Pokeno Old Soldiers Cemetery Free-space page
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Location: Pokeno, Waikato, New Zealand
Surnames/tags: Cemeteries New_Zealand
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Pokeno Old Soldiers Cemetery / Pokeno Historic Cemetery
A free-space page for the small cemetery at Pōkeno commemorating those who died in the New Zealand Wars in the years 1863-1864 in this area, and other settlers.
Also See
- New Zealand Wars - The Waikato War.
- 'Pokeno NZ Wars memorial', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/pokeno-nz-wars-memorial, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 15-Jul-2013
LOCATION:
Pōkeno Historic Cemetery is located on Helenslee Road opposite its junction with Munro Road, 1 km north-west of Pōkeno. It is 15 km south-east of Drury and 50 km from Auckland. GPS: -37.2574981,175.0163856.
Links
Pokeno Old Soldiers Cemetery and Memorial
The main feature of this cemetery is the pyramid shaped memorial cairn which has a prominent place facing the entrance gate.
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| Soldier's Memorial at Pōkeno |
The burial ground at Pōkeno was described by a Daily Southern Cross correspondent on 10 October 1863, three months into the Waikato War as ‘a plot of ground about a mile and a half from camp [Queen’s Redoubt], on the right, past an angle of the road towards Rhode’s Clearing.’
Queens Redoubt, completed in 1862, and guarding the southern end of Great South Road) "was at the apex of a network of military posts that reached down the Great South Road from Auckland, west to the lowlands between Manukau Harbour and the Waikato River, and east to the Firth of Thames. At 8360 m², it was only marginally smaller than Camp Waitara in Taranaki, the only other New Zealand redoubt with more than one entry point." (see Pokeno NZ Wars memorial entry at https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/pokeno-nz-wars-memorial].
The Pokeno Old Soldiers Memorial
A memorial cairn was erected in 1902. It had been designed and built by the stonemason John Bouskill of New Zealand Granite Quarries Ltd, Auckland, at the substantial cost of £100.
The entire memorial was substantially rebuilt due to the original memorial's deterioration and also moved to a new location in the cemetery on 12 February 1926. ‘McNab’, probably the Auckland monumental masons McNab and Mason, was contracted to undertake the rebuilding work.
The granite panels on the current (2018) memorial date from 1999 (noted on the base of one of the panels) when the Department of Internal Affairs added three additional names to the panels. There is evidence of the inscriptions visible underneath the current panels which were lead lettering on panels made of marble. Information on the memorial can be read at Pokeno NZ Wars memorial on the official NZ History (government) website.
Topped with a cluster of stacked rifles (Snider carbines, which were not used in the Waikato War), the memorial cairn records the names of 24 imperial and colonial troops who died during the Waikato War and are thought to be buried nearby.
The deaths of the following men are assumed to have occurred in 1863 or 1864. Official death records are scant, and exact dates and burial locations are unknown.
NOTE TO WikiTree contributors: If you can establish profiles, or link profiles to the individuals listed below, please do. This would be greatly appreciated.
On the memorial are the following names:
(See Memorial Image One for the following names.) These are the names on the memorial door facing EAST.
- 40th Regiment:
- Private Charles Roberts
- Private C. Johnston
- Private Bryan Flannery
- Private Patrick Gibboney
- 65th Regiment
- Sergeant Stephen Grave
- Corporal Henry Chiverton
- Corporal John Frost
- Private Robert Bellringer
- Forest Rangers
- Private John Ballenden
- Hospital Corps
- Private John Howard
- Transport Corps
- Private John Brown
- (See Memorial Image 2 for the following names). These are the names on the memorial door facing WEST.
- Royal Artillery
- Gunner Chas. Culverwell
- Royal Engineers
- Sapper Rich. Horton
- Sapper Robert Loader
- 14th Regiment
- Private Chas. Livingstone
- Private William Smith
- Private William Murphy
- 18th Royal Irish Regiment
- Private John Ewins
- Private Felix McGrath
- Private James Limerick
- Private Alexander Jamieson
- Private James Cassidy
- 70th Regiment
- Private Frederick Wicks
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