LAC. Alexander Spencer Agnew

Alexander Spencer Agnew was born at Tolaga Bay on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island on 18 January 1896. His parents were Albert Peter Agnew and Charlotte Drummond Agnew (née Lockwood) who had married in 1887. Alexander served in the 1st N.Z.E.F. with the 2nd Wellington Infantry Battalion from 1916 to 1919. His brother, Albert Herbert Agnew, was wounded and died in Belgium on 17 October 1917. Alexander and Ida Lilian Kathleen Higgins married in 1921. For a number of years he was employed as a quarryman by the U.A.W.A. County Council, before enlisting as a patrolman at Harewood on the 16th October 1942. He served there in this capacity and also at Te Awamutu, after posting there in January 1943. Leading Aircraftsman Agnew died suddenly on 27 April 1943 at Te Awamutu and was buried in the Taruheru Cemetery in Gisborne on 29 April 1943.

MR. A. S. AGNEW The sudden, death of Mr Alexander Spencer Agnew, Wainui road, occurred on Monday. Mr Agnew was 44 years of age and was a veteran of the last war and a volunteer of the present war, He was married in Tolaga Bay, where he lived for many years and was secretary of the Tolaga Bay Waterside Workers' Union. He was. also a member of the Tolaga Returned Services' Association. A service will be held in Cochranes chapel', William street, at 11 aim. tomorrow, after which the funeral will leave for the Soldiers Plot at the Taruheru cemetery. Source: Gisborne Herald (28 April 1943, p. 4).

Sources

1. Cenotaph: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/....
2. Gisborne Herald (28 April 1943, p. 4).