George Phillpotts

Lieutenant George Phillpotts (1814 – 1 July 1845) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was born in Durham, England in or about 1814.

Career

George Phillpotts entered the Royal Navy on 5 September 1827, advanced to mate through examination on 26 November 1833, served on HMS ''Asia''. However, in January 1841, General William Dyott, 63rd Regiment, observed that he'd left the navy and was helping his friend Dick Dyott, the General's son, and the Conservative Party:

"On the 6th a friend of Dick's, Mr. Phillpotts, a son of the Bishop of Exeter's, came for two nights, and was an able help in assisting at our party the following day. He had been in the navy, but on account of his father's politicks could not obtain promotion and quitted, and was employing himself in a colliery and in iron works at Dudley. Dick made acquaintance with him at Plymouth when he was serving as midshipman. He is a nice gentlemanlike youngster.

Phillpotts received his commission in the Royal Navy with rank of lieutenant on 12 November 1841. On 8 February 1842 he was appointed to the newly commissioned HM Steam Sloop ''Vixen'', under Commander Henry Boyes, RN, being manned and provisioned at Plymouth, England, for her maiden voyage to the East India station and China.

China

''Vixen'', as part of long expected reinforcements from England and India for the First Anglo-Chinese War, HMS ''Hazard'' amongst them, joined the British fleet at anchor of Chapoo, China, in May 1842, Then whilst off Woosung following the capture of the town, ''Vixen'' was placed in company with HM Ships ''Cornwallis'', ''Calliope'', transport ''Marion'' with Sir Hugh Gough and staff, and seven other transports in the first of the six divisions of the General Squadron, for the cruise up the Yangtze river on 6 July to Nanking. She took ''Cornwallis'' in tow up to Kin Shan (Golden Island). In the afternoon of 15 July, Gough and Sir William Parker went on in the ''Vixen'' to reconnoitre Kin Shan and the approaches to Chinkiang at the entrance of the South Grand Canal. ''Vixen's'' officers and sailors assisted in the storming and capture of Chinkiang on 21 July 1842.

Having passed Kin Shan, ''Vixen'' came alongside the flagship HMS ''Cornwallis'' on 3 August and took her in tow up the river to anchor off the batteries at Nanking. She stood in the river with HM ships ''Cornwallis'', ''Blonde'', ''Modeste'', ''Childers'', ''Clio'', ''Driver'', and HEIC steamers ''Auckland'', ''Queen'', ''Pluto'', ''Phlegathon'' and ''Medussa'' during the treaty negotiations that bought an end to the war.

For their participation, ''Vixen's'' crew were eligible for the China War Medal (1842).

New South Wales

Lieutenant Phillpotts was appointed to HMS ''Hazard'', under Commander Charles Bell, RN, on 15 December 1842, the day of her arrival at Sydney, New South Wales. After China, ''Hazard'' had left Singapore on 18 October, Anyer, Indonesia on 1 November, for refitting in Sydney into January 1843.

South Sea cruises

On 25 January ''Hazard'' departed Sydney for Tahiti, following HMS ''Vindictive'', which had sailed several days before carrying the British Consul, George Pritchard, to that place. In case of hostilities, Commander Bell was to report to the Admiral of the South American Station for further instructions. Subsequent to visiting Tahiti, ''Hazard'' was to cruise the South Seas in search of the whaler ''Water Witch'', which had been carried off by its mate. They arrived back in Sydney on 24 March.

HMS ''Hazard'' left Sydney for Hobart on 11 or 12 April 1843, then headed to Tahiti a few days after its arrival.

Whilst at Oʻahu, Hawaii, ''Hazard'' went to San Blas, Mexico, in January 1844, to bring William Miller, Consul General of the Sandwich Islands and the Pacific, and suite, to Hawaii. Thereafter they left Honolulu, Oʻahu, for Lahaina, Maui, on 8 February, for presentation to the King of Hawaii, Kamehameha III on 10 February and signing of the ''Convention Between Great Britain and the Sandwich Islands'' on 12 February. Hazard then sailed for Mazatlán, Mexico, seemingly returning to Hawaii and Tahiti in March.

After the departure of the ''Shamrock'' on 8 March, a serious skirmish took place between the Tahitians and French, commencing the Franco-Tahitian War. The Tahitians, assisted by the American and European seamen on the Island, managed to take six field pieces from the French, and kill about eighty. A gunner, formerly of HMS ''Vindictive'', was at the head of the Tahitians.

Captain Bell, of H.M.S. Hazard, on his arrival at Tahiti, sent a boat ashore in command of an officer, which, on reaching, was at once seized by the French guard stationed on Papiete beach, and the officer and his crew were taken prisoners. After a detention, however, of several hours, they were 'sent off' to their ship, with the understanding that '' 'the subjects of Great Britain could not on any account be allowed to land on that Island,' '' as the French Governor declared the Island 'to be in a state of siege.' This declaration, on the part of the French Governor, is really too Quixotic to be viewed in any other light than that of pity—the act of ''besieging'' an ''unfortified'' place, must be brave indeed!

