A Sword Handed Down

This handsome British Army sword provides a link to the engineer of New Plymouth’s defensive hub during the Taranaki Wars. With settler tensions mounting during the mid-1850s as Puketapu hapū skirmished over land, a detachment of imperial troops were dispatched to New Plymouth. The head of the Royal Engineers, Colonel Frederick Clinton Baddeley, chose the site of Pukaka pā - which had been renamed Marsland Hill by the settlers - as the ideal place for a military barracks. By March 1856 many trees had been removed and 15 metres of soil had been chopped from the top to accommodate the eight prefabricated barracks that arrived from Australia. Baddeley eventually rose to the rank of Major General but left New Zealand when he retired from the military. However his eldest son, also named Frederick, settled in Taranaki after his military service and retained his father’s sword. The 1845 pattern infantry officer’s weapon has a brass guard and backstrap, and a sharkskin grip, and is accompanied by two scabbards and a sword knot. It was donated to Puke Ariki by Dick Baddeley in 2004.