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Captain-of-the-Foretop |
Captain-of-the-Foretop
Mitchell was born at Apsley Guise, England, on 8 September 1841 and was
22 years old, and a Captain of the Foretop in the Royal Navy, during the
Waikato-Hauhau Maori War, New Zealand, when the action for which he was
awarded The Victoria Cross took place.
"On 29 April 1864 near Tauranga, New Zealand, a storming party of 150 sailors and marines from H.M.S. Harrier, together with the same number of soldiers of the 43rd Light Infantry, succeeded in establishing themselves inside a fortified position known as the Gate Pa. The enemy's fire, however, was heavy and accurate and all the officers were either killed or wounded. Captain-of-the-Foretop Mitchell went into the pa with the commander of Harrier, and when that officer was mortally wounded Mitchell insisted on bringing him out to safety although ordered to go and save himself."
Captain-of-the-Foretop Mitchell drowned in the Nikonui River, Westland, New Zealand, on 16 March 1894, and is buried at Ross Cemetery in Hokitika, New Zealand.
His Victoria Cross is held at the West Coast Historical Museum, Hokitika, New Zealand.
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