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"The Road to Isandlwana" by Philip Gon
Michael Boyle


Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Posts: 595
Location: Bucks County,PA,US
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I found this work to be 'a good read', written in the narrative style much like Mike Snook's two books and much like Mike's seamlessly interweaving percieved logic and deduction from available source material. Similarly Mr. Gon decided to forgo copious annotations in favour of narrative continuity. [Largely lost upon myself due to my own traditional blasphemic notations cluttering up of nearly every page. The introduction of the flourescent marker being a 'hallelujah' moment for me and forever excluding me from the ranks of the true bibliophile!]

I would recommend this book to anyone with more than a casual interest in the A-ZW because it covers the 1/24th's, Lord Chelmsford's and to a somewhat lesser extent the 2/24th's breadth of experience in South Africa leading up to the more familiar events and continuing on until their departure, allowing for a more contextual understanding of the First Invasion. It also does an admirable job of reducing the tangled political machinations pervading the entire period to terms that laymen such as myself can more readlily understand and appreciate. As most of us 'enthusiasts' tend to focus on the trees this work is invaluable in pointing out the huge forest surrounding those trees in a way that for me makes the first half of TWOTS more accessable. (Where TWOTS still seems the best work for over-all early history leading up to the events, Gon's book, I found, to be the best at focusing on the more immediate times leading up to them.) The book is heavy on the political 'reasons why' but is also liberally sprinkled with amazing little anecdotes of interesting trivia (how many of us know that the first 24th soldier killed in action in South Africa was Pte. Michael Collins or the first VC recipient- Major Moore or that the average cost of maintaining an imperial soldier in SA was @80 pounds/year or that the battalion only had one officer who'd passed through Staff College- Lt. Archer Moreshead.) (Okay so maybe I'm the only one fascinated in trivia!)

Which of course brings us to the accuracy issue. Even I noticed some spelling and rank errors as well as some broad assumptions that may require some qualification. (I naturally found his reference to Col. Durnford as "the hero of Bushman's Pass" spot on though!) [No attacks here please, there's already a topic for that!] I'm curious as to any factual errors though, all books seem to have them to one degree or another. I did notice he has Lt. Chard coming up to camp simply out of curiousity rather than to clarify orders.

Can anyone who has read this book point out any glaring (or not so glaring) errors that could prove pitfalls to those of us still coming up to speed or any assumptions Gon may have made based on since discredited information. (Specifically but not limited to his narrative of events immediately leading up to the battle and his interpretation of what Chelmsford and Lt. Col. Pulleine may have been thinking.)?

Thanks

Michael
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Dawn


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 610
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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Michael

Sounds like you want a mini-thesis! Your question reminded me of the history questions I faced at school with the resultant 1000 word essay required to be written in twenty minutes! Crying or Very sad

Just having a dig. I'm in a playful mood this morning. Laughing

I guess it would help to read the book, but as I don't have a copy....you could send me your's, couldn't you? Wink

Dawn
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Coll
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Michael

I've got the book. Been a while since I read it though. Can't recall if Gon stayed 'neutral' with his views about Col. Durnford and Col. Pulleine before, during, and after the battle at Isandlwana, regarding decisions they made and actions they took. Tell me, what did you think about his description of the battle ?

Additionally, I bought my book secondhand (�45) and have a feeling I've been done. Between pages 208-209 is there supposed to be photographs, as it looks like pages are missing ?

Coll
Michael Boyle


Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Posts: 595
Location: Bucks County,PA,US
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Geez Dawn you're quite right, didn't mean to sound so imperative, must be the instructor in me sneaking out when it's the student seeking help! By the way, there are a number of more humanistic anecdotes in the book that you may find helpful for adding colour to your work. (Try a library though as the volumn seems to command top dollar.) [I'll lend you my copy if you leave your first-born as collateral and then only if house-broken!] [Feeling rather playful myself at this early hour.]

