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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:37 am

Greetings

H. Rider Haggard in the section of his autobiography, The Days of My Life, concerning the Anglo-Zulu War makes this comment: "Our generals and soldiers entered on it with the lightest of hearts; notwithstanding the difficulties and scarcity of transport they took them with them their cricketing outfit into Zululand. This I know, since I was commissioned to bring home a wicket that was found on the field of Isandhlwana, and return it to the headquarters of a regiment to which it belonged, to be kept as a relic." (H.R. Haggard, The Days, Vol.1, pp.117-118.)

Does anyone have any idea which regiment the wicket might have belonged to?

Thanks

Stephen Coan

PS. Accidentally posted this on the books section as well

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:38 am

Oops! Topic should read Cricket at Isandlwana

Stephen
(it does now, Alan)

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 1:05 pm

Stephen

I hadn't realised Haggard had mentioned this, or if I had I'd forgotten. You may have half expected me to pick up this thread as I've dwelt (sometimes at length and occasionally at too much length!) on the Isandlwana cricket gear topic on the "old" forum in past years, usually - but not entirely - a little tongue-in-cheek.

I believe the main source for a (or the) cricket stump being located among the debris of the battlefield is Molyneux (or is it Montague, I'm not near my notes at present). In fact, I believe it was seen on the night of the 22nd but can't recall exactly now. The account was picked up by other AZW writers such as Egerton (Like Lions They Fought) but I'm not aware of any conclusion as to who the stump (or any other gear) had belonged to.

John Young has usefully (often humorously) picked up on my Isandlwana cricket gear ramblings in the past & the upshot is that there are several possible culprits. A cricket team photo taken in Secunderabad in the 1870s shows several 24th officers who eventually perished at Isandlwana. I know that several 24th officers also played cricket while in Kent in the mid-late 1870s, including Charlie Pope, Gonville Bromhead & Penn Symons, representing anyone who invited them to turn out, such as the Dover garrison. Bromhead had done well at school at cricket at Newark Grammar.

[Correcting above - the stump I mentioned should have been a pad, so Haggard was referring to a separate piece of equipment. I remember his ref now].

Obviously virtually all of the 24th officers had played cricket at public school or in the army and one or two (Coghill for example) even while in S Africa. Either the 57th or 58th (I forget which!) played cricket in Zululand immediately after Ulundi and the game was also played during the siege of Eshowe (possibly with pukka gear brought along for the purpose?) but neither of these will provide a clue for the Isandlwana stump. I think it was John Young who advise me that Bradstreet, N/Castle Mtd Rifles, KIA, had been skipper of N/castle CC in Natal, so there is another possible source - colonists rather than the army. On balance, however, I go for the army.

Even the Edendale contingent cannot be ruled out though. These Methodists had played cricket regularly at home back at their mission & also no doubt watched some of the cricket played at Pietermaritzburg. But taking their gear with them? I doubt it! There were other devotees of the game on the British side, too, including possibly some of the families of the Zulu princes and princesses who had fled after Ndondakasuka, as the refugees who were sent by Shepstone to Colenso at Ekukanyeni soon learnt to play cricket and more than one white source describes them as superb fielders, (this in the 1850s) whose throwing down of the stumps was so consistently accurate that their boyhood spear-throwing activities were credited. (Eat your heart out, Jonty!)

We therefore have the situation that a couple of Cetshwayo's brothers - Mkhungo and Sikhotha for example - who either opposed him at Isandlwana or sent substitutes to do so in their stead - were possibly cricketers, although the former would have made Imzamam, Colin Milburn or Cowdrey appear sylph-like, so I don't think it will be his pad(s) which were found at Isandlwana.

It doesn't seem at all unusual (colonial campaign-wise) that the 24th had taken cricket equipment with them, although the known transport difficulties would, one think, have made them reconsider! Personally, it tickles me pink!

Incidentally, I've found no accounts at all of cricket being played at Isandlwana in the 1880s and 1890s, which slightly surprises me, although football was certainly being played there by the mid-1890s.

