represented Wellington in provincial rugby. He would eventually play 53 games for Wellington. His military career began in 1895, when he joined the Wellington Naval Artillery, a part-time militia unit, serving with the Petone Company. South Africa The Second Boer War arose from tensions between the Boer South African Republic and the British authorities in the Transvaal of South Africa over control of the region. In September 1899, just prior to the commencement of hostilities, New Zealand's Parliament offered the British Government a mounted rifles contingent from the New Zealand Military Forces for service in South Africa, which was accepted. Volunteers were plentiful and two contingents had already left for the war by 1900. Hardham was among those who volunteered and he was posted to the 4th New Zealand Contingent as a farrier sergeant major. Landing in Portuguese East Africa in April 1900, the Fourth Contingent, nicknamed the "Rough Riders", were deployed as part of the Rhodesian Field Force around Mafeking. Aside from a brief action at Ottoshoop in August, the Rough Riders spent the majority of their war service in the Transvaal, carrying out reconnaissance patrols and pursuing Boer commandos. As part of the effort to deprive the Boers of resources, they also helped to destroy crops and round up civilians and cattle, during which they occasionally skirmished with armed commandos. On 28 January 1901, Hardham was on a patrol near Naauwpoort, in the Transvaal, when it was ambushed by twenty Boers. Although the patrol was able to withdraw, one man was wounded and his horse was shot from under him. Seeing this, Hardham rode to his aid and extracted him to safety while under heavy gunfire. For his actions, Hardham was recommended for the Victoria Cross (VC) by General Herbert Kitchener, commander of British forces in South Africa. The VC, instituted in 1856, was the highest award for valour that could be bestowed on a military personnel of the British Empire. The local commander, Major-General Ian Hamilton, believed the Distinguished Conduct Medal, second only to the VC, was a more appropriate form of recognition for Hardham. However, the commander-in-chief of the British Army, Field Marshal Earl Roberts, concurred with Kitchener and the VC nomination was approved. The citation for Hardham's VC, the first to be awarded to a New Zealander of a unit of the New Zealand Military Forces serving overseas, read: Hardham was presented with the VC,