Bernard Cadogan

Bernard Francis Cadogan (born on 29 October 1961) is a New Zealand poet, philosopher and historian. He was educated at Bishop Viard College, Otago University, Oxford University (which awarded him a doctorate on Empire Studies and constitutional theory) and Cambridge University.

In 2021, Cadogan published Crete 1941: An Epic Poem, an epic poem about the contributions of New Zealand forces (particularly the 28th (Māori) Battalion) in the Battle of Crete.

Early education and academic career

Cadogan was born in 1961, in Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand. He holds citizenships of New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland.

During his school and university years, Cadogan studied ancient Greek and Latin, French and German. His interest in the work of Virgil, the ancient Greek polis, but also the ancient Roman Republic and Imperial Rome form also the background of his own poetic writings. Cadogan studied at the Universities of Otago, Cambridge and Oxford, graduating with a D.Phil. (Doctorate) from the University of Oxford. Since 1985 he has been associated with Peterhouse College, Cambridge University; since 2002 also with Keble College in Oxford.

As political adviser and strategic planner

Since 1996 Cadogan has acted as a policy adviser to several senior New Zealand politicians such as the Rt Hon Bill English, the Rt Hon Dame Jenny Shipley, the Rt Hon Simon Upton and the Hon Trevor Mallard, a (2013) Cadogan, Bernard, Lords of the Land: Indigenous property rights and the jurisprudence of empire, Journal of Pacific History 51 (1), (2016) Cadogan, Bernard, Crete 1941: An Epic Poem, Tuwhiri, Wellington (2021), Cadogan, Bernard, The Loss of Madness: A Tribute to Hölderlin, Tuwhiri, Wellington (2022), Cadogan, Bernard, Sixty Something Volumes 1 & 2, The Giant’s Trough Press, Wellington (2023) , ePub