LAMBERT, CHARLES (1809-82) held a commission in the 62nd Regiment, from which he retired as a captain in 1851. He became adjutant of the Hampshire militia during the Crimean war and resigned again in 1857, when he came to New Zealand, and took up land on the Ruataniwha plains. He represented Waipukurau in the Hawkes Bay Provincial Council (1861-62, 1864-71), and Te Aute (1871-75). From 1865-67 he was speaker.

Commissioned as major in the Napier Cavalry volunteers in 1865, Lambert was in command of two companies of militia at the attack on the Hauhau force at Omarunui (Oct 1866). In the advance on Puketapu (27 Oct) he assumed command of the pursuing force and, against the decision of a council of officers, he stopped the pursuit and withdrew to Wairoa (3 Nov). Te Kooti had evacuated Puketapu, and thus got off to commit the massacre at Poverty Bay. Again, when he brought a force to relieve Mohaka, Lambert refused to advance inland and declined to attack the position at Orakanihi, where the Hauhau were in a state of intoxication. He was a member of the Napier harbour board and the Hawkes Bay land board. He died on 12 Oct 1882.

Hawkes Bay P.C. Proc.; Cowan; Gascoyne; Lambert.

Reference: Volume 1, page 257

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