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Date	Original Topic
29th December 2004	the De Witt's By a cameron What happened to the De witt's ?. There is no mention of them after the battle whether they stayed or left before hand. I cannot find any sources that gives any information on them. Hopefully some one may be able to help. thanks in advance.
Date	Replies
29th December 2004	Phil Pearce I have a funny feeling that they returned home to Sweden .
29th December 2004	Peter Ewart Wit hurriedly departed his mission before the active defence commenced, apparently worried about his family at Msinga. He seems hardly to have stopped running until he arrived in England, where a journalist greeted him with a cheque for £20 in return for his version of the battle the moment he disembarked. Thereafter, his "lecture tour" of England appraised the eager public of the details of the glorious defence of Rorke's Drift - which the speaker had not actually witnessed! He had, however, witnessed from a distance certain elements of the Battle of Isandlwana, through Parson Smith's binoculars. On returning to his mission, he rebuilt the buildings in almost exactly the same positions as before in 1881/2, and the Swedish Mission Society (some of whose members in SA had a less than high opinion of Wit) continued on the site, only four and a half miles from the new British mission at St Augustine's (but also known as "Rorke's Drift") which was established from 1880 on the Zuland side of the Mzinyathi. Peter
29th December 2004	a cameron thanks for the replies. any more information as to when he died and where he is buried ? thanks in advance
30th December 2004	Julian Whybra It's Witt not De Witt