item details
NameTelegram to Dorothy Broad
ProductionNew Zealand Post Office; producer; 3 January 1918; New Zealand
Classificationtelegrams
Materialspaper, ink
Techniquesprinting
DimensionsOverall: 235mm (width), 204mm (height)
Registration NumberGH025613
Credit lineGift of Marianne Abraham in memory of T. Wyville Rutherfurd, McKenzie Gibson, Frances and Dorothy Broad, 2019
Overview
This telegram notified Dorothy Broad that her fiancé Captain Thomas Wyville Leonard Rutherfurd (1890-1918) had been awarded the Military Cross.
Captain Rutherfurd (Service Number 6/718) was known to family and friends as Wyville. In 1915 he was severely wounded on Gallipoli, but was able to serve in the trenches in France. In 1917, he received the Military Cross for 'conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty' at Messines.
In early 1918, he went with a unit of experienced soldiers to Persia (Iran). In October 1918, he died from disease aggravated by military service, which may have been influenza. He was later buried in the British Military Cemetery in Tehran.