NOTABLE NEW ZEALANDERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22356, 1 September 1934, Page 9

NOTABLE NEW ZEALANDERS

VII.—SIR GEORGE WHITMORE (1830-1903) By Guy H. Scholefied, D.Sc, F.R.Hist.S. (COPYRIGHT.) Though Weld and Grey were the architects of the self-reliance policy which ended victoriously the Maori Wars, the man who inspired the colonial soldiery with a spirit, leading them intrepidly in hush and open country until Te Kooti was rendered harmless, was Major-general Whitmore. Born at Malta in 1830, Whitmore was the son of an engineer officer and the grandson of an engineer commandant, his mother being a daughter of the Chief Justice of Malta. Educated at Edinburgh Academy and the Staff College, he was commissioned in 1847 as an ensign in the Cape Mounted Rifles, with which he saw service all through the Kaffir wars of 1847 and 1851-3 and the Boer rising of 1848. As a lieutenant he commanded the escort of Sir Harry Smith. In 1852 he was a brigade major. He had two horses shot under him and was repeatedly thanked for courage and resource. _ In 1855 Whitmore proceeded to the Crimea as aide-de-camp to Sir Henry Storks. He was for some time on remount service in Austria-Hungary and with the Turkish cavalry in the Crimea. At the end of the war he remained in the Crimea to help wind-up the affairs .of the army, and gained a flattering testimonial for the businesslike conduct of this work. For his services Whitmore received the brevet of major, the Turkish Medal, the Medjidieh (4th class), and three British medals.

After commanding the regimental depot in Ireland for a short time he went to Canada as aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief. Passing out of the Staff College in 1860 at the head of his class, he sailed for New Zealand in January, 1861, as military secretary to Sir Duncan Cameron. When Cameron offered his resignation, Whitmore also proffered his, and it was accepted as a matter of course. He accordingly sold his commission and became a landowner in Hawke’s Bay. In

1863 he was appointed Civil Commissioner for the Ahuriri district, and a few months later commander of the military district of Napier, and then inspector of the Colonial Defence Force. Almost immediately fighting broke out again in Taranaki. Whitmore volunteered and served under Cameron until the action at Katikara, then through the Waikato campaign, including the battle of Orakau. He then returned to Hawke’s Bay, was appointed commandant of the Colonial Defence Force and called to the Legislative Council. Owing to his absence in England in 1865 he missed the military operations of that year. Not long after his return to Hawke’s Bay the province was threatened by a Hauhau invasion from the Taupo country. Whitmore, with 200 volunteers and a strong body of friendlies, marched out of Napier on the night of October 11, 1806. Early next morning the Hauhau position at Omaranui was surrounded and attacked, and after a sharp fight practically the •whole of the enemy were killed or captured. Meanwhile, Colonel Fraser had surprised the Hauhau mounted force, and thus the invasion ended. .

