ROWLEY HILL, N.Z.C.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10299, 7 January 1927, Page 5

ROWLEY HILL, N.Z.C.

HARDY veteran celebrates NINETIETH BIRTHDAY

AN ADVENTUROUS CAREER

ILN MEDALS AND THREE BARS

ACTIVE SERVICE AT BALACLAVA AND LUCKNOW -

(Special to tlie Times.) AUCKLAND, Jan. 6. Few New Zealand veterans have had a career so full of adventure as Mr George “Rowley” Hill of Devonport, who to-day celebrated his 90th birthday. Both in New Zealand and abroad Mr Hill has seen considerable war service, and his exploits have earned for him a total of ten medals and three bars. Mr Hill was born at Dawlish, Devonshire. He entered service as a boy on H.M.S. Britannia in August 1851. His first action was in the Baltic operations against the Russians in the Crimean war. He served under Sir Charles Napier in the paddle wheel frigate 'Leopard. He also saw active service on land, for after bringing an Irish regiment to the Peninsula, the boat put a naval detachment on shore. Mr Hill came out of the war with a Baltic medal and a Crimean medal and bar, the latter being gained at the taking of Sebastapol in 1855. He was later awarded the Turkish medal. When the Indian Mutiny broke out Mr Hill tvas serving on H.M.S. Shannon, which was stationed at Hongkong. With others, the ship was ordered to India and a naval detachment Avas sent ashore. Mr Hill was attached to the Brigade in relief of the Residency of LueknoAV, and the final capture of the city, gaining a medal and bar on each occasion. __ \ The late Lord Roberts Mr Hill. knew 1 'as a captain. In the mutiny he was wounded at Lucknow and CavATipore.

WITH GARIBALDI’S ARMY While his ship Avas in the Mediterranean waters Mr Hill deserted and joined Garribaldi’s army. He saAV service at Palermo and Capa and in the Straits of Messina. “I did not serve very long with Garibaldi as I was caught by a naval picket and taken back to my ship”, he explained. “lIoAA-ever, nothing was done to me, probably because England regarded Garibaldi’s efforts in a favorable light.”

ARRIVAL IN NEW ZEALAND Mr Hill came to New Zealand in 1864 as a member of the troopship Empress, Avhich Avas bringing soldiers to fight in the Maori Avars. Wishing to see service himself Mr Hill jumped overboard after the vessel anchored in the Waitemata, and swam ashore. He joined the Forest Rangers under Major Von Tempsky and fought in fifteen engagements against the Maoris, several times against the redoubtable Te Kooti. He gained the Xew Zealand Cross, the Maori War Medal, and the Neiv Zealand Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. *

N.Z. CROSS IVON IN TE KOOTI CAMPAIGN

The exploit which gained Air Hill the Xew Zealand Cross is described by the recipient in a simple unostentatious way. “There were tAA'o pas at Mohaka which were being attacked by Te Kooti. One of them Avas taken and after destroying, almost all who were in it, Te Kooti turned his attention to the other. Twenty Maoris and six Avhite men Aver© left to defend the other pa, but all the other white men ran away, and I was the only one Avho remained. -We fortified the pa, and successfully defended it against Te Kooti, who after a number of fruitless assaults, --as forced to retire. I then took the news of his retirement to Major Toogood at Waikare. None of the Maoris would go.” As an afterthought, Mr Hill added: “I saw Te Kooti taken off to the Chatham- Islands. Borne of the Maoris kicked him, so he shot them when he came' back. MEDAL FOR LIFE SAVING ’ Mi' Hill’s stock of medals are not -f-Ul for war service, as he holds the Royal Humane Society's medal for life saving. On two occasions lie displayed gallantry in saving life. In .1860 as a member of the crew of H.M.S. Hannibal lie rescued a drowning sailor at Corfu, Greece; at Devenport in 1893, he rescued a Avoman who had been SAA’ept- by. the tide into deep water and was in" great danger of drowning.