Corporal Duncan Campbell McCrostie #22272 - 100 Years of WW1 Commemoration:
Corporal Duncan Campbell
McCrostie #22272 – Wellington Infantry Battalion:
Born 3rd July 1896 to
James & Mary McCrostie of Otahuti. Duncan was last of 4 children.
Duncan as a young man heading off to war
(photo kindly supplied by family)
At time of signing up to WW1,
Duncan was a Clerk in Invercargill for J. McAlister Ltd and living at 8 Eye
St, Invercargill. He enlisted on 4/5/1916, joining the 2nd
Wellington Infantry Battalion, proceeding overseas on 16/11/1916, a Private
with the 16th Reinforcements, J Company. On 5/6/1917 Duncan was
attached to the NZ Wing of the 2nd ANZAC Reinforcements. Then by
22/4/1918 he was appointed to the position of Lance Corporal, and not long
after this, he was reprimanded for disorderly conduct. However just a few months
later on 15/8/1918, Duncan won a medal for ‘Conspicuous Gallantry’, for his
efforts in battle on 23/7/1918. (see attached citation for details of the
awarded medal). It was after this that Duncan was temporarily posted to as a
Corporal, before he was promoted permanently to the position on 3/11/1918. On
4/2/1919, Duncan returned to England, and finally left for NZ on the Arawa,
on 19/5/1919.
AT RIGHT: Duncan
McCrostie & Ann Watt on their
wedding day, 1924. (Photo kindly supplied by family)
The couple moved into 34 Eton St,
Otautau, having two children there, Alan Morton in 1925 and Alison Crawford
in 1929. The children would travel by bus to high school in Invercargill and
students were picked up along the way. Alan told his sister Alison that the
girl getting on the bus at Otahuti was “the girl he was going to marry,” and
he did!
BELOW: Alan McCrostie’s wife Isabel Shields - daughter of Robert and Ettie Shields who owned Otahuti Store, with her sisters Irene & Rose. (Photo kindly supplied by family members – All Rights Reserved) 
BELOW LEFT & RIGHT: Tragically, two of Isabel’s
sisters - Ettie Irene and Rose Alma Shields, were killed in the Seddon Rail
Crash in 1948, when they were aged just 20 and 21. One of the sisters was
engaged to
be married and the girls were doing a ‘sisters trip’ before the happy event, that never happened. (Photos & News Clippings kindly provided by family)  
Alison McCrostie then married Brian Springford and
they ran a dairy farm at Makarewa. Her grandson and Duncan’s great grandson, Lachlan
Springford, is the current Southland Boys High School, 1st XV
halfback.
At the time of WW2, Duncan was again called into service with the NZ Military Forces, this time in the Home Guard. On 20/1/1942, he was appointed Temporary Lieutenant to complete the establishment and command the No.11 Platoon of C Company, Riverton Battalion, of 45 men. At this time he was now listed as a Grocer, of Otautau. In his time at Otautau, Duncan was also a manager at Matheson’s General Store from 1924 from when they opened on the corner of Hulme and Main Sts, until the store was sold in the 1940’s, and later he opened his own business called ‘The Dugout’, which was pretty much an old shed by then. This sat next to Leckies Hardware, between Wesney’s and Jacquiery’s Building.
ABOVE: In the centre, can be seen the small shop or shed
that Duncan McCrostie
ran his Menswear shop out of in later years. This photo is from the 1932 fire. (Part of photo 2008.20.1 – Otautau Museum Collection)
In the 1960’s, when Ernie Wright
bought the property the Hardware and McCrostie’s sat on to build his new
shop, Duncan refused to move out of his Menswear Shed, so his shop was jacked
up and moved across to the area now the Supervalue Carpark (in 2019). This still
brings a smile to those who remember him. At the time of his death on 16
August 1972, Duncan was said to be a Company Manager and Men's Clothier, of
Otautau.
Ann stayed in their Eton Street house (at left),
but eventually moved to Invercargill where she died, aged 99. Both are buried
in the Soldiers Block, at Otautau Cemetery.
 _________________________________________________________________________________________
SOURCES: Any direct references are marked and cited. Grateful thanks are given to the family for providing additional photographs and information - Article researched and compiled by Suzie Best - Researcher/Historian, ph: 027-211-4675
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The content within this blog is Copyright: Photos - as stipulated above; those from Ōtautau Museum and Heritage Trust (contact on: otautau.museum@gmail.com)Research/text - to the author in the form written here, unless stipulated otherwise (contact on: riverstream@xtra.co.nz)
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