100 Kiwi Stories: Men of the cloth not spared from conflict while doing their duty

Cecil Mallett died in unusual circumstances.

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One hundred and forty chaplains accompanied New Zealand forces to war.

Important to morale, the chaplains helped soldiers write wills, identified the dead, undertook burials and sent condolence letters to relatives. At camps they conducted large church parades.

At least 10 became casualties of the long conflict.

Guy Bryan-Brown died when a shell exploded beside him at a casualty clearing station on the Western Front. He had stepped outside the makeshift first-aid shelter for a breather. Father Patrick Dore was shot when he went forward to help wounded troops. The Catholic priest returned to New Zealand, but died despite a spinal operation.

The Rev John Luxford lost a leg. Lieutenant Luxford landed with the first assault at Gallipoli in April 1915 and served without a break until he was wounded in the leg at Chunuk Bair. He had an artificial limb fitted in England but died, aged 66, when his health packed up two years after he returned from Britain.

Another man of the cloth was Cecil Alfred Mallett. London-born Mallett came to New Zealand as a young migrant soon after the turn of the century. He saved enough to earn his passage back to Britain and study for the Anglican ministry.

Ordained in 1910, Mallett was assigned to parishes at Aylesford and Dartford before returning to New Zealand in 1912.

He first ventured into the rugged bush country of the King Country at Ohura before his appointment as vicar of Morrinsville. There he married May Parkinson and joined the Chaplains' Department, the army-run agency which provided ministers to the forces.

The call for Mallett to join the war effort came when Bryan-Brown was killed at Passchendaele in October 1917. Mallett embarked in November 1917 on board the troopship Tahiti with the 32nd Reinforcements. He spent 10 on a military uniform because the Defence Force did not cover the cost, forcing him to plead for compensation.

His military records detail the unusual circumstances of his death almost a year later at the sprawling Base Depot at Etaples in northwest France, where recruits and weary veterans were trained in gas warfare and bayonet drill.

Mallett found his feet. In his file there is a note that states the chaplain "has been indefatigable in looking after the welfare and general entertainment of the troops".

Around 3am on September 30, 1918, fire destroyed the camp's dental hut where Mallett had a bunk. All soldiers could find when they sifted through the charred debris was a skeleton.

A court of inquiry found that the size of the remains were similar to the tall padre. Captain Randolph Gray told the investigation: "A search was made at once all over the camp but no trace was found of the chaplain and he has not since been seen or heard of."

The court returned a finding of "accidentally burnt to death". Cecil Mallett, who was 37, was buried at Etaples Military Cemetery. St Matthew's at Morrinsville has a plaque to his memory.