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Henry Cecil D'Arcy's Demise
Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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I looked back in previous topics using this sites search feature and found no reference to an odd anecdote which I recently read in Bancroft's "The Zulu War VC's". It would appear that in spite of having been thought to have died in a snowstorm in the Perie Desert in 1881 at age thirty-one, evidence that surfaced in 1980 suggests that D'Arcy was alive and well in 1925 and had merely exchanged clothing and identity with a body he found in order to remain anonymous. Is this an accepted fact now? Anyone else subscribe to these peculiar details? Any further information as to why he might have wished to "remain dead to the world"? Curiouser and curiouser...
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HARMAN
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Sawubona see link below

http://www.ecomallbiz.com/easy67/colonialvcsofthezuluwar/

I think his Brother wrote a book on his life.

Regards

Harman p
Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Yes Peter, the closing lines sum up the mystery of his death as far as I had read it in Bancroft's book. I was hoping further light might be shed by someone as to the probability of his changing his identity and why on Earth he might have done it. Any more info on the book his brother might have written?
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Harold Raugh


Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Heidelberg, Germany (U.S. Army)
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Greetings:

I believe the biography Peter H. was referring to is:


D�Arcy, Patricia. What Happened to a V.C. Dundalk: Dundalgan Press, [1970]. 107 pp., portrait frontispiece, 2 maps. This is the story of Cecil D�Arcy, Frontier Light Horse, who was recommended for the Victoria Cross for gallantry at the Battle of Hlobane, 28 March 1879. He did not receive the Victoria Cross then, but received it later for saving the life of an unhorsed trooper during a 3 July 1879 reconnaissance prior to the Battle of Ulundi. This book also contains a copy of the full roll of officers, noncommissioned officers, and men of the Frontier Light Horse entitled to the South African Campaign Medal with �1877-8-9� clasp. Interestingly, in 1995, the author�s son published �Part VI. The Sequel and Finale,� as a final sheet paginated 108 and 109. This describes the unexpected discovery of D�Arcy�s Victoria Cross in 1992 and the subsequent agreement on its ownership and arrangements for custody.

If there are additional biographies and articles about D'Arcy, I'd be interested to learn about them.

Thanks,
Harold
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HARMAN
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Source Wikipedia

"He was born in Wanganui, New Zealand, where his father Major Oliver D�Arcy of the 65th Regiment was in the British garrison there (in 1860 Oliver transferred to the Cape Mounted Rifles and settled at King William�s Town).
Henry later joined the Cape Mounted Rifles as a captain, and served in the 1880 Basuoto rising, but resigned in April 1881. He left the house of Rev. Taberer in the Cape Province where he was staying to recuperate during the night of 6-7 August 1881, and his remains were found next year (though there were rumours that he had subsequently been seen elsewhere).
He is also considered South African, though he probably considered himself British or Anglo-Irish. The Independent newspaper in London reported that the Captain famously faked his own death. "No longer is anyone likely to imitate Captain Henry Cecil Dudgeon D'Arcy of the Frontier Light Horse, who, having been awarded the VC in the Zulu wars, turned to drink. Later, a body wearing his clothes was found in a cave and, this being the pathology of a century ago, presumed to be his. Only many decades later was it learnt that D'Arcy had found a dead man lying in the snow, changed clothes with him, and gone to Natal, and lived out the rest of his life under an assumed name. He was once recognised in 1925, but swore his discoverer to the secret, which the man kept until D'Arcy died. "
Bill Cainan1


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 107
Location: Lampeter
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Henry Cecil D�Arcy VC ?

I normally refer general queries on the AZW to Ian Knight�s excellent �Companion ..�. however, when it comes to people, there are the two volumes of �Who�s Who in the Zulu War 1879� by Adrian Greaves and Ian Knight. Indeed the three books together make a admirable jump off point for most queries (if you haven�t got them in your collection � it�s Xmas next week !).

