ID Number104305
NameLAVIN Mark
Family NameMEREDITH
Plot2004
CemeteryChurch of England
StatusReinstated Monument after Disinterment for Motorway
Location on the Modern Grid MapB12 20
Inscription on TombstoneSacred to the memory of Henry Price MEREDITH, Surgeon, died 1 March 1866, aged 31, also Louisa ANDREWS, died 16 December 1878, aged 46, and James ANDREWS, died 24 June 1891, aged 81, also my dear brother, William Henry Price MEREDITH, died 2 November 1926, aged 68, and of my dear nephew Gunner Mark LAVIN, killed in action in France, 31 March 1918, aged 21. "Though absent from sight To memory ever dear". [-Mansfield-]
Description of GraveUpright white marble headstone with quite ornate sculpted decorative border across the pointed top. Lead lettering. Set on a new base in 2019, turned to face the path.
Date of Death or Burial*31 Mar, 1918
Public Cemetery Register Number
Type of Record Commemoration only
AgeAlmost 21
SexMale
BiographyMark LAVIN was born at Wellington on 4 April 1897. His parents were Thomas & Susan Lavin. Thomas was a cook and when he died in 1928 he was noted as being late of the ss Invercargill. It is likely he was the ship’s cook. The Lavin family cottage which was built in 1897 at 205 Aro Street still stands and is a category 2 registered place. Mark Lavin enlisted on 4 April 1917, his 20th birthday. Prior to enlisting he worked as a warehouseman for R Jamieson & Co in Wellington. He departed Wellington for Liverpool on 21 November 1917 and arrived there on 8 January 1918. A month later, while still in England he was admitted to Aldershot Military Hospital with the measles. After a further period in camp in England he was sent to France and entered into the field there on 22 March 1918. Nine days later, Gunner Lavin was killed in action on the Somme, on 31 March 1918 (just four days before his 21st birthday) and was buried in the Englebelmer Communal Cemetery. His father is buried in Karori Cemetery, but Mark Lavin is commemorated here in the Bolton Street Cemetery on the Meredith/Andrews family headstone.