Just over 100 years ago, the area around the "Steamer Basin" of Otago Harbour had been reclaimed and names were needed for streets. The Boer War - or "Second South African War" - had provided some heroes to immortalise, and the Great War - or "World War One" - provided more names in later years.
CURRENT TOPICS
Five newly-reclaimed streets on the Harbour Board ground near the tongue wharf are to be named Buller street, White street, Roberts street, Kitchener street, and French street. -Otago Daily Times, 18/4/1901.
CURRENT TOPICS
Five newly-reclaimed streets on the Harbour Board ground near the tongue wharf are to be named Buller street, White street, Roberts street, Kitchener street, and French street. -Otago Daily Times, 18/4/1901.
Field-Marshal Sir George Stuart White, VC, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GCVO, was the General commanding the forces of the besieged town of Ladysmith - previously, he had won the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan. When instructed by Buller to surrender, he replied "I hold Ladysmith for the Queen." White Street is a short one, and may have had a sign made for it. If so, it's gone now.
General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, VC, GCB, GCMG, commanded the Natal Field Force in the Boer war and returned to England a hero at the end of the "conventional" phase of the war. But he fell foul of the politics over the situation which later existed in South Africa - scorched earth tactics and the detention of civilians while dealing the the guerrilla commandos of the Boers.
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| Redvers Buller, Wikipedia photo. |
Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, VC, KG, KP, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, VD, PC, FRSGS, was one of the most successful soldiers of the Victorian era. He won the VC during the Indian Mutiny and never looked back, serving in Abyssinia, Afghanistan and South Africa. He was greatly respected by his men, who called him "Sir Bobs."
After his return home from South Africa he was loaded with honours and made the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Under his tenure were introduced the Lee-Enfield .303 rifle and the 18-pounder artillery piece - both relied upon by the Army during and after the Great War. It was during this last war that he died, having caught pneumonia while inspecting a Regiment of the Indian Army in France.
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO,KCMG, ADC, PC, also rose to prominence during the Boer War, commanding the Cavalry and being in charge of counter-insurgency operations in the Cape Province in the later period of the war. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force for the first part of the Great War, being superseded by Douglas Haig. He then commanded the home forces before becoming Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for the period of the Irish War of Independence - in which his sister fought for the Republicans.
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| Frederick Roberts, Wikipedia photo. |
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO,KCMG, ADC, PC, also rose to prominence during the Boer War, commanding the Cavalry and being in charge of counter-insurgency operations in the Cape Province in the later period of the war. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force for the first part of the Great War, being superseded by Douglas Haig. He then commanded the home forces before becoming Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for the period of the Irish War of Independence - in which his sister fought for the Republicans.
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| Field Marshal the Earl of Ypres. Wikipedia photo. |
Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC, succeeded Roberts as Commander in Chief in South Africa in 1900. His face became closely associated with the Great War when it appeared on the famous "Lord Kitchener wants you" recruiting poster, produced while he was Secretary of State for War in 1914. The stagnation of the western Front in the War lost him influence with British politicians and he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Russia in 1916, to discuss how to supply the Eastern Front with munitions. The HMS Hampshire, in which he sailed, struck a mine near the Russian port of Archangelsk and sank. Kitchener's body was never recovered. Although his star was less bright than in 1914, his death was a serious blow to British morale.
The committee further recommended that block 74, less sections 1-10, to be reserved for the board's purposes, and sections 19-34 leased to the Public Works Department be submitted to public auction under the usual form of lease and for a term of 14 years, the street names appearing on the board's plans to be amended as follows:— Darien street, to be Fryatt street; Trinidad street, to be Jutland street; Barbadoes street, to be Sturdee street; Culebra street, to be Cavell street; Colon street, to be Bauchop street; Panama street, to be Halsey street; Grenada street, to be Beatty street; Madeira street, to be Wickliffe street; Rapa street, to be Otakou street; Gatun street, to be Birdwood street. He moved adoption of the recommendations. The motion was seconded by Mr J. M. Dickson, M.P. -O, 24/2/1917.
