30999 Lance Corporal John Herbert Vosper, (10/10/1896-12/9/1918). "only a handful"

PERSONAL ITEMS

Mr T. Vosper, of Vanguard street, received advice yesterday that his son, Private J. H.  Vosper, was killed in action in France on September 12th. Private Vosper left with the Twentieth Reinforcements. He was formerly in the employ of Messrs J. Savage and Sons. He was a prominent member of the Rival Football Club.  -Nelson Evening Mail, 25/9/1918.

The memory of the late Lance Corporal j. H. Vosper was kept specially in mind at the services at All Saints' Church yesterday The Rev. Canon Wollstein, who preached at mid-day, and the Rev. A.. T. Milgrew, the evening preacher, both made feeling reference to the deceased soldier and extolled his services to King and country. In the evening, when there was a large congregation, appropriate hymns were sung and the anthem was "If ye love Me, keep My Commandments." Mr N. R. Williams, at the organ, played the Dead March in "Saul" at both services in a masterly manner. The late Lance-Corporal Vosper was the second son of Mr T. Vosper, of Vanguard street. He was born in Nelson in if 1897 and was connected with All Saints' Church, from his boyhood. Leaving with, the Twentieth Reinforcements, he was killed in action in France on September 12th.

Glorious manhood!: How proud we are of our lads! What grand careers we plan for them! But Drink too often blasts our hopes as one and another goes under So "we must find a solution of the Liquor question." Shall we tear down the name of Smith from the Public bar and put up the name of the King, the King who at Kitchener's call turned down his glass? Shall we stamp the name of New Zealand on the glasses and then fill them with whisky imported for Government sale, and with beer I brewed in nationalised vats? Shall we then, when praying for our Government, include "The Minister of Alcoholic Beverages," and trust the good Lord to make the Alcohol a help and not a hindrance in rearing a glorious manhood? This is the solution offered by the Moderate League. What do you think of it?  -Colonist, 30/9/1918.

John Vosper died, as you can see, near the end of the Great War.  The German Army had played its last victory card months before in its spring offensive and was now making a fighting retreat towards powerful defensive positions which, it hoped, would hold off the Allies until either the Army or German politicians could organise a more favourable  strategic position.  The Germans were not beaten and they put up a stubborn fight. The experience of John's unit, 3rd Battalion, NZ Rifles, on the day he died, is described in the Rifles' Official History.

"While this fiercely-contested battle raged on the 2nd Rifles' front, the 3rd Battalion on the left was very much less successful. The right company, held up by the 1917 British entanglements and coming under heavy fire from Dead Man's Corner, not yet contained, managed to approach the objective. The left company suffered severely from machine guns on the crest and in Snap Reserve and advanced positions which the barrage chanced to miss. Only a handful reached their goal. Reinforcements were at once hurried up, but these also lost heavily. Almost immediately the enemy counter-attacked, and the left company was forced back to the starting line. Several wounded men lay still out in the open, 200 yards in advance of our line. Desperate efforts to rescue these resulted only in additions to the casualty roll."

Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson.