HERITAGE Three cousins, two wars
On the left hand side of the main gate of the Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery are two graves. 1
overhaul. It was at this time he discovered that the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Guthrie, wished to sell his medical practice. 7 HMS Torch returned to Lyttelton in September 1898, at which time Upham purchased the practice. 8 His wife chose not to come to New Zealand. Upham first appears in the Lyttelton electoral rolls in 1900, and in 1911 his sister Ethel is listed at the same address. Following the death of her husband Patrick Alison Kennedy Mackenzie, a Presbyterian minister, in 1896, 9 she and her son David Allan Neil Kennedy Mackenzie emigrated from Scotland. 10 Ethel became Upham’s housekeeper and they all lived at 28 Winchester Street, diagonally opposite Holy Trinity Church and vicarage. Upham’s surgery was in the house, and he was known locally as the “Little Doctor”. Henry Edward Reginald (Reggie) Upham was born at the Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth, and educated at both the Royal Naval School and Eltham Merchant Taylors’ School where he was enrolled in 1910. A keen boxer and good swimmer, he played for the Classical Rugby team, which suggests that like his cousin he was familiar with Latin and Greek. He was a forward in the 2nd XV and in his final year played in the 1st XV. 11 He was in the Officer’s Training Corps at both schools and in 1915 was gazetted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Chatham Division of the Royal Marines, at the same time he learned he had been recommended for the Andrew History Scholarship at St John’s College, Oxford. 12
The headstone on one is inscribed:
Remembrance Charles Hazlitt Upham July 31st 1950 “The Little Doctor” Loved by All Grant Him O Lord Eternal Rest Remembrance Ethel Maud Mary Mackenzie His beloved sister June 19th 1950 In sure and certain hope Charles Hazlitt Upham was born in Hampstead on 20 July 1863, 2 the son of Charles and Ellen Caroline. He attended Christ’s Hospital school and then trained as a doctor at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. He qualified as a naval surgeon in 1886, spent time on various ships in the Mediterranean, and was in Hong Kong by 1892. 3 There is a gap in the records until 1896, when he married Mina Ethel Olive Eliza Norbury, daughter of Sir Henry Norbury, at East Stonehouse, Devon. 4 A son, Henry Edward Reginald Upham, was born on 10 February 1897. 5 Upham was appointed to HMS Torch , an Alert class steel screw sloop, which was sent to the Australian Station in February 1897. 6 He was on board when it came into Lyttelton on 16 January 1898 and spent time in the graving dock when it was cleaned below the waterline and had a general and the other is inscribed:
Henry Edward Reginald Upham from the Merchant Taylors’ School Register
In July 1916 he went with the British Expeditionary Force to France and Flanders, and was with the 63rd Royal Naval Division, part of the 5th Army V Corps, at the Battle of Ancre, the final phase of the first Battle of the Somme. The area was a strong German sector and the attack was launched from the south by the II Corps and to the north by the Naval Division. Both Rickard and Sebag-Montefiore point out there was some concern about the battle hardness of the Naval Division, as it was first time they had been involved in an attack on the Western Front. 13 Upham was killed in action on 13 November 1916, the first day of the six-day battle. His Colonel wrote: “He led his platoon in the most gallant way, and was perfectly cool under the very trying circumstances ... He was seen to fall into a shell hole, but, of course, we had to go on
Christ’s College Canterbury
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