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Private William Alexander Larkin, service number 163, New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps.
William Larkin was the eldest of the five children born to John and Annie Larkin. Aged eighteen, attested for military service on 18 February 1918. He had been working as a machinist with Hutcheson, Wilson & Co., a Wellington firm better known today as Hutchwilco. The army must have valued his skills, for when he was posted to the New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps, it was as an artificer - an engineer trained in making specialist equipment, such as weaponry.
William faces the camera squarely; he was no doubt proud to be following in the footsteps of his father, John, and his uncle, Frederick William, both of whom served overseas and fought on Gallipoli. Although they both returned to New Zealand, the influenza pandemic cliamed not only John's life on 21 November 1918, but also that of Frederick the following day.
In September, 1920, William was transferred to the Ordnance Stores at Wellington, and he appears to have worked there until his discharge, at his own request, on 24 January 1921. His discharge papers state that he was of 'very good' character, and give his work qualifications as 'sailmaster' - presumably another skill he had picked up at Hutcheson, Wilson & Co.
In 1924, William married Evelyn Thelma Pycroft, from Karori. She was three years his junior. They settled in Featherston and the Hutt Valley and had eight children. William worked on a farm for most of his life. He died in 1951, aged fifty-two. Evelyn died four years later.