George

George Edward Keymer

(9 February 1894 - 12 October 1917)

George Edward Keymer was born in Auckland on 9 February 1894. At the time of his birth, the Keymer family lived on Ponsonby Road on the right hand side just down from Karangahape Road. They moved to Brown Street (c1896), and back to Ponsonby Road a short while later where Dorothy was born, then to Chamberlain Street, Grey Lynn, around 1905/06.

The Keymer family 1898

Photographer unknown

(Photo courtesy of G J Bland)

The Keymer family, 1904.
Seated back from left: Bertha (or could be Edith), Edith (or could be Bertha), Alice
Seated middle from left: Eliza, Louie, Laura, William Snr, Mary, Ada, William Jnr
Front, from left: George, Hector, Dorothy
Unknown photographer.
(Photo courtesy of G J Bland)

Education
George was a student at the Richmond Road Primary School in Ponsonby, which opened in February 1884. The school was given the distinction of being the first school in the Auckland region to have a female principal. The school's first premises was a small rented chapel on Brown Street. Besides the principal, there were two pupil teachers. By the time George was attending the school, it had re-located to its present site on Richmond Road.

George began attending the Richmond Road School on 28 October 1901 aged seven and a half. He was enrolled by his father, and was registered as living on Ponsonby Road. George was withdrawn two months later on 18 December 1901 along with his siblings (Alice, Edith, Laura, Bertha). The school records show that the reason for their withdrawal was because the children were going to be sent to a private school. It appears, from subsequent school records, that the plan to attend a private school never eventuated (or if it did, it was for a very short time).

When the children (Alice, Edith, Laura, Bertha, George) were re-admitted to the Richmond Road School on 25 August 1902, the register notes that they had been at the Newton West School.

No doubt George would have enjoyed taking wood-working classes at school. Click here to see a photo of the Richmond Road School's state of the art wood-work room which was opened in 1903. While here at the school, George would have most likely been part of the school military troop. Click here to see a picture of the school military troop of 1903.

George completed Standard II in July 1903, Standard III in July 1904, Standard IV on 17 July 1905, and Standard V on 11 July 1906.

While George completed Standard VI in July 1907 he continued studying at the Richmond Road School for the remainder of the year. He left the school on 18 December 1907, and school records note that his plans were to go to the Grammar School.

In January 1908 it was announced that George, who was one month shy of his 14th birthday, had excelled at a public examination, and was chosen to receive free tuition at a secondary school, district high school, or technical school. William Keymer enrolled George at Auckland Boy's Grammar School in 1908. At the time Auckland Grammar was situated on Symonds Street, Auckland. Click here to see a photo of the school taken in the early 1900s. George was in Form 3B, the second highest class. During his time at Auckland Grammar, George received compulsory cadet training. For some reason, George did not complete the year, as his name does not appear in the list of the 1908 exam results for December. He did not return to Auckland Grammar in 1909.

George attended the Auckland Technical College which is likely to be where he learnt the building trade.


Birkenhead
In early 1910, the Keymer family moved to Birkdale Road, Birkenhead, Auckland.


Keymer - Jarrett wedding
One month before George turned 20, he was part of the wedding party for his sister Bertha when she married Ernest Jarret on 29 January 1914.

Bertha and Ernest Jarret's wedding. 29 January 1914.
From left: Dorothy Keymer (15 years old), Unknown best man, Ernest Jarret, Bertha Jarret (nee Keymer),
George Keymer (one month shy of his 20th birthday), Ada Keymer (30 years old). Photographer unknown.
(Photo courtesy of  O D Keymer.)

The Jarrett-Keymer wedding, 1914
From left: Dorothy Keymer, George Keymer, Ada Keymer,
unknown best man, Bertha Keymer, Ernest Jarrett
Photographer unknown

Possibly the wedding of Ada Keymer to Albert Johnson.
Dorothy Keymer (left) and George (back) were in the wedding party.
Photographer and date unknown.

Engagement
George was engaged to be married to Frances (Fanny) May Harkin (4 June 1894 - 13 Oct 1984). A picture of Fanny and her sister at their home in Hutton Road (or Huka Road), Birkenhead (1910) can be seen here. Frances was the eldest daughter of Charles Harkin (1871 - 1955) and his wife Agnes Susannah Moverley (1874 - 1921).

In the photo below, George and Fanny are pictured on the top of the steps, visiting his older sister Louie and her husband James, at their home in Helensville.

Jim and Louie Archibald are at the foot of the steps of their Parkhurst home,
while her brother, George Keymer, is at the top of the steps
with his fiancee Frances (known as Fanny) Harkin.
This picture was taken in either 1915 or 1916. Photographer unknown.
(Photo courtesy of G J Bland)

Family portraits
The following family portraits look as if they were taken on the same day. They were probably taken shortly before George departed for the war. They record the last pictures the family had together.

The Keymer family 1915/16, probably just before George went off to the war.

Standing from left: Louie, William Jnr, William Snr, George, Eliza, Edith

Seated from left: Ada, Alice Mary, Laura,  Bertha

At front: Dorothy & Hector

Photographer unknown.

(Photo courtesy of E Donaldson)

Drafted for war
George was selected by ballot to become a soldier in November 1916. At the time his name was drawn, he was working on a Government Farm in Ruakura as a carpenter. His brother-in-law, Ernest Jarrett was also working there as the manager of the poultry section.

George Keymer in his military uniform.
Photo by H Morton, Auckland 1916/17.
(Photo courtesy of O D Keymer.)

Killed in action
George was killed in action during the battle for Passchendaele in World War 1, on 12 October 1917. His body was never recovered.

A year after George's death, his family and the family of C Harkin, of Birkenhead, paid tribute to George by placing a memorial in the newspaper. Also with it, is a touching tribute from F.M.H, George's fiancee, Fanny Harkin.

KEYMER - A tribute of love to the memory
of Cpl George E Keymer, who was
killed in action on October 12, 1917.
One of the best
So dearly loved, and so sadly missed.
Inserted by F.M.H.

After George's death, the Keymer and Harkin families continued to have contact through the Birkenhead Fire Brigade as George's older brother, William, and one of the Harkin boys (either Richard or Roy) were both firemen there.

NOTE: Frances (Fanny) Harkin later married Australian-born Isaac Richard Gulley (15 Sep 1894 - 7 Mar 1951), a collarmaker from Birkenhead, on 21 April 1920. The couple had three sons. Isaac passed away in 1951. In a canny twist of fate, Fanny died, aged 90, on 13 October 1984, the day after the 67th anniversary of George's death. Her body was cremated.

More details about George's service during WW1 can be found at the blog, They Served.

War Memorial at Auckland Grammar School.
George's name is engraved at the base of this monument.
(Photo by K Bland 2016.)

Sources of information

• Blog: They Served - George Edward Keymer
• Papers Past
• Births, Deaths and Marriages
• Recollections of O D Keymer
• Family records complied by Jessie McLean
• Auckland Council - North burial and cremation records
• Auckland Boy's Grammar School - Archivist, P Paton
• Richmond Road School. Registers of admissions, progress and withdrawals, 1885-1987. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-2002-116. Accessed 27 May 2016. 
• Photographs - O D Keymer, G J Bland, E Donaldson, K Bland

Last updated 3 April 2021