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Evelyn Wood VC - Pillar Of Empire. by Stephen Manning.
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I may be trailing behind again with news already known, but I've just received the Pen and Sword catalogue, where this new book is mentioned.

They have a new website -

www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

They also have another title, which I am at present awaiting -

A Guide to Military History on the Internet. by Simon Fowler.

This book lists many websites covering all aspects of military history.

I know it's easy to punch into the computer what your looking for and getting a selection, but this might be of some help.

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Keith Smith


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 540
Location: Northern NSW, Australia
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I wonder if the new book on Wood takes any account of the recent work by Huw Jones, The Boiling Cauldron, which is highly critical of Wood, particulalrly at Hlobane.

KIS
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Peter Ewart


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

That was also the very first thought which occurred to me. I would hope that it takes full account of Huw's findings with regard to Dennison and Wood.

Peter
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Keith

I'm not sure of the contents, but this was written alongside the image of the book cover, which does suggest a great deal about him is covered.

'The biography of Field Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood VC is long overdue. By any standards his career was remarkable. He won his VC in India and became a member of Wolseley's select Ashanti Ring which ensured advancement. His greatest victory at Kambula was preceded a day earlier by a crushing defeat at Hlobane which he attempted successfully to cover up. However the ruthless slaughter of the defeated Zulus after Kambula also threatened his career. Thanks to powerful friends including Queen Victoria, Wood's career continued to flourish although a major scandal involving his sister (Kitty O'Shea) and leading Irish nationalist Charles Parnell raised serious questions as to Wood's integrity. Nevertheless he went on to be Adjutant-General and a Field Marshal and was one of the major reforming generals laying the foundations for the Army's success in The Great War.'

I think the website above gives the same details.

I don't know much about Wood, but the book does sound intriguing.

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Rich
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Coll..just an fyi...if you wanted votes from a Parnell supporter you wouldn't have got it!.. Wink ....Katherine would be her name but "Kitty" would be a killer denoting her er..pejorative standing in society if you get the drift of the scandal....
Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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I think it's Wood's competence (or otherwise) at Hlobane, followed by a bit of a cover-up, which is at issue and whether the new book goes into this in any detail.

Peter
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Peter

Is that to do with the strategy at Hlobane, or what I think is termed 'the missing hour' ?

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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Yes, conception, strategy, tactics & subsequent reporting thereof - as well as his own public comments on the affair during the following years.

P.
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Michael Boyle


Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Posts: 595
Location: Bucks County,PA,US
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From Lt. William Moorsom Laurence, in a letter datelined Pietermaritzburg, 6 Apr 79 -

It is strange but true that although Col. Wood's official report of his success on the 29th has been received and published here, no official report whatever has been received of the catastrophe, for I can call it nothing else, of the 28th. The only statement on the subject is a telegram from the Resident Magistrate of Ladysmith, who states that "Col. Buller lost some men in occupying Zlobane Hill." There can be no doubt that both Colonels Wood and Buller have made reports on the subject, and if the authorities have not received them, I presume that they have fallen out of the post-cart on the way down. It is, however, a peculiar but well ascertained fact that reports of contretemps of this sort have a way of appearing just the day after the English mail has left. In this case the mail steamer Dublin Castle, which was to have left Capetown on Tuesday, the 8th inst., has been ordered to sail on the 7th inst., and to land telegrams at St. Vincent, so that the news of the successful repulse of the Zulus, both at Kambula and near Etshowe, will reach England at the same time with the intelligence of the disaster at the Zlobane.

MAB
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Peter Ewart


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

Perceptive chap this Laurence!

For a detailed account of the sequence, contents and appearance of the various reports of Hlobane and Khambula emanating from Wood & Buller, see Huw M. Jones: Hlobane - A New Perspective published in issue number 27 of Natalia in 1997, and, of course, in the same author's The Boiling Cauldron - Utrecht District & the Anglo-Zulu War, 1879 (2006).

