Colonel Sir Northcroft

His medals and honours

Won for gallantry

Every other medal and honour (13)

His story

1. 1884-1912

   From Hokitika to the Hamilton bar

   Born at Hokitika, the son of a sharebroker. He was educated at Hokitika School and Wellington College, worked for an Auckland law firm from 1903 while studying at Auckland University College, and began practice in Hamilton in 1907. He was a lieutenant in the Territorial artillery by March 1912 and a founding member of the Hamilton District Law Society's council.

   Source: Te Ara DNZB; Evening Post 15 Mar 1912; Online Cenotaph C36493
2. November 1916

   Leaves with the NZEF

   Enlisting on 11 November 1916, aged 31, he sailed four days later as Captain Northcroft, Officer Commanding Troops, on the transport Tahiti (HMNZT 69), arriving in Devonport on 29 January 1917.

   Source: Online Cenotaph C36493 (embarkation record)
3. 1 February 1918

   Battery commander

   He was promoted Major and took command of 1 Battery, 1st Brigade, New Zealand Field Artillery. A 1942 newspaper profile says he was several times in temporary command of the brigade. His battery served around Mailly-Maillet in the spring of 1918 and in the final advance of November 1918.

   Source: Online Cenotaph C36493; Evening Post 12 Jan 1942; DSO citation as quoted on the Cenotaph
4. 3 June and 8 July 1919

   DSO and Mention in Despatches

   His DSO appeared in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours, and the Gazette of 8 July 1919 listed him in despatches as Major (temporary Lieutenant-Colonel).

   Source: London Gazette 31370 p.6822; London Gazette 31448 p.8836
5. 1919

   Director of education

   Appointed assistant director of education for New Zealand units in Britain in February 1919, he was promoted temporary Lieutenant-Colonel and director of education in May 1919 when his predecessor left to write the official history. He returned to New Zealand in 1919 and went back to law in Hamilton, rejoining the Territorial Force.

   Source: Evening Post 22 Feb and 12 May 1919; Te Ara DNZB
6. 1923-1935

   Auckland barrister and Judge Advocate General

   He moved to Auckland in 1923 (Earl, Kent, Massey and Northcroft), was deputy Judge Advocate General 1927-33 and Judge Advocate General from 1933 with the rank of Colonel, and was senior defence counsel in the 1934 Bayly double-murder trial. He became a judge of the Supreme Court at Christchurch in 1935.

   Source: Te Ara DNZB; Evening Post 11 Apr 1933
7. 1940-1945

   Judge in uniform

   Although on the Supreme Court bench, he served in the Second World War as District Artillery Officer for the Southern Military District from mid-1940, and from January 1942 as fortress area commander for Lyttelton, a post he held to 1945.

   Source: Evening Post 12 Jan 1942; Online Cenotaph C36493; Te Ara DNZB
8. 1946-1949

   Tokyo tribunal and knighthood

   Appointed the New Zealand judge on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, he sat in Tokyo 1946-48 and was knighted in the 1949 King's Birthday Honours. He resumed sitting as a Supreme Court judge and occasionally in the Court of Appeal, and died in Christchurch on 10 October 1953.

   Source: Te Ara DNZB; London Gazette 38629 p.2829

Rank and insignia

The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.

His ships

Afterwards

After the Tokyo tribunal he resumed his work as a judge in Christchurch and occasionally sat on the Court of Appeal. Te Ara describes him as commanding in presence, sympathetic and sociable, a believer in common sense and fast despatch who ran his court like a military orderly room. His principal recreation was yachting, an interest he missed after moving to Christchurch.

He died on 10 October 1953, survived by his wife Violet and two daughters, one of whom, Nancy, became a leading town planner. His Tokyo trial papers, held at the University of Canterbury, were added to the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 2010.

Later awards, not counted here: War Medal 1939-1945; NZ War Service Medal; Knight Bachelor (1949, for the Tokyo tribunal).

His sign

This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.

Photograph

Sources

• Sir Erima Harvey Northcroft, Online Cenotaph, Auckland War Memorial Museum.
• Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph, Erima Harvey Northcroft (C36493)
• Te Ara DNZB, Northcroft, Erima Harvey (G. P. Barton)
• Wikipedia, Erima Northcroft
• London Gazette 31370, supplement 3 June 1919, p.6822 (DSO)
• London Gazette 31448, supplement 11 July 1919, p.8836 (MiD)
• London Gazette 38629, supplement 9 June 1949, p.2829 (knighthood)
• London Gazette 38726, 30 Sept 1949, p.4679 (knighthood list)
• Edinburgh Gazette 13453, 5 June 1919, p.1856 (DSO)
• Evening Post, 12 Jan 1942, Judge in Forces
• Evening Post, 11 Apr 1933, Personal Items (Judge Advocate General, D.S.O., V.D.)
• Evening Post, 6 May 1935, Official Jubilee Medals
• Evening Post, 7 Aug 1919, Honours of War
• Wikipedia, 1919 Birthday Honours (DSO list)

What we could not confirm

WW1 service confirmed: enlisted 11 Nov 1916, embarked 15 Nov 1916, Major commanding 1 Battery NZFA 1918, DSO and MiD 1919, discharged 28 Jan 1920. Born Hokitika. Nothing argues against listing him as a New Zealander of that war.

The brief calls him a WW2 Major General: this is wrong. In WW2 he was a Supreme Court judge who served part-time as District Artillery Officer and Lyttelton fortress commander (Lieutenant-Colonel/Colonel). He was never a general. His highest rank was Colonel (Judge Advocate General 1933-35). Sir Erima Northcroft is a knight because of the Tokyo tribunal, not a military rank.

Counting: 13 items (DSO, MiD, BWM, Victory, V.D., NZ Territorial Service Medal, NZ Long and Efficient Service Medal, Jubilee 1935, Coronation 1937, War Medal 1939-45, NZ War Service Medal, Knight Bachelor, Coronation 1953). One gallantry award only (the DSO); a mention in despatches is not counted as gallantry.

Duplicate reconciled: the Cenotaph lists both 'Volunteer Officer's Decoration (VD)' and 'Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration'. These are the same decoration (the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration, post-nominal V.D.), counted once.

Not counted: Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal (Cenotaph). It was an other-ranks medal (1899-1930) and he held an officer's commission from at least 1912 with the V.D. If accepted at face value, total becomes 14.

Cenotaph-only, not independently confirmed: BWM and Victory Medal (certain from service), NZ Territorial Service Medal, NZ Long and Efficient Service Medal (both plausible but unusual alongside the V.D.), Coronation Medal 1937, War Medal 1939-45, NZ War Service Medal, Coronation 1953 (also in Wikipedia). Confirmed in primary sources: DSO and MiD (Gazette 1919), V.D. (Evening Post 1933, 1942), Jubilee Medal 1935 (Evening Post), knighthood (Gazette 1949).

Mention in Despatches: Cenotaph gives London Gazette 11 July 1919 (confirmed, issue 31448 supplement 8 July/11 July). Te Ara says he was mentioned in 1918; no 1918 mention was found. Even if a second mention exists, the rule counts the emblem as one.

DSO citation text is copied from the Cenotaph (quoting War Office recommendation 3462); the Gazette page gives the award by name only. Cenotaph says 'London Gazette, 3 June 1919, p6822': confirmed, the page is in a supplement dated 3 June 1919 (the issue itself is dated 30 May).

Date confusion on the knighthood: Wikipedia and the Cenotaph say 1949; the Gazette notice is 9 June 1949 (published as a second supplement to the 3 June issue) and the list recorded in the 30 Sept 1949 issue.