The Search for David Borthwick - Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Shortly before our next trip to New Zealand in 1996 it occurred to me that the only way things seem to get done in our modern-day society is when people call in the Power of the press. Accordingly I sat down and wrote to the editor of the Gisborne local newspaper explaining our predicament and seeking to enlist his help. Within two weeks I received a letter from Gisborne’s Deputy Mayor, David S. Scott, saying that the editor of the local newspaper Iain Gillies (a Scot from Mallaig) had passed on my letter, and saying “ You certainly have discovered what appears to be a major mistake in the non-recognition of a very brave young man who fought for what he believed was right those many years ago.” He went on to say that they would do all in their power to clarify the error, and he invited us to contact the Mayor when we arrived in New Zealand to arrange a meeting. Hooray, Action at last!
In early February, Joyce and I flew to Auckland and after a tour round the North Island, we arrived in Gisborne. We had previously telephoned the Mayor’s office and had talked with the Mayor’s secretary Phillipa Browne-Baylis to arrange a meeting. The next morning we drove round to the Council Offices and on giving our names were shown into the mayor’s office where we were introduced to the Mayor, W. John Clarke, his Deputy David Scott, and the Community Development manager, Seton Clare. Also in the room were representatives from The Gisborne Herald, the local radio station, and the Gisborne Television Centre. After coffee and biscuits, we had to repeat our story for each of the three members of the News Media.
It so happened that people from The Heritage Property Unit of the Department of Internal Affairs were refurbishing War Graves and Monuments in the area and they were told to stop work on the Makaraka Monument pending confirmation of my assertions by Margaret Marks of the War Graves Commission. This she forthwith did. (She could hardly do otherwise).
Instructions were at once given to the masons to remove the name ‘Robert Bothwell’ and replace it with the correct one ‘David Borthwick’.
At last, not only had we solved the Borthwick Enigma but Great-great-Uncle David was finally to be commemorated in the Makaraka Monument after some 130 years.
Were it not for the fact that the New Zealand People are very proud of their heritage and take great pains to maintain it, this story would not have had such a satisfactory outcome.
As a postscript to this story it may be of interest to mention the coincidence that David Borthwick’s great nephew James Borthwick, a private in the 4th battalion Royal Scots was killed in action at Gallipoli fighting alongside the troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC’s) on the 19th December 1915, almost exactly 50 years after his great uncle’s death in New Zealand.
