Mass grave of 12 British soldiers killed in 1846 Maori battle found by archaeologist

Jonathan Pearlman

Ben Farmer

AN ARCHAEOLOGIST has discovered a mass grave in New Zealand containing the remains of 12 British soldiers who died during a major battle against Maori tribes in 1846.

After four years searching for the graves – last recorded being seen by locals in 1851 – Jonathan Carpenter found the site in a field in the country’s north.

He used a radar to locate the graves after tracking them down using information passed on by locals who were descended from both the Maori and British fighters.

Mr Carpenter and a team of diggers found the remains of two men, including one with a musket ball underneath his ribs. It was decided to leave the 10 other members of the communal grave in peace. “These men took the Queen’s shilling,” Mr Carpenter told TVNZ. “They came from halfway around the

‘We’ve found your boys and we’d like you to come down and help us take care of them as time goes on’

world and ended up dying here and now they’re bones. I hope that the British government takes an interest because we’ve found your boys and we’d like you to come down and help us take care of them as time goes on.”

The soldiers have not been identified but were from a contingent made up of troops from the 58th Regiment of Foot, the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and a Royal Navy detachment. They had been buried according to Maori rites, along with objects that had been in their possession such as a clay smoking pipe.

The New Zealand government and the local Maori community plan to erect a memorial. The 12 soldiers died in the Northern War, in which Maori tribes rebelled against colonial rule in 1845. The conflict ended with a battle at Ruapekapeka, a fortified Maori settlement.

The battle followed a siege by the British forces, and it appears troops breached the fortress and entered on the morning of Jan 11, but found that most of the Maoris had left. Fighting briefly broke out in the bushland around the fortress, leaving 12 British dead and about 30 injured. A greater number of Maori are believed to have died.