Noel “Bob” Ellis

Private · NZ #254649 · T1 Patrol

What this roll records

HE DIED PEACEFULLY AT HIS HOME, 22 AVIEMORE STREET, TIMARU, ON 28 JULY 1991. The Press notice names him with his number — “ELLIS, Noel (Bob) (Reg. No. 254649, LRDG, and Div. Cav. 2nd N.Z.E.F.)” — AND THE NUMBER, THE NICKNAME AND THE PARENT REGIMENT ARE ALL THIS CARD’S OWN. He was the husband of Gay; the father and father-in-law of Rhonda and Ian McCully of Seadown, RAYLENE AND JEFF COWLES of Timaru, and Noela and David Laurenson of Timaru; and the “Bobby” of Michelle and Stuart Paterson, Darron, Mark, Delwyn and Brent, Phillip, and Joanne. His entire funeral service was held in St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, Wai-iti Road, Timaru, on 31 July 1991; donations to the Cancer Society in lieu of flowers. TWO T1 MEN OF TIMARU, AND THEIR FAMILIES JOINED: his daughter Raylene married Jeff, the son of HERBERT WALTER (“HERB”) COWLES, NZ #246536, also of T1 Patrol and also of Timaru, who had died in that same town five months earlier, on 23 February 1991. The connection is stated by the two death notices themselves, each naming Jeff and Raylene Cowles among the family. Source: the Press, 29 July 1991, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).

New Zealand (A) Squadron, LRDG — T1 Patrol at disbandment, 10 December 1943. Source: Brendan O’Carroll, ‘The Long Range Desert Group in the Aegean’ (Appendix IV, New Zealand (A) Squadron Disbandment Roll, 10 December 1943).

Embarkation detail from his Cenotaph record: he embarked as Private, Infantry Brigade, 2NZEF Nominal Roll 11 p. 38. This agrees with the rank held on this card. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 101134.

Cenotaph record linked. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

The prefix NZ has been added to his service number, on the authority of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record already linked on this card — the Museum holds him as a New Zealand service person. The digits are unchanged. This roll formerly left the number unmarked, which made it look like a British number to anyone reading the field rather than the card.

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• AKA added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll (missing information).
• Listed in the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.

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Not By Strength But By Guile