Wood clearly knew what he was doing (or thought he did) but Laurence obviously had his suspicions and saw through it all, even if he may not at that time have laid the blame for the strange puzzle at the door of Wood himself.

Peter
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Michael Boyle


Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Posts: 595
Location: Bucks County,PA,US
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Peter

Perceptive indeed! That's what I'm finding most interesting about him, his perception on all facets of the wars and the politics is indeed refreshing for his time.

Thanks for the references, all I have at present, Hlobane specific, is Ron Lock's "Blood on Painted Mountain". (Highly recommended as well.)

Best

Michael
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If Wood did attempt a cover-up about Hlobane, it does make me believe even more than before, that Chelmsford (and Crealock) did the exact same thing about Isandlwana, but, being such a massive defeat, I guess, was less likely to be completely successful.

It just goes to prove that such things did occur.

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Ron L


Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Posts: 23
Location: South Africa
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I have been away for a month and have just caught up with Lt. Laurence�s letter � as Peter says, how perceptive! We devoted a section, headed �The Hlobane Cover-Up�, to this subject in �Zulu Vanquished�. On the 30 March 1879, the day following Kambula, Wood wrote two separate reports: one for Hlobane and one for Kambula, stating in the first that Hlobane had been �� successfully assaulted and its summit cleared at daylight on the 28th�. However, he omitted to state that it had been cleared intentionally by the enemy as part of their strategy to decoy his cavalry. In detailing the assault, Wood showered blame on Lt. Col.. Weatherley who, rather like Durnford at Isandlwana, had been killed conveniently and couldn�t argue, and also upon the unfortunate and unpopular Lt. Col. Russell who was soon kicked out to the remount depot. And when Buller manfully attempted to take the blame for part of the disaster by writing �� and to my careless expression must, I fear, be attributed the greatest part of our heavy loss on this day�. Wood crossed it out and with the order to omit it from the London Gazette.

A court of enquiry was duly held concluding with the astounding opinion that �� no blame attached to the officer in command� � but,perhaps, it was not all that surprising when it is revealed that the inquiry was conducted by two of Wood�s officers.

By the way, is �Evelyn Wood VC � Pillar of the Empire� a new book? If so, does anyone have details please?

_________________
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Evelyn Wood VC - Pillar of Empire
AMB


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 921
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Ron,

From Pen & Sword's site:

Evelyn Wood VC - Pillar of Empire
by Stephen Manning
Found in: Military Biography
Type: Hardback
ISBN: 9781844156542
List Price: �25.00
Our Price: �20.00

Given the increasing interest in the Victorian era an authoritative biography of Field Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood VC is long overdue. By any standards his career was remarkable and began with him in the Royal Navy in the Crimea before he transferred to the cavalry 'to see more action'. He won his VC in India and became a member of Wolseley's select Ashanti Ring which ensured his advancement. His greatest victory at Kambula was preceded a day earlier by a crushing defeat at Hlobane which he attempted successfully to cover up. However the ruthless slaughter of the defeated Zulus after Kambula also threatened his career. Thanks to powerful friends including Queen Victoria, Wood's career continued to flourish although a major scandal involving his sister (Kitty O'Shea) and leading Irish nationalist Charles Parnell raised serious questions as to Wood's integrity.
Nevertheless he went to be Adjutant-General and a Field Marshal and was one of the major reforming generals laying the foundations for the Army's success in The Great War.This is an important biography filling a major gap in the bibliography of the period.

AMB
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The Scorer


Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 338
Location: Newport
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I've just finished reading this ... up to date as usual!

It's a very good book about someone of whom I knew very little. I wasn't aware of the family connection between Wood and Kitty O'Shea, and the story of how he and his family tried to deprive her of her inheritance is truely shocking.

One other thing I was surprised at is the amount of lobbying which went on to get appointments. I was amazed to find that many senior soldiers (including Wood) wrote regularly to Queen Victoria and asked her to intervene ... !

Still a very good book, and a good read.

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Evelyn Wood VC - Pillar Of Empire. by Stephen Manning.
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