WHITMORE, SIR GEORGE STODDART (1830-1903) was born at Malta, the son of Major George St Vincent Whitmore, R.E., and grandson of General Sir George Whitmore, K.C.H. (colonel-commandant R.E.). His mother was a daughter of Sir J. Stoddart, chief justice of Malta. Educated at the Edinburgh Academy and the Staff College, he received his first commission (23 Jan 1847) as ensign in the Cape Mounted Rifles, with which regiment he first saw active service in the Kaffir wars of 1847 and 1851-53, and in the Boer rising of 1848. In the latter he was present at every engagement and commanded the escort of Sir Harry Smith (Mar-Nov 1851). Promoted lieutenant (21 May 1850), he was appointed brigade-major to the division (1852) and continued to serve under Sir G. Cathcart until the end of the operations. In 1853 he was major of brigade to cavalry. He had two horses shot under him and was repeatedly thanked for his intrepidity, resource and courage.

Promoted captain (7 Jul 1854), he was appointed to the 62nd Foot. In 1855 he proceeded to the Crimea as aide-de-camp to Sir Henry Storks. In the early part of the campaign he was detached on special service in connection with remounts in Hungary, Austria and the principalities, and then with the cavalry of the Turkish contingent in Crimea and Kertch. He was with his own regiment, the 62nd, before Sebastopol. On the termination of the campaign Whitmore was chosen to remain in the Crimea to help wind up the affairs of the army. The methodical and businesslike manner in which his accounts were returned evoked a flattering testimonial from the auditor-general. For his services in the war he received the brevet of major (6 Jun 1856), the Turkish medal, the Medjidieh (4th class) and three British medals. On his return to England he took command of the regimental depot in Ireland, but was shortly appointed aide-de-camp to Sir W. Eyre, commander-in-chief in Canada. In 1860 he was admitted to the staff college, and at the end of the following year he passed out first.

In Jan 1861 Whitmore sailed for New Zealand as military secretary to Sir Duncan Cameron. When as a result of interference by the political authority Cameron resigned, Whitmore also proffered his resignation. Cameron's offer was declined by the War Office, but that of Whitmore was accepted as a matter of course. He accordingly retired by selling his commission (7 Nov 1862) and became a landowner in Hawkes Bay. In Dec 1862 he was appointed to the commission of the peace, and in Mar 1863 he became civil commissioner for the Ahuriri district in succession to Lieut-colonel A. H. Russell. A few months later he was appointed major commanding the military district of Napier, and then chief inspector of the Colonial Defence Force. Almost immediately fighting broke out again in Taranaki in consequence of the murder of Lieut Tragett and Dr Hope. Whitmore volunteered to serve under Cameron, and took part in all the operations up to the action at Katikara (4 Jun 1863). He accompanied Cameron to Waikato, and was present at the battle of Orakau. He then returned to Hawkes Bay. He was appointed commandant of the Colonial Defence Force in Jul 1863, and two months later was called to the Legislative Council.

During most of the year 1865 Whitmore was on a visit to England, and so missed the operations of that period. Not long after his return to Hawkes Bay the province was threatened by a Hauhau invasion from the Taupo country, and Whitmore was called upon to command the local defence force. Hurriedly raising a force, he marched out of Napier on the night of 17 Oct 1866 with 200 volunteers and a strong body of friendly natives under Locke, Tareha and Renata Kawepo, and took up a position on the Tutaekuri river. Early next morning the Hauhau position at Omarunui was surrounded and attacked, and after a sharp fight practically the whole of the enemy were killed or captured, including amongst the former the Hauhau preacher Panapa. Colonel Fraser had meanwhile surprised the small mounted force under Te Rangihiroa which threatened Napier from the direction of Petane. Thus the invasion ended.

