VC - The Maori War

THE MAORI WAR: Colonel Frederick Augustus Smith (1826-1887)

Frederick Augustus Smith was born in Dublin on 18th November 1826, and his army career began on 1st January 1849 when he became an Ensign in the 1st Regiment of Foot. He became a Lieutenant on 30th April 1852, a Captain on 30th March 1855 and a Major in 1868 he became a Major. He served in the Crimean War at Alma, Inkerman and Sebastopol, receiving the Campaign Medal with three clasps, together with a Turkish Medal. As a captain in the 43rd Light Infantry he served in New Zealand and won his VC at Tauranga, during the Maori War.

His citation records that he was awarded the VC for gallantry when leading his company in a most gallant manner in an attack on a Maori position. Although wounded before reaching the rifle pits, he jumped in and began a hand-to-hand fight with the occupants, giving his own men great encouragement as well as setting a fine example.

He eventually became a Lieutenant Colonel and, as such, commanded the 43rd Light Infantry in the 1870s. Colonel Smith died at Duleek in County Meath on 22nd July 1887, and he is buried in an unmarked grave in the Church of Ireland churchyard at Duleek. His Victoria Cross was, for many years, displayed in the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Museum, although it was eventually sold to a dealer and its present whereabouts is unknown. However, Colonel Smith’s memorial plaque, originally in Duleek Church, can now be seen in Kilmore Church, at The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra, County Down.