Durnford 1879 from Chatham to Isandlwana

Durnford 1879 from Chatham to Isandlwana

Author: Kristine Herron

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2019-08-16

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 1796005568

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It has been 140 years since the Battle of Isandhlwana, on 22nd January 1879, when up to 20,000 Zulu Warriors, attacked Regiments of Queen Victoria's Army, killing them all. A career soldier with the Royal Engineers, Colonel Anthony William Durnford was blamed for the disaster by General Chelmsford. He became the General's scapegoat. Much has been written about him over the years, but little has been written of the events peculiar to his life. It takes family to understand their ancestor's characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, qualities, traits and behaviours. His brother wrote a memoir "A Soldier's Life and work in South Africa" 1872 - 1879, which included research to disprove the General's claims. Edward was to write an update in 1886, but didn't, as he was pressured. Anthony Durnford had two families, his ancestral one, which we share, and his military one. Both had one thing in common, to prove that he did "follow orders". His brother investigated and in, 1882 published his findings. The Royal Engineers also investigated and amassed a huge file of evidence, never before seen by the public. The Royal Engineers Evidence file, comprising over 300 pages of fact, has lain hidden from public view, in the drawers of the Royal Engineers Library since 1932. It rebukes much "confirmation bias" of currently held perceptions. This file has been fully transcribed, placed in logical context, and additional research included from the Royal Archives, the National Army Museum and archives in South Africa. "Durnford 1879" comprises 2 volumes and is an extension of Colonel Edward Durnford's research. It could perhaps be described as a Military Mystery, created as a result of Genealogical research and Military History colliding. A story which would not be told, had it been for a series of "mistakes".


How Can Man Die Better

How Can Man Die Better

Author: Colonel Mike Snook

Publisher: Frontline Books

Published: 2010-05-30

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1848325819

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Wednesday 22 January 1879 was one of the most dramatic days in the long and distinguished history of the British Army. At noon a massive Zulu host attacked the 24th Regiment in its encampment at the foot of the mountain of Isandlwana, a distinctive feature that bore an eerie resemblance to the Sphinx badge of the outnumbered redcoats. Disaster ensued. Later that afternoon the victorious Zulus would strike the tiny British garrison at Rorkeês Drift. How Can Man Die Better is a unique analysis of Isandlwana _ of the weapons, tactics, ground, and the intriguing characters who made the key military decisions. Because the fatal loss was so high on the British side there is still much that is unknown about the battle. This is a work of unparalleled depth, which eschews the commonly held perception that the British collapse was sudden and that the 24th Regiment was quickly overwhelmed. Rather, there was a protracted and heroic defence against a determined and equally heroic foe. The author reconstructs the final phase of the battle in a way that has never been attempted before. It was to become the stuff of legend, which brings to life so vividly the fear and smell the blood.


Traders and Trade in Colonial Ovamboland

Traders and Trade in Colonial Ovamboland

Author: Gregor Dobler

Publisher: BASLER AFRIKA BIBLIOGRAPHIEN

Published: 2014-07-31

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 3905758407

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Taking the history of trade and of traders as its subject matter, this book offers the first economic history of northern Namibia during the twentieth century. It traces Namibia’s way from a rural, largely self-relying society into a globalised economy of consumption. This transformation built on colonial economic activities, but it was crucially shaped by local traders, a new social elite emerging during the 1950s and 1960s. Becoming a trader was one of the few possibilities for black Namibians to gain monetary income at home. It was a pathway out of migrant labour, to new status in the local society and often to prosperity. Politically, most traders occupied a middle ground: content of their own social position, but intent on political emancipation from colonial rule. Economically, their energy and business acumen transformed northern Namibia into an increasingly urban consumer society. The development path they chose, however, depended too much on the colonial reserve economy to remain sustainable after 1990. Their legacy still shapes spatial and social structures in northern Namibia, but most traders’ businesses have today closed down. By telling the history of the rise and decline of traders and trade in northern Namibia, this book is thus also a reflection on the conundrums of economic development under conditions of structural inequality.


The Land Wars

The Land Wars

Author: John Laband

Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa

Published: 2020-07-15

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 1776095006

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Perhaps the most explosive issue in South Africa today is the question of land ownership. The central theme in this country’s colonial history is the dispossession of indigenous African societies by white settlers, and current calls for land restitution are based on this loss. Yet popular knowledge of the actual process by which Africans were deprived of their land is remarkably sketchy. This book recounts an important part of this history, describing how the Khoisan and Xhosa people were dispossessed and subjugated from the time that Europeans first arrived until the end of the Cape Frontier Wars (1779–1878). The Land Wars traces the unfolding hostilities involving Dutch and British colonial authorities, trekboers and settlers, and the San, Khoikhoin, Xhosa, Mfengu and Thembu people – as well as conflicts within these groups. In the process it describes the loss of land by Africans to successive waves of white settlers as the colonial frontier inexorably advanced. The book does not shy away from controversial issues such as war atrocities committed by both sides, or the expedient decision of some of the indigenous peoples to fight alongside the colonisers rather than against them. The Land Wars is an epic story, featuring well-known figures such as Ngqika, Lord Charles Somerset and his son, Henry, Andries Stockenström, Hintsa, Harry Smith, Sandile, Maqoma, Bartle Frere and Sarhili, and events such as the arrival of the 1820 Settlers and the Xhosa cattle-killing. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand South Africa’s past and present.


