MAORI WAR VETERAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 258, 28 September 1935, Page 7

MAORI WAR VETERAN.

PASSING AT AGE OF 101. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Sept. 27. The death has occurred of Captain Charles lloss Cholmondeley Smith, a veteran of the Maori Wars, at the age of 101 years. in his young days he was considered the finest exponent of swordsmanship in New Zealand. Captain Cholmondeley Smith had been associated with New Zealand life since 1854, when he came to Auckland in the ship William Denny with his father’s family. Born in Sydney, he was a son of Dr. Charles Edward Smith, a noted London physician, who gave up his English practice and went to New South Wales in the early days. On coming to Auckland, where he intended to become a coach at St. John’s College, he was for a time master of the old parish school of St. Mark’s, Remuera. . The spell of soldiering then fell upon him and'he joined the First Infantry Battalion in 1855 as a subaltern under Captain Wynyard, of the 58th Regiment. He was transferred to the cavalry in 1858 and placed in command of a troop. Captain Cholmondeley Smith learned his sword drill from an instructor of the 17th Landers, who taught him "to wield the rapier, sabre, broadsword and lance. One of his grized possessions was a letter from ir R. Heaton Rhodes (Minister of Defence at the beginning of the Great War) paying tribute to him for having expressed anxiety to be of service to his country during those days of crisis. In 1859 Captain Cholmondeley Smith married Miss Sarah Littledyke, a daughter of Mr Richard Littledyke, of Yorkshire. In 1874 he took up “Glen Var,” a property near Torbay, and eventually retired there. Mrs Cholmondeley Smith died in her 90th year, after they had been married for 70 years. Captain Cholmondeley Smith is survived by five sons and two daughters.