As for the identity of the regiment (and I think Haggard's account, if accurate, strengthens the case for the gear having been regimental); well, I suggest that Martin has a really good search of every single cupboard he can locate! Who knows, unless carefully labelled on its return, the stump may simply have found its way into the cricket bag of the SWBs about a century ago!

What is highly likely, in my opinion, is that the 24th took some gear with them, if both a pad AND a stump were found. What about the rest of the stuff? No reports of tyhe remainder being recovered in Zulu homesteads after July?

That's about all I can suggest, unless JY can come with any more ideas?

Peter

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:30 am

Thank you Peter for your detailed response. Will be interesting to hear what Martin turns up searching his cupboards.

PS. Thanks to Alan for correcting my typo.

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 10:04 pm

Peter

When glancing through 'The Natal Carbineers', I was surprised that a couple of pages at the back (357-359) detailed a few of the cricket matches they played against the Maritzburg Rifles and other teams over the years. Apparently, the first appearance of the regimental eleven on the cricket field was in 1865.

Coll

Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 2:28 pm

Hi, I don't know if the 24th played cricket at Isandlwana, however a mixed team of both battalions played the I Zingara Cricket Club in late december 1878, also the 1/24 played a mixed Natal Carbineers and Police team over the new year 1878, nearly all the 1/24 team were killed at Isandlwana, as for the NC and NMP i think 4 were killed and two survivours played in their team, these details appeared in an article in the VMS journal in the 1980's

Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 5:17 pm

Coll,

Yes, a number of Natal Carbineers as well as colonists in other units will have been cricketers, at least in their younger days. A number had attended Bishop's College, Maritzburg, or Hilton College, and there are photos of cricket & football teams representing these colleges dating from the 1870s showing young men who later served - and in some cases died - at Isandlwana.

Rai,

I hadn't realised I Zingari were playing matches so far afield at that time. Perhaps there happened to be sufficient members present in S Africa to raise a team and they went for it. By the 1880s clubs as far apart as the Antipodes and the USA were calling themselves I Zingari, although whether they had any affiliation to the original famous club I don't know. Or perhaps the name was simply purloined for the 1878 fixture?

Interestingly (for a few!), after Lt.Col the Hon. Gerald French had published his strong defence of Chelmsford's performance in Zululand (1939) he then published his account of English club cricket & decorated the dust jacket with a very attractive painting of a Zingaro from the 1880s. The club colours worn by this dandy remind one of the protest the club made to the German government in the 1920s when the latter adopted black, yellow & red as the colours of their national flag, I Zingari maintaining that the colours had thereby now been degraded!

Peter

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:24 pm

Further to my mention above of football being played at Isandlwana in the 1890s, I thought I'd mention that I now have a photo from those days of a game in progress on the battlefield!

Of those in the photo, two are Europeans (& undoubtedly British), at least one of whom I may be able to identify. Of the 20-odd people visible, I fancy most are spectators standing near the (imaginary) touchline, some of them turning to face the camera, with probably only a few distant ones actually playing (as far as I can make out). All are in European clothing (jackets removed showing braces) as most will have been "kolhwa", and I'd guess that the rudimentary goalpost in the picture has been thrown up roughly in "E" Coy's old position on the firing line, going by the angle and apparent distance from the lion rock in the background. (A very approximate estimate, I hasten to add!)

I calculate the snap to have been taken in the 1890s but it is certainly by 1903 at the very latest. It's in a very fragile, damaged book so I can't photocopy or scan it without further damage, but I'll eventually be copying it anyway. It won't be the first snap of a football match in SA but I fancy it may be the earliest in Zululand, especially if it predates the 2ABW as it is not the result of any military presence.

Given that World Cup matches themselves will be played less than 100 miles away(?) in four years time, an upgrade in facilities will no doubt be evident by then!

