Alone Among the Zulus |
John Young
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Peter,
Some years ago I had an 1879 reprint of Alone Among the Zulus, obviously the events of that year had caused a stir of interest in the subject. I didn't keep the item but I'm certain the author was then given as Catherine Barter - formerly given as 'A Plain Woman'. I always assumed that she was one of PMB Barters, the sister of Charles, of Bushman's Pass infamy. I saw the DP&G listing and just passed it off as another typo. I have got Lady Barker's details in my 1874 copy of Dod's. I can't find an ennobled Broome for that year, nor any son and heir who might fit the bill on the 1877-8-9 Medal Roll. John Y. |
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John Young
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Peter,
I've located the Broome in the cupboard... enough mirth & humour! Frederick Napier Broome (1842-1896), his claim to fame as far as the Anglo-Zulu War is concerned was that it was on his authority that troops (one company of the 88th & a half battery of three 7-pounder cannon of 10th Battery/7th Brigade Royal Artillery) were dispatched from Mauritius, where he was Colonial Secretary, on 1st March 1879 for operations in South Africa. See his entry on http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030230b.htm For her part in the war effort see her entry on http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030231b.htm Her son was Lieutenant Walter George Crole Wyndham, of the 21st Hussars, who served with the 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards, and subsequently with Baker Russell's Flying Column. John Y. |
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Keith Smith
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Peter
As John says, the book was penned by Catherine Barter, the sister of Charles Barter. The latter was Resident Magistrate at Inanda during the Zulu War. My own copy is published by Natal University Press (as it was then) and has quite a good biography of both of them, although it is presently packed in a box. KIS |
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Alan
Site Admin
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I've just spoken to DP&G books.
The version they copied from was published in 1880 and is attributed to being 'By a Plain Lady" on behalf of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowlege. DP&G think that a name was put to the listing because of a hand-written name on an inside page, which could have been mis-read. |
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Peter Ewart
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John, Keith & Alan
Many thanks. It seems that DP&G have erred. Easily done, although it does appear a bit cavalier to advertise something under an author's name supposedly handwritten on an inside page, when the identity of the nom-de-plume has been known openly for many years. Perhaps the copy they used was Lady Barker's - now there would be a nice, collectable "association copy"! I had never linked Catherine and Charles as brother and sister, so thanks for that. She obviously writes about her brother, the travelling companion, in the book, but doesn't mention any names, let alone her own. They travelled out to Natal from England in c1854, although her brother had been there before her I think. As you say, John, the events of 1879 clearly led her publishers to consider the time was ripe for a reprint. Yes, Lady Barker is easier to pin down. (I should have said son instead of stepson for Wyndham, as he was a product of her first marriage, not of Broome's). Peter |
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Alone Among the Zulus |
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