Ancestor Details
Name of Ancestor: Mark Pickett
Ancestor's date of birth: 1885
Ancestor's date of death: 1941
Cause of Death: Not Known
Service Number: 811
Colony or State of enlistment: NA, Place of Enlistment: New Zealand
Unit: 3rd New Zealand Contingent, 6th Company
Rank attained in Boer War: SSGT, Date Effective: 1902
Highest Rank attained (if served after war): No evidence of post Boer War service
Murray Page: Not applicable did not serve in an Australian unit.
Contingent: 3rd New Zealand Rough Rider Contingent
Ship: Knight Templar, Date of Sailing: 17/02/1900
Other Boer War Service: He also served in the 6th Contingent- Sgt and 9th Contingent - SSM
Memorial details: Interred in Sarina Cemetery Queensland
Decorations: Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), Queen's South Africa Medal with: Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Diamond Hill, Johannesberg clasps. King's South Africa Medal with SA1901, SA1902 DCM, CLG 27490 of 31-10-1902
Personal Characteristics: A framer from Cheviot Hills Hangaroa New Zealand. Previous service was with the North Queensland Mounted Rifles for 18 months.
Reasons to go and fight: Detail not provided.
Details of service in war: The Third New Zealand Contingent was largely organised and paid for by a committee of prominent Christchurch citizens and other members of the public. It sailed from Lyttelton in mid-February 1900. In mid-May 1900 the first three New Zealand contingents were organized into one regiment under Major A.W. Robin. In December 1900, the New Zealand government agreed to replace the First Contingent and provide 300 men to reinforce the other contingents. Later, after men of the Second and Third Contingents had protested about the length of their service, it was decided that this new contingent should replace the first three New Zealand contingents. The Sixth Contingent arrived in South Africa in March 1901. Two final large contingents from New Zealand, the Ninth and Tenth, arrived in South Africa in 1902, too late to see any significant action. (nzhistory.net.nz) He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (London Gazette 31 October 1902).
Service and life after the Boer War: No details provided.
Descendant Details
Name of Descendant: Shirley Collins, Berowra Heights NSW
Relationship to Ancestor: 2nd Cousin