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| Wikipedia photo. |
The committee further recommended that block 74, less sections 1-10, to be reserved for the board's purposes, and sections 19-34 leased to the Public Works Department be submitted to public auction under the usual form of lease and for a term of 14 years, the street names appearing on the board's plans to be amended as follows:— Darien street, to be Fryatt street; Trinidad street, to be Jutland street; Barbadoes street, to be Sturdee street; Culebra street, to be Cavell street; Colon street, to be Bauchop street; Panama street, to be Halsey street; Grenada street, to be Beatty street; Madeira street, to be Wickliffe street; Rapa street, to be Otakou street; Gatun street, to be Birdwood street. He moved adoption of the recommendations. The motion was seconded by Mr J. M. Dickson, M.P. -O, 24/2/1917.
Charles Algernon Fryatt was, in March 1915, Master of the SS Brussels, a cross-Channel steamer, bound for Holland when a U-boat surfaced and prepared to torpedo his ship. Following the orders of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, Fryatt attempted to ram the submarine. The submarine crash-dived and the Brussels escaped. Fryatt was awarded a gold watch by the Admiralty for his actions. In June of 1916, having left Holland for Britain, the Brussels was surrounded by five German destroyers. The passengers were ordered to the lifeboats, official papers destroyed and the ship was taken the German-occupied Belgium. Fryatt was court-martialed in Bruges as a "franc-tireur" - a civilian who attacked German forces contrary to the Rules of War. He was shot by a firing-squad and buried in a cemetery used for Belgian "traitors." After the war he was exhumed and buried in Britain after a service at St Paul's, London.
Jutland Street was named after the largest naval battle of the Great War, in which battleships of the Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy fought for domination of the seas. The result was inconclusive. Germany wanted to remove the naval power of Britain, which was strangling the nation economically with a blockade which prevented vital resources reaching it. Britain wanted to remove the German threat to the power to blockade. Both sides claimed victory in terms of ships sunk. The battlecruiser HMS New Zealand took part. It had been paid for by the New Zealand Government (costing L2,000,000 - $339.5 million dollars today), launched in 1912 and visited the nation in 1913. The New Zealand could not enter Otago Harbour, so thousands of Otago people took ferries and tourist steamers out to see the ship.
Sturdee Street was named after Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet, GCB, KCMG, CVO. He commanded the Battleship HMS New Zealand, which was renamed Zealandia when the Battlecruiser New Zealand was commissioned. He rose through the ranks of the Navy to become Chief of War Staff at the Admiralty in 1914.
In November of 1914, Sturdee commanded the squadron sent to the south Atlantic to find and destroy the German squadron commanded by Admiral Graf von Spee, which had previously destroyed a British squadron in the Pacific, off the coast of Chile. The German ships were spotted approaching the Falkland Islands while Sturdee's ships were coaling at Port Stanley and the British raised steam with all speed and took to sea against von Spee. The Germans at the Falklands were as outclassed as the British had been at Coronel. Realising that he could not outrun the British, von Spee turned and fought with his larger ships, hoping that his smaller ones might escape. All but one of the German ships were sunk.
Sturdee commanded a Battle Squadron at Jutland and was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on his retirement in 1921.
Halsey Street was named after Captain Lionel Halsey, who commanded the HMS New Zealand.
CAPTAIN HALSEY'S SATISFACTION.
