reconnaissance and sketching, he also instructed signallers, and then went on to Gallipoli on 12 April 1915. According to his brother Charles he was present at all three landings, Helles, Anzac and Sulva. xv Christopher’s time on Gallipoli was not without sickness. His service record indicates that he spent time at the Sisters Hospital on Malta in July and August 1915, and returned having been promoted Captain. Limited water, poor food, insanitary conditions, lice and flies resulted in him returning to Malta with dysentery, and finally being admitted to the 3rd London General Hospital but not before his work as Captain and acting Staff Captain in the Royal Artillery had been noticed as “uniformly thorough and good”. xvi It was not until 15 June 1916 after spending time at the Officers’ Hospital at Hornchurch and the Convalescent Hospital at Codford that he came before a Medical Board and was declared fit enough to return to his unit for further service. He was attached to the New Zealand Command Depot and spent time at Sling on the Salisbury Plain, training troops. xvii On 31 August he was in France, briefly as Adjutant for the 1st brigade and on 1 October transferred back to the NZ Field Artillery 3rd Battery. It had been expected that the Field Artillery would leave the Somme at the same time as the Infantry of the New Zealand Division, but that was not to be. Rather, they stayed on through the incessant rain and ongoing shelling until 26 October 1916. The Commonwealth War graves database has 76 names of artillery men killed in this period and one of them was Christopher Carrington. Killed at Flers on 8 October 1922 aged 22.
Christopher Carrington’s grave at Guards’ Cemetery Lesboeufs Cemetery, France. Photograph: Warren Lidstone xviii
The Chapel of St Michael and St George in ChristChurch Cathedral. The front of the altar was carved by Charles Walter Carrington in memory of his son, Christopher. Photograph: ChristChurch Cathedral
Christ’s College Canterbury
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