BROWNE Family Memorial WAIKUMETE CEMETERY, Auckland
The Browne family memorial stands in the services section of the cemetery and tells the story of a New Zealand family which lost four sons to war. Of the five sons that enlisted in the Great War, only one son, Edward, returned. He lived to the age of 81, dying of natural causes in 1970.
Private Arthur George Browne, died from peritonitis in New Zealand, following service in Europe. He had left for London with the 42rd Reinforcements in August 1918. It is not clear whether he served in France. He was admitted to hospital at Tidworth in December 1918 and returned to New Zealand aboard the Zealandia on the 28th February, 1919, only a few days before his death on the 13th March. The Browne memorial in Waikumete Cemetery is Arthur’s headstone.

Trooper James Browne left with the Samoan Advance Party, returning to be discharged in Auckland in April 1915. He re-enlisted with the 1st NZEF in June and departed to Gallipoli with the Auckland Mounted Rifles on the 14th August. He served in Palestine from 1915 until he was killed in action on the 19th April, 1917. He is buried on the battle
field and his memorial is inscribed on the Jerusalem Memorial, Jerusalem War Cemetery, Israel.
Lance Corporal William Harold Browne enlisted on the 18th April, 1915, leaving for Suez and Gallipoli on the 13th June. Wounded, he was admitted to a hospital ship in December that year and transferred to the Bombay Presbyterian Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt on Christmas Day 1915. Discharged to duty 10 days later, William was then posted to the Western Front where he was killed in action, near Ypres on the 5th January, 1917. He is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium. He is shown as a Private on the memorial but “Cenotaph” and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his rank as Lance Corporal.
Private Archibald Harcourt Marton Browne enlisted on the 13th January, 1917, shortly after his brother Harold’s death, and departed for France via Plymouth in June 1918, with NZEF, 26th Reinforcements. Serving in France with the 1st Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment, he was wounded in action on the 13th September 1918 - gun shot
wounds to the shoulder, humerus, chest and abdomen. Admitted to No. 1 NZ Field Ambulance, he died of his wounds on 14 September 1918 and is interred in Barastre Communal Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France.