Like Wolves on the Fold

Like Wolves on the Fold

Author: Mike Snook

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2010-06-19

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 1783469943

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A detailed chronicle of a significant opening battle in the Anglo-Zulu War: ”The Zulu attack on Rorke’s Drift thrillingly retold” (Richard Holmes). On January 22nd, 1879, the British Army in South Africa was swept aside by the seemingly unstoppable Zulu warriors at the Battle of Isandlwana. Nearby, at a remote outpost on the Buffalo River, a single company of the 24th Regiment and a few dozen recuperating hospital patients were passing a hot, monotonous day. By the time they received news from across the river, retreat was no longer an option. It seemed certain that the Rorke's Drift detachment would share the same fate. And yet, against incredible odds, the British managed to defend their station. In this riveting history, Colonel Snook brings the insights of a military professional to bear on this fateful encounter at the start of Anglo-Zulu War. It is an extraordinary tale—a victory largely achieved by the sheer bloody-mindedness of the British infantryman. Recounting in detail how the Zulu attack unfolded, Snook demonstrates how 150 men achieved their improbable victory. Snook then describes the remainder of the war, from the recovery of the lost Queen's Colour of the 24th Regiment to the climactic charge of the 17th Lancers at Ulundi. We return to Isandlwana to consider culpability, and learn of the often tragic fates of many of the war's participants.


Murder at Small Koppie

Murder at Small Koppie

Author: Greg Marinovich

Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa

Published: 2016-02-03

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1770226109

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The killing of thirty-four miners by police at Marikana in August 2012 was the largest massacre of civilians in South Africa since Sharpeville. The events have been covered in newspaper articles, on TV news and in a commission of inquiry, but there is still confusion about what happened on that fateful day. In Murder at Small Koppie, renowned photojournalist Greg Marinovich explores the truth behind the Marikana massacre. He investigates the shootings near Wonderkop hill, which happened in view of the media, as well as the killings that happened beyond the view of cameras at a nondescript collection of boulders known as Small Koppie, some 300 metres away. Many of the men killed here were shot in cold blood at close range. Drawing on his own meticulous research, eyewitness accounts and the findings of the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, Marinovich accurately reconstructs that fateful day as well as the events leading up to the strike, and looks at the subsequent denials, obfuscation and buck-passing by Lonmin, the SAPS and the government. This is the definitive account of the Marikana massacre from the journalist whose award-winning investigation into the tragedy has been called the most important piece of South African journalism since apartheid.


The Wedding Feast War

The Wedding Feast War

Author: Keith Smith

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2012-12-19

Total Pages: 546

ISBN-13: 1783376708

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The last of the nine Frontier Wars fought between 1799–1877 was in many ways a ‘prequel’ to the more famous Zulu War of 1879, featuring as it did many of the British regiments and personalities who were to fight at Isandlwana, as well as being the final defeat of the Xhosa people and their reduction to lowly workers for the colonists. This war saw conflict between the British authorities (the governor-general and the commander-in-chief) and the government of the Cape, leading to the dismissal of that government by Sir Bartle Frere, the Governor-General. This book has made extensive use of British Parliamentary Papers, official War Office dispatches and personal accounts and correspondence to tell the full story of this neglected yet fascinating episode of South African military history, which provides an insight into the origins of and attitudes of the principal figures in the following conflict with the Zulus.


Zulu Warriors

Zulu Warriors

Author: John Laband

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2014-05-27

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 0300180314

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"The Anglo-Zulu War, the most famous of Britain's lte ninetweenth-century campaigns of colonial conquest, was not fought in isolation. Along with the two Anglo-Pedi wars, the Ninth Cape Frontier War and the Northern Border War, it was one in a brutal series of interconnected and overlapping wars which the British waged between 1877-1879 to crush and disarm the remaining independent black states of South Africa. [Fusing] the widely differing African and European perspectives on events, [the author] probes the fateful decisions taken by statesmen and military commandrs, analyses military operations and their destructive impact on combatants and civilians alike, and explores why so many Africans chose to fight as auxiliaries and levies alongside the Bruitish instead of against them. ..."--Jacket.