Editing Kimball Bent

{{Short description|Soldier and adventurer of New Zealand}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=January 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2024}}
{{infobox military person
|name             = Kimble Bent
|birth_name = Kimball Bent
|birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=y|1837|08|24|}}
|birth_place = [[Eastport, Maine]], United States
|death_date = {{death date and age|1916|05|22|1837|08|24|df=y}}
|death_place = [[Blenheim, New Zealand]]
|placeofburial    = [[Omaka Cemetery]]
| module            = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes
|allegiance = [[British Empire]]
|branch = [[British Army]]
|serviceyears     = 1859 - 1865
|rank             = [[Private (rank)]]
|unit             = [[57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot]]
|battles          = 
*[[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Mutiny]]
*[[New Zealand Wars]]
}}
}}

'''Kimball Bent''' (24 August 1837 – 22 May 1916), also known as '''Kimble Bent''', was a soldier and adventurer, who deserted from the British Army during the [[New Zealand Wars]] and lived for several years among the [[Māori people]] of New Zealand.

==Biography==
Bent was born in [[Eastport, Maine]] USA.  He ran away to sea at 17 and spent three years travelling the Atlantic seaboard as a sailor/ gunner in the US Navy.  He returned to Eastport but was restless and sailed to [[Liverpool, England]].  Penniless and seeking adventure on 18 October 1859 he enlisted in the [[57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot]] in the [[British Army]]. He served in [[India]] and his unit was posted to [[New Zealand]] in 1861. His record was dubious, and he was repeatedly disciplined for various military infractions including disobedience and drunkenness. This discipline included a prison sentence in [[Wellington]], and receiving lashes in front of his company. Bent accordingly decided to desert in June 1865 while serving in [[Taranaki Region|Taranaki]].

Bent was found by a local [[Māori people|Māori]] chief of the [[Ngāti Ruanui]] [[iwi]] in South Taranaki and eventually became accepted as a part of the local tribe. He fell in with [[Tītokowaru]]'s followers in 1867 and fought with them against the colonists in what has become known as [[Tītokowaru's War]] until their eventual defeat in 1869.

Bent then went into hiding first in the backblocks of Taranaki and later in Wairau, Blenheim.  He spent his remaining years working in several trades including as a builder, fisherman, horticulturist, tattooist, traditional healer using Māori medicine and even a confectioner. He remained a wanted deserter with a reward on his head for many years, but eventually the authorities stopped looking for him. In 1903 he was rediscovered, and a book was written about his life by [[James Cowan (New Zealand writer)|James Cowan]]. Entitled ''The adventures of Kimble Bent: a story of wild life in the New Zealand bush'', it was something of sensation at the time.

He died in Wairau Hospital on 22 May 1916.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/obituary-clipping-jun-17-1916-1527928/ |title=Renegade and Outlaw |work=[[Auckland Star]] |page=13 |date=1916-06-17 |access-date=2020-01-28 |via=NewspaperArchive}}</ref> and was buried in an unmarked grave in the [[Omaka Cemetery]]. The location of his grave in this cemetery is only known to descendants of the family whom he lived with in his final years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/7730247/Resting-spot-to-remain-a-secret|title=Resting spot to remain a secret|date=26 September 2012|website=Stuff}}</ref>

More recently, his tale has been fictionalised by New Zealand author [[Maurice Shadbolt]] in his 1990 historical novel ''[[Monday's Warriors]]'' and in the 2011 graphic novel, ''Kimble Bent Malcontent: The Wild Adventures of a Runaway Soldier in Old-Time New Zealand'' by Chris Grosz.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[James Belich (historian)|Belich, James]] (1989).  ''I Shall Not Die: Titokowaru's War, New Zealand 1868–1869''.  Wellington: Allen & Unwin New Zealand Limited.
* Oliver, W.H. [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=1B19 "Bent, Kimble, 1837–1916: Soldier, deserter, Pakeha-Maori, character"]. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.  Retrieved 3 December 2005.
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/B/BentKimble/BentKimble/en Biography in 1966 ''New Zealand Encyclopaedia'']
* [[Maurice Shadbolt|Shadbolt, Maurice]] (1990). ''[[Monday's Warriors]]''.  United Kingdom: Bloomberg Publishing, Ltd.
* [[James Cowan (New Zealand writer)|Cowan, James]] (1911) ''[http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-CowKimb.html "The Adventures of Kimble Bent: A Story of Wild Life in the New Zealand Bush"]''. full text online.
* Grosz, C. ''Kimble Bent Malcontent: The Wild Adventures of a Runaway Soldier in Old-Time New Zealand'' Random House New Zealand Limited 2011.  {{ISBN|978 1 86979 516 0}}.

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bent, Kimball}}
[[Category:1837 births]]
[[Category:1916 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Eastport, Maine]]
[[Category:People of the New Zealand Wars]]
[[Category:New Zealand military personnel]]
[[Category:Burials at Omaka Cemetery]]
[[Category:American emigrants]]