Book Launch: For King and Other Countries

Venue: 10A02 - Theatrette, Museum Building, Massey University - Wellington Campus

Please register your interest by emailing: editorial@masseypress.ac.nz

Join Massey University Press to celebrate the launch of For King and Other Countries: The New Zealanders who fought in other services in the First World War, by Glyn Harper.

New Zealand’s military contribution to the First World War was a massive effort for a small country. The figure most often quoted is that from October 1914 through to October 1918, just over 100,000 New Zealanders embarked for military service overseas.

But that number does not include the thousands who served under other imperial flags: with the Australian Imperial Force, British army units, the Indian army, the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the American Expeditionary Force, the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force, the French Foreign Legion, and even the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps. Nor does it include the women who served with other nations’ medical organisations or by entertaining troops.

This meticulously researched book details a range of New Zealanders who fought for the British Empire under other flags. They have not previously been included in First World War statistics, and there may be as many as 12,000 of them, 1400 of whom died. From heroes and ratbags to singers and medical pioneers, in For King and Other Countries Glyn Harper tells their stories.