File:Helmet (AM 1934.205-5).jpg

height: 260mm
length: 280mm

Home Service Helmet of Lieutenant Colonel RWE Dawson, 18th Royal Irish Regiment, circa 1878 Belonged to Lieutenant Colonel Charlton Dawson, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, and dates to post-NZ Wars period. The 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment arrived in New Zealand in July 1963 and served in the Waikato and Taranaki Campaigns. It was the last Imperial Army unit to leave New Zealand in February 1870. Charlton Dawson accompanied the 18th Royal Irish Regiment to New Zealand in 1863. At the time he held the rank of Ensign (a commission he had purchased in 1859). On 8 July 1863 the regiment made its headquarters a Queen's Redoubt, Pokeno. Several months later he took part in an action that he named on his medal application. He reported this incident from Queen's Redoubt on 4th September 1863. "Sir, I have the honor to report, for the information of the Lieut.-General Commanding that on the morning of the 2nd September, I was subaltern in charge of the Pokeno picquet, consisting of two sergeants and sixty rank and file, leaving Queen's Redoubt at about 7 o'clock, a.m. when within about half-a-mile of the village I was attacked in my rear by a body of Maoris. I ordered my men to face about and charge them. We drove them down a gully towards the swamp into the bush on the right of the Pokeno village, I followed them for about half-a-mile along the track towards Paparoa. Hearing yells in the direction of the village, I returned along the track to the open ground where 1 was first fired on. "On arriving there I was received with a volley from the enemy, who were extended across the whole of the clearing then between me and the village, and also from the bush on the right. 1 cannot too highly praise the steady conduct of the men at this moment, the enemy appealing in great force. I ordered the men to remain in skirmishing order, and to keep up a steady fire, taking advantage of any cover the ground afforded From the commotion 1 occasionally perceived, I conclude that our fire was effectual, and that the Maoris were removing their wounded. I remained in the position I had taken up until reinforced by Captain the Honorable F. Le P. Trench, 40th Regiment, who then assumed the command, and by his order I advanced with the skirmishers. I have, &c, Charlton Dawson, Ens." Reported in the Wellington Independent, 10 October 1863, Page 7 retrieved- http-paperspast.natlib.govt.nz-cgi-bin-paperspast.a=d&d=WI18631010.2.31.2&cl=search&srpos=1&e Shortly after this action Dawson received a captaincy, again a purchased commission, that was gazetted in 1863. In 1866 Charlton Dawson married Maria Louise Greenway and the couple set up house in Waterloo Quadrant, Auckland. The following year Msria gave birth to a son, George Greenway Henry Dawson. Charlton Dawson continued his military career bur also participated in local events, he was an active supporter of the Auckland Racing Club racing events at Ellerslie, and in 1867 became a shareholder in several goldmining companies that were working claims on the recently opened Thames goldfield. In February 1870 the 18th Royal Irish left New Zealand, and after six months in Australia returned to Great Britain. Over the next six years the regiment was based at various garrisons in England, in 1875 they were in Colchester, and it was here that the Dawson's 8-year old son died of diphtheria. By 1877 the Battalion had relocated to Kilkenny in Ireland, and while here Lieutenant Dawson became Adjutant of the Kilkenny Fusiliers, a position he held until his retirement in 1881. As part of his retirement package, Dawson was appointed to the position of Brevet Major, and granted the rank of Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel. The Dawsons now returned to New Zealand. They established a home at Ellerslie, named after Dawson's birth-place "Arborfield" in Berkshire. Charlton Dawson and his wife were property owners, and he was a member of the Mt Wellington Road Board. In 1885 he was appointed to the School of Instruction for examination of officers of the Volunteers and Militia, Auckland District (ref Otago Witness 27.6.1885) and he played a prominent role in the Pakuranga Hunt Club and Auckland Poultry Fanciers Club. Lieut. Col. Dawson died at his home, 'Arborfield', on 25 February 1905 aged 68 years.

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