Hello Sue It's a big challenge that you pose - trying to identify the NZ soldier who was the fiancé of your English grandmother before he was killed in WW1. I haven't seen any responses thus far so thought I'd have a bit of a look this evening. I may be 'way off beam' in these ideas but who knows, perhaps they will lead onto something more fruitful for you. You mention that your English grandfather was sponsored by a North Island farmer, '..... ORMOND'. There were only 52 people with that surname on the Electoral Roll in 1919 and most, if not all, of those people were members of the same large, extended family. So it's a fair bet that your grandparents' sponsor was one of that family. The ORMOND surname is well known in eastern parts of the North Island, especially throughout Hawkes Bay, Gisborne and up the east coast, north of Gisborne and the family were major land-owners in those areas. There is even a settlement called Ormondville, near Dannevirke. The Ministry of Culture & Heritage's website - nzhistory.net.nz has an extensive set of NZ War Memorials. Unfortunately the photo of the Ormondville War Memorial Hall does not show a plaque with names. However the Ormond Memorial Chapel, Napier looks more promising. This imposing chapel (the former Napier Grammar School) was gifted to the Napier Cathedral parish by Miss Fanny Ormond in Sept 1919 in memory of her nephew, Alexander Ormond who was KIA in France on 30 Sept 1916 http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/ormond-memorial-chapel-napier Alexander ORMOND (1890-1916) was the son of George Canning ORMOND (1861-1939) and grandson of John Davies ORMOND (c1832-1917). The probates of both JD Ormond & his son GC Ormond make very interesting reading; this was a wealthy and successful family. Alexander ORMOND was clearly a very able and talented young man who had already achieved much in his life by the time he was killed in WW1 http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/alexander-ormond As you can see, Alexander was born, raised and educated in NZ and then went to England (as a civilian) in 1915 where he enlisted in the British Army. So he appears on the CWGC site as a British casualty rather than a NZ one. The Ormond family obviously thought highly of Alexander - just look at the size of that chapel in Napier and at the contents of his grandfather's will. That family certainly had the financial resources to sponsor a married couple to come out from England. Perhaps your grandfather's clerical skills were put to use in the family's wider business, property management and horse-racing interests rather than using him as a farm worker. This still leaves the big question - what was the connection between your English grandparents and the Ormond family in NZ? Although Alexander himself might have been the first fiancé, a much more likely scenario could be that the first fiancé was a friend of Alexander's either from school days at Wanganui Collegiate or university days at Canterbury Agricultural College (now Lincoln University). Friendships formed at school/university are often very significant. With Alexander & his friend both killed in the war, perhaps the Ormonds wanted to mark that special friendship by bringing your grandparents to NZ. Both Wanganui Collegiate & Lincoln College have Rolls of Honour. Those lists may include men who served in the NZ Rifle Brigade and were killed. Perhaps one of them will be the mystery first fiancé. Lincoln College Roll of Honour https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19240814.2.12 Wanganui Collegiate Roll of Honour http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sooty/wcollegiateww1.html However, what if the first fiancé was not in the NZ Rifle Brigade? In looking at the Lincoln College website, I found a photo of the eight young men who were Agricultural Diploma Recipients in 1913. http://livingheritage.lincoln.ac.nz/nodes/view/4108 Alexander ORMOND is in that photo, standing right next to him is John Alexander McQUEEN - those two young men obviously knew each other and may have become good friends at university. John Alexander McQUEEN, MC, 8/602, was killed in action on 11 December 1917, and buried in the Menin Road Cemetery, Belgium. His WW1 file on Archway is remarkably thin, especially for someone awarded a Military Cross, however it says that he left NZ with the Main Body on 16 October 1914. This means he was overseas for three years before he died; presumably this was long enough to meet a young woman in England and become engaged. Although there is no 'guarantee' on the matter, there seems a relatively strong case to be made for this man being the mystery first fiancé. Otherwise, you could try writing to the descendants of the ORMOND sponsor and/or to the relatives of John Alexander McQUEEN to see what light they can shed on things for you. I may be way off beam - but hope these thoughts help in some way. Best of luck Angela This email has been scanned by BullGuard antivirus protection. For more info visit www.bullguard.com