Charles Mackesy

Charles Ernest Randolph Mackesy
Born(1861-01-09)9 January 1861
Dublin, Ireland
Died20 November 1925(1925-11-20) (aged 64)
Whangārei, New Zealand
Allegiance New Zealand
BranchNew Zealand Military Forces
Years of service19001919
RankColonel
CommandsAuckland Mounted Rifles Regiment (191417)
11th (North Auckland) Mounted Rifles (191114)
Battles / wars
AwardsCompanion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches (3)

Colonel Charles Ernest Randolph Mackesy CMG, CBE, DSO (9 January 1861 20 November 1925) was a New Zealand military leader and farmer.

Born in 1861 in Ireland, Mackesy moved to New Zealand in the 1890s and took up farming in Whangārei. A soldier in the Volunteer Force, he volunteered for service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) on the outbreak of the First World War. He was commander of Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment, serving briefly at Gallipoli, and more substantially during the campaign in the Sinai and Palestine. From April 1917 he carried out administrative roles for the remainder of the war, apart from periods of leave. Discharged from the NZEF in late 1919 he returned to his farm in New Zealand. He died of heart failure in 1925.