Echoes of the Maori Wan

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 April 1910, Page 4

Echoes of the Maori Wan

- » MEMORIES OF A V.C. In a tiny two-roomed cottage in Ware, Hertfordshire, lives one of Britain's heroes, Dudley Stagpoole, lato drummer (in tdie "Diehards" (57th Middlesex). He is holder of the Victoria Cross and of the medal lor meritorious and distinguished conduct, as well as two others for the Crimea and that for long service. To a representative of "Lloyd's News" lie told some of his experiences, including the incidents in which his pluck won him the hearty commendation of his commanding officer, aiul two of ithe greatest honours his Sovereign had to confer upon him. "We were in New Zealand fighting almost all the time," he explained. "Most of it was in the Taranaki district, and one day in September, 1803, we were at Kaipakopako, and were in ambush for the enemy, who were coming right into our trap. "Suddenly, just as wo felt almost sure of them, .some man of the company caught lu's rifle in some way and discharged it. "Of course our ambush was at once known to tho enemy, and they just disappeared like flies. T never in my life saw men so mad as our fellows were. They could hardly find words sufficiently strong to express their disappointment. One officer drew his sword, and, glaring at the man whose rifle had gone off, roared out, 'You clumsv coward! I havo a great mincT to cut you in half.' He was just livid with anger. Of course we fired where we thought we might get some of them and then we got the order to follow. "Knowing they were gone hack to their camp, when I found the track that led to it I determined to get a shot at them somehow. So I laid iu wait for them, within five yards of the corner of their track. I wasn't long there when T heard the hush moving, and saw one of their chiefs come out with bis bow and spears, and shout- something to the others. "I was kneeling, with mv rifle loaded and the trigger cocked. Before he could take a second pace I put a bullet through him, rushed at him as he fell, and before his followers could spear me, had pinned him to the ground with my bayonet. "Apparently my colonel had been watching me, and came up, saying. 'Well done, Stagpoole!' It was Colonel Butler. afterwards Sir Harry Butler, the member of Parliament, who was in charge of the party. He recommended me for the medal, hut before it got out I had been recommended for the Victoria Cross. "On that occasion we were at Pontoko, which is also in the Taranaki district of New Zealand it was in October, 18fi3. A company of our men, o.ne hundred in number ! with their officers, were in St. Patrick's redoubt, about five miles away from the main body, who were iu a stockade. Suddenly .the news was brought to the latter that seven hundred natives had surrounded the redoubt, and that the officers wanted assistance. Most of the men were at workerecting defences, but sixty-eight of I us were in the stockade, and, led by Brevet-Major Short, we at once went to the help of our comrades in the redoubt, 'doubling' tho whole of the five miles. When we getto the place where the fighting was, twelve of us volunteered to get to close quarters, beyond a fence, behind which the Maoris were iu the bush, and to fire into them. We opened in skirmishing order, and gave them a volley. "But we only had the old muzzleloaders, and before we could get ready for another shot t-liov were quite close to us. and we_ had to retire over the fence again. As we did so my right-hand man was hit, and as r lokeod behind T saw him lying on the ground, with the enemy advancing at full speed. REMA RK A BLE ESCAPE. "T handed my rifle to Sergeant Plielan, and said I was going back for the wounded man. I went back and lifted him up, putting liini over the fence into safety among our men. While I was lifting him I got a bullet in my head. Luckily for me it slit a piece of my cap, and carried it along the scalp, and hat probably prevented it entering the skull and killing mo. "A little later on Colonel Shout said, 'We must retire-; but we must have that man out of it,' pointing to a wounded man. The enemy were about ten to one, or he would never have given the order to fall hack. "I had been back once, so I went a second time, and Ensign Down, of ours, followed on. Ho had splendid courage, and was cool, although it was his first battle. "Just as we got the wounded man raised a mounted orderly rode out to us, and we put the chap that had been hit on his saddle, and he took him out of the enemy's reach. As I let go of the man T got another clip from a bullet, but again T was lucky, although, as you see, -the bullet left its mark in my forehead. "A month or two later orders came out that I was to have the medal for meritorious and distinguished conduct, and I was given a Royal salute by the parade. But before the medal arrived the news came -that I had been granted the Victoria Cross, and that the Queen had offered me promotion from private soldier to lieutenant, if my education would permit me to accept it. Then I got a second Royal salute. "I left tho Army with twentythree years' service, and with not so much as one black mark. T was discharged with an 'exemplary' certificate." AT SEBASTOPOL. Stagpoole, it may be added, is of Irish birth, the son of Limerick parents. Ho enlisted at that ci.ty in 1854, when a little less than sixteen years of age, and in eleven months was ordered to the Crimea. He was the first British soldier t-o sot foot in Sebastopol after tho blowing up of the Redan, which followed upon the capture of the Malakoff. He tells how they lay in the trenches at half-past seven in the morning waiting for orders to attack, and how, ■ suddenly, tho atmosphere was filled with smoke, and stoani, following upon a terrific explosion, guns and their carriages, with wreckage of all descriptions, filling the air. Since leaving the Army Stagpoole for a time worked in the Woolwich Arsenal, where he won the respect of all with whom he was associated. He is now living upon his pension, with his two children. He is sadly proud of tho fact that his soldier son, who was in the famous Cameron Highlanders, gave his life for his country at Atbara, during tho Egyptian campaign.