Hair comb

This is a woman's comb made of tortoiseshell. The maker and place of manufacture are unknown. It is merely a fragment of a comb, the remainder said to have been left embedded in a woman's head after she was hit by a tomahawk in 1834. The woman was Betty Guard, the wife John Guard, who set up the first shore-based whaling station in the South Island's Marlborough Sounds in the 1820s.

Violent events
The Guard family was returning from a Sydney visit when their ship, the Harriet, was wrecked off the Taranaki coast. Ngāti Ruanui attacked the stranded party, killing twelve men, capturing sixteen others, and Betty with two Guard children. Hostages were held while John Guard and five others were released to return to Sydney. A company of the 50th Queen's Own Regiment was dispatched on two ships. This rescue group delivered retribution by burning the local pā, brutally mistreating Betty's protecting chief, and killing a number of Ngāti Ruanui.

Significance
The violence was to have lasting effect on British policy in New Zealand. In securing the release of Betty Guard and children, British troops fired on Māori for the first time. A subsequent House of Commons select committee condemned the use of excessive force in the rescue. These events, and the Māori violence that preceded it, formed one of many influences in the 1830s that led to the British decision to annex the country in 1840.