Dedication to service
Captain Bailey was born in India in 1881 and following the death of his mother, the family relocated to New Zealand in 1882.
He commissioned into the New Zealand Forces in 1899 and served in the 5th New Zealand Contingent, fighting alongside British units during the Second Anglo-Boer War. Between 1900 and 1901 he fought in what were then known as Southern Rhodesia, the Transvaal, the Orange Free State and Cape Colony and was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with associated bars.
On the 26 June 1901 he commissioned into The Manchester Regiment, however he was medically retired the following year on the grounds of: ‘Paralysis of left leg and partial disablement of right leg following Malarial Fever, and continual exposure during the South Africa Campaign’.
On the 14 September 1911, Bailey was appointed as a Captain of Invalids at the Royal Hospital and was awarded the honorary rank of Captain. On his marriage to Francis in 1912, they moved into a residence in the North East Wing.
Having survived the devastating bombing of the wing during the First World War, and after 34 years of dedicated service to the Royal Hospital, Captain Bailey was killed when the wing was bombed again on 3 January 1945.