Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The rare and important Maori War medal awarded to Major-General Thomas B. Collinson, Royal Engineers, who produced the first set of scientifically surveyed maps of Hong Kong, published in 1845, and is the only known Army recipient of the New Zealand War medal dated ‘1847’, when, on 19 July, he was present in the successful repulse of an attack on the fort, known as the ‘Rutland Stockade’, by some 400 Maori warriors

New Zealand 1845-66, reverse dated 1847 (Col. Thos. Bernd. Collinson, Ryl. Engrs.) officially impressed naming, toned, extremely fine and probably unique to an Army recipient £5,000-£7,000

Provenance: Professor Graveson Collection, Glendining’s, March 1989; Dix Noonan Webb, March 2008, ‘An Important Collection of Medals for the Maori Wars 1845-66’.

Confirmed on Roll 7681/359 Royal Engineers 'Medals Issued on 25 February 1870', Rank and Name: Colonel Collinson, Thomas Bernard; Rank at the period the Medal was earned: Captain; Record of Service in the Field on which the claim is founded: Engaged against the natives in Cook Straits 1847, Lieut. Col. McCleverty Commanding. Present at the repulse of 400 natives in attack at Wanganui on 19 July 1847.’ Believed to be the only Army recipient of a medal with this date. Referenced in British Battles and Medals.

Thomas Bernard Collinson was born on 18 November 1821, the son of the Rev. John Collinson and Amelia King, at Gateshead, County Durham. He entered the Army at the age of 16 years 8 months in the Cadet Company of the Royal Engineers on 16 June 1838, being promoted Lieutenant in March 1841, Captain in April 1847, Brevet of Major in October 1858, Lieutenant-Colonel in September 1860, Brevet of Colonel in September 1865, Colonel in July 1871, and Hon. Major-General and retired on full pay on 2 August 1873. His service comprised 21 years and 217 days at Home, and 13 years and 195 days Abroad. His Home service included terms at Chatham, Woolwich, on the Survey of Great Britain and Ireland, the Great Exhibition in 1857, and further terms at Woolwich and Chatham, and at Aldershot and Dover. His service abroad included China, New Zealand, Corfu, Malta, two periods in Corfu interspersed with Special Service in Egypt, September to November 1858, and Malta.

As a young Lieutenant Collinson left Woolwich on the Honourable East India Company Ship Mount Stewart Elphinstone on 24 May 1843, bound for Hong Kong. There, his principal work was making an exact survey of Hong Kong Island, employing knowledge gained from three years with the Ordnance Survey in England and Ireland. He established 27 trigonometric stations around Hong Kong Island in order to produce the first set of scientifically surveyed maps of Hong Kong, the Ordnance Map of Hong Kong published by the Board of Ordnance in 1845, and received a compliment from the geographer J. Arrowsmith that it was the most complete map he had ever seen. Ambitious to make a perfect map, he utilised the contour system that had recently been developed and adopted in the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, also adding soundings and other nautical information from Admiralty charts by Captain Edward Belcher, R.N., H.M.S. Sulphur (Commander Richard Collinson, R.N., Thomas’s brother, also produced Admiralty charts of the China coast). Collinson made the first records of many place names, including prominent locations in today's Hong Kong: Shek O, Chai Wan, Shau Kei Wan, Quarry Bay, Tai Tam, Tin Wan, Wan Chai, and Pok Fu Lam. Cape Collinson, Mount Collinson, Collinson Street, Cape Collinson Road and Path, on Hong Kong Island, were all named in his honour. Collinson's pictorial drawings were of such an admirable standard that Major Aldrich, R.E., used Collinson's work to illustrate his 1846 report on the erection of Ordnance buildings in Hong Kong, published in the Royal Engineer Papers in 1849.

On 11 June 1846, Collinson sailed for service in New Zealand embarking in an old teak ship, the Emily Jane (480 tons), bound for Sydney, New South Wales, arriving on 18 August 1846. Upon the continued native attacks in New Zealand it was decided that he had better go, and on 1 September 1846 he departed New South Wales in the aptly named trading brigantine Terror, anchoring at Auckland on 19 September 1846. Collinson recorded in his [unpublished] Journal, ‘left Hong Kong for services in New Zealand. This movement was brought about by some representation at headquarters that I had been long enough in China; and as I had completed the special work I had been sent out for, and as an officer was wanted in New Zealand, there was some reason for it.’

