Though Waverley’s Hussey St it is named after yet another officer of the Taranaki Military Settlers – as almost all of Waverley’s streets are – the life of this man, and the life of his wife and son, illustrate the tragedy and ruggedness of the times they lived in.
William Augustus Hussey was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1834, to William and Margaret Hussey. He joined up as an ensign with the 88th Regiment in 1853 and became a lieutenant the following year. He then saw action in the Crimean War and was present at the 11-month-long ‘Seige of Sevastopol’ in 1854.
By 1859 William was back home in Scotland where he married Irish-born Catherine, or Kate Ward and had one son with her, Willian Hussey, who was born in Glasgow in 1860.
It isn’t clear when William left Scotland for New Zealand, but he probably came out here with his younger brother John Edward Wright Hussey (who also had a military career in Taranaki/Whanganui region) in the early 1860s. Kate and their young son remained in Scotland living with her parents in Glasgow. Perhaps the plan was for William to establish himself before sending for his family.
By September 1863 William was in New Plymouth where he enlisted as a lieutenant with the Taranaki Military Settlers (TMS). He was stationed in several redoubts and forts around New Plymouth over the next two years and was involved in some of the conflicts and clashes between Military forces and local iwi.
By mid-1865 an expeditionary force was being organised from members of the TMS and other military groups to fight against Maori on the East Coast and Hussey was appointed Captain of No.10 Company, with a force of 120 men.
Meanwhile his wife and son had sailed for New Zealand arriving into Auckland in October 1865 after 91 days at sea. By November Hussey and his force had sailed from New Plymouth, to Wanganui and on onwards to Opotiki.
Did the family ever get to reunite in the few short months in between? Unfortunately shipping records cannot shed any light on this.
What is clear is that Hussey’s military career was fatally cut short on Christmas Day 1865 when he was shot while was leading an attack on Omaruhakeke Pa near Wairoa. He was buried at Marumaru, Wairoa.
A letter to the editor published in the Taranaki Herald in January 1866 written by a fellow soldier lamented the death of “the gallant Hussey”. The writer urged the military forces to provide for Hussey’s wife and child. “Whilst we lament such a loss to our arms, we must not forget those he has left behind him… we cannot allow that a wife and child who have traversed sixteen thousand miles of sea to join the husband and father should be forgotten.”
Whether Kate was helped financially or not is unclear but in any case she must have decided to return home because by 1871, William was boarding at a school for boys in Kensington. In 1877 at the age of 17 he was indentured as an apprentice into the Merchant Navy for a period of four years.
Tragedy was to strike the family again when 27 year-old William drowned in October 1887 while trying to board a fish onto the trawling vessel he was working on. He was buried at sea.
Related links:
Online Cenotaph entry for William Augustus Hussey
National Library, William Hussey
Archives New Zealand, Kate Hussey July 5 1872
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