In a letter to me Captain Halsey says: a great day on Sunday, and the ship behaved herself splendidly; not a hitch of any sort, and the officers and men, of course, delighted to get their chance which they have so long waited for. I had my Maori costume and the tiki with me, and they certainly brought luck all right. The silk ensign given by the ladies of New Zealand flew throughout the engagement. We are all very fit and well, and quite ready for another dash when the Germans like to show up!" In reply to Mr Mackenzie, who sent him a congratulatory telegram — "Well done, Halsey," —Captain Halsey wrote: "I thank you very much for your very nice telegram, and I can only assure you that all on board here, without an exception, put an extra amount of struggle into the action on Sunday, if such were possible, for the sake of New Zealand, our second home; and every man realised, that the great dominion was watching and waiting for the result. We never had a hitch in any way during the action, and everything worked to perfection. The ship quite eclipsed herself in the steaming way, far exceeding any previous trials. The entire ship's company, without exception, did their duty, and to the fullest extent, and we were lucky enough to receive no damage or casualties, and we are now ready again to engage the enemy. " I put on the costume given to me by the Maoris, and also had the tiki with me, which I know would please them if they knew it. Also the silk ensign flew throughout the action, and, if necessary, will fly again, though it is much reduced in size. But I keep all the old frayed-out bits to send hack to the dominion as a token for coming generations. These I propose to send to you, and ask you to have them conveyed to your Government should they desire to have them. In conclusion, I can only say that all on board here will continue to do their very utmost for the Empire, always remembering that New Zealand has her eyes specifically focused on the ship that was so magnanimously and unhesitatingly given to that Empire in order to share the burden. The action was for me personally fought on a specially suitable day, being the tenth anniversary of my wedding day, and as a sailor looks on his ship as his wife, and as I could not be with Mrs Halsey, how better could I have been employed than in taking my other wife into action with the King's enemy and endeavouring to get her into the performance of the duty for which New Zealand built her. My best wishes are with you and Mrs Mackenzie and all New Zealanders." -O, 10/3/1915.
Bauchop Street is named after Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Bauchop, CMG., who commanded the Otago Regiment when it embarked in 1914 and was killed by a Turkish sniper on Gallipoli. His story can be found here.
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| Wikipedia photo. |
Jutland Street was named after the largest naval battle of the Great War, in which battleships of the Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy fought for domination of the seas. The result was inconclusive. Germany wanted to remove the naval power of Britain, which was strangling the nation economically with a blockade which prevented vital resources reaching it. Britain wanted to remove the German threat to the power to blockade. Both sides claimed victory in terms of ships sunk. The battlecruiser HMS New Zealand took part. It had been paid for by the New Zealand Government (costing L2,000,000 - $339.5 million dollars today), launched in 1912 and visited the nation in 1913. The New Zealand could not enter Otago Harbour, so thousands of Otago people took ferries and tourist steamers out to see the ship.
Sturdee Street was named after Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet, GCB, KCMG, CVO. He commanded the Battleship HMS New Zealand, which was renamed Zealandia when the Battlecruiser New Zealand was commissioned. He rose through the ranks of the Navy to become Chief of War Staff at the Admiralty in 1914.
In November of 1914, Sturdee commanded the squadron sent to the south Atlantic to find and destroy the German squadron commanded by Admiral Graf von Spee, which had previously destroyed a British squadron in the Pacific, off the coast of Chile. The German ships were spotted approaching the Falkland Islands while Sturdee's ships were coaling at Port Stanley and the British raised steam with all speed and took to sea against von Spee. The Germans at the Falklands were as outclassed as the British had been at Coronel. Realising that he could not outrun the British, von Spee turned and fought with his larger ships, hoping that his smaller ones might escape. All but one of the German ships were sunk.
Sturdee commanded a Battle Squadron at Jutland and was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on his retirement in 1921.
Halsey Street was named after Captain Lionel Halsey, who commanded the HMS New Zealand.
BATTLE CRUISERS IN ACTION
RAIDERS CAUGHT RED-HANDED.
ADMIRAL BEATTY'S VICTORY.
NEW ZEALAND DISTINGUISHES HERSELF.
(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, February 2.
CAPTAIN HALSEY'S SATISFACTION.
