Hutt Valley Campaign - Boulcott's Farm

Boulcott's Farm

On 16 May there was a major attack on a defended position; Boulcott's Farm.

The most advanced post of the troops was at Boulcott's Farm, two miles above Fort Richmond, where 50 men of the 58th Regiment were stationed under Lieutenant Page. Some little distance higher up the valley, at the Taita, a further outpost was established by a small detachment of the Hutt Militia.

Half the force of soldiers at Boulcott's Farm were quartered in a large barn, around which a stockade of slabs and small logs had been erected and loopholed for musket-fire. The rest of the troops were accommodated in small slab outhouses near the barn and in tents. Lieutenant Page occupied Boulcott's.

In the week before the attack there had been some sign of further hostilities. A naval party had been fired upon at Pauatahanui. Te Puni's warning and offers of help were disregarded, and even Te Rauparaha had specifically warned of an attack at Heretaunga.

The attack on 16 May was by a party led by Te Karamu, of the Ngati Haua te Rangi, Upper Wanganui. The sentry at Boulcott’s Farm was alerted to movement nearby and fired on the attackers, but was overtaken and tomahawked. The Maori then fired on the nearby picket tent, killing four soldiers and their bugler.

The garrison of Boulcott's Farm fought back. Lieutenant Page and two men fought their way to the barn, firing at close quarters at their foes, who attempted to charge in upon them with the tomahawk. The party of men in the barn, three sections, each under a sergeant, fought their post well and successfully, taking turns in firing through the light stockade and in returning to the shelter of the building to reload.

Leaving a small party to hold the fort, Lieutenant Page came out into the open again and attacked. Extending the men in skirmishing order, with fixed bayonets, he advanced. At the height of the engagement a party of seven of the Hutt Militia came to the assistance of the hard-pressed troops, and fought side by side with the redcoats. Their arrival was the turning-point in the fight.

The Maori attackers retired after an engagement lasting about an hour and a half. Page estimated their numbers at about two hundred.

Bodies of troops marched out from Thorndon barracks and the Hutt stockade to reinforce the camp.

Five soldiers and one settler were killed and four were severely wounded. Two of the wounded, Sergeant Ingram and a civilian named Thomas Hoseman, an employee of Mr Boulcott, died some days later.

Maori losses were not accurately known, for all who fell were carried off, but two were seen shot dead, and ten or more were wounded, some of them severely.

Accounts of the fight at Boulcott's Farm, following James Cowan, have highlighted the story of brave young bugler William Allen, hacked down as he attempted to warn his fellow soldiers of the attack. One account even says that when Allen's arm was lopped off, he held the bugle between his knees to sound the alarm before he was killed. It seems these accounts may have been exaggerated - Allen was aged 21, was listed as a drummer rather than a bugler, and other accounts speak of the troops being alerted by a warning shot from the picket.

A memorial stone at the corner of High Street and Military Road in Lower Hutt lists the names of eight soldiers from the British 58th Regiment and 99th Regiment who were killed in action or died of wounds following the attack at Boulcott’s Farm. There is a stone in the cemetery ay St James's Church, Lower Hutt.

A month after the attack, an armed patrol in the same area was ambushed and four men wounded.

On 6 August 1846, one of the last engagements was fought–the Battle of Battle Hill– after which Te Rangihaeata left the area.