{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{more footnotes needed|date=January 2013}} {{Infobox military person |birth_name = Arthur Wakefield Carkeek |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|NZC|size=100%}} |image = MA I327169 TePapa Arthur-Carkeek full.jpg |alt = |caption = Carkeek, {{circa|1870}} |birth_date = 1843 |birth_place = Nelson, New Zealand |death_date = 24 May 1897 aged 54 |death_place = Blenheim, New Zealand |burial_place = Omaka Cemetery |allegiance = British Empire |rank = Sergeant |battles = {{tree list}} *New Zealand Wars **Tītokowaru's War **Te Kooti's War {{tree list/end}} }} '''Arthur Wakefield Carkeek''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|NZC|size=85%}} (1843 – 24 May 1897) was a member of the Armed Constabulary in the New Zealand Wars, and was one of only 23 recipients of the New Zealand Cross for gallantry. Later he was a civil engineer and land surveyor.
==Early life== Carkeek was born in Nelson in 1843, a son of Stephen Carkeek, and brother of Frances Ann Stewart (née Carkeek).
==Military career== Carkeek was a Sergeant in the Armed Constabulary at Ohinemutu during the Te Kooti's War episode of the New Zealand Wars. On 7 February 1870 the force of Arawas under Captain Mair at Ohinemutu was attacked by Te Kooti and his force. Thomas McDonnell needed to be told of the location of Te Kooti and his force, but Carkeek could not find a Māori willing to go thirty miles through the bush to McDonnell at Tapapa. He decided to go himself, and a Māori agreed to accompany him. They started at daylight on the 8th, and arrived at Tapapa about 3 pm, after traversing dense bush where they were in constant danger of attack.<ref name=MAC>{{cite news | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MEX18970525.2.19 | title=Mr Arthur Carkeek| date=25 May 1897 | work=Marlborough Express | access-date=13 November 2024 | page=2}}</ref>
==Later life and death== Carkeek later worked as an engineer and land surveyor based in Ōtaki. He married Edythe Muller, the second daughter of Stephen Lunn Muller, at Blenheim on 2 December 1873;<ref>{{cite news | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NENZC18731209.2.8 | title=Marriage | date=9 December 1873 | work=Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle | access-date=19 April 2016 | page=3}}</ref> they had a son and daughter.<ref name=MAC/>
He died on 24 May 1897 in Wairau Hospital, Blenheim,<ref name=MAC/> aged 54 years. He was buried at Omaka Cemetery, Blenheim, with military and Masonic ceremony.
== References == {{Reflist}} *''The Colonial New Zealand Wars'' by Tim Ryan and Bill Parham p. 214 (1986, Wellington, Grantham House) {{ISBN|1-86934-006-X}} *[https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc01Cycl-t1-body-d4-d122-d4.html Paragraph in ''Cyclopedia of New Zealand'', 1897] *[http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Person/36407?state=(c0:(ln:7)) Digitised collection items related to Arthur Carkeek including medals and photographs] *[https://archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23195463 Digitised notebook of Survey of Part of the Rangitumau Block for Scandinavian Immigrants, 1872 (and other sketches) by A.W. Carkeek]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carkeek, Arthur}} Category:1843 births Category:1897 deaths Category:People from Ōtaki, New Zealand Category:Settlers of Nelson, New Zealand Category:People of the New Zealand Wars Category:19th-century New Zealand military personnel Category:19th-century New Zealand engineers Category:New Zealand surveyors Category:Recipients of the New Zealand Cross (1869) Category:Burials at Omaka Cemetery Arthur