Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

New Zealand 1845-66, reverse undated (W. Maxwell. Tarni B-R.) nearly very fine £1,200-£1,500

‘William B. Maxwell commenced service in 1860 under Major Stapp in te Taranaki Province as a volunteer. Later that year however he joined the No. 2 Company of the Taranaki Rifle Volunteers, commonly called No. 2 Taranaki Bushrangers under Major Atkinson. He served under Major Atkinson from 1860 to 1867. Private Maxwell then left for Patea and joined the No. 2 Armed Constabulary Force in 1868 under Colonel McDonnell. He continued on in this force under Colonel Whitmore in 1869, serving in the East Coast campaign and the Urewa engagements. In 1872 Maxwell applied for and received the New Zealand War medal for his involvement in the taking of Manutahi and Matatawu while under Major Atkinson, and also for his involvement in the expedition to Opunake under Colonel Whitmore. In April 1881, however, Maxwell lost the original medal in an accidental fire in Tauranga. In 1905 Maxwell applied for the medal’s replacement which was granted and engraved as follows: ‘No. 1557, Private Wm. Maxwell, Taranaki Bushrangers’. The Under-Secretary of Defence further instructed the engraver that the numerals ‘1861-1866’ be erased from the replacement medal. In 1913, Maxwell while still living in Te Aroha applied for and was rejected for the New Zealand Long Service and Good Conduct Medal as not having served within the specified time limit for the medal. (Letter from the Archivist, National Archives, Wellington N.Z. refers)

Upon his death in Te Aroha on 17 March 1915, several obituaries appeared in local newspapers, one with a photograph of Maxwell wearing several medals including those for the Crimea, China, Indian Mutiny and New Zealand. He is stated to have served in the Royal Navy in the Crimea aboard the Majestic, in China aboard the Shannon and in the Indian Mutiny in Peel’s Naval Brigade. No man of this name, however, has been found on the appropriate medal rolls for those three medals. In spite of this, it is clear from his obituaries that he was held in high esteem locally as a gallant and popular Veteran. Sold with original letter from the National Archives and various copied obituaries and other research.