Just two decades after the ‘war to end all wars’, another global conflict plunged New Zealand into a long and grave period of fighting. Of the country’s population at the time of about 1,600,000 some 140,000 New Zealand men and women served — about 75% in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (army), and the most of the remainder in New Zealand or British naval or air forces. Nearly 12,000 were killed.
This article is the first in a series to remember those of the clan (Matheson, Mathieson or a variant spelling) who served in the Second World War. It lists those who lost their lives during the conflict while serving in New Zealand forces, and links to articles that profile each of them.
I am grateful to everyone who has assisted by sharing stories, photos and other material. Any further information about the people featured in this article would be appreciated.
New Zealand’s online cenotaph is operated by the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and I would encourage anyone with a relative who has served in New Zealand’s armed forces to add material to it. You can find out how to contribute here.
Andrew Matheson
Website manager
25 April 2017
| Name and number | Date and place of death and age | Rank, service and unit | Burial or memorial |
| Archibald Allisdair Matheson NZ412714 |
11 July 1944North Sea, Europe29 | Flying OfficerRNZAF692 Squadron, RAF | Runnymede memorial to Allied airmen, UK.Carterton war memorial. |
| Charles Irvine Matheson 550275 |
20 December 1944Italy30 | PrivateNew Zealand Infantry26 Battalion | Forli war cemetery, Italy.Wanaka war memorial. |
| Farquhar Duncan Matheson NZ392057 |
26 July 1943Netherlands26 | Flying OfficerRNZAF77 Squadron, RAF | Bergen-op-Zoom war cemetery, Netherlands.St Mary’s Peace Memorial Hall, New Plymouth.Ongarue war memorial, Taranaki. |
| John Matheson 6263 |
20 May 1941Crete35 | Warrant Officer Class IINew Zealand Infantry | Athens memorial,Greece. |
| John Archibald George Matheson 17415 |
9 February 1945Germany (while prisoner of war)29 | Private,New Zealand Infantry26th Battalion | Alamein memorial, Egypt.Invercargill cenotaph.parents’ grave, Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill |
| Kenneth Duncan Matheson NZ425122 |
31 March 1944Germany34 | Pilot OfficerRNZAF7 Squadron, RAF | Durnbach war cemetery, Germany.Lower Hutt war memorial |
| Myles Gibbons Matheson 9797 |
27 November 1941Western Desert, North Africa35 | PrivateNew Zealand Infantry20th Battalion | Knightsbridge war cemetery, Acroma, Libya.Otautau war memorial, Southland. |
| Roderick McLeod Matheson 9659 |
2 June 1941Egypt36 | PrivateNew Zealand Ordnance Corps, attached to 27th New Zealand Machine Gun Battalion | Cairo war memorial cemetery.Bannockburn war memorial, Otago. |
| Alexander Reginald Mathieson 15551 |
27 November 1941Western Desert, North Africa22 | Private,New Zealand Infantry26th Battalion | Knightsbridge war cemetery, Acroma, Libya |
| Ian Edgecombe Mathieson NZ413447 |
25 November 1943RAF Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland23 | Flight SergeantRNZAF130 Squadron, RAF | St Illogan churchyard, Cornwall, England.Waipukurau war memorial. |
| John Mathieson 802792 |
29 June 194756 | CorporalNew Zealand Military Forces | Onerahi public cemetery, Whangarei |
| Rex Tawheta Mathieson NZ4213267 |
1 July 1944Rabaul, Papua New Guinea20 | Flight SergeantRNZAF31 Squadron, RNZAF | Bomana war cemetery, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.New Plymouth Boys’ High School memorial. |
| Roderick Campbell Mathieson 40933 |
1 April 1940 near Bude, Cornwall, UK |
Pilot Officer, RAF 1 Anti Aircraft Cooperation Unit |
St John the Baptist churchyard, Morwenstow, Cornwall |