Biographical.

Major-General George Stoddart Whitmore, K.C.M.G., M.L.C. (born at Malta in 1830), took part in the Kaffir Wars (1847 and 1851–53), the Boer rising (1848), and the Crimean War (1854). He came out to New Zealand as military secretary to Sir Duncan Cameron, and served in the Taranaki and Waikato Wars and against Te Kooti. He was the first New Zealand officer to be raised to the rank of Major-General. In 1861 he took up “Rissington” (Hawke's Bay), which he sold to Miles and Co., of Canterbury, for £50,000 in June, 1873. He then acquired “Clive Grange” and other Hawke's Bay runs. For some months he held “Malvern Hills,” an Otago leasehold of 350,000 acres (with 140,000 sheep and 300 cattle), and then parted with it to James Coyle, of Tasmania, for £130,000, the amount which he had paid for it. In 1883 he took up Tuparoa run (20,000 acres), and, in 1894, disposed of it to Archdeacon Sam Williams. He was a member of the Legislative Council from August, 1863, till his death on 16 March, 1903. For short terms he held Cabinet rank in various Ministries.