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DateOriginal Topic
3rd April 2002Pulleine's last message - Edmund Yorke's book
By Susan Cromwell
Am I totally wrong or does the photograph on p. 140 show the date as 1889? I have looked at this under a microscope and it certainly appears to have been written 10 years after the event. It is credited under the heading of PB. Any ideas anyone?

DateReplies
3rd April 2002John Young
Susan,

You're correct it does say '1889' in Ed Yorke's book. However, when I last saw it the date had suddenly be changed to 1879.

Personally, I believe that the item is an elaborate forgery that was in a private collection. Otherwise why had someone bothered to change the date of such a historical document after the incorrect date had been spotted.

I was present, along with others, when a senior member of staff of the National Army Museum, Chelsea, examined the piece and was convinced it was genuine.

The content of the document is also inaccurate, which leads me to believe it to be a forgery.

John Young,
Chairman,
Anglo-Zulu War Research Society.
3rd April 2002Julian Whybra
I've had the document examined by a handwriting expert with the brief to decide whether it and the 8.05 message were written by the same person. The answer was emphatically NO and that the author of the 'forgery' was deliberately trying to reproduce text and style from the 8.05 message.
4th April 2002Susan Cromwell
Dear John, (and Julian)

Many thanks for your precise and helpful answer. It did strike me as strange at the time.

Susan.
12th April 2002PB
sue I have these doc s in my possession, I came by them from a lady living in Scotland. She told me she was a descendant of Wilson Black. They arrived with many others, no money was exchanged, just a note stating she throught I might like them. The date at the bottom is 1879 but has a line throught it. I F John Young or Julian Whybra can prove to me that it is a forgery, I will destroy it with witnesses. It is not my intention to defroud any one. Not being a handwrighting expert myself . Ibuy and sell on good faith. I wasnot aware they were going to be used in any type of book and Ed York, like myself had the photocopy and accepted it as an original , so did a senior member of the N.A.M.Chesea.
9th May 2002Julian Whybra
Can you please let me have your e-mail? I'm putting the finishing touches to an article which is basically a graphological-historical analysis of the document. i'd like your permission to reproduce it.