In Auckland he stayed with Captain Henderson, R.A., for several months. The Royal Engineer officers in New Zealand at this time consisted of Captain William Biddlecomb Marlow R.E. and Clerk of Works George Graham R.E., both of whom had recently been exhaustively occupied with Hone Heke's War in the Bay of Islands during 1845-46, and with the Auckland defences.

On 22 November 1846, Collinson embarked in the Colonial Brig Victoria to his solitary station in Wellington, where trouble persisted in the Hutt Valley. Ten days after his arrival, on 30 November, he embarked on H.M.S. Calliope, with the whole force, for Wanganui, where Captain Joseph Henry Laye, 58th Regiment, and himself selected a site for a stockade and arranged its construction. In January 1847, having returned to Wellington in a small trading cutter, he organised the construction of barracks, explored the road to Porirua and the Hutt Valley, and returned to Wanganui in February to carry on the construction of defences there. He was present there, on 19 July, in the successful repulse of an attack on the fort, known as the ‘Rutland Stockade’, by some 400 Maori warriors.

Collinson returned to his station in Wellington in 1848, where duties included a plan for the defence of Wellington, the arrangement and construction of military buildings, and a report on the earthquake that damaged the Paremata Barracks at Porirua. He also made occasional visits to Wanganui and explorations about the local countryside. Collinson completed a paper on New Zealand timber trees, with notes supplied by the naturalist William John Swainson, F.R.S., in February 1850. During his service in New Zealand he made a number of friends in Captain Henderson, R.A., Bishop Selwyn, Sir George Grey, Alfred Domett, William Fox and Tamehana. Dr Andrew Sinclair, the Colonial Secretary and naturalist, had served with his brother Richard on H.M.S. Sulphur.

Collinson departed New Zealand for Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, in March 1850, where, on Tuesday, 26 March 1850, he forwarded his paper 'On Timber Trees of New Zealand' to the Royal Society of Van Dieman’s Land along with samples of timber and dried leaves of the principal forest trees found in the southern part of New Zealand, and was admitted into the Society at its April meeting. His paper was read before the Society on 10 July 1850, and published in the following year.

During his return to England from May 1850, he wrote two detailed papers on the history of military operations in New Zealand for publication in the Royal Engineer Papers. He was soon also employed at the Great Exhibition of 1851 as the ‘Superintendent of British Side of Building’ under the general superintendence of Colonel Sir William Reid, R.E., Chairman of the Executive Committee. He also supplied the statistics of New Zealand for publication in the Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue. For the New Zealand exhibit, South Area Q and R 32, his father, the Rev. John Collinson, provided article no. 3.—geological specimens, iron sand from New Plymouth, a small bag made of New Zealand flax made by a lady, flax prepared by Māori (native pattern and dyes) and a mat of New Zealand flax made by Māori.

In April 1869 he advocated in a lecture to the Royal United Service Institute, the formation of one General Military School. In 1889 he edited his brother Sir Richard Collinson's journal for publication: Journal of H.M.S. Enterprise, on the expedition in search of Sir John Franklin's ships by Behring Strait, 1850-55. In 1892-94 he compiled a detailed and illustrated memoir (unpublished) of his work and experiences titled ‘Seven Years Service on the Borders of the Pacific Ocean, 1843-1850, Written for the Information and Satisfaction of My Children’ [Believed to have been sold at auction by Messrs Phillips in November 1970, and now held by the National Library Wellington, N.Z.]. Collinson was a keen illustrator and many examples, some featuring Māori, are kept at the Alexander Turnbull Library of the National Library. Further of his sketches are held by the National Museum of Australia.

Major-General Thomas Bernard Collinson died at Ealing, Middlesex, of pneumonia on 1 May 1902.

Sold with full research including photocopies from Papers Connected with The Duties of the Corps of The Royal Engineers”, Vol. III - New Series, Paper II: Remarks on the Military Operations in New Zealand by Capt. Collinson, Royal Engineers, Parts I, II, and III.