In Vol II of the �Who�s Who �� D�Arcy has a full entry. Greaves and Knight have weighed up the 1925 �re-appearance� and have concluded that it ought to be judged in the same tradition as other famous �re-appearances� such as that of Lord Lucan.

Bill

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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Bill, I've no larning in the "re-appearances" of Lord Lucan, so the reference is lost on me. I presume he's something of a Bigfoot or Nessie? Please tell me he's not still appearing, but rather was known to do so within a normal lifespan of his birth.
I must add that I did see Elvis a couple of years ago in a local variety store. He look pretty good for his age and left with his signature "Thank you. Thank you very much", so I know it was him.
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Sawubona

Lucan "re-appears" everywhere all the time. If alive, he'd be in his 70s now, I suppose. His predecessor in this role was Ronnie Biggs, who was finally found around the same time that Lucan went, and is still alive - just - but has around 20 more years to do. Biggs, of course, had replaced Bormann, who remains at large. The latter's predecessor, Nessie, has never really gone missing but continues to re-appear now and again.

Glad to have cleared that one up for you.

Peter
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garywilson


Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 46
Location: Romania
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Peter , obviously Lord Lucan is difficult to catch because he is usually seen riding Shergar Very Happy
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Peter,
I must have missed your post "clearing up" the Lord Lucan reappearance, but I fear you've merely compounded the mystery. I assumed you were referring to Lord Cardigan's (what was he?) brother-in-law, but were he up and about today, that particular Lord Lucan would be a bit older than seventy.

Is there another Lord Lucan whose occasional appearances might be noteworthy?
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Sawubona

I suspected I might have made it worse!

I think the quickest thing would be to suggest you google or "wiki" on Lord Lucan as I suspect you'll find a lot more on the 7th Earl before you find anything on the unfortunate Charge of the Light brigade personality, as he has been our most famous/notorious missing person for nearly 35 years now and, as such, is the inevitable subject of myths and the butt of jokes. However, your puzzlement suggests that even such a high profile, worldwide phenomenon as the Lord Lucan mystery has still failed to penetrate the inward-looking world of the US media, although I would imagine they covered the story at the time (1974). Imagine the case (two cases now, is it?) of that retired American baseball player or footballer whose name escapes me now but who was supposed to have murdered his wife or someone and disappeared but was found not guilty after a trial. His name thereby became known outside the US (altho' I'm struggling to recall it at present!) Multiply a few times the newsworthiness all over the world of that episode & you have an idea of the nature of the Lucan story. He has been "seen" on every continent since, of course ...!

After doing Lucan, google on Ronald Biggs. Before Lucan, he had the same role of "most-wanted missing person."

Bormann you'll know about - and he'd have to be dead by now anyway, but if I had a quid for every time the Daily Express reckoned they'd unearthed him in South America during the 1950s & '60s I'd be rich.

Nessie? Your guess is as good as mine!

Peter
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Lord Lucan, alive and well in New Zealand.
Kiwi Sapper


Joined: 05 Mar 2009
Posts: 125
Location: Middle Earth & Home of Narnia; (Auckland, New Zealand)
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What Ho Gang,

Just been following up a link with New Zealanders and the AZW and have decided to claim Capt. H.C.D. D'Arcy as a New Zealander.
Well, he was born here after all.

Which makes him the first New Zealand recipient of the V.C.

HOWEVER, in perusing the earlier postings, I noted the wittering about Lord Lucan and remembered that he was purported to be living in Marton New Zealand inside a Landrover together with a pet cat and a possum..

As they say in the music halls, "Here for your delectation, information and amusement...." is a link to a NZ press publication made over two years ago.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10456709

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It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.
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Cecil D'Arcy in a dress
Ron Sheeley


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 29
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I have a circa 1860s or early 70s photograph of Cecil D'Arcy of the Cape Mounted Rifles in an amateur theatrical production in King William's Town. He is costumed as a female. If anyone is interested and would like to receive a scan of the photograph, please email me privately as I have trouble posting photographs directly to this site. Ron Sheeley
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Henry Cecil D'Arcy's Demise
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