James Hargest
James Hargest, was an officer of the New Zealand Military Forces, serving in both the First and Second World Wars. He was a Member of New Zealand's Parliament from 1931 to 1944, representing firstly the and then the electorates.
Born in Gore in 1891, Hargest was a farmer when he volunteered for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. Commissioned as an officer, he served in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 and was seriously wounded. Following his recovery from his wounds, he returned to active duty on the Western Front. He commanded an infantry battalion during the later stages of the war and received several awards for his leadership. After the war, he returned to New Zealand to resume farming. In Hargest entered the Parliament of New Zealand as the member for Invercargill. Initially an independent, he was one of the strongest supporters of the National Party that was formed in 1936, and held an executive role in the party hierarchy. From 1938, he represented the Awarua electorate and had been considered for the party leadership, but he was no longer available once he volunteered for active service.
Upon the commencement of the Second World War in September 1939, Hargest attempted to join the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force being raised for service. His application was initially declined for health reasons, but after intervention by Peter Fraser, the acting Prime Minister of New Zealand, he was accepted and appointed commander of the 5th Infantry Brigade, part of the 2nd New Zealand Division. He led his brigade during the Battle of Greece in April 1941 after an initial period performing garrison duty in England. During the Battle of Crete he displayed poor judgement in positioning his forces around the vital Maleme airfield and in controlling their movements once the battle commenced. The loss of the airfield allowed the Germans to gain a foothold on the island and the Allied forces eventually were evacuated from Crete. Despite his own performance during the battle, he received a bar to the Distinguished Service Order that he had been awarded in the First World War. The fighting now shifting to North Africa, Hargest led his brigade during Operation Crusader in November 1941 but was captured by German forces. Held in a prisoner of war camp in Italy, he eventually escaped and was able to make his return to England in late 1943. He earned a second bar to his DSO for his efforts. He served as an observer with the British 50th Infantry Division for the Normandy landings in June 1944 and was killed by artillery just over two months later.
Early life
James Hargest was born on 4 September 1891 in Gore, a small town in Southland, New Zealand. His parents, James and Mary Hargest, were from Wales. His father was a labourer who later took up farming in Mandeville. Hargest was the fourth of nine children, and attended schools in Gore and Mandeville and after completing his education worked alongside his father. He joined the Territorial Force in 1911 and by 1914 had reached the rank of sergeant.First World War
Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 Hargest volunteered to serve in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Otago Mounted Rifles. He served in the Gallipoli campaign and was severely wounded during the August Offensive. After several months of convalescence, he returned to active service in July 1916 with the New Zealand Division. Assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Otago Infantry Regiment, he commanded a company during the Battle of the Somme in September 1916. His actions in restoring order in his battalion, when he assumed command of four companies that had suffered heavy casualties following a failed attack on 27 September, saw him rewarded with the Military Cross. The citation for his MC, which appeared in The London Gazette in December, reads as follows:By the end of the year he had been promoted to major.
Appointed to second-in-command of the battalion, Hargest was involved in the preliminary planning for the Battle of Messines in June 1917. He carried out vital reconnaissance of the German front lines, penetrating the enemy communication trenches in the lead up to the battle. During the German spring offensive, launched in March 1918, he was made acting battalion commander. In September 1918, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and given command of the 2nd Battalion, Otago Infantry Regiment. He participated in the last offensive action of the war involving the New Zealand Division when on 4 November 1918, a week before the armistice with Germany, his battalion attacked Germans positioned in a fortified house in the Mormal Forest. Having captured the house, it was made his temporary headquarters. It later received a direct hit from artillery fire and Hargest was fortunate to escape unhurt. His leadership of his battalion during the last few months of the war was recognised with an appointment to the Distinguished Service Order, a mention in despatches and the French Legion of Honour. The citation for his DSO states the following:
In the immediate postwar period, he remained in command of his battalion while it performed occupation duties in Cologne until his departure to England on 4 February 1919.
