Roland Martin Quinn was born in Fyzabad in 1871.  He served for over 24 years in the British Army in India before retiring and migrating to New Zealand serving for that country during World War One.  

Roland attested in 1887 for the 2nd Battalion Scottish Rifles in India, and transferred to the Unattached List in 1893 to serve with the Commissariat Department.  Service with the Commissariat Department ran in the family with his father James serving as a Sub-Conductor at the time of his death in 1885, and his sister Edith married to Austin Killen who was a Conductor at the time of his death in 1907.

Roland was promoted to Sergeant in 1894, to Sub-Conductor in 1896 and then Conductor in 1906.  He voluntarily retired from the Supply and Transport Corps (successor to the Commissariat Department) in 1912 at which time he is described as “In charge of supply and transport at Campbellpore”.  His character was described as Exemplary. 

Roland was decorated at Chitral 1895 (medal and bar), Tirah 1897-98 (two bars) and China (Boxer Rising) 1900-01 (medal and bar) and received the Good Conduct medal.  He retired with a pension of £100 per year. 

Roland married Margaret Rose O’Neill at St Paul's Church, Lucknow in 1894.  After Roland’s retirement from the British Army in 1912, the couple migrated to New Zealand.  Roland originally joined the New Zealand Army as a temporary Sergeant-Instructor.  In 1915 he successfully applied for a commission as a Lieutenant, and was later promoted to Captain in 1917.  On some official records he is recorded as “Ronald”.

Roland died in 1918 in Wellington, New Zealand as the result of a carcinoma attributed to a kick from a horse that occurred in 1916.  He was buried with full military honours.

Margaret's sister Violet married a soldier named Alfred William Baldwin (who originally enlisted in the military using the false name Frederick Viceroy) in Cawnpore in 1907.  Alfred and Violet migrated to New Zealand with their children around the same time as Roland and Margaret with Alfred also serving as a Captain in the New Zealand Army.

Roland and Margaret did not have children of their own.   At the time of her death in Auckland in 1945 Margaret was fondly remembered by the children of Alfred and Violet Baldwin.

 

 

Craig Smith