, "For great
gallantry near Preux on 30th October 1918. His company having been continually harassed
by machine-gun fire during the night, he went out on patrol at dawn to
locate the gun. He got within a few yards at one post, when his patrol
was forced to retire by fire from that and other machine-gun posts.
That night he went out with a party of bombers, and went forward alone
to within ten yards of one machine-gun, bombing and emptying his
revolver at the crew, thereby completely silencing their fire for the
night". When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Gerard, by now a
Bishop, volunteered for service with the Chaplain's Department of 2
NZEF. This department comprised some 50 clerics of various
denominations, 26 of whom were allocated to units of 2 NZ Division and
24 to various hospitals and.bases. The Right Reverend Vincent Gerard
was appointed Senior Chaplain to 2 NZEF, and was the only bishop to
serve in the force. The first echelon of 2 NZEF, comprising some 354
officers, including 7 chaplains, and 6,175 other ranks, sailed for the Middle East in six troop ships on 5th January 1940. On arrival in Egypt on 12th February 1940, Chaplain Moore was appointed Senior New
Zealand Chaplain in the Middle
East, a post which he
retained until Bishop Gerard arrived in Egypt nearly a year later. The second echelon 2 NZEF,
comprising 428 officers, including 11 chaplains, among them Bishop
Gerard, and 6,410 other ranks, sailed from New Zealand in four troop
ships on 2nd May 1940, bound for the Middle East. Whilst in the Indian Ocean, however, its destination was changed to the U.K., where it arrived on 16th June
1940, its destination
having been altered as a result of the threat of a German invasion of
the U.K. as the Battle of Britain raged. In January
1941, as the threat of invasion passed, the second echelon sailed again
for the Middle East, where it joined the first echelon and the
recently arrived third echelon, comprising 356 officers, including 11
chaplains, and 6,078 other ranks, which had sailed from New Zealand in three troop ships on 27th August
1940. By the end of March
1941, the now complete 2 New Zealand Division was assembled in Greece, its manpower including 28 chaplains under the
command of Bishop Gerard. During the futile attempt to halt the German
invasion of Greece, the 2 NZ Division suffered some 2,500
casualties, killed, wounded and prisoners. Thereafter the division
transferred for service in North Africa.
There Bishop Gerard was taken prisoner of war at Sidi Rezegh in
November 1941, during Operation Crusader, Lieutenant-General Sir Alan
Cunningham’s successful relief of the besieged garrison at Tobruk.
During the fighting around Sidi Rezegh the 2 NZEF suffered a large
number of casualties, and in addition to Bishop Gerard, 7 New Zealand chaplains,14 officers and 180 other ranks were
also taken prisoner of war. The high casualty rate among chaplains
during this particular engagement was a result of the policy adopted by
Bishop Gerard from the outset, the bishop having devised a system
designed to allow all Anglican soldiers in 2 NZEF to worship in the
field. As a result, both he and many of the 2 NZEF chaplains saw almost
continuous service in forward positions during the initial phases of
the North African campaign. Not surprisingly, after Gerard’s loss in
the field, senior command ruled that henceforth the Senior Chaplain’s
headquarters were to be at the 2 NZEF base camp.
As a
prisoner of war, Bishop Gerard had a greater degree of freedom than
other chaplains, the Italians allowing him to visit, under guard,
several p.o.w. camps, to confirm men into the Anglican faith. Bishop
Gerard was repatriated to England in April 1943, as a result of the intervention
on his part by the Vatican, who sought his release on compassionate
grounds, and visited the 8th Army in North Africa, before returning to New Zealand. He was awarded the C.B.E. (Military) in 1944,
for sustained gallantry and distinguished service, during the Battle of
Britain, in Greece and North Africa, and for the efforts he made whilst
a Prisoner of War to improve the conditions endured by his fellow
inmates, the recommendation for his award reading "While with the 2
NZEF in England, the Bishop was indefatigable in his welfare work for
all troops in the area threatened by the 'Battle of Britain'. He
arrived in the Middle
East in time to go to Greece and served there in the field visiting every
unit during that campaign. He was regardless of danger and immune to
fatigue, moving amongst the troops and giving assistance and inspiring
confidence. Under enemy fire he buried the dead and assisted the
wounded, and after several narrow escapes was captured by the enemy at
Sidi Rezegh. As a prisoner of war in Italy for approximately 16 months, he persistently
used his influence and energy to ameliorate the conditions of his
fellow prisoners; and what few concessions were allowed him he used in
ministering to the men. He has been unflagging in his devotion to the
responsibilities of his high office and calling". Subsequently, Bishop
Gerard accepted the appointment as Senior Chaplain to 2 NZEF in the
Pacific islands in April 1944, though in order to do so, he felt he had
to resign his See. In 1945 he transferred for service aboard a hospital
ship. Bishop Gerard' s CBE was one of only two awarded to New Zealand chaplains during the Second World War, the
other being awarded to Chaplain Class 1 James William McKenzie MM, who
like Bishop Gerard had also won his other military decoration, the
Military Medal, during the First World War. Bishop Gerard was also one
of only 18 New Zealand chaplains mentioned in despatches during the
Second World War, and his orders and decorations are a unique
combination to the New Zealand Chaplaincy Service.
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Stg £4500
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Euro 6750.00
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