HMS ''Hazard'' touched at Tutuila, Samoan Islands in late April, and arrived back in Sydney on 18 May 1844, having traversed at least a distance of 30,000 miles on that cruise. The ship and crew departed Sydney, New South Wales, for Auckland, New Zealand on 4 July 1844.

New Zealand

HMS ''Hazard'', under the command of Acting Commander David Robertson-Macdonald following Commander Bell's death in August 1844, was in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand at the start of the Flagstaff War.

Flagstaff War

=Kororāreka

=

At dawn on Tuesday 11 March 1845, a force of about 600 Māori armed with muskets, double-barrelled guns and tomahawks commenced the Battle of Kororāreka.

Lieutenant Phillpotts, in command of HMS ''Hazard'' after Commander Robertson-Macdonald was severely wounded, ordered the bombardment of Kororāreka. In the early hours of Thursday, 13 March, the third day on, HMS ''Hazard'' prepared for sea and conveyed the sick and wounded to Auckland.

In review of the battle's sequence of unfortunate events on 11 March 1845, Phillpotts reported to Governor FitzRoy on 15 March:

…but the conclusion I have come to is, that had possession of the blockhouse at the flagstaff, in charge of Ensign Campbell, been retained, I should not now be suffering from the feelings naturally occurring to a man who has been subdued.

That it was a defeat I must acknowledge, as I consider losing the flag-staff in the same light as losing a ship.

=Waikare

=
On the night of 15 May 1845, a week after the battle of Puketutu, Major Cyprian Bridge, 58th Regiment, with 200 men of the regiment, 8 marines and a 12-pounder carronade, worked their way up the Waikare river in boats, each with an armed seaman from HMS ''Hazard'', to attempt a surprise attack on the Kapotai pā. Near daybreak, disorientation and tidal groundings had only delivered Bridge, now before the pā, a force of 50 troops and 100 of Tāmati Wāka Nene's warriors. Firing from the pa commenced at daybreak but its inhabitants, wary of the attack, soon moved to abandon it. Nene's warriors supported with company of the 58th fought Kapotai warriors, reinforced by a party of Kawiti's men, in the bush around the pā for some six or seven hours. During the operation, Phillpotts captured two boats, and Bridge allowed Nene's people to take the canoes. The pā was burnt and destroyed.

=Ōhaeawai

=


George Clarke observed the effect of the battle of Kororāreka upon Phillpotts: "It galled him terribly, and the poor fellow took it as a reflection on his courage, and was very sore about it. It made him reckless, and he joined the camp with the foreboding that he should never return."

On 1 July 1845, during the battle of Ōhaeawai, after 32-pounder bombardment of the pā, Colonel Henry Despard put his opinion to his council that the palisades had been loosened and an assault may be successful. Tāmati Wāka Nene advised Despard that there was no breach, and that "the bravest soldiers in the world could not find a passage for two abreast," and Captain William Biddlecomb Marlow, RE, supported him in this view. Colonel William Hulme, 96th Regiment, Captain Johnson, RN, and Marlow protested against Despard's intentions. In consequence, Phillpotts, alone and unarmed, made a daring reconnaissance, walking round the pā to within pistol-shot of the palisades targeted by the gun; so close that his acquaintances within called out "Go back Topi. We cannot let you come nearer, Topi; if you do we must fire". When shots were fired over his head, he exchanged some good-natured chaff with them and sauntered back to British lines.

Perhaps it was not his first reconnaissance. Surveyor Johann Pieter (John Peter) Du Moulin, attached to the Commissariat, noted:

Some days previous to the assault, it was suggested to the commanding officer that a breach might be effected by powder bags. Philpotts volunteered to perform that duty, for which he was snubbed. He then, out of bravado, left the camp, in mid-day, unarmed, and reached the pa to within a few yards; when a native climbed the second row of palisades, and called out, in broken English,—"go back, Toby, or else you will be shot." I was an eye-witness to this piece of foolery. Philpotts was attired in a blue shirt, and (fancy) a tall white felt hat.

Clarke recalled that, on another occasion:

a little after dusk, Phillpotts crept up to the palisade, and began slashing with his cutlass at the flax screen, when, of course, nothing could have been easier than to strike him down, but instead of that an awful voice came from the ground at his feet, not five yards off: "Go away Toby, go away Toby," and he went away.

Phillpotts reported that an assault was impracticable. Tamati Waaka Nene warned Despard again that an assault was absolutely impossible. Even Frederick Manning and John Webster, in Nene's presence, advised Despard against an assault. Despard ordered an assault upon the pā to be made at 3:00 pm.

