Remembering James Dalton Dinneen of St John’s College
Born: 16th July 1883 in Cambridge, Waikato.
Died: 1st October 1916. Died of wounds, aged 32.
Buried: Heilly Station, Mericourt-l’Abbe, Somme.
James Dalton Dinneen was enrolled as a student at St. John’s College between 1902 and 1904 and gained a B.A. at Auckland University College before working as a teacher at Auckland Grammar School. He left New Zealand in 1915 to volunteer for the military arm of the Royal Flying Corps where he qualified as a pilot and was promoted to Lieutenant. His poor eyesight caused him to be transferred to the Auckland Battalion of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force where he was promoted to the rank of Captain.
Captain Dinneen was wounded on the 27th of September 1916 several times leading a charge during the Battle of the Somme where over a million men lost their lives.
His bravery was mentioned in dispatch and his exploits were recorded in his obituary in the Auckland Grammar School Chronicle.
Wounded by machine-gun fire and a phosphorous artillery shell, he lay in a shell crater for 30 hours before being treated at an aid station where he died at midnight on the 30th of September.
100th Anniversary Display Note
To mark the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli an exhibition was held at the John Kinder Theological Library displaying books and archives, as well as biographies of the St John’s Theological College students who served and were killed during World War One.
These biographies will be posted on this blog over the next week including some significant discoveries we have made while researching these students.