Sapper James Lees Sinclair (died of wounds) left New Zealand with the 6th Reinforcements as a special telegraphist in the Divisional Signal Section. He served in the Gallipoli campaign, being present at the evacuation. From Gallipoli he was sent to France, where he was in the thick of the fight more or less constantly for 14 months, when he met his death. Sapper Sinclair was attached to the New Zealand Engineers for the last few months, and was engaged as despatch rider, a position which cost him many perilous and trying experiences. He was 28 years of age and served about 12 years in the Post and Telegraph Department. Mr and Mrs Sinclair have two other sons serving at the front. Their third son, Harry, left with the Main Body, was wounded at Gallipoli, and is now attached to the permanent staff of the New Zealand Records Office, London. -Press, 16/6/1917.
James Sinclair's pre-war job with the Post and Telegraph Department would account for his parents coming from Dunedin and his enlistment in Palmerston North. But his time with the Army is otherwise tantalising. The "many perilous and trying experiences" of his time as a dispatch rider, on a motorbike behind the lines, would be fascinating to read about.
As a bearer of vital documents, James would have been expected to take all risks to deliver his dispatches. His Army record describes his fatal wounds as "SW forearm and chest." I assume that the "SW" is a shrapnel wound which might have been part of barrage on a position and might have been aimed personally at him.
The James Sinclair who died in 1923 was his father.
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