Whitmore now entered into local politics, being elected in Apr 1867 to represent Wairoa in the Provincial Council. Towards the end of the year he was appointed commandant of the newly organised Armed Constabulary force. In the middle of 1868 alarm was caused by the escape of Te Kooti and his followers from the Chatham islands and the invasion of Poverty Bay. With the permission of the Government, Whitmore raised in Napier a small force of 30 paid volunteers. They arrived in H.M.S. Rosario too late to assist the settlers in their fight at Paparata, and the raiders made good their escape with a large number of captured horses and camp equipage. Having suffered considerable hardship and reached the limits of the district in which they could be called upon to fight, the local settlers refused to continue the pursuit, and Whitmore was compelled to await reinforcements. An overbearing manner and inconsiderate demands on this and other occasions were responsible for much resentment on the part of the militia and volunteers, to whom the rigid discipline of the regular army was distasteful. The pause in the pursuit allowed Te Kooti to inflict another reverse upon the Wairoa contingent and to make his escape to the bush some days ahead of Whitmore. Though weakened by the departure of the Poverty Bay settlers, Whitmore followed with great intrepidity and came up with the rearguard in the rugged bed of the Ruakiture river in the afternoon of 8 Aug. With his force of only 118 (of whom 76 were Europeans) he maintained the pursuit until dusk, crossing the river no less than eight times. The retreating enemy fought fiercely, and inflicted such losses that Whitmore prudently broke off the engagement at dusk and with great difficulty brought off his wounded. Te Kooti himself was borne into the bush wounded. Lack of provisions compelled a retirement of the exhausted column, leaving its dead behind. Whitmore hastened to Poverty Bay and thence by sea to Wellington to consult the Government. Meanwhile a severe reverse had been sustained by the Colonial forces at Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu, on the West Coast. Whitmore offered, in view of the shortage of officers, to serve under McDonnell; but the Defence Minister (Haultain) found the force so disorganised by the reverse that he ordered its retirement to Patea and entrusted to Whitmore the command of the whole of the troops between the Wanganui and Hangatahua rivers. The Wellington and Nelson men took their discharge, and von Tempsky's Forest Rangers were disbanded, openly disaffected after the loss of their leader. The only unit fit for service was the No. 1 (Hawkes Bay) division of the Armed Constabulary. Whitmore took it with him to the West Coast, and set to work reorganising and drilling, while the Government with great energy recruited in distant provinces and in Australia for regular enlistment in the Constabulary. Whitmore's experience in irregular warfare in South Africa was of great value to the Colony, enabling him to create a new force which was eminently suitable for the work ahead of it. Meanwhile Titokowaru was actively harassing the countryside, and Whitmore considered it advisable to withdraw his headquarters to Wairoa (Waverley), whence with the help of native kupapas, he obstructed the advance of the enemy towards the settlements at Wanganui. Titokowaru had fixed his headquarters at Moturoa, four miles to the northward, and Whitmore decided to attack him without delay. The assault was launched on the morning of 7 Nov 1868. The fighting was very hot. As it developed Whitmore conceived that the position was too strong for the force at his disposal, and decided to draw off. Though he did so in good order and effected his retreat to Wairoa, he had made one of his worst military blunders. Had he continued the attack he must have succeeded. The reverse at Moturoa, one of the most desperate actions in the war, dealt another blow at the confidence of the Colonial forces. Whitmore fell back to the Waitotara river and then to Nukumaru in the hope of covering Wanganui. The garrisons at Wairoa and Patea were now the only posts held by the colonists between the Wanganui front and the Waingongoro river in Taranaki.

The position was obviously critical, and Whitmore offered to resign. Fortunately he still enjoyed the confidence of the Defence Minister. Titokowaru advanced further, and constructed elaborate works at Taurangaika, only 18 miles from Wanganui. At this juncture news was received of the massacre in Poverty Bay on 10 Nov. Reinforcements in the circumstances could not be spared for the West Coast, so after consultation with Haultain Whitmore destroyed what stores he could not carry off and withdrew his troops to the Kai-iwi river. This front would have to maintain itself as well as possible, with the help of the incomparable cavalry troops of Bryce and Finnimore, while Whitmore hastened with his most reliable troops to succour Poverty Bay. On 12 Dec he sailed with 212 of the Armed Constabulary. A few days later he met at Patutahi, Poverty Bay, a force under Preece and Ropata returning from an unsuccessful assault on Te Kooti's stronghold at Ngatapa. Ropata was too prudent to accede to Whitmore's exhortation to renew the attack at once, and the troops camped at Makaraka to await reinforcements. On 24 Dec Whitmore advanced with four divisions of Armed Constabulary (400 strong) and 350 of the Ngati-Porou commanded by Ropata. By the 31st he was entrenched on a hill half a mile from the enemy position, which had been greatly strengthened. On the following day he completed the investment. The Coehorn mortar was brought into action, and a three-days' siege commenced. The outer and second lines of defence were carried, but on the night of 4 Jan 1869 the main body of the enemy made their escape by an unguarded precipice. Many were captured in the hot pursuit. Every male prisoner was shot, 120 out of 136 killed being thus executed after capture; and 150 were wounded in the fighting. The Government losses were 7 killed and 11 wounded. Te Kooti with a few followers fled into the Urewera country.