In a letter to me Captain Halsey says: a great day on Sunday, and the ship behaved herself splendidly; not a hitch of any sort, and the officers and men, of course, delighted to get their chance which they have so long waited for. I had my Maori costume and the tiki with me, and they certainly brought luck all right. The silk ensign given by the ladies of New Zealand flew throughout the engagement. We are all very fit and well, and quite ready for another dash when the Germans like to show up!" In reply to Mr Mackenzie, who sent him a congratulatory telegram — "Well done, Halsey," —Captain Halsey wrote: "I thank you very much for your very nice telegram, and I can only assure you that all on board here, without an exception, put an extra amount of struggle into the action on Sunday, if such were possible, for the sake of New Zealand, our second home; and every man realised, that the great dominion was watching and waiting for the result. We never had a hitch in any way during the action, and everything worked to perfection. The ship quite eclipsed herself in the steaming way, far exceeding any previous trials. The entire ship's company, without exception, did their duty, and to the fullest extent, and we were lucky enough to receive no damage or casualties, and we are now ready again to engage the enemy. " I put on the costume given to me by the Maoris, and also had the tiki with me, which I know would please them if they knew it. Also the silk ensign flew throughout the action, and, if necessary, will fly again, though it is much reduced in size. But I keep all the old frayed-out bits to send hack to the dominion as a token for coming generations. These I propose to send to you, and ask you to have them conveyed to your Government should they desire to have them. In conclusion, I can only say that all on board here will continue to do their very utmost for the Empire, always remembering that New Zealand has her eyes specifically focused on the ship that was so magnanimously and unhesitatingly given to that Empire in order to share the burden. The action was for me personally fought on a specially suitable day, being the tenth anniversary of my wedding day, and as a sailor looks on his ship as his wife, and as I could not be with Mrs Halsey, how better could I have been employed than in taking my other wife into action with the King's enemy and endeavouring to get her into the performance of the duty for which New Zealand built her. My best wishes are with you and Mrs Mackenzie and all New Zealanders." -O, 10/3/1915.
| HMS New Zealand, Hocken Library photo. |
H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND
BATTERED IN BATTLES, VISITED BY A WELLINGTON ANZAC.
MAT AND TIKI AS MASCOTS.
Bombardier C. R. Bremner, of Wellington, who went with the Main Body of the Expeditionary Force, has been spending his furlough from France in the Old Country. In a letter to his sisters he describes a visit to H.M.S. New Zealand, while staying in Edinburgh last October. At that time Admiral Beatty's section of the North Sea Fleet was lying in the Firth of Forth.
THE TRIP.
We were to leave for Glasgow soon after lunch, but I picked up a couple more New Zealanders, and off we started for the Forth Bridge. While there we fancied a trip round Admiral Beatty's fleet and so chatted to a petty officer at the landing-place along side the bridge. He said that no one was allowed to cruise round the fleet, but the naval authorities had instructions to take New Zealanders or Australians either to H.M.S. New Zealand, the Australia, or the Sydney. So we decided to go on to the New Zealand.
As luck would have it, we struck the mail launch, and so were taken round the whole fleet before we reached the one we wanted. New iron plates marked the spot where many of the ships had been hit in the Jutland battle, but they were none the worse for it. We spent four hours on board the New Zealand, and were shown over every inch of it. It is an eye-opener to see all the little improvements made from experience gained in previous fights.
They showed us dozens of new ideas, and there must be dozens more which were too good to show us. Improvements have been made on all the ships right down to the smallest detail.
The New Zealand was not the show case she was when she visited the Dominion, but she is in good fighting trim, and looks A.1. She received a shot through one of the big gun turrets in the Jutland scrap, which knocked a piece out from 3ft to 4ft in diameter. From the outside only a new iron plate can be seen, but inside one could see that an iron plate some 7in thick had been knocked right out. The piece is on show on deck.
Of the original officers and crew only a few remain, as many were transferred to other ships, and great many lost their lives in the Jutland battle. When in New Zealand Captain Halsey was presented with a Maori mat and tiki by one of the Maori chiefs, who told him that if he wore these when fighting his ship would pull through safely.
She has a new captain now, but on each occasion when they have gone into action — at Heligoland, Dogger Bank and Jutland — the captain has always donned his mat and tiki! And they all have a lot of faith in these things now. It sounds absurd, but, nevertheless, quite true. We had tea on board before leaving, and landed back at 6.30 p.m. -Taihape Daily Times, 7/3/1917.
