The Otahuhu World War One Memorial is an extremely rare New Zealand example of a bronze equestrian statue. It is the only known representation of a New Zealand mounted rifleman, troops who served in large numbers in the forces New Zealand sent to both the South African War (1898-1902) and the First World War (1914-18). The monument is also rare in that it was commissioned and paid for by a private individual rather than by public subscription or a governmental organisation.

Otahuhu was established in 1847 as a Fencible settlement, at a strategic narrow point of the Auckland isthmus. The war memorial site is a prominent location at the junction of the Great South Road and Mangere Road, a commemorative triangle shared with an obelisk erected in 1868 to the memory of Colonel Marmaduke Nixon (c.1814-64) and his fellow volunteers who fell at Rangiaowhia in the Waikato Campaign (1863-4) of the New Zealand Wars. The prominence of the site and its existing memorial function made this a logical location for the erection of a memorial to men from Otahuhu Borough who were killed in the First World War.

The memorial was unveiled on Anzac Day 1928 by the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson. The gift of the statue had been made on condition of anonymity, but the donor’s identity had leaked out in a London newspaper article, which was reprinted in Wellington in November 1927 while the bronze statue was being made. Alfred Trenwith, an Otahuhu footwear manufacturer, wished to provide a war memorial for the local community. When he was visiting England in the 1920s he saw an equestrian statue in the London sculptor George Maile’s yard in Euston Road. He believed it would make a good war memorial but considered the statue must depict a New Zealand soldier. When he returned to New Zealand he obtained a photograph of a mounted rifleman and sent it to Maile to represent this figure on the horse., William Henry Feldon (1871-1945) is noted as having begun work on the Otahuhu war memorial in late 1927. The exact nature of Feldon’s involvement is not clear; he may have prepared the original form, or perhaps more likely was involved in finishing and placing the statue after its arrival from London.

Alfred Trenwith and his wife and daughter attended the unveiling ceremony, but did not address the gathering. The Mayor of Otahuhu in his speech said that Mr Trenwith had not been prompted by any motive of self-promotion. He had made the gift, which he wanted to be anonymous, in order that the memory of those who had made the supreme sacrifice might be perpetuated, and that the people of this and future generations might be reminded of the hardships endured by the soldiers who fought in the Great War.

A bronze plaque on each side of the memorial reads: ‘This monument is erected to the grateful memory of those who died and to the undying honour of those who served in the Great War 1914-1918.’.

The sculpture is believed to be based on a photograph of 58763 Trooper Frederick Michael Glass (1892-1961), Auckland Mounted Rifles, a farmer from Waiuku who sailed with the 36th Reinforcements, Mounted Rifles Brigade on 21 February 1918. He was invalided back to New Zealand in 1919 with malaria, arriving on 19 April 1919, and was discharged on 26 August 1919.

In a 1990 refurbishment following a graffiti attack and repairs to plaster deterioration, a bronze plaque was added on the north end, reading: ‘In memory of those who served and gave their lives in: WWII, Korea, Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam. May they rest in peace.’