The storming party was to be composed of columns; the advance made up of 2 sergeants and 20 volunteers who were to silently move up to the stockade; followed closely by the assaulting body under Major Ewan Macpherson, 99th Regiment—40 grenadiers of the 58th, 40 grenadiers of the 99th, accompanied by the bluejackets and 30 volunteer militia pioneers carrying hatchets, ropes and ladders; closely followed by a column of 100 men under Major Cyprian Bridge, 58th Regiment—remaining grenadiers of the 58th, 60 battalion rank and file of the 58th, 40 light company rank and file of the 99th; and a supporting column of 100 men under Colonel Hulme, 96th Regiment—the 96th detachment complete with battalion rank and file of the 58th. Phillpotts, Captain William Grant, 58th Regiment, and Lieutenant Edward Beatty, 99th Regiment, took to leading the forlorn hope.

Du Moulin recalled that from the moment before marching off at 3:00 pm:

I left the camp for the knoll, a few hundred yards off, (on the top of which a brass 6-pounder was placed, and at the base a 32-pounder naval gun,) for the purpose of witnessing the assault. On arriving at the naval gun, Philpotts overtook me, and said,—"Here, Mullins, pull these trousers off; I don't want to die a soldier." (They were black cloth, red stripe, soldier's trousers.) He sat on the gun carriage, and I hauled the trousers off, over his boots. He then drew his sword, threw the scabbard into the fern; his forage cap, a soldier's, after the scabbard; and left, attired in a sailor's blue woollen shirt, tight cotton drawers, boots, and naked sword. He followed Major Macpherson's attacking column, which passed us a short distance off. I soon followed Philpotts, instead of going to the top of the knoll; and when within sixty or seventy yards from the pa, I stood behind a dead tree, with my watch in hand. The two attacking columns were Major Bridge, 58th, with the light companies, 58th and 99th; Major Macpherson, 99th, with the grenadier companies. The reserve column under Colonel Hulme, mixed. On the two former reaching the pa, to within twenty-five yards, they received, nearly simultaneously, a fearful volley from the enemy, which killed Captain Grant, and caused a havock in a body of nearly four hundred of the finest of troops, which threw the whole of the two columns into a mass of confusion. The natives continued independent firing, which killed Philpotts...

Du Moulin's sketch plan placed Phillpotts' body just outside the palisade about halfway along the western flank. In a despatch to the Governor, Despard placed Phillpotts endeavouring to force his way through the palisade. Historian James Cowan says that Phillpotts had run: "along the stockade to the right (the west flank), seeking a place to enter; the outer fence had suffered most damage there. He actually climbed the ''pekerangi'', a small portion of which had been loosened by sword-cuts delivered against the ''torotoro'' lashings and partly pulled down. There he fell, shot through the body." Other accounts place Phillpotts as having worked his way through the pā's gun embrasure, or breech in the outer palisade, and whilst endeavouring to force a way through the second palisade, was struck through the heart by a stray ball. Arthur McCormick's 1908 illustration imagines him there, beside one of the pā's guns, striking in naval full dress coatee with epaulette and clean white trousers, arm embowed, holding in the hand a sword.

A flag of truce was flown from the pā two days later, with invitation to bury the dead. Cowan's informants recalled that as casualties were carried from the field, the pā 's victors charged out yelling, shaking guns and long-handled tomahawks. A white-headed tattooed warrior ran along the palisade to Phillpotts's body, bent over, cut off a portion of scalp with his tomahawk and burst into incantation offering the first battle-trophy to his god of war, Tūmatauenga. Warriors then performed the tutu-ngarahu war dance with guns and tomahawks. John Webster recalled that a war cry was danced when Phillpotts' scalped body was found.

Archdeacon Henry Williams, in recovering Phillpotts' body, also recovered his eyeglass and a portion of his scalp, found hanging by the inner palisade it was said, which he passed over the Captain Johnson, RN, HMS ''Hazard''. Tāmati Wāka Nene recovered Phillpotts' sword which had been held over within Ohaeawai's palisades during recovery of bodies. He later gave it to the Rev. William Davis.

Grant, who'd fallen shot through the head, was later found with additional damage to his body. He and Phillpotts and were buried at St. John the Baptist Church, Waimate." Beatty, severely wounded in the attack, died of wounds at Waimate on 11 July.

Legacy

George Phillpotts collected a number of Fijian weapons, possibly during HMS ''Hazard's'' South Sea cruises in 1843–44:
* A Fijian sokilaki or long barbed spear. Accession no. E1616, Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
* A Fijian paddle club. Accession no. E1248, Royal Albert Memorial Museum
* A Fijian club or battle-hammer carved in the form of a stylised flying fox fruit bat, Pteropus. Accession no. E1607, Royal Albert Memorial Museum

Arms of Phillpotts

''Escutcheon''—Gules a cross argent between four swords erect argent, pommels and hilts or. ''Crest''—A dexter arm embowed in armour, holding in the hand a sword all proper.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillpotts, George
1814 births
1845 deaths
People from Durham, England
Royal Navy officers
Royal Navy personnel of the New Zealand Wars
British military personnel of the New Zealand Wars
19th-century New Zealand military personnel
Flagstaff War