Fort Britomart in the 1860s

A group of officers and NCOs pose with a mortar and a cannon outside Fort Britomart in Auckland.

Following a resumption of hostilities in Taranaki in autumn 1863 an ambush at Ōakura resulted in the deaths of nine British soldiers. Grey pointed the finger at the Kīngitanga, which he alleged was not only behind this ambush but was also planning a ‘bloodthirsty’ assault on Auckland. Claims that there was ‘little doubt [that the Waikatos] are at the bottom of most of the mischief’ were used to convince Grey’s superiors in London that an attack on Auckland was imminent.

Central to Auckland's defence was Fort Britomart. Situated on the clifftop site of an earlier pā, the initial building was completed in 1841. Other buildings were added in response to external and local threats in subsequent decades. In the early 1870s, with the fighting in the North Island mostly at an end, the fort closed and operations were transferred to the nearby Albert Barracks.