Royal New Zealand Fencible Corps

The Royal New Zealand Fencible Corps was formed in 1846, following the conclusion of the Northern War against Hone Heke. The Governor, George Grey, had requested military forces for the defence of the early settlers in New Zealand, instead of supplying regular military forces the British Parliament approved the creation of the Corps. The arrival of the fencible ships in Auckland, which had a population of 2,800 at the time, virtually doubled when the fencibles and their families disembarked.

The term 'fencible is derived from defensible, and regiments had been raised during the 1750s and 1760s (for the Seven Years' War), 1770s (for the American War of Independence), and the 1790s and onwards (for the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars) — see list of British fencible regiments. Unlike regular British line regiments which could be posted anywhere, fencible regiments were raised for local defence and garrison duties and usually under their conditions for enlistment the men of a fencible corps could not be posted to other theatres.

The conditions for enlistment in the New Zealand Fencible were that soldiers of good character must have had 15 years of military service and have been under 48 years of age. Nearly all those recruited had extensive military action in India and Afghanistan. Most were married with several children. The conditions were posted at regiments throughout the British Isles. Many were Irishmen who had served in the British army but for whom life in Ireland was desperate due to the series of potato famines that regularly occurred throughout the 1840s. For married Irish soldiers the food, pay, offer of land and a cottage in New Zealand was a chance for a new life.

Pay was 6 pence to 1 shilling and 3 pence a day in addition to their pension. The Commandant (Major Kenny) was paid £300; each officer was given a house and 50 acres (20 ha) of land. The pensioners were to be provided with a prefabricated fencibles cottage of 2 rooms, on an acre of land. One of the few remaining cottages, albeit in an altered form, is on its original site at 34 Abercrombie St, Howick. This cottage was built with the help of Maori labour for Henry and Elizabeth Rowe and their surviving three children in 1848, after they arrived in the Sir George Seymour in November 1847. After seven years, the cottage and land would become their own property in exchange for the pensioner attending military exercises twelve days a year.

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