THE IMPERIAL VISION OF HEROISM 77
Victoria Cross and both received it without controversy.^12 Unlike Ensign
Chaplin, Ensign Wynter was commended but not recommended; the theatre
commander in this case, Sir Robert Napier, was interested in results, not
theatrics. While there would be other ‘first in’ VCs, the fad for them had
passed by 1870.
The small wars’ effect was not limited to finer definitions of administrative
policy. Some of the questions raised by these conflicts resulted in changes
in the warrant itself in recognition of the broader scope of colonial and
imperial warfare. Once again the conflict with the Maoris provided the
catalyst for change.
Major Charles Heaphy, Auckland Militia, was originally recommended
for the VC by Lieutenant General Duncan Cameron on 14 November 1864,
for tending a wounded British regular under fire. The problem, according
to Secretary for War Earl de Gray, was that the colonial forces fought in
this instance for rewards of land to be granted after the campaign. These
rewards were not available to the regular troops, who fought for Queen
and country. This was the only reason he was hesitant to rework the rules
to allow Heaphy a VC; he considered the act itself worthy, but the rules
did not specifically state the award could be given to irregular troopers. As
such, he was forced to deny the recommendation, a position that irritated
the Colonial Office.^13
The empire was in the process of transferring responsibility for local
defense to the colony in the 1860s, which gave both Heaphy and the Colonial
Office some leverage in the pursuit of the award.^14 Heaphy himself wrote a
letter to Prime Minister Palmerston, requesting that his recommendation be
reconsidered.^15 When that did not provoke a favorable response the Colonial
Office got behind the situation, adding its considerable influence to the
recommendation. This was in response to an initiative by the New Zealand
government, which was quite upset with metropolitan stone-walling. The
colonial government left no stone unturned in gathering and transmitting
affidavits in Heaphy’s favor.^16 It soon became apparent that part of the
price for New Zealand’s cooperation in accepting greater responsibility in
imperial defense was local access to the laurels of heroism.
Under this pressure the government had to extend the warrant, but it
did so carefully. The service heads did not trust the colonial irregulars to
hold the proper objectivity in recommending VC winners, so they were
included as eligible only if serving under the command of regular forces.^17
Military Secretary Edward Pennington drafted a careful assessment of the
situation for distribution to the War and Colonial Offices. In it he noted
that the Duke of Somerset, First Lord of the Admiralty, proposed either
lily
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