The Rorke's Drift VC Discussion Forum
(View Discussion Rules)

** IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL USERS **

PLEASE NOTE: This forum is now inactive and is provided for reference purposes only. The live forum is available at www.rorkesdriftvc.com/forum

(Back To Topic List)

Date	Original Topic
19th January 2003	Pulleine's & Durnford's deaths By Peter Ewart I know that Pulleine's death was raked over on this site recently, with two sightings of the body on the 23rd and two fugitives being told by Coghill that he was dead, one mentioning the word "shot." Last week I came across another statement that he'd been shot, although haven't seen this claim mentioned in any of the accounts by, for example, Morris, Jackson, Knight, Laband, Lock&Quantrill etc etc - which doesn't mean, of course, that I haven't missed it somewhere, nor that they didn't know of it but simply haven't used it. It comes from one of the "famous five" - Gardner (14th Hussars) & because it appears in "a private letter from Rorke's Drift" and was published in March '79 I presume it may have been circulated among other London newspapers which I haven't read. Is it well known? Anyone else seen it? If not I'll quote from it. (I think he returned to Helpmakaar, not RD, from Utrecht but I suppose could have been at RD at any time during the next few weeks). Does he mention the detail in his report to the enquiry? The letter also mentions Durnford. Gardner simply says that when he was escaping from being surrounded, he knew that "Pulleine & Durnford" were both shot, suggesting he was aware of this before being told by, for example, Coghill on the trail. Or perhaps he was putting his account together retrospectively and actually didn't know at the time that they were dead, although the letter does imply it. It is also interesting to see that he says Durnford had been shot - I haven't seen any account which describes how he died quite so exactly, nor any actual eye witness report of his death, only the fact that he had some Volunteers and some 24th with him and the bodies of those were found around him afterwards. I wouldn't necessarily place much weight on what may have been a careless remark in a private letter, but the same newspaper (a relatively obscure eccliastical journal which nevertheless gave countless column inches to the war) also carried a detailed account from a Zulu of Durnford's death - which I certainly haven't seen before. The Zulu described in detail how, at the end (and presumably out of ammunition) Durnford rushed forward from his group & brandished his sword at anyone near, striking out in all directions - until killed with a bullet in the head. Given that no accounts that I've seen (although I don't have Durnford's book by his brother) seem to describe any specific wounds on his body, and that all sorts of stories and interviews appearing in both the Natal and London press around Jan-April were uninformed rubbish, how much weight does one place on this account? Might he have mistaken him for someone else, Younghusband for example? And how many Zulus were "interviewed" as early as Feb/March??? I'll quote fully if anyone interested - have recounted here from memory. And surely Gardner was out of it before Durnford was killed? Or not? Any idea, or has it all been done to death so many times that we're all in danger of disappearing up our own backsides? However, if either of these accounts had been used by other papers, I would have thought I'd have seen them quoted somewhere? Is Gardner known to have written accounts other than in his report? Sorry to be so long-winded. Peter
Date	Replies
20th January 2003	Alan Critchley Peter, keep them coming. We may get there in in the end. Alan