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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

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This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

VICTORIA CROSS

Contents


Awards to Imperial Servicemen During the 2nd Maori War

Ensign John Thornton Down; 57th Regt. (1st Battalion, The Middlesex Regt.); 2 October 1863; Poutoko, N.Z., 22 September 1864. Died at Otahuhu Camp on 27 April 1866, aged 24 years.

Colour-Sergeant John Lucas; 40th Regt. (1st Battalion, The South Lancashire Regt.); 18 March 1861; Te Arei, N.Z.; 17 July 1861.

Colour-Sergeant Edward MacKenna; 65th Regt. (1st Battalion, The York and Lancaster Regt.); 7 September 1863; near Camerontown, Waikato Heads, N.Z.; 16 January 1864. On discharge from the Army in 1867 he joined the N.Z. Railways and at the time of his retirement was stationmaster at Palmerston North, where he died in 1908.

Lieutenant-Colonel John Carstairs McNeill; 107th Regt. (2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regt.); 30 March 1864; Ohaupo N.Z.; 16 August 1864. Later became a major-general, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.

Assistant-Surgeon William George Nicholas Manley; Royal Artillery; 29 April 1864; Gate Pa, Tauranga, N.Z.; 22 September 1864. Later became Surgeon-General and served with a British ambulance with the Prussian Army during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, being awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class. He is the only man ever to be awarded both the Victoria Cross and the Iron Cross.

Captain of the Foretop Samuel Mitchell; Royal Navy, HMS Harrier; 29 April 1864; Gate Pa, Tauranga, N.Z.; 23 July 1864. Later took up farming in New Zealand and was drowned in the Mikonui River, South Westland, in 1894.

Sergeant John Murray; 68th Regt. (1st Battalion, Durham Light Infantry); 21 June 1864; Kaiopopo Pa, Te Ranga, N.Z., 4 November 1864.

Leading Seaman William Odgers; Royal Navy, HMS Niger; 28 March 1860; Waireka, N.Z.; 3 August 1860. This was the first awarded in New Zealand.

Lieutenant Arthur Frederick Pickard; Royal Artillery; 20 November 1863; Rangiriri, N.Z.; 22 September 1864. Later became lieutenant-colonel and assistant private secretary to Queen Victoria. Died in 1880, aged 38 years.

Lance-Corporal John Ryan; 65th Regt. (1st Battalion, The York and Lancaster Regt.); 7 September 1863; near Camerontown, Waikato Heads, N.Z.; 16 January 1864. He was drowned in 1863 trying to rescue a drunken soldier who had fallen in the Waikato River.

Captain Hugh Shaw; 18th Regt. (Royal Irish Regt.); 24 January 1865; Nukumaru, N.Z.; 28 November 1865. He later became a major-general, C.B.

Captain Frederick Augustus Smith; 43rd Regt. (1st Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry); 21 June 1864; Kaiopopo Pa, Te Ranga, N.Z.; 4 November 1864.

Drummer Dudley Stagpoole; 57th Regt. (1st Battalion, The Middlesex Regt.); 2 October 1863; Poutoko, N.Z.; 22 September 1864.

Assistant-Surgeon William Temple; Royal Artillery; 20 November 1863; Rangiriri, N.Z.; 22 September 1864.

by Capt. Geoffrey Troughear Stagg, F.R.N.S.N.Z., R.N.Z.A. (retired), formerly President of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

  • Royal Warrants, The Victoria Cross, 29 Jan 1856, 1 Jan 1867, 23 Apr 1881
  • The London Gazette (Various dates as quoted in text)
  • Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1865 (A. 1 and A. 5A), 1867 (A. 1)
  • Official History of New Zealand's Effort in the Great War, Vol. I, Waite, F. (1919)
  • Vol. II, Stewart, H. (1921);
  • Official War History: New Zealanders with the Royal Air Force, Vols. I and II, Thompson, H. L. (1953 and 1956)
  • List of the Recipients of the Victoria Cross, The War Office (1953)
  • They Dared Mightily, Wigmore, L., and Harding, B. (1963).