Peter

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:37 pm

No question that all forms of sport played an important part of a units activities, be it soccer, cricket or hunting. However inter-unit rivalries were such, that at Helpmakar just prior to the invasion, all sporting activities were banned.
' There was a little disappointment in the camp at the prohibition of some sports that were contemplated and arranged for Christmas day. Still, everyone must admit that officers in command have to exercise great caution and forethought. At sports, as is not unusual, disputes arise, and partisanship will be demonstrated; the consequences might be a quarrel, which, under the present circumstances for which the force is collected, would prove a most unhappy and untoward event. If the prohibition of sports is attributed, therefore, to severe military discipline, there is a very good reason and excuse for it.'

What indeed would the Victorians have to say about current antics in the world of soccer?

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:27 pm

Now that's an interesting tidbit which I'm somewhat surprised with
since they took that tack in relation to sport. It would seem competition, the importance of goal setting, the camaraderie all would lend it self to be
included in the soldiers' activity while on duty during the AZW. I guess Wellington's quip that Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton fell by the wayside. And heck later on at the beginning of the 20th even Shackleton thought well enough of having a football match down at the South Pole (that maybe helped in securing the start of the modern day Premiership, eh???) Sure looks like they ran things differently there at Helpmakar!

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:33 pm

Peter/Rich

Yes, I'm slightly surprised at that, given that sport was often used to provide entertainment for the soldiery, especially in difficult times or when time hung on their hands. (I would have thought, though, that most units - incl. the 24th - who'd slogged through the mud and rain of Natal that December for day after exhausting day would have been glad of a rest on the 25th & a chance to dry out!)

You don't mention your source but it sounds civilian - Noggs or one of the Natal papers perhaps? He may well have been advancing his guess at why the sports were cancelled, but the theory he suggests doesn't seem to ring true to me. He doesn't even suggest that he has guessed correctly. I would not have thought the anticipation of sporting disputes among the assembling 3rd column would even remotely be a valid reason, so used were both officers and soldiers to playing football, cricket and athletics (all rudimentary of course) and of course ORs frequently played in the same teams as officers in late Victorian times (& before, for all I know).

Inter-company/regimental/service rivalry may have surfaced but not in a way that could not have been handled, surely. I wonder if the mud & water itself was the reason? Going by the descriptions of Helpmekaar at the turn of that year, I wouldn't have thought many games were possible in the conditions. A cricket ball certainly wouldn't have bounced in the mud, would it?

Perhaps Rev Geo Smith disapproved of this use of Christmas Day? He wasn't much of a sportsman.

Peter

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:43 pm

Peter,
Source: Biggarsberg Correspondent ' Red Book' page 5.

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 8:44 pm

Peter Q:

You don't think those AZW boys didn't mind plunking some of their wages down on a nice game of cricket? Wasn't that a Victorian ethos too, eh? Wink

'Lord Beauclark 1774 in the Morning Post:
"Cricket matches are now degenerated into business of importance. It is confidently said that a set of idle fellows or more properly a gang of dextrous gamblers are hired and maintained by a most noble lord at so little expense of 1000 pounds per year".

And right you are on the sports antics:
From "The Victorians and Sport"...a book by Mike Huggins...Hambledon Books 2004

"In County Durham in 1887 a crowd of a couple of hundred reckless (I like this!) hobble-de-hoys took issue with the decisions made by a football referee and charged him at the full time whistle"......

And the ref:
"Quickly throwing my overcoat into the face of the first assailant as a feint the next moment I most courageously took to the open country at top speed..I soon lost the foes and gained the shelter of a kind and friendly house".

And finally we have to thank the Victs for modern venues too:

"Similarly, as many sportslovers today enjoy watching a game in the company of plas on the big screen in the pub, so their Victorian ancestors were not averse to discussing a sporting event over a glass or two. as a consequence, a number of bar owners arranged for results to be realyed by telegraph to the lounge bar at ten-minute intervals and thus was born the first sports bar".

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:42 pm

Peter Q.

I wonder if your Helpmekaar reference actually banned all sporting activities for the column in future? The context of the words seems to indicate that a specific athletic meeting planned for Christmas Day was abandoned for the reasons given.
KIS

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 6:31 am

Keith,
Could it have been a Tug-of War match between the 1st and 2nd battalions? In those days Tug-of War was a popular item in the athletics calander.
The loser would have been subjected to much mirth, to say the least.