rorkesdriftvc.com Forum Index


rorkesdriftvc.com
Discussions related to the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879
Reply to topic
Role of the Naval Brigade
rb8941


Joined: 17 Dec 2008
Posts: 3
Location: USA
Reply with quote
I'd like to learn more about the role of the Naval Brigade in the AZW.

I've read a great many books about the war but none has treated the Brigade with much more than a passing reference. I'm particularly interested in the HMS Boadicea, it's officers and crew.

If anyone can suggest some source material it will be greatly appreciated. I live in the US so original source material in the UK is not an option for me.

Thanks,
Rick
View user's profileSend private message
Harold Raugh


Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Heidelberg, Germany (U.S. Army)
Reply with quote
Hello Rick,

These are some secondary sources (with the exception of Norbury's account) on the Naval Brigade in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War:

A. NAVAL BRIGADE

Books

Bleby, Lieutenant Commander Arthur. The Victorian Naval Brigades. Dunbeath, Scotland: Whittles Publishing, 2006. Viii + 184 pp., illustrations, maps. This book chronicles the interesting role of Naval Brigades in a number of Victorian military campaigns, including Chapter 5, �The Zulu War: 1878 [1879],� pp. 71-81.

Clowes, Sir Wm Laird, et al. The Royal Navy. Vol. 7 A History from the Earliest Times to 1900. London: Sampson Low, Marston, 1903; reprint, London: Chatham, 1997. Xvi + 27 pp., numerous illustrations. This is an authoritative naval history, and includes detailed coverage of Naval Brigade operations in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War, pp. 303-310.

Field, Colonel Cyril, and General Sir H.E. Blumberg, comps. Britain�s Sea Soldiers: A History of the Royal Marines and Their Predecessors and of Their Services in Action, Ashore and Afloat, and Upon Sundry Other Occasions of Moment. 2 vols. Liverpool: Lyceum Press, 1924. Royal Marines also served in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War.

Norbury, Fleet Surgeon Henry F. Naval Brigade in South Africa during the Years 1877-78-79. London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1880; reprint, Uckfield, UK: Naval and Military Press, 2004. X + 307 pp., 13 drawings, 22 maps. This is an invaluable account, told by Norbury, who served as chief medical officer of the 300-man Naval Brigade from the H.M.S. Active that fought against the Gaikas and Galekas in the Ninth Cape Frontier War (1877-1878) and in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War. Much of this narrative is derived from Norbury�s own journals.

Articles

Best, Brian. �The Naval Brigade in Zululand.� Journal of the Anglo Zulu War Historical Society 5 (June 1999). This interesting article describes the composition and accomplishments of the Naval Brigade during the Anglo-Zulu War, 1879.

Bodin, Lynn. �Her Majesty�s Royal Navy Landing Parties.� Soldiers of the Queen 6 (August 1976): 45-46. Naval landing parties and Royal Marine detachments, as chronicled by Bodin, served in at least nineteen campaigns (from the Levant in 1840 to the Boxer Rebellion in 1900) during Queen Victoria�s reign. Naval Brigades and Royal Marines served in the Anglo-Zulu War, 1879.

I hope these items may be of interest to you.

Good reading!
Harold Raugh
View user's profileSend private message
Harold Raugh


Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Heidelberg, Germany (U.S. Army)
Reply with quote
Hello Rick,

Here is a listing of Naval Brigade/Anglo-Zulu War related documentary material in The National Archives at Kew:

ITEM DESCRIPTION DATE
ADM 101/155: TENEDOS, Staff Surgeon W.D. Longfield: Naval Brigade in Zulu War. 1879
ADM 101/158: SHAH, Staff Surgeon John Shields: Naval Brigade in Zulu War. 1879
ADM 116/184: Zulu War, 1879. Medical Reports from Naval Brigade and Marine Battalion. Casualties. 1879
ADM 171/40: Medal roll of the Naval Brigade who served in the Basuto and Zulu Wars. 1877-1879

Cheers,
Harold
View user's profileSend private message
John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Lower Sheering, Essex
Reply with quote
Harold,

You can add The Career of H.M.S. Shah, (Naval Brigade,) during The Zulu Campaign, being a Diary of Events compiled by G.H. W., Signalman. Published in January 1880 in Gloucester by C. Jeynes.

