Arthur Joseph Bull

A Trooper with 10th (Nelson) Squadron, Arthur died on 6th of August 1915. 

Arthur was born at Bungay on 6 March 1885, a son of Lewis and Frances Mary Bull. In 1891 his family lived at Flixton Road, Bungay. By 1901 his father had died and his mother lived at Florence House, Florence Terrace, Pakefield. By 1911 his mother, and sisters, lived at Providence Lodge, London Road, Lowestoft. 

Arthur was educated at Bungay Grammar School; King Edward VI School, Norwich; and Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester. He worked as an estate agent at Cromer before moving to New Zealand in 1908. In 1914 he lived at Runbet Street, Blenheim.

Arthur volunteered to join the Army. New Zealand Army records state that he was born in 1891, rather than 1885.

Arthur was an original member of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, a regiment raised in August 1914 and composed of men from the Canterbury military district of South Island, New Zealand. The Regiment numbered 549 men of all ranks. 

The Canterbury Mounted Rifles sailed for Egypt on 14 October 1914, arriving at Cairo on 5 December 1914. On 7 May 1915 26 officers and 482 men of the Regiment departed for Gallipoli, arriving at ANZAC Cove on 12 May. Although raised as a cavalry unit, they were to fight at Gallipoli on foot as infantry. They sustained many casualties in their first few weeks at Gallipoli and by 5 August the unit numbered 296 men of all ranks.

At 8 p.m. on 5 August 1915 the Regiment moved to No 2 Post in readiness to take part in an attack at Chunuk Bair the next night. The attack began on time with 1st and 10th Squadrons in the first line of attack and, initially, things went well, but when they were around 200 yards from the Turkish lines a searchlight from a warship illuminated their position and Turkish machine gunners began firing on them. Arthur's 10th Squadron charged straight into the Turkish trenches, while the 1st Squadron outflanked the Turkish machine gunners. All objectives were taken, but the Regiment sustained 40% casualties: 24 men dead, including Arthur, and 60 wounded. 

The Regiment was not able to move out of its positions until the next day and because of this official records state that Arthur was killed in action on 6 or 7 August, though we can infer it was during the attack on 6 August. Also some sources suggest that he was killed in 27 August: this error has arisen because the date of him being reported as casualty has been mistakenly taken as his date of death. His name appears in the official New Zealand casualty list number 162, dated 27 August 1915, which lists casualties prior to that date.