Cracroft Streets in Waitara and New Plymouth are named after Captain Peter Cracroft, a British naval commander. He was born on 15 March 1816 in the small village of Harrington, Lincolnshire, England. At 14, he enlisted in the Royal Navy and by the age of 30 was a commander.
He arrived at New Plymouth in command of the H.M.S. Niger on 1 March 1860; sent to the province in response to the simmering tension over the Waitara purchase.
Following hostilities at Te Kohia on 17 March 1860, attention turned to Ōmata. Māori tribes south of New Plymouth had moved to support Te Ātiawa, threatening settlers in the area. The slaying of five settlers on 27 March 1860, and the erection of a fortified pā, Kaipopo, was the catalyst for further military action.
On 28 March 1860, Lieutenant Colonel Murray led a British force along the main road to Ōmata while a contingent of Taranaki Rifle Volunteers and Militia marched along the beach toward Waireka.
At the sound of alarm guns from Marsland Hill, Captain Cracroft landed a party of marines and proceeded towards Ōmata. Arriving as daylight was fading, Cracroft and his men ignored Murray's order to retreat. Instead, he fired rockets toward Kaipopo and then promptly stormed the pā with coxswain, William Odgers, at the forefront. Odgers, for his efforts, was awarded the Victoria Cross, the first in the New Zealand.
Reports at the time record the attack as a courageous and heroic victory. More recently historian James Belich has argued that it amounted to no more than "...over-running of an almost deserted pā...a paper victory". However another historian Nigel Prickett concluded that Māori casualties were certainly more than 17 and possibly as high as 40. In any event, Cracroft and his men arrived back in New Plymouth to the rejoicing of the anxious townspeople and the acclaim of the country.
Captain Peter Cracroft died of a fever on 2 August 1865, aged 49, at Port Royal in the West Indies.
This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.
Please do not reproduce these images without permission from Puke Ariki.
Contact us for more information or you can order images online here.
