Biographical Notes
Dates are mostly missing from the memoirs but there are newspaper accounts of the time (see below) that tell us he went to Africa in 1913 and returned in 1916. But he seems to have gone almost straight back again having been turned down for military service by the New Zealand army. Actually the certificate was signed by his future brother-in-law (Lieut W T Longhurst) and he became engaged to my grandmother (Georgina Margaret Adair Longhurst) on that visit home. He returned from the second visit in 1919 after much delay.
He was born in 1888 and married in 1920. He contracted tuberculosis while in Africa and it overshadowed the rest of his life. The TB required him to give up a managerial job in Wellington and move to a cousin's farm in Northland where the climate was better. By that time they had three children, very little income and his ability to earn was limited by his health. Times improved when new social welfare measures were implemented by the government of the day, and improved even more when Georgina was left an inheritance that meant they could buy a house in Auckland. He died in 1954 and, according to my mother, this was related to complications from an earlier operation on his lungs, related to the TB.
Sources: mostly verbal accounts from my mother, Marjorie Jean Stych, his second daughter, and the newspaper clippings below.
Mr. John E. Stych, who was at one time an energetic worker in the interests of St. Matthew's parish, Brooklyn, and also took a prominent part in' the Boy Scout movement, is now engaged in missionary work at Kota Kota, Lake Nyassa, Central Africa.
Mr. J. E. Stych, of Brooklyn, who has been engaged in mission work in Nyasaland, Central Africa, for a considerable time past, arrived at Auckland on Sunday by the Corinthic.
(similar entry on 12 August)
British, Belgian, and Portuguese troops are fighting side by side on the shores of Lake Nyassa," stated Mr. J. E. Stych, of Brooklyn, who has just returned to the Dominion after a lengthy visit to Central Africa, in conversation with a Post reporter. " Since the war a large army of black labourers has been engaged in making roads for the transport of munitions and supplies, and military motor-cars arid motor-cycles can be seen spinning along fine roads, where a few months ago thick jungle blocked all traffic. Progress is of course very slow on account of the extremely difficult nature of the country, but it will only be a question of time before the Allies win through."
Evening Post Volume XCII issue 139 9 December 1916 p6
Mr. J. E. Stych, of Brooklyn, who has been attached to a mission station in Nyassaland, Central Africa, for some time past and who is at present on furlough in Wellington, is leaving here by the Sydney boat next Thursday, on his way back to Africa. Mr. Stych enlisted here some time, ago for service with the New Zealand Forces, but was rejected as medically unfit. On his return to Africa, however, he intends to offer his services as a transport driver with the British forces operating against the Germans m Lake Nyassa
Evening Post, 8 September 1919
WAR WORK IN AFRICA
After being engaged on war service in Nyasaland, Central Africa, for nearly two years, Mr. J. E. Stych has returned to Wellington. At the invitation of the Universities Mission to Central Africa, Mr. Stych, who was formerly connected with St. Matthew's Church, Brooklyn, left at the end of 1913 for Nyasaland, where he worked for two years with the mission at Kota Kota until invalided home. On returning to Wellington, in 1916, he volunteered for service with the Expeditionary Force, but, being unable to pass the required medical test, he returned to Central Africa with, the intention of taking up new work. Arrived there, he commenced war service with the Naval Department on Lake Nyasa, the work being chiefly confined to the transportation of troops and foodstuffs. The troops in this theatre of the war had to put up with worse climatic conditions than elsewhere and, according to Mr. Stych, there were few who did not,suffer from disease, which was always apparent. "It was like adding insult to injury," he said, "when the influenza attacked the country." The majority of the missionaries were commandeered for war work, and the mission boats on the lake proved a valuable acquisition in helping along the campaign. In -many cases the missionaries were due for their leave after three years' service, but on account of the war were retained, and some remained there for five and six years—a long period for such a climate. The war had at least one beneficial effect on Central Africa, and that was the improvements made in road communications. Two days prior to the Armistice Mr. Stych was invalided home, but on account of the influenza he could not leave Africa for some time, while he was subsequently "stranded",in Sydney for three months.