Interwar period
Hargest returned to New Zealand in May 1919 with his wife, Marie Henrietta Wilkie. The couple had been married since 1917, the ceremony taking place in England where Marie was serving as a nurse in the New Zealand military hospital at Brockenhurst. Hargest returned to farming, buying land near Invercargill. He retained an interest in the military and resumed his career with the Territorials in which he commanded firstly a regiment and then an infantry brigade.An interest in local affairs soon developed and Hargest became involved with several local authorities including the Southland Education Board. In the, he contested the electorate standing for the Reform Party and came very close to beating Sir Joseph Ward. The former Prime Minister had a majority of 159 votes, which represented a 1.5% margin. The death of Sir Joseph triggered the August, which was contested by Hargest and Ward's second son, Vincent Ward. Hargest was beaten in by Ward Jr., who had a majority of 571 votes, and Hargest had thus been beaten by both father and son.
Ward Jr. retired at the end of the term, and this allowed Hargest to enter the New Zealand Parliament in the 1931 general election on his third attempt, becoming the MP for the Invercargill electorate. In parliament, Hargest was an advocate for the interests of Southland but was also interested in defence and educational matters. He held this electorate until 1935 before successfully switching to the Awarua electorate for the 1935 election. Initially an Independent Reform MP, he was a supporter of the coalition between the United Party and the Reform Party. When the coalition combined to become the National Party, Hargest formally joined the new party and was "possibly the Reform MP most committed from the first to the formation of the National Party". In its early period of the National Party, there was a lengthy discussion about its leadership, as the previous leaders of the constituent parties were not acceptable to the other. At the time, many South Island MPs would meet at the home of Christchurch property developer Henry G. Livingstone after arriving on Saturday mornings on the overnight ferry from Wellington; Hargest, Adam Hamilton, and Sidney Holland belonged to that group. At the first official meeting of the party's Dominion Council in October 1936 in Wellington, Hargest joined the executive committee. Following that meeting, the leadership question resulted in a contest between Hamilton and Charles Wilkinson. Former Reform Party leader Gordon Coates and other MPs sided with Hamilton and issued a press statement that bordered on blackmail, and Hargest wrote to Coates, rebuking him for his stance and pleading for unity, as the new party was still fragile. In the event, Hamilton won the election by one vote and became National's first leader.
For much of the period that he was in charge of the National Party, Hamilton was regarded a conscientious but lack-lustre leader. Although National's performance had improved in the election by winning an additional six electorates, Labour was still in government and there were discussions about replacing Hamilton. Hargest, who had retained his Awarua seat for National in the election, was one of two contenders for the party leadership. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Hargest immediately volunteered for active service. The National Party leadership eventually went to Sidney Holland in November 1940; there was a view that this was a temporary situation that could be reassessed once Holyoake or Hargest returned to Parliament. Hargest remained a member of parliament during his time on active service and in the, he was the sole candidate in the Awarua electorate whilst an internee in Switzerland; he was thus returned unopposed.
In 1935, Hargest was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.
Second World War
On volunteering for service in the war, Hargest sought to serve abroad in command of one of the infantry brigades of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The new commander of the 2NZEF, Major General Bernard Freyberg was concerned about the age and command experience of some potential senior officers of the 2NZEF such as Hargest. A medical assessment deemed Hargest fit only for service on the Home Front as he was still prone to bouts of shell shock from his service during the First World War. Disappointed with this decision, he approached Peter Fraser, the acting Prime Minister of New Zealand, with a request for a brigade command in 2NZEF. Fraser disregarded official advice and arranged for Hargest to be appointed commander of the 5th Infantry Brigade. At the time, the Chief of the General Staff of the New Zealand Military Forces, Major-General John Duigan, wrote to Freyberg, disassociating himself from the decision.Hargest, with the rank of brigadier, left New Zealand with the Second Echelon, in which his brigade was the largest formation, in May 1940. Originally intended to join the First Echelon of 2NZEF then in Egypt, it was diverted en route to England in response to the threat of Operation Sea Lion, the planned German invasion. The brigade carried out training and guard duties in the area around Dover before being shipped to Egypt in early 1941.