Bidspirit auction | A New Zealand Medal dated

A New Zealand Medal dated 1861 - 1866 on reverse. Named to: 448 George Carrier 2nd Bn 14th Regiment. Known informally as “The Old and Bold”, the 14th (Buckinghamshire) regiment of foot (later The Prince of Wales’s Own West Yorkshire Regiment) was based at Queenstown in Cork, Ireland when in 1860 the second battalion was sent to Auckland, New Zealand to fight in the New Zealand Wars. On arrival, one detachment was sent to Napier and another to Wellington. The regiment was present at the siege of Te Arei, and served thereafter in Taranaki. The British forces in the Taranaki war eventually numbered around 3500 men, made up of the second battalion of the 14th, the first battalion of the 12th, the 40th, 57th, and 65th regiments. Initially, Colonel Charles Gold commanded these combined regimental detachments, but he was subsequently replaced by Major-General Thomas Pratt on the 3rd of August 1860 after the colonial forces suffered severe losses at Puketakauere. Fighting continued throughout the region, as the Crown’s forces increasingly confiscated more territory, including the old pā site at Kairau where some of the combined detachments were stationed. The 14th Regiment then played a major role in the Waikato wars, joined with a detachment of the 1/12th and the 65th regiment in the battle at Te Wheoro’s Redoubt. The 14th was led by Lieutenant Colonel C.W. Austen, who was killed during the battle at Rangiriri. The 14th regiment was thereafter stationed on the East Coast, where a ‘movable column’ of 12th, 14th, and 65th detachments took part in the battle at Pukehinahina (Gate Pa) under General Cameron. In 1865, the 14th participated in General Chute’s campaign in South Taranaki. On 3 January 1866 Chute invaded Okotuku with the Māori contingent and three detachments from the 14th regiment, where they burned the village to the ground and the next day destroyed the local crops as part of Chute’s ‘scorched earth’ policy. The final battle took place inland from Warea-Opunake, where the colonial forces took Waikoko pā. Over five weeks, the force invaded and destroyed seven pā and twenty-one villages inflicting heavy casualties on their opponents. In September 1866, the 14th regiment returned to Auckland before departing to Australia in October. It is of note that between 1861 and 1868, over 60 soldiers from the 14th took their discharge in New Zealand. The 14th (Buckinghamshire) regiment finally returned to Ireland in March of 1870. Two small ‘nicks’ to obverse rim at 9 o’clock otherwise Extremely Fine (EF) condition.