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Date	Original Topic
11th June 2003	Last survivor of Isandhlwana By Frank Dunn Does anyone know who the last veteran of this battle was and when they passed on ?
Date	Replies
11th June 2003	Martin Everett Dear Frank, These type of questions are difficult to answer. Do you mean British side or Zulu army? If British it is probably someone serving in the Colonial Forces and you probably need to trawl through the Natal Witness for example for a report. The same is true of Rorke's Drift - on the British side is generally believed to be CSgt (later Lt Col) Frank Bourne - but someone has suggested to me that it could be 971 Pte Thomas Driscoll who died in Bristol c1946. The Noble 24th suggests Discoll died in Ebbw Vale in 1931 - but was this 1525 Pte T Discoll A Company 2/24th (The 1931 report does not give a Regimental Number). All very difficult to resolve. The answer to your question is probably a Zulu. A pure guess on my part.
11th June 2003	Graham Alexander Frank I believe that the last European survivor of the Isandlwana battle was Quarter Master Dugald Macphail of the Buffalo Border guard. He died at the grand old age of 101 years old on the 4th May 1941in South Africa. Without doubt there must have been Zulus who survived even longer, as many young boys were present at the battle.
11th June 2003	Ian Woodason Frank, The official book of the then Princess Elizabeth's Royal visit to South Africa in 1947 has a wonderful photo of an elderly Zulu who is described as 'a veteran of the Battle of Isandlwana'