Law firm honours WW1 soldiers

At 5.30am on October 12, 1917, 36 Otago soldiers clambered out of the trenches at Passchendaele, Belgium, and flung themselves across barbed wire and mud-filled shell-holes against the German lines.

Led by young Dunedin law clerk Peter Anderson, only six returned to the safety of the Allied lines; the others perished in what as been described has the darkest day in New Zealand’s military history.

Yesterday, Otago’s oldest law firm Anderson Lloyd — which bears Mr Anderson’s name — continued a long-standing tradition when partner Frazer Barton laid a bouquet of 30 red roses at the Dunedin Railway Station in memory of those 30 soldiers left behind in those muddy and blood-stained fields.

In his address, watched by colleagues, Mr Barton said it was an appropriate venue; about 100 Otago soldiers left for war from the station’s platforms where they were farewelled by their families. For many, it was the last time their loved ones saw them.

He urged those attending to pause and think of the tears that were wiped away, and the torrents that were later shed. In just several hours, 843 New Zealand soldiers lost their lives in a "maelstrom of hot lead".

Many who  left Dunedin had worked for the railways and a steam engine later bore a brass plaque commemorating those members of the New Zealand Railways who died at Passchendaele. When the engine was retired from use, the plaque was fixed to the exterior of the station and it was under the plaque that Mr Barton laid the roses.

Following the war, Mr Anderson — who was wounded in action in June 1917 but returned to the fray — completed his law degree and was admitted to the Bar in 1920, joining the legal firm now bearing his name that same year. 

He was honorary solicitor for the Dunedin RSA from 1936 to 1969, served as president of the RSA, and was also made a life member.

For many years, Anderson Lloyd would close on the morning of October 12 and staff would head to the railway station to commemorate the dead of Passchendaele and lay their roses. That tradition continued up to the 1960s or 1970s and was then revived for the 100th anniversary of Passchendaele.

The Dunedin RSA Choir took part in that service and had since continued which was appropriate given Mr Anderson was a foundation member.

Yesterday, the choir sang three songs — Roses of Picardy, Nearer My God to Thee and God Will Wipe Away All the Tears —in a moving tribute in the foyer. 

Coincidentally, Mr Barton visited Passchendaele four weeks ago, describing it as a place of quiet and peaceful rural beauty. Those very scenes from 105 years ago were sadly being played out again — this time in the gentle, rolling fields of Ukraine, he said.