Obituary. ix 



COLONEL THOMAS WILLIAM PORTER, C.B., 1 844-1 920. 



Colonel Porter came of a soldiering family. His father, Lieut. -Colonel 

 Porter, 7th Bengal Native Infantry, died in India during the Mutiny. On 

 his mother's side he was Highland in descent, of the aristocratic and 

 ancient Roses of Kilravock Castle, Geddes, Nairnshire, a family whose 

 records go back for over a thousand years. He was a nephew of Lord 

 Strathnairn, a prominent figure in military history. He went to sea at the 

 age of thirteen as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, and served in 

 H.M.S. " Hercules " in raids against pirates on the China Station, 1857-58. 

 Leaving the Navy in 1859, he came to Australia and New Zealand, and 

 entered upon the military life in the Maori War. He joined the Colonial 

 Defence Force Cavalry, and after spending some time in charge of a 

 blockhouse at Mohaka (H.B.) he served in his first engagement with the 

 Hauhau natives at Waerenga-a-Hika Pa, near the present town of Gis- 

 borne, at the end of 1865. There he distinguished himself by assisting a 

 wounded comrade under fire, receiving a slight wound. After the disband- 

 ment of the Cavalry, Porter joined the New Zealand Armed Constabulary, 

 and during the campaigns against Te Kooti on the east coast, and against 

 Titokowaru on the west coast, he served in command of Maori contingents. 

 He was continuously on active service from 1868 to the beginning of 1872, 

 and during that period fought in scores of engagements and skirmishes. 

 His courage and skill were conspicuous at the siege of Ngatapa, in the 

 Gisborne district, where he commanded a portion of Major Ropata Waka- 

 waha's Ngati-Porou contingent. After sharing in the final defeat and 

 pursuit of Titokowaru and the west-coast Hauhaus, in the interior of 

 Taranaki in 1869, he returned to the east coast with his No. 8 Division, 

 Armed Constabulary, and then took a very prominent and useful share in 

 the campaigns against Te Kooti in the Urewera Country. In this most 

 arduous chase, lasting for three years, Porter (then Captain) was a marvel 

 of energy and physical endurance. The Ngati-Porou contingents under 

 Ropata and Porter sometimes remained months in the formidable forest 

 ranges, far from their base of supplies, often without any food but what 

 the bush afforded, rigorously searching the almost unknown Urewera 

 terrain for the rebel bands. Numerous skirmishes were fought and 

 fortified positions captured, and in September, 1871, Porter and his Ngati- 

 Porou decisively defeated Te Kooti at Te Hapua. (The final shots in this 

 forest war were fired by Captain Preece's force in February, 1872.) The 

 infamous Kereopa, the fanatic murderer of the Rev. C. Volkner at Opotiki 

 in 1865, was captured by a detachment detailed by Captain Porter in the 

 Upper Whakatane, November, 1871. 



After the close of the Maori wars Colonel Porter, who during his 

 prolonged and incessant activities was four times wounded, filled many 

 important military and Civil Service appointments on the East Coast. In 

 1889 he was once more called upon to take the field against Te Kooti, who 

 with a large body of followers insisted on a visit from Waikato to the east 

 coast. The old rebel was arrested by the Colonel at Waiotahi, Bay of 

 Plenty, and sent back to Auckland. When the South African War began 

 Colonel Porter once more sought active service. He commanded the 