No sooner was the defeat of the enemy accomplished, than Whitmore embarked with the Armed Constabulary and a new division of Arawa, landing at Wanganui on 18 Jan. He now advanced rapidly with his whole force of 800 Armed Constabulary, the Wanganui and Kai-iwi Cavalry troops and about 200 Whanganuis under Major Keepa. On 1 Feb they were at Nukumaru, and on the following day they advanced to Taurangaika and dug in without enveloping the position. The men, in good heart, sang in the trenches at night. The defenders replied, but during the night evacuated their position. A clever rearguard protected the retreat. At the crossing of the Waitotara river Keepa was ambushed with heavy loss. Whitmore rested a day or two at Patea. Not far off, at Otautu, on the east bank of the river, Titokowaru had established himself fairly strongly. He was surprised on a foggy morning, but made good his escape up the river into the depths of the forest, and thence to Whakamara. In the forest fighting all the prisoners captured by Keepa's men were decapitated in revenge for the mutilation of a kinsman of the Whanganui chief. The enemy having scattered, the troops now made for the open country and emerged from the bush at Taiporohenui. Whitmore heard that Titokowaru was hiding in the security of Te Ngaere swamp. Hurriedly preparing hurdles and fascines, he crossed the swamp during the night of 24 Mar, only to find that Whanganui friendlies were in the pa, temporising with the defenders, and that Titokowaru had escaped towards the upper Waitara. Thus ended a rising which had begun so disastrously for the troops. Having embarked most of the Armed Constabulary, Whitmore visited Waitara to ascertain whether operations were advisable in revenge for the massacre at White Cliffs. The murderers having returned to their own country (Waikato), Whitmore re-embarked and proceeded to Bay of Plenty.

Te Kooti and his sympathisers being still active, it was decided to organise three expeditions into the heart of the Urewera to destroy their food and strongholds. Whitmore accompanied the first column, which advanced up the Rangitaiki river with little opposition and junctioned with the Whakatane column at Ruatahuna on 14 May. Discarding the idea of a further advance to join up at Waikaremoana with Herrick's column from Wairoa, Whitmore withdrew with his wounded to Galatea, and left the district to Colonel St John, with instructions to throw an advance post forward towards Taupo to cut off Te Kooti's retreat to the interior. Crippled with rheumatism, he visited Wellington and Auckland to consult the Government, and was returning to resume his command when a new Government came into office and instructed him to go on sick leave. Thus to his great chagrin the operations were never brought to a final issue. Te Kooti remained in the field for many months longer and was finally pardoned. Whitmore received the C.M.G. (15 Jan 1870) for services which had been of immense value to the Colony, especially in demonstrating the fitness of the New Zealand settlers for guerilla warfare and their ability to end the war under the self-reliant policy. Whitmore was brave, tenacious and intrepid to the point of rashness. Inured to hardships himself, he took his full share of the rigours of the campaign and was apt to push his men beyond their endurance. In his relations with the militia and volunteers he was not happy. Indeed he could scarcely have carried the war to a successful conclusion if he had not adopted the principle of recruiting the Constabulary on a regular basis. His position was not improved by the animosities which naturally arose from his dual position as a commander in the field and a politician.

In 1869 Whitmore withdrew from the Provincial Council, but he remained a member of the Legislative Council until his death. In his earlier years he generally supported Stafford. In 1877 he was sworn in as a member of the Grey ministry, and held the portfolio of Colonial Secretary until its defeat in 1879. He accompanied Sir George Grey on a visit to Te Whiti, in the vain hope of breaking down his policy of isolation. On 24 May 1882 Whitmore was created K.C.M.G. In 1884 he held office as a member of executive in the short-lived Stout-Vogel Government. At the time of the Russian war scare (Apr 1885) he was appointed commandant of the Colonial Defence Force and commissioner of the Armed Constabulary; and in 1886 he was advanced to the rank of major-general (then for the first time conferred on an officer of the Colonial forces). He resigned the command in 1888.

Whitmore had considerable literary attainments. His despatches, even when written in different conditions in the field, showed great facility and literary charm, and his book, The Last Maori War in New Zealand under the Self-Reliant Policy (1902), is refreshingly impartial and pleasantly written. He established a herd book for shorthorn cattle, which he published 1867-70. Whitmore first took up land at Rissington with Major Neale, and afterwards owned the Clive Grange estate. He also, with Beck, held a run at Tokomaru. He married in 1865 Isabel, daughter of William Smith (Rugby, England). He died on 16 Mar 1903.

Hawke's Bay P.C. Proc.; N.Z.P.D., pass. (notably 30 Jun 1903); Brett's Almanac, 1879; D.N.B.; Philpott; Gorton; Gudgeon (p); Gisborne (p); Saunders; Reeves; Rusden; Bryce v. Rusden (report of trial); Cowan; Whitmore, op. cit. (p); Lyttelton Times, 22 May 1885; Evening Post, 17 Mar 1934 (p). Portraits: Gudgeon; Cowan; Whitmore; Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 254

🌳 Further sources