Coll, mine's secondhand as well, I believe it's been out of print for quite a while judging by what I paid for the paperback version!. There are twelve plates missing from your book- eight portraits including Anthony Durnford (well known shot), one fanciful illustration of Melvill's and Coghill's demise (either the Graphic or Illustrated I think), an interesting shot of Isandlwana hill apparently taken fairly contemporaneously as it includes an unpainted cairn with a wooden cross that may be in the location of the subsequent memorial (with what appears to be four Zulus posing in the background), a shot described as Corporal Richardson and the 1/24th's Pioneers (while I thought all the pioneers were auxilliaries), possibly taken at the Military Reserve, King William's Town, and most interestingly a shot of Burck and the 1/24th band that also appears to have taken at the Military Reserve. Interesting because the text contains an anecdote that four drummer boys were precluded from joining Chelmsford's excursion because they were deemed too small to carry stretchers and I can make out at least two who would seem to fit that bill. (There's also a bandsman with a bass fiddle that I can in no way imagine on parade!) (Both the last described photos seem to have been taken the same day and I wonder if any were taken of the line companies as well, though it seems not all were present then.)

As Gon seems to have only been 'drug into' (in a nice way that many of us can appreciate!) a study of the A-ZW through his acquisition of Burck's photo album he came across to me as fairly balanced. Apart from my previously applauded reference to Durnford he didn't seem to delve too deeply into that aspect as the sub-title of the book is "The Battles of an Imperial Battalion" but he did seem to be quite objective in his analysis of Durnford's possible thoughts and action's. He seemed to focus more on the 1/24th and on Lord Chelmsford. I find his interpretaions of Chelmsford's and Lt. Col. Pulleine's possible thinking to be quite compelling and am hoping that there are no egregious holes in his reasoning there. (I realize that I may be asking a subjective question in that regard.)

MAB
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Michael Boyle


Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Posts: 595
Location: Bucks County,PA,US
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I have just realized my mistake in attributing the 1/24th drummer boys with the 2/24th. Can anyone point me towards a photo of the 2/24th band which would include the 2/24th drummer boys (although I believe that 'drummer boy' may be a misnomer), not that I particularly wish to put a face to the alleged atrocities, I should neither shirk it. [Again, there is already a topic for that discussion.]

MAB
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Dawn


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 610
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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Michael

Alas, the libraries in the outer islands do not hold much significance to a war fought so long ago in a land so far away, so unfortunately most of my books have to be purchased. And until I acquire a wealthy benefactor (known alternatively as a sugar daddy!), I shall have to restort to begging, borrowing and stealing...well, maybe not the stealing.

Drummer boys... you should know better. There were drummers and there were bandboys, and never the twain shall meet. Drummers were one rank above privates (paid a pence or a shilling extra a day - can't remember which) and bandboys were just that - boys in the band. Rightly so would some of them deemed to be too small to carry stretchers. Mike Snook refers to at least 4 unnamed bandboys being left behind in addition to the ones named. All perished, poor blighters, as we all know. (More information avail in another thread.)

I wish I could expound on your question. Perhaps someone else can do us the service. Perhaps I could con Coll's book off him?? Wink

Dawn
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Peter Ewart


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

Well, it does contain some irritating errors although whether these are serious or not will depend on the opinion of the reader.

I have in the past found faults in the index of the 1st edition (Donker, RSA) although this is probably the publisher's fault, not the author's. I don't know whether they have been corrected in subsequent editions or the paperback version. I get particularly annoyed by poor indexes, and inaccurate or incomplete ones are even worse - but another reader may not bother (and, to be fair, it is a very common problem these days).

For example, the index refers to Coghill's knee injury on p114 and I once spent ages trying to find this note, believing it would describe the incident when Daly threw an assegai at Coghill, but finally found it on p214, and it referred only to his 20th Jan '79 injury. I have an idea from some seven year old correspondence which I can't lay my hands on this minute that Gon does mention this incident somewhere but that the date disagrees with the date of a letter from Daly describing it. A minor point, but not if one were trying to establish whether there is any evidence to point out whether the 1879 injury affected the same or the other knee. (So you're not the only one to get bogged down in trivia from time to time!)

Questions about the quality of his actual research, however, do arise when one reads on p228 that Heaton "noted in his diary that the eclipse of the sun began at 11.51" which was quite untrue as he didn't, unless the author was, perhaps, hiding behind the broader meaning of "noted." If so, he should have used the more accurate "noticed", by which choice he would have avoided giving a completely different and false impression that Heaton recorded his observation of the eclipse, which he didn't. (I haven't yet acquired the recently published version of H's diary so don't know whether this point is covered in that publication or not).