Whitmore now entered local politics as member of the Provincial Council. Late in 1867 he was appointed commandant of the new Armed Constabulary. In the middle of 1868, on the escape of Te Kooti from the'Chatham Islands, Whitmore raised in Napier a force of 30 paid volunteers, took ship to Poverty Bay, and suffered considerable hardship in a gallant pursuit of the enemy. As the local settlers refused to proceed, he was compelled to withdraw for reinforcements, and in this pause Te Kooti was able to inflict a reverse on the Wairoa contingent and escape to the bush with several days’ start. Whitmore, with his weak force, followed with great intrepidity, and fought desperately with the enemy’s rearguard in the bed of the Ruakiture River. With only 118 men (of whom 76 were Europeans), ho maintained the action until dark, crossing the river eight times. Then he prudently broke off the engagement and with great difficulty brought off his wounded, withdrawing his exhausted column. He hastened to Poverty Bay and thence to Wellington. A severe reverse had been sustained by the colonial .forces at Te Ngutu o te Manu on the west coast. Officers were short, and Whitmore offered to serve undey M'Donnell, but the Defence Minister found the force so disorganised by the reverse that he ordered its retirement to Patea and gave the command to Whitmore. The Wellington and Nelson men took their discharge, and von Tempsky’s Forest Rangers, openly mutinous after the loss of their leader, were disbanded. The only unit fit for service, the Hawke’s Bay Division of the Armed Constbaulary, Whitmore took with him and set to work reorganising and drilling while the Government, with great energy, recruited in distant provinces and in Australia for regular enlistment in the constabulary. Whitmore’s experience of guerilla warfare in South Africa enabled him to create a new force eminently suitable for the work ahead of it. Titokowaru was actively harassing the countryside, and Whitmore, with the help of Native kupapas, obstructed his advance towards Wanganui. He promptly attacked Titokowaru’s headquarters at Molnroa oil the morning of November 7, 1868. As the lighting developed he conceived that the position was too strong, and withdrew his forces. Though this was done in good order, it was one of Whitmore’s worst military b'muicrs, and dealt another blow at the confidence of the colonial forces. Whitmore fell back to the Waitotara River and then to Nukumaru. so that the only garrisons west of Wanganui were those at Wairoa and Patea. In this critical Whitmore offered to rol sign, hot he still had the confidence of the Defence Minister, Titokowaru now constructed elaborate works at Turangaika, only 18 miles from Wanganui. At this critical juncture news was received of the massacre in Poverty Bay. Reinforcements could not possibly be spared for the west coast, so WhitmorC destroyed his stores and withdrew to the Kia-iwi River. This front was left to maintain itself with the help of the incomparable cavalry troops of Bryce and Finnimoro. while Whitmore hastened with his most reliable troops to Poverty Bay. li'opata. retiring from the first attack on •Ngatapa. prudently declined Whitmore's invitation fo renew the attack at once, and the troops camped at Makaraka to await reinforcements. On December 24 the advance was renewed with 400 Armed Constabulary and 350 of the Ngatiporou under Ropata, By the 31st the force was entrenched half a mile from the enemy position, which was completely invested the following day. With the help of the Coehorn mortar the outer and second linos of defence were carried, and the main bodv of the enemy tlien made their escape by an unguarded precipice. Many were captured in the pursuit. Every male prisoner was shot. 120 being thus executed after capture. The Government losses were 11, killed and 11 wounded.

Xo RouiiPr had Te Kooti fled into the TTi'p-vvcra Country than Whitmore re-

turned to Wanganui with the constabulary and a new division of Arawa Natives. He advanced rapidly with his whole force —800 Armed Constabulary, the Wanganui and Kai-iwi cavalry troops, and 200 Wanganuis under Major Keepa. On February 1 they were at Nukumaru, and next day they dug in at Turanga-ika without enveloping the position. The men sang in the trenches at night, and the defenders replied, but before morning they evacuated the position, covering their retreat with a clever rearguard, which inflicted heavy loss on Keepa at the Waitotara River. After resting a day or two at Patea Whitmore advanced up the river and surprised Titokowaru at Otautu. Unfortunately, the chief and many of his followers escaped into the forest. When Whitmore reached the open country at Taiporohenui he heard that Titokowaru was hiding in the security of Te Ngaere Swamp. Promptly preparing hurdles and fascines, he crossed the swamp at night, only to find that Wanganui friendlies were temporising with the defenders, and Titokowaru had escaped to the Upper Waitara. Thus ended the rising. Whitmore now took his force to Bay of Plenty, and organised three columns to penetrate the Urewera Country to destroy the food and strongholds of Te Koo'ti. Crippled with rheumatism he returned to the coast, consulted the Government, and was about to resume his command when a new Minister of Defence ordered him to go on sick leave, and practically suspended the operations. Te Kooti was not captured, and was finally pardoned. Whitmore’s services, which were recognised by the C.M.G., had been of immense' value in demonstrating the fitness of Now Zealanders for guerilla warfare. Whitmore was brave to the point of rashness and very tenacious. He took his full share of the rigours of the campaign and more than once pushed his men beyond their endurance. In 18(50 Whitmore withdrew from the Provincial Council, but remained a member of the Legislative Council, generally supporting Stafford. In 1877-9 he_ was Colonial Secretary in the Grey Ministry. In 1882 h” was created a K.C.M.G., and two years later he was a member of the Executive in the Stoul-Vogel Government. He was appointed commandant of the Colonial Defence Force and commissioner of the Armed Constabulary, and in 1880 was advanced in the rank ot majorgeneral in the New Zealand Militia. He had considerable literary attainments, and his book. ‘‘The Last .Maori Mar Under the Self-reliant Policy,” is refresh inch' written. Whitmore at different times owned property at Rissington. the Clive Grange Estate and a run at Tokoniaru. Ho married a daughter of William Smith, fit Rugby. England, and 'md no issue. He died on March 10. 1909,