Too what Coy. do the 24th belong too in Charles Fripp's art? |
Julian whybra
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Theoretically H coy with Sergt. Wolfe centre stage.
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John Young
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Julian,
What leads you to believe that Fripp has depicted Colour-Sergeant Wolfe? It is just that the figure is wearing the insignia of Lance-Sergeant - white chevrons rather than gold. Together with the Regimental Colour, who is to say it is not a depiction of one of the two Lance-Sergeants from 2nd/24th? John Y. |
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Andrew Garton
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John & Julian
Does this mean my guess is a good one? I've been reading Col.Snook's How Man Can Die Better, and Fripp's painting is on the Dust Jacket so it got me thinking! I suppose I thought of Wardell because I'm now reading about the demise of the right flank and the retreat to the nek. Thanks for your thoughts, Best Regards to both of you |
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John Young
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Andrew,
No, I'm actually querying Julian's assumption. The Colour in the painting could depict the lost Regimental Colour of the 2nd/24th. There are reports of an officer matching the description of Henry Julian Dyer, being seen with the Colour to be found in D.C.F. Moodie's book. Brevet Lt.-Col. Black found Dyer's body ...pierced to the heart with an assegai, and lying in a group with those of sixty others who had formed a rally-point in the retreat and fought desperately to the end. - extract from MacKinnon & Shadbolt. So as you can see I'm not agreeing with the assumption the painting depicts George Wardell's H Company, or that it depicts Colour-Sergeant Frederick Wolfe of that company. Personally, I believe that the painting not meant to depict anyone in particular, it is an allegory. John Y. |
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Mike Snook
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Yes, I agree with John, it is allegorical - herosim of our boys and that sort of thing. The point I make in my book - is that nobody knows what happened to the 2nd Bn colours - only that remnants of them were recovered, in at least one instance, in the saddle/Mahlabamkhosi, and that it is therefore possible that the 2nd Bn Colours found their way into one of the rallying squares I describe. But just because they were 2nd Bn colours doesn't mean that it had to be a 2nd Bn rallying square. As you know I don't believe that G Coy and the rear details got anywhere near the saddle, but rather were driven in from the right. I think that, whilst we are talking about different bns, it is still the same regiment, and the soldiers officers and men alike, would certainly make brave efforts to defend any of the colours - they would have fought just as bravely for the colours of their sister battalion as for their own. Hence my conclusion that Fripp is at liberty to suggest that the colours were defended in the fashion that he portrays - as I say in HCMDB - nobody can say that it was not so.
If you look at the juxtaposition of the mountain and the group, then it would most accurately reflect the final position of Wardell's square, but not of Wolfe's rearguard, which was, as far as we can tell, on the rocky ridge to the left front. But hey, as we all know, these are best estimates, and are by no means established and incontravertible facts. But at the end of the day, we should regard it as what it is - a magnificent war painting in a very Victorian, but nonetheless admirable genre. Its influence in the popularity of AZW studies is not to be underestimated. Its right up there with 'Zulu'. Regards to all Mike |
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Too what Coy. do the 24th belong too in Charles Fripp's art? |
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