Obviously, the strength of this book is its treatment of the years 1875-78, not the Anglo-Zulu War itself, although at the time of its publication there were far fewer modern published accounts of the war and the battle of Isandlwana.


Peter

P.S. You were, of course, joking about your use of a fluorescent marker!!! ??? Evil or Very Mad


Last edited by Peter Ewart on Sun May 28, 2006 4:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Lower Sheering, Essex
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Michael,

Couple of points to do with the images from the book that you mention.

The demise of Melvill & Coghill, that you mention, is actually a painting by no-less-than Charles Fripp, he of the famous Isandula painting. To my knowledge it never appeared in the I.L.N. or The Graphic, although a print of it was available from The Graphic's gallery.

As to your 'four Zulus' at Isandlwana, I'm glad you added 'I think', or I'd tell you to get off the road and get down the optician's!

The photograph was taken in mid-1880, around May or June, by George Ferneyhough. The cross may well be metal, rather than wooden, I have an idea what it is, but I'll see if others can reach the same conclusion. I can identify three of the four men standing there straight off, I'll have to hunt for the identity of the fourth. From left to right, Jabez Molife, who had fought at the Battle of Isandlwana, and escaped the field mounted on Durnford's horse; 2nd from the left, currently unable to find his details; 3rd from the left holding a butterfly net is Commandant Bowker, formerly of the Cape Mounted Rifles and on the right stands Major Henry Sparke Stabb, of the 32nd (Cornwall) Light Infantry.

As an aside, Stabb is actually buried next to Anthony Durnford at the Fort Napier Cemetery, PMB.

This was one of a number of photographs by Ferneyhough of Stabb & his party which culminated in the erection of the Queen's Cross at the death site of the Prince Imperial of France on 1st June, 1880. I believe that the Royal Engineers have a complete folio of the photographs in the R.E. Library. Sadly, I've only got a couple of the originals in my own collection.

John Y.
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Coll
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John

I've not seen said photograph, but if Jabez Molife is there, could it be the original site of where Col. Durnford was buried on the battlefield ?

Coll
John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Lower Sheering, Essex
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Coll,

I knew you'd get excited!

Chieftain & Molife! You couldn't stay away.

You can look at a low-res' version of the photograph on http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_col_online.htm#null

However, please don't take the captions as being correct! I've already discussed them with the R.E. Museum's curator.

It is what is making the cross, I was after, by-the-way.

John Y.
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Michael Boyle


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

Empire Books in Oz has a hard bound copy so perhaps your next time there you can wear an over-size jumper, a disquise and .... just kidding! You're right, I shouldn't use 'drummer boys' even though Gon's book like so many others does and 'drummer boy' does seem to have been at least the semi-official designation in many 19th century armies. In addition to 'bandboys' there were of course just plain 'boy's carried on the stregnth as well. Mike's book was the first, that I recall noticing, referencing the four lads left behind so it sort of jumped out at me in Gon's work and I confused myself into thinking that they were shown in the 1/24th band photo. Since we don't know their names I think it would be fitting to at least know their faces.

Peter

Yes I see what you mean with the indexing! Mine is the 1992 paperback version and the index doesn't seem to have been improved. (One of the reasons, I'm afraid, that I wasn't entirely joking about the fluorescent marker. I would of course never dream of marking up my 1760 edition of Pope's "Satires" nor my limited edition "War and Peace in South Africa 1879-1881" edited by Dr. Paul Butterfield (The Writings of Philip Anstruther and Edward Essex which concern primarily the first Boer war as it turns out) nor many of the older books I've acquired but I tend to look at paperbacks and currently-in-print books more as tools and find that my mark ups aid me considerably in my research as my note taking tends to be quite convoluted!) The passage you were looking for can be found on page 77- "Despite a wound in his leg, from a misdirected assegai thrown by Daly, Coghill was able to attend two of the mandatory seasonal picnics, as well as a Masonic banquet,..." indicating the occurence to be around Christmas 1876. On page 214 we have "The thought of a roast-chicken dinner had spurred some of the junior officers to give chase ; but a nimble chicken had caused Coghill to stumble and wrench his troublesome left knee." Seeming to indicate that it was the same knee that was previously wounded. However wading through Gon's extensive bibliography leaves me no clue where he got any of this unless it's the privately issued book that I have no hope of ever acquiring.

