Charles William Broughton Memorial and Grave (1866/1937)

Charles William Broughton (1833-1865) was an interpreter for the military forces in Whanganui. He was killed at Otautu - some reports say Otoia - near Kākaramea on 1 October 1865.

Broughton's body was thrown into the Pātea River and on 15 November it was found, badly decomposed, at Pātea and buried on the spot.

In late 1865 the district military commander, Brigadier-General Waddy, suggested a subscription should be raised "sufficient to place a tablet or ornamental window, to the memory of the deceased in the Episcopal [Anglican] church at Wanganui." (Evening Post 9 December 1865).

Because of erosion of the riverbank, his body was exhumed and reinterred at Patea Cemetery on Scotland Street in 1937.

Inscription on the Charles Broughton Memorial, Christ Church, 229 Wicksteed Street, Whanganui:

Sacred to the memory of / Charles William / Broughton / Interpreter to the Forces / who was murdered by / the rebel natives / whilst under a / flag of truce at Kakaramea / on the 1st October 1865. / Erected by the officers serving on / the West Coast under / Brigadier General Waddy C.B.

NB: the original inscription on the memorial has been copied to a metal plaque beneath.

Inscription on Charles Broughton's Grave, Patea Cemetery:

In memory of / William Charles / Broughton / Interpreter of the Forces / Killed at Kakaramea 1 Oct 1865 / Erected by N Z Govt