THE ASTONISHING THREE GENERATION "LAKEY" FAMILY GROUP.
FATHER'S "ROCKET APPARATUS LONG SERVICE"
&
TWO SONS WW1 CASUALTY PAIRS
To:
(DUKE of CORNWALL'S LIGHT INF & AUCKLAND Regt N.Z.E.F)
BOTH with PLAQUES & SCROLLS.

A THIRD BROTHER SERVED IN THE OTAGO REGt & WAS A VICTIM IN A FAMOUS 1933 DOUBLE MURDER IN NEW ZEALAND.


FAMILY PHOTO, Circa 1905,
Taken at Tresco, Scilly Isles, probably on the 21st Birthday of Samuel LAKEY.

[INTRODUCTION]
This rare & extensive "museum quality" three generational family assembly comprises the medals of three men and includes, the commemorative scrolls and plaques to two WW1 casualty brothers. Also, much important documentation & a superb family group photograph (c,1905) all relating to the LAKEY family of Tresco in the Scilly Islands.

This is one of those superbly documented & complete assemblies in which we specialise. It covers the careers of five Scilly Isles men who all served the United Kingdom & British Empire in various military & civil capacities between the early 1800's and the mid-1930's.

Granddad, an early merchant seaman, Father, the local Scilly Isles Postmaster at Tresco with a Rocket Apparatus Long Service Medal and three of his sons who joined the army. Two of whom were killed in the Great War. One died of wounds while in France with Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, and another was killed in action at MESSINES ridge with the Auckland Regt N.Z.E.F. Both men died in 1917.

A third son survived his N.Z.E.F. service to become a New Zealand dairy farmer but was tragically murdered along with his wife in the infamous "Bayley" double murder incident in 1930's New Zealand.

1) GRANDFATHER. (Samuel Pender LAKEY) 1819-1891 (72)
A master merchant seaman born in the Scilly Isles in 1819 We have his two original velum documents, Certificate of Service (1851) & Seaman's Fund Membership (1851) both still in their original and official Mercantile Marine Act (1851) maroon leather & card holder case.

2) FATHER. (Richard Augwin LAKEY) 1856-1916 (60)
Richard LAKEY was a 'Boatman' and also served as the local village Postmaster at Tresco, Scilly. As a reliable islander and as the local Board of Trade employee he had been trained in the use of the Board's famous "Rocket Life Saving Apparatus" and after 20 years in the service was awarded its Long Service Medal & Case.
















3) YOUNGEST SON (Cyril Martin LAKEY) 1896-1917 (22)
24702 Pte C.M. LAKEY
7th Bn DUKE of CORNWALL's LIGHT INFANTRY
DIED OF WOUNDS 30th NOVEMBER 1917.

Cyril was born in 1896 and worked as a local Blacksmith's Apprentice. He enlisted in Renny, Plymouth into the 7th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry as Private 24702. His unit landed in France at Boulogne 25th July 1915 and Cyril joined his unit some time later in 1916.
He Died at 21st C.C.S. (Ypres) of Wounds received in action during the closing days of The Battle of PASSCHENDAELE on 30th November 1917.
Cyril is buried & remembered with eternal honour at Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetary, Manancourt.
















4) 2nd ELDEST SON. (Peter LAKEY) 1892-1917 (25)
21028 Pte P. LAKEY. 2nd Bn AUCKLAND REGt N.Z.E.F.
KILLED IN ACTION 21st FEBRUARY 1917
(MESSINESS RIDGE)

Peter LAKEY was born in 1892 and worked as a Garden Labourer. On 15th March 1913 at age 21 he is seen emigrating to New Zealand from Plymouth to Wellington on the good ship RUAPEHU a 5,000 ton passenger vessel belonging to The New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. He was joining his elder brother Samuel who had preceded him to pursue a career in farming.