Reprinted by the then Anglo-Zulu War Research Society in Volume 7, Issue 2 of The Journal of the Anglo-Zulu War Research Society in 2001.

Rick,

For some H.M.S. Boadicea interest see A Young Heart of Oak: Memories of Harry Stuart Boldero, Lieutenant R.N. with a preface by the Very Rev. H.D.M. Spence, D.D., Dean of Gloucester. Published 1891, by Hodder & Stoughton. Boldero was a Boadicea officer. Chapters V-VII relate to the South African Station.

John Y.
View user's profileSend private messageSend e-mail
Harold Raugh


Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Heidelberg, Germany (U.S. Army)
Reply with quote
Hi John,
Thank you very much for the additional Naval Brigade-related references. I did not have the first. I did have the second, but since I have yet to see the book, I did not know who Boldero was! Now I do. Thank you.
Do you have any updates on your new AZW organization? Thank you.
Best wishes,
Harold
View user's profileSend private message
Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
Reply with quote
I sent a private message to you before I noticed Harold Raugh's reference to Norbury as the chief medical officer of the Naval Brigade. There's no doubt that it's the same Norbury. It doesn't appear that the photographs are included in the book listed.
View user's profileSend private message
Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
Reply with quote
And, of course, the only modern work I can think of offhand (apart from A Widow-Making War) which concentrates entirely on the coastal column, including the activities of the Naval Brigade: Ian Castle's and Ian Knight's Fearful Hard Times - the Siege & Relief of Eshowe, 1879 (Greenhill, London: Stackpole, Pennsylvania, 1994).

Peter
View user's profileSend private messageSend e-mail
Harold Raugh


Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Heidelberg, Germany (U.S. Army)
Reply with quote
The following are references for the siege of Eshowe:

E. SIEGE OF ESHOWE, 24 JANUARY-3 APRIL 1879

Books

Castle, Ian, and Ian Knight. �Fearful Hard Times�: The Siege and Relief of Eshowe, 1879. London: Greenhill Books, 1994; Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1994. 256 pp., 67 illustrations, 18 line drawings, 10 maps and plans. This is the story of the 72-day siege of the British by Zulus during the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War.

Articles
Knight, Ian. �In Camp at Ekowe.� Armourer Military Magazine 54 (November/ December 2002): 16-20.

Knight, Ian. �To Dye the Earth With Brave Men�s Blood, Part 1: Visit to 1879 Anglo-Zulu War Battlefields � Fort Pearson, Eshowe, Gingindlovu.� Battlefields 8, no. 1 (1999). This article describes the role of Fort Pearson, Eshowe, and Gingindlovu in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War, and what these sites look like today.

Knight, Ian. �News from the Front: Living History � A Zulu Account of the Siege of Eshowe.� Colonial Conquest 11. The author recounts a Zulu version of the Siege of Eshowe, 24 January-3 April 1879, which he received during a recent battlefield tour.

Knight, Ian. ��Not At All Child�s Play�: The Siege and Relief of Eshowe 1879.� Journal of the Anglo Zulu War Historical Society 4 (December 1998); reprinted in Redcoats and Zulus: Selected Essays from the Journal of the Anglo Zulu War Historical Society, ed. Adrian Greaves, 130-142. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Military, 2004. This is a chronicle of the 72-day Siege of Eshowe.

Knight, Ian. �Terribly Earnest Work.� Medal News 36, no. 8 (September 1998): 20-23. This is an account of the Siege of Eshowe.

Knight, Captain H.R. �Reminiscences of Etshowe.� United Service Magazine 8 (1894): 582-595.

�La D�eliverance d�Ekowe: Un Chapitre de la Guerre des Zoulous� [The Relief of Ekowe: A Chapter in the Zulu War]. Revue Britannique (August 1879): 269-308.

Lloyd, Lieutenant W.N., R.H.A. �The Defence of Ekowe.� Natalia 5 (1975): 15-28.

Lloyd, Lieutenant W.N., R.H.A. �The Defence of Ekowe.� Royal Artillery Institution Proceedings (1881): 451-465.

�One Who was There.� �The Zulu War: With Colonel Pearson at Ekowe.� Blackwood�s Edinburgh Magazine 126, no. 765 (July 1879): 1-29.

Good reading!
Harold
View user's profileSend private message
Role of the Naval Brigade
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
All times are GMT  
Page 1 of 1  

  
  
 Reply to topic