Alexander Whisker
soldier and diarist (1819–1907)
Alexander Whisker (1819–1907) was an Irish New Zealand soldier and diarist. He was born in Markethill, County Armagh, Ireland in 1819, the son of Catherine Jenkins and her husband James Whisker.
Military career
He enlisted in the British Army on 26 May 1838 and was posted to the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot, where he married Flora Cook, though it is not known when or where the marriage took place. She gave birth to Mary Jean, while the regiment was stationed in Dublin, Ireland on 10 September 1842. Then, she gave birth to Charles on 30 April 1844 at Chatham, while the regiment was awaiting trans-shipment to New South Wales for garrison duties. By March 1845 Whisker and his family were in barracks at Parramatta.
Whisker's stay at Parramatta was short and reinforcements were needed to fight Hōne Heke and Kawiti's forces in New Zealand. No 3 Company of the 58th Regiment arrived in Auckland on 22 April 1845 aboard the Slains Castle en route for the Bay of Islands. The company was commanded by Captain C. W. Thompson, whose soldier-servant was Private Alexander Whisker. During May, Whisker took part in three engagements, including the assault on Heke's Pā at Puketutu and the subsequent retreat.
“Alexander Whisker” enters the record as soldier and diarist (1819–1907). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alexander, Whisker and soldier can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alexander Whisker” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.