In my experience, the average family historian seeking an
ancestor said to have served with British forces in the Anglo-Zulu War 1879
begins with minimal information. There are a fortunate few who find original
letters, diaries and personal accounts of the ancestor’s career among family
memorabilia or miraculously preserved in museum collections. If a medal awarded
to your soldier has survived and is accessible to you, engraved on the rim will
be his name, rank and regiment: an enviable starting point for discovering
further details.
A fundamental nugget of information is the unit with which
the man served. In the context of the Zulu War there are plenty of regiments to
choose from. Your ancestor may have been a regular in the British Army. He may
have been in the ‘irregulars’ – Imperial mounted units raised in South Africa .
Or he could have been in one of several Colonial volunteer units. If he fails
to turn up in among the military, there’s a chance he was a sailor or marine in
the Naval Brigade.
Considering the extent of the British forces in the field,
finding an individual forebear among them is a daunting task. Although you
believe your soldier was in a certain regiment known to have taken part in the
Zulu War, this doesn’t necessarily mean that he personally served in the
campaign, or even set foot in South
Africa . Not every company of each battalion
of all regiments which served in the war was present in Zululand .
Some units arrived sporadically, coming up to Natal
via the Cape where they had previously been
involved in campaigns on the Eastern Frontier. Some troops were among
reinforcements who arrived by sea before the first or second invasion. In Zululand , detachments of men would be sent to forts way
out in the veld to build walls while their company could be in the thick of
action elsewhere. Men died or due to injuries or disease were invalided home
and their places taken by new recruits. The situation was fluid.
It’s only by accessing the ancestor’s service documents that
his military activities will come into sharper focus – that is, if his service
documents have survived. There's no guarantee on that score.
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| 3rd Buffs guarding Zulu prisoners 1879 |
4 comments:
Are there any picture of Major Charles James Hamilton The Buff regiment?.
Are there any picture of Major Charles James Hamilton The Buff regiment?.
At present I'm unable to source a pic of Maj Charles James Hamilton of the Buffs. Do you know what dates he served in the Regt? The Buffs Regimental Museum collection is now held at the National Army Museum, London. See
http://www.armymuseums.org.uk/museums/0000000020-Buffs-Royal-East-Kent-Regiment-Museum-Collection.htm
John Brown, my Great Great Grandmothers brother, was a trumpeter with the 17th Lancers, and was posted with the 17th Lancers to Natal in 1879, and was present with them at Ulundi, later transferring to the 79th Q O Cameron Highlanders, and eventually retiring as a Lieut Colonel, having been present at, and awarded campaign medals, for Crimea, Indian Mutiny, Zulu War, Egypt and Sudan. Are there any available pictures of John Brown?
Coincidently, the Military Board members of my Great Great Grandfather, Robert Sweeney's, discharge hearing in December 1878 (after serving 32 years in the British Army), were from the ill-fated 1st Bn 24th Regiment: Capt W E Mostyn, Lieut E O Anstey, and Lieut J P Daly - all killed by the Zulu at Isandhlwana in January 1879.
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