Robert (Bertie) James Aiken was born on 11 May 1890 in Aberdeen. A slight figure with a fair complexion and blue eyes, he was the eighth of 12 children born to Arthur Aiken and Jane (Harrow).
Bertie arrived in New Zealand probably around 1913.
He took up the occupation of butcher at the Empire Hotel in Gisborne, which was also his father’s occupation in Scotland. He later moved to the Royal Hotel as a barman.
He enlisted for World War I on 21 December 1914 and was in training in New Zealand until 13 February 1915. As a private in the Wellington Battalion 3rd Reinforcements, he sailed to Egypt on the SS Maunganui on 14 February 1915. He embarked for the Dardanelles on 12 April 1915. On 6 July 1916, he was posted to the Hawke’s Bay Company at Anzac Cove.
He was admitted to hospital at Mudros on 29 July 1915 and then to the New Zealand General Hospital in Cairo, dangerously ill with typhoid. He was declared out of danger on 3 September 1915 and moved to a convalescent camp at Port Said on 8 October. From there, he was sent back to New Zealand on the SS Maheno on 24 November 1915.
Bertie was discharged from the army as medically unfit on 19 February 1916.
Back in Gisborne, he married Bridget Mary O’Donnell on 2 January 1920, and they had two children.
He died in Wellington on 27 April 1952.
Plot: Soldiers/A/4/6
By Paula McCool