After Jutland, Halsey was appointed Fourth, then Third Sea Lord and promoted to Rear-Admiral. He returned to sea in 1918 in the HMS Australia and witnessed the surrender of the German high Seas Fleet. After the war he returned to New Zealand, accompanying the Prince of Wales on his 1919 Empire tour. He became the Prince's Treasurer and retired from the Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral. Halsey was one of the Prince's circle who disapproved of his relationship with Wallis Simpson and the possibility of her becoming Queen, being dismissed by the then Edward VIII in 1936. He was appointed an Equerry to his brother, George VI and took part in the 1936 Coronation.
LOCAL AND GENERAL
"I am not a superstitious man, neither is Admiral Halsey," said Sir Joseph Ward at the Navy League demonstration at Wellington on Friday night, in telling the story of the Maori mat presented to Captain Halsey when on his visit to New Zealand. Captain Halsey promised the Maoris that when H.M.S. New Zealand went into action he would wear the mat, and when the cruiser was going into action against the Germans, at the time that she put in the shot that sank the Blucher, the men in the turret were surprised to see their commander coming up with nothing on but the Maori mat. (Laughter.) When Captain Halsey left the New Zealand he handed the mat to his successor, Captain Green, and he also wore it in the battle of Jutland, "Whether there is anything in it or not," said Sir Joseph with a smile, "the fact remains that, although the New Zealand has been in the thick of things, she has only been hit once, and the sailors are all very grateful to the Maoris for their gift."
At the gathering in Cathedral square Christchurch to commemorate Nelson's Day, Professor Blunt said that not everyone knew that a Christchurch man had given an ancient Maori tiki — reputed to have miraculous luck-bringing properties — to Captain Halsey, of the H.M.S. New Zealand, on the condition that it was to be worn by the captain when he took his ship into action. Another condition was that after the war the tiki was to be returned to Christchurch and deposited in the Museum. Steps were being taken to find out if the tiki had been worn at the battle of Jutland; for certainly the New Zealand had been remarkably lucky in that big fight, receiving hardly a scratch. -Nelson Evening Mail, 26/10/1917.
Further research reveals that the donor of the tiki to Captain Halsey was a Charles John Sloman, of Christchurch. At the time of the original donation, the tiki was promised to be returned to New Zealand when the ship was decommissioned. The New Zealand was declared obsolete in the 1920s and scrapped in 1922 and a number of relics were sent home, but the piupiu and tiki seem not to have been included.
MARO AND TIKI LOAN BY ADMIRAL HALSEY
DISPLAYS AT EXHIBITION
[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT]
LONDON. March 9. The maro and the tiki, loaned by Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey to the New Zealand Government for displaying at the Centennial Exhibition, are not being conveyed to New Zealand by H.M.S. Achilles as was intended. They were not delivered at Portsmouth in time to be taken on the cruiser. They were sent, however, by the Rangitane, due at Wellington on April 6. Both the maro and the tiki were presented to Sir Lionel Halsey in 1913 by a Maori chief who had inspected H.M.S. New Zealand with members of his tribe. They were worn at the Battles of Heligoland, Dogger Bank and Jutland. -NZ Herald, 27/3/1939.
A different Admiral Halsey, "Bull" Halsey of the US Navy, was also presented with a tiki when he visited New Zealand in 1944, as well as a korowai, put around his shoulders by Keepa Ehau, of Ngati Tarawhai, with the hope that he would wear both in battle. There is no record of the American Admiral's response to that hope, though he did admit to being a distant relative of his British counterpart.
The hei-tiki was returned to New Zealand in 1932 (according to the Canterbury Museum, though the date does not coincide with the above newspaper story) and is now in the Canterbury Museum. The piu-piu was inherited by Halsey's daughter, Ruth, and finally returned in 2005, at as she wished after her death in 2002. It is in the Devonport Naval Museum.
Bauchop Street is named after Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Bauchop, CMG., who commanded the Otago Regiment when it embarked in 1914 and was killed by a Turkish sniper on Gallipoli. His story can be found here.
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