Samoan Advance Party Roll of Honour

Auckland War Memorial Museum holds a roll of honour listing the names of members of the Samoan (N.Z.) Expeditionary Force who later enlisted for further service and died during the First World War.

The polished wooden tablet is headed with the words:

“‘They went first’ / This memorial shield bears the names of those men / of the Samoan Advance Party (August 1914) / who afterwards gave their / lives in the Great War of / 1914 – 1918.”

It lists a total of 266 names.

The origin of the roll of honour is unknown, but it was probably compiled at the behest of the surviving members of the Advance Party, who held the first of a number of annual reunions in 1921. It is not known when it was presented to the museum. The full embarkation roll and a partial photographic roll of members of the force who made the supreme sacrifice are published in Stephen John Smith, The Samoa (N.Z.) Expeditionary Force, 1914-1915, Wellington, Ferguson & Osborne, 1924.