“Hopeless battalions, destined to die, Broken by the Benders of Kings”. Contemporary South African folk song. Johnny Clegg and Savuka. There are a number of eye witness accounts by men who had been part of Lord Chelmsford’s reconnaissance and who…
“Impi, wo nansimpi yeza, Wobani bengathinta ma bubhesi?” “Who is going (to be stupid enough) to touch the lions? Contemporary South African fold song. Johnny Clegg and Savuka. One of the enduring stories of the battle of Isandlwana is that…
“An ancient song, as old as the ashes Echoed as Mageba’s warriors marched away”. South African Contemporary Folk Song. Johhny Clegg and Savuka. Colonel Anthony Durnford is probably the most enigmatic, controversial and colourful character associated with the British defeat…
We Wander the Battlefields is the fruit of Midge Carter’s life-long passion for the history of the Anglo-Boer and Zulu wars at the turn of the 19th century. The stories of heroism and tragedy are retold from the graveyards and…
GUNNER FREDERICK HENRY BRADLEY V.C. Although suffering from the worst drought in decades, one hopes that the rainy season is going to hit Zululand with a vengeance this year. From mid October onwards the heavens open up and the countryside…
THE CAPTURE OF WINSTON CHURCHILL – THE ARMOURED TRAIN INCIDENT. 15 NOVEMBER 1899. “I have had, in the last four years, the advantage, if it be an advantage, of many strange and varied experiences. But nothing was so thrilling as…
Twice in less than 23 years, Natal was saved from invasion by the gallant stands made by two small, vastly outnumbered detachments of British soldiers. The first was at Rorke’s Drift in 1879 and the second at Itala in 1901….
The story of Rorke’s Drift has often been told and perhaps nowhere so graphically as by Donald R. Morris in his study of the Zulu War, ‘The Washing of the Spears.’ The author was able to reconstruct the events of…
This article is the text of a talk to the S.A. Military History Society by Mr Alf Wade, of Vryheid, Natal, in March, 1974.Situated on the common at Chislehunt in Kent is a 20-foot Maltese cross which appears to be…
[Scribe’s note – this originally appeared in two parts but is condensed here for continuity] Author’s note: There are, throughout this story, a number of grammatical peculiarities. I have disregarded these as it should be remembered that, up to his…
One of the most poignant aspects of the Zulu War is the relatively small number of lonely graves scattered about Zululand which have lain undisturbed these last hundred years, and as one stands at these graves one feels an abiding…
In ‘The Red Soldier’ my main purpose was to illustrate the first-hand evidence that lies in a specific course of information, namely the private letters written by soldiers who fought in the Anglo-Zulu War.(1) In this paper I wish to…
From his service in South Africa over a broken period of eight years, the impression which emerges of Anthony William Durnford is that of a colourful, yet controversial figure. Loved and esteemed by many, grossly maligned by others, his life-story…
Battles such as Colenso, Ladysmith, Nicholson’s Nek, Spioenkop and others of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 have consistendy captured the imagination of military historians and students of military history. Much has, of course, been written regarding the Siege of Ladysmith;…
Simeon Kambula had grown up in Edendale, the Methodist Mission Station near Pietermaritzburg. His father, Elijah Kambula had served as respected personal interpreter to Major A W Durnford, RE, during the Langalibalele Rebellion of 1873, and had been killed in…
