Captain H. W. Northcroft, N.Z.C.

Captain Northcroft began his military career at the age of sixteen years as a guide to the Imperial troops in Taranaki in 1860. He gained a commission in 1864, and served throughout the Maori campaigns with great distinction. He was awarded the New Zealand Cross in recognition of repeated acts of bravery, particularly his devotion to mortally wounded comrades at Pungarehu and Tirotiro-moana, Taranaki, in 1866. (See page 149 and Appendices.) For many years after the wars he was a Stipendiary Magistrate, and after his retirement from the Bench he was for some time New Zealand Government Resident at Rarotonga, Cook Islands.