rorkesdriftvc.com :: View topic - Visit to Royal Engineers musem at Chatham recently

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:18 pm

Recently i visited my relatives who live in Gillingham - Kent. On the Monday 14th i visited the RE musem at Chatham. Last time i was there when i was a young child. It had changed alot. One of the staff pointed out that the musem was going through some rework so the direction you took around the exhibits had changed for the time being. i was keen to see how the exhibit relating to the battles at Rorke's Drift and Isandhlwana fared. Let's just say there wasn't that much. There is a display cabinet featuring items Durnford had collected, grass skirt, pipe, spear and shield. It showed a musket ball which they said was taken out of Durnfords body. Also showed one of the bullets used in the rifles (still had some of the pig skin wrapping around it). There was also Chard's revolver too.

Turning around and you see a model makeup of the encampment at Isandhlwana and a write up about it. There was also a small write up about Chard too. What disappointed me most about the exhibit was that it didn't show any of the uniforms of the era or any of the rifles used. Alot of the other exhibits at least showed some form of uniform for there era.

Also, the medals awarded to both men were not prominently on display in the Medal room. I had a look twice round both medal rooms and couldn't find them. I was told they were in one of the many drawers that are incorporated into the display cabinets (musem staff wasn't able to help me at the time, the person who may have known was off site) but considering how many drawers there were and the drawers weren't marked for each year, i didn't have the time to go looking through each one.

Next time i go i will make a more determined effort to find where there medals are located in the musem.

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:20 pm

It is my understanding the Col. Durnford's medals are with the museum, though I am not sure if they are on display or not.