On 3rd May 1916, Peter is seen at Trentham N.Z. enlisting as Pte 21028 into the 2nd Bn (AUCKLAND) Regt N.Z.E.F. His address at the time of enlistment was: 21 Gibraltar Crescent, Parnell, Auckland. He is recorded as losing one day's pay on 23rd July 1916 for overstaying his leave. He left New Zealand on 20th December 1916 as part of Reinforcement No.16 and joined 2nd Bn N.Z.E.F. at ROUEN on 8th February 1917.

He went missing in action just thirteen days later on 21st February 1917 and was finally declared KILLED IN ACTION 21st FEBRUARY 1917 by a court of enquiry on 5th August 1917. His body being lost without trace, Peter has no known grave and is commemorated with eternal honour at:
CITE BONJEAN (NEW ZEALAND) MEMORIAL, FRANCE.

5) ELDEST SON (Samuel Pender LAKEY) 1886-1933 (47)
3rd OTAGO REGt
(MURDERED with his WIFE in NEW ZEALAND 14th October 1933)
Samuel Pender LAKEY was born in 1886. He emigrated to New Zealand some time before his younger brother Peter. He had been an estate carpenter while resident in the Scilly islands and continued to work in that capacity along with general labouring during his early days in N.Z. with employment with E.H. HITCHENS in ELLERSLIE. He married his wife Christobel on 9th September 1913. On 16th November 1916, with service reckoning from 23rd May 1917 he joined the 3rd OTAGO Infantry Regt as Private 81873. He departed N.Z. on transport No. 108 from Wellington to London where he arrived on 4th October 1918. On 2nd January 1919 he is listed as "Deserted from H.M. Service" which cost him a stoppage of three months pay.

It being very close to the end of the war he was clearly not required in France and he left London on SS MAMARI on 3rd July 1919 and arrived back in Auckland on 20th August 1919. He was finally discharged from the NZEF on 17th September 1919. He was only entitled to the single British War medal as he never entered a combat theatre. He eventually bought a farmstead and started a dairy business with particular interest in the production of cream.

But tragedy struck Samuel and his wife Christobel on 14th October 1933 when their neighbouring farmer, WILLIAM ALFRED BAYLEY murdered them both in a fit of rage. The murders were apparently precipitated by a boundary dispute but were also allegedly aggravated by Mrs LAKEY after her insinuation that Bayley was guilty of the earlier murder of his niece in 1927. Bayley had indeed been accused but acquitted of 'carnal knowledge' of the girl on 29th July 1926.


WILLIAM ALFRED BAYLEY
Executed for the double murder by hanging at Mt Eden Prison on 20th July 1934.

Mrs LAKEY was found dead in a duck pond covered by sacks and with severe facial and head injuries and had been drowned by having her head held under water.
The body of Mr LAKEY who wasn't immediately found had been shot and his body put into a metal barrel and incinerated along with his valuables (probably including his single war medal) in a barn owned by Bayley. His bodily remains had then been scattered on the land. Mr Lakey's shotguns were found to be missing but we're finally located buried in a swamp on Bayley's land. After a major investigation which formed one of the earliest truly forensic enquiries in New Zealand policing, Bayley was duly tried and convicted of the double murder at the Auckland Supreme Court on 1st May 1934. He was executed by hanging eleven weeks later at Mt Eden Prison on 20th July 1934.

This infamous double murder has always held great fascination in New Zealand up to this day. The remains of Mr LAKEY which had for many years formed part of the New Zealand police forensic training exhibits were recently, 82 years later, buried in the same plot as Mrs LAKEY.














The late Richard Augwin LAKEY, father of these lads died in 1916 and thus didn't live to see the sad deaths of three of his four sons. However, mother Mary LAKEY, survived and witnessed the whole sad tale as she lived until 1946.

This is a unique, greatly outstanding & historically important grouping with particularly critical interest to serious New Zealand collectors.

The grouping comes with extensive research documentation and other family papers concerning wills and army letters relevant to the loss of the two brothers in France.

£2750 (RESERVED-EXPORT)