The historian James Belich believed Cameron was not only the best European commander to serve in New Zealand but ‘among the best of Victorian generals’.
Duncan Cameron
Personal details
Full Name:
Duncan Alexander Cameron
Lifetime:
19 Dec 1808 – 8 Jun 1888
Biography
Events In History
21 July 1865
Governor George Grey led a small force that captured a Pai Mārire (Hauhau) pā at Weraroa, near Waitōtara. The pā had long lost its strategic significance, and its small garrison had seemed willing to surrender.
24 January 1865
Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron set out on what was to prove to be his final campaign in New Zealand with more than a thousand troops under his command.
29 April 1864
The British attacked the Ngāi Te Rangi stronghold of Pukehinahina (Gate Pā), defended by just 230 Māori fighters, after a heavy artillery bombardment.
21 November 1863
More British soldiers and sailors were killed at ‘Bloody Rangiriri’ than in any other battle of the New Zealand Wars, but their eventual hard-fought victory opened the Waikato basin to the advancing imperial forces.
Main image: 70th Regiment belt buckle
Uniform belt buckle of the British 70th (East Surrey) Regiment of Foot, which served in New Zealand 1863-1866.
