Pākehā Māori: the story of Kimble Bent

Kimble Bent was one of a tiny handful of Europeans who switched sides during the New Zealand Wars, who deserted the British army to join Māori "rebels" in Taranaki and reportedly witnessed a famous incident of kai tangata (cannibalism) in the wake of a battle against colonial forces.

It's reasonably common knowledge that large numbers of Māori fought on the side of the government during the New Zealand Wars. We even have a name for them, kūpapa Māori.

A less well-known story is the handful of Europeans who went in the other direction - Pākehā soldiers who deserted the British army and joined the cause of Māori "rebels".

Most of these people are poorly documented, but there is one exception: Kimble Bent.

June, 1865. A Ngāti Ruanui chief, Tito Hanataua, was riding his horse along a track near the bank of the Tangahoe river. He was there to scout a nearby British army fort.

To his astonishment he came face-to-face with a soldier wearing a dripping wet scarlet uniform. That soldier was a 25-year-old American, Kimble Bent.

Decades later, Bent recalled the conversation that followed to historian James Cowan, who published it in a book, The Adventures of Kimble Bent.

Tito Hanataua: "Here you Pākehā! Go back quick! Haere atu, haere atu! Go away back to the soldiers. I shoot you suppose you no go! Hoki atu!

Kimble Bent: Shoot away, I won't go back. I'm running away from the soldiers. I want to go to the Māoris. Take me with you!

Tito Hanataua: You tangata kuware! You Pākehā fool, go back! The Māori kill you, my word! You look out!

Kimble Bent: I don't care if they do, I tell you I want to live with the hauhaus.

Tito Hanataua: E pai ana (it is well). All right, you come along. But you look out for my tribe - they kill you.

- The Adventures of Kimble Bent

The events which led Kimble Bent to that life-changing meeting with Tito Hanataua began five years earlier, when he travelled from his home in Eastport, Maine, to the United Kingdom.

He quickly burned through the money which had been given to him by his father for the trip, and was left stranded with no way to return to the United States.

While he was drowning his sorrows at a pub, Bent's eye was drawn to the smart uniform of a British Army recruiting sergeant. Bent had formerly served in the United States Navy as a teen, and he decided to sign up.

It was the worst decision of his life.

"The discipline and parade ground drilling was a far cry from the rather more relaxed US Navy way of doing things. Floggings were common," said Chris Grosz, who wrote a graphic novel on Bent's story: Kimble Bent Malcontent…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details