Gardiner, John

There died at the Napier Hospital on Saturday an old Crimean veteran named John Gardiner, late of Her Majesty's 57th Regiment (The Diehards). The deceased had also seen service in New Zealand in the Armed Constabulary. He held the following medals :—Turkish, Crimean (with clasps for Inkernmn, etc.), and New Zealand. The funeral will take place to-morrow afternoon.

Daily Telegraph , Issue 9752, 30 April 1900, Page 4

An Old Soldier's Funeral.
[To the Editor.]

Rattle his bones over the stones,
He is only a pauper nobody owns.

Sir, - Why could not that individual yclept the hospital secretary inform Mr F. Garner, the secretary of the veterans Society, of the death of John Gardiner (late of H.M. 57th Regiment and of the Armed Constabulary) in time to make proper arrangements for the funeral, instead of a pauper's?

The secretary of the hospital knew that the late John Gardiner was a veteran, as before when he was in the hospital he was visited by Major Richardson, and the secretary of the society, Mr F. Garner. The Veterans Society have no blame in the matter for had the secretary been informed of the death he would have seen that the deceased was buried in a proper manner.

I was very glad to see Hon. Major Blythe at the funeral, and he spoke very feelingly as to the way the deceased was buried, with not even a plate on the coffin. Major Blythe had the kindness to bring a bugler to sound "The Retreat."

It was the only military rite the deceased had, with the exception that a number of the veterans attended. It was a disgrace to the nation a large. I may state that Mr Michael Gill, late of the 57th Regiment, who was with the deceased in the Crimea, walked sixteen miles to attend the funeral. I only hope that this letter may be a lesson to those who have boys fighting now, to attend to those who have fought Britain's battles before, and made the country what it is.
Such is the end of an old Crimean veteran.— I am, etc.,

An Old Veteran. Napier, May 2, 1900.
Daily Telegraph, Issue 9754, 2 May 1900, Page 5