Personal Details

Attribute Details
Nationality New Zealand
Date of Birth 03 September 1876
Place of Birth Croydon, Surrey, England
Veterinary College and Date of Graduation Royal Veterinary College - July 1899

Military Service

Attribute Details
Last Rank Captain
Regiment/Service New Zealand Veterinary Corps
Secondary Regiment 2nd Mobile Veterinary Section
Secondary Unit
First Theatre of War Egypt 1915

Casualty Details

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Date of Death 26 November 1917
Age at Death 42
Place of Death Palmerston, New Zealand
Cause of Death Kicked by a Horse

Cemetery

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Cemetery Palmerston North Cemetery
Location Palmerston, New Zealand
Grave Reference Block 30 Plot 13
Commonwealth War Grave No
Emblem or Badge on Headstone

Honours and Memorials

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Name on RCVS Honour Board No
Name In Officers who died in Great War No
Medals and Awards

Biography

Captain Henry Rait was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, on 3 September 1876 and graduated MRCVS in July 1899.

Following his graduation, he moved to New Zealand. Records from 1902 show that he was living in Christchurch and working as a government veterinarian. In 1908, he was appointed Captain in the New Zealand Veterinary Corps.

Captain Rait left New Zealand on 14 December 1914 and was to serve in Egypt for the next two years as a member of the 2nd Mobile Veterinary Section. Captain Rait was discharged from the New Zealand Veterinary Corps on 26 April 1917, suffering from Blepharitis, an inflammation of the eyelids.

On returning to New Zealand, Rait returned to civil practice, and on 26 November 1917, he died from injuries received when a horse kicked him.

Captain Rait received a military funeral and was buried in Palmerston North Cemetery.