You've also hit on one of the passages that I was 'fixin' to go to town' with! I had hoped the diary reference to the eclipse, with it's exact time, would allow me to reckon exactly how far off the time keeping of the day could have been, knowing the actual time figured by modern observatories. Oh well, that bit of trivia shall continue to allude me for now. Thanks for the input.

John

Thanks for that, I knew I had seen it before but had no idea it was Fripp, somehow the stlye didn't seem comparable to "Isandula". (Of course I have very little expertise there to say the least.)

Even with viewing the Isandlwana photo with my patented 'two sets of specs and a magnifying glass' trick I was unable to discern the gentlemen exactly. I took the butterfly net to be a Zulu shield! Still, I can't fault the photo, one can't expect too much from a small paperback edition.

Would you happen to know if the two 1/24th photos that I took to be shot at the Military Reserve were part of a further series including others from the 1/24?

Thanks

Michael
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Keith Smith


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 540
Location: Northern NSW, Australia
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Peter/Michael

I got excited about the Heaton diary and the eclipse several years ago. When I next visited the RRW Museum at Brecon, Martin Everett kindly found it for me. The eclipse is certainly mentioned for 22nd January but it is priinted by the diary publisher and is not an entry by Heaton himself. Sorry to disappoint.
KIS
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Peter Ewart


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

Thanks for digging out the Daly passage - I was a bit rushed (or too lazy) yesterday to go through the Daly refs in the index before posting. I believe it was a letter from Daly to his mother which described the incident (and which Gon presumably has seen?) and I understand from some old correspondence in my files that there is a discrepancy with the dates, although I have never seen the letter. A few years back I asked on this forum what the date of this letter was but there was no follow-up so perhaps the letter is not so well known as I had at that time supposed.

Glad to be mollified on the fluorescent marker situation! Much of my own library can also be considered "working copies" although I still hesitate to use even a light pencil to correct errors. Smile

Keith

Yes, that's what I was referring to when I said Gon should have implied that Heaton "noticed" (i.e. "saw" or "read") the printed entry in his diary rather than "noted" which suggests that he "wrote" it. In fact, I was pretty sure it was by you that I was alerted to this anomaly some time ago, but it doesn't appear in the paper you wrote on the The Isandlwana Eclipse, and I've now found it in subsequent correspondence on the topic between you and me, referring to your investigations at Brecon via Martin. If you ever update this article, it may be that you'll refer to the Heaton diary to highlight not only the inaccuracy of Gon's statement but to complement the other scientific sources you cited in your calculation of the time of the eclipse in that part of the world.

Peter
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Peter Ewart


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

What do you reckon the cross was made from? My copy isn't that clear but I think the top of the vertical piece is pointed. I've no idea, other than perhaps from a pierce of battlefied junk, which you have no doubt identified!

I think I've seen other photos of the same cross, whether contemporary ones I can't remember. Modern ones too - is it still there? Surely not, but I have colour pictures of a very similar cairn & cross. (I seem to remember there is an old version of it in the online catalogue of the Killie Campbell photographic collection).

Is it known what or whom the cross marks? If the picture is from 1880, I just wonder if this cross is the one which was erected by William McCrorie, Bishop of Maritzburg, in the company of Revd George Smith, Chief Hlubi kaMota Molife, Charles Johnson and Archdeacon Usherwood at the conclusion of their funeral/memorial service for the fallen in Dec 1879? This was erected somewhere at the foot of the eastern slopes, the spot being chosen by McCrorie as the site for the proposed mission, but although Charles Johnson and his wife began building their hut a week or so later, the site for St Vincent's was eventually chosen further out (and more to the NE) as the ground was far too stoney around the original cross.

Peter
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"The Road to Isandlwana" by Philip Gon
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