Jean Cretney from Carterton holding the certificate recording the death of her uncle George Carswell. Photo: RNZ / Colin Peacock
These days, there's not a lot to the small Wairarapa settlement of Bideford, but outside the small, and now closed, local school there is a modest memorial to former pupils who served in the First and Second World Wars. At the top of both lists is 'Norman Carswell'. And the only other person recorded as being killed in WW1 has the same family name: George Carswell, who died in France in 1918, and was the uncle of Jean Cretney who now lives in nearby Carterton. Jean has been trying to find out more about him and the others Carswells who fought and died in the wars.
