Major-General Trevor Chute


Chute was born in Ireland on 31st July 1816 and served for many years as an officer in the Ceylon Rifles. He joined the 70th Surrey Regiment as a captain in 1839 and gained the rank, by purchase, of Lieutenant-Colonel in Dec 1842. He served in India with the regiment from 1848 until the end of the Mutiny and went with the 70th to New Zealand as commanding officer in 1861. They were employed building a road from Drury to the Waikato River. In March 1863 he was promoted to Brigadier-General commanding the troops in Australia. In 1865 he replaced Major-General Duncan Cameron as commander of the army in New Zealand. Cameron's approach was regarded as too soft and a more robust campaign against the rebel Maoris was thought to be more effective. Consequently Chute gained a reputation as a ruthless destroyer of villages and did not seem to make any distinction between hostile and neutral Maoris. He pushed his troops to the point of exhaustion with long difficult marches and bridge-building in heavy rain. He was short and walked with purpose, and had the nickname of The Kerry Bull. He returned to England in 1870 and was rewarded for his success in New Zealand with the KCB and promoted to full General in 1877. He was appointed to the colonelcy of the 22nd Cheshire Regiment on 6th May 1873, a post he held until his death on 12th March 1886. He died in his home 'Egmont' (named after the 8,000 ft mountain in Taranaki), in Binfield, Berkshire, aged 69.


Third Maori War


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