In 1847 the Royal New Zealand Fencible Corps were raised and sent to New Zealand for the defence of the early settlers there. They were settled in four new outlying villages around Auckland, (then the capital), at Onehunga, Otahuhu, Panmure, and Howick, the largest of the four. About 75 fencibles and their sons took part as militia in the 1860s New Zealand Wars.