Edwin Bezar

Sergeant Major Edwin Bezar (18 February 1838 – 6 February 1936) was an English soldier and author who fought in the Crimean War, counterinsurgency in the Aden Settlement and the New Zealand Wars. At his death in 1936 aged 97 he was the last surviving soldier of the 57th Regiment that had fought in the New Zealand Wars. In retirement he was an active public servant for the New Zealand Defence Department, including organising the first Maori Rifle Corps of Volunteers in the 1870s. He was a prolific correspondent and wrote an account of his experiences in the New Zealand Wars.

Early life

Edwin Bezar was born at Corsham, Wiltshire, England on 18 February 1838. Little is known of his childhood but he later claimed to have met the pioneer photographer Fox Talbot. Lacock Abbey, near Bezar's birthplace, was the setting for Fox Talbot's historic images of the 1840s. on 4 June 1863; the capture of the Kaitake Pa on 11 March 1864 and Kakeramea Pa on 13 March 1865; and the battle of Otapawa Pa on 13 January 1866. When Captain Lloyd's detachment of the 57th in Kakaramea was attacked and that officer killed on 1 October 1865, Sergeant Bezar commanded the relief party from New Plymouth.

Bezar had been a Sergeant for nearly five years when he was made Colour Sergeant on 15 May 1866.