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Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 6:14 pm

Does anyone know the names listed on the HMS Boadicea Memorial of those who died during its commission during the Zulu and First Boer War?
I have seen photographs of the panels, but they are heavily corroded and it is hard to make out the names and dates.

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:53 pm

Tom

Hope these help

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:55 pm

Tom,

If you cannot read the names for AZW then the medal roll should help. I am sure someone will list them for you. There is also Tavender's book - see on-line shop.

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:25 pm

Where is the memorial? Google appears to have failed me....

Peter

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:31 pm

At the risk of losing the Museum a sale for the sake of three names on this occasion, Tavender lists three casualties to Bodicea:

Bugler Boy J. Hinchley
Carpenter's Mate P. Conday
RMA Gunner F. Parfitt

All dangerously wounded at Gingindhlovu 2/4/1879.

I recommend the purchase of Tavender's book as a standard work of reference for the campaign.

Peter

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:41 am

Tom

To add to Peters list, these are the "Boadicea" men who died during the 1st Boer War :-

Laings Nek

Gunners mate H. Ransom
Ord. Seaman A. Wilson

Majuba

Commander F. Romilly
Ltn. C. Trower
Quarter Master S. Witherbridge
Boatswains Mate G. Hammond
Able Seaman W. Barnard
"" H. Croft
" J. loveless
" J. Mclure
" C. O'Connor
" W. Passingham
Ordinary Seaman H. Beddell
" H. Brazier
" G. Burton
" W. Chapman
" E. Still
Krooman T. Lewis

Regards Graham

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:04 am

Peter

The memorial is located at Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery

Hampshire

Graves1879

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:11 am

Many thanks. I'm familiar with the Submarine Museum in Gosport but have not ventured much beyond the quayside.

Peter

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:03 am

Just for Information, other Participants in the Zulu War buried at Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery.

Sub-Lieutenant Francis Alfred Valentine HMS Boadicea

Engineer George Swinney HMS Orontes

Graves1879

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:01 pm

Graves1879,
Thank you for the photos of the memorial.

Peter & Graham, & Martin
Thank you for the information you provided.

I'm still trying to decipher one or two names on the panel depicted in the forth photo from the top. It appears that below the listing of W. H. Burfield and 11 Krooman who died from smallpox, the next name listed is T. Hill, Boy, fell from aloft _________. and on other name below his. All the rest are from the Boer war and later.

Again, Thanks for all of your help and comments.

Tom

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:30 pm

Petty Officer Tom, I have a 1879 letter written by Commander F. Romilly of the HMS Boadicea in which he mentions some interesting observations about Cetshwayo and being shot at by Zulus. If you'd like scans and a transcript of the letter, please email me privately. As you probably know, Romilly was later shot and killed by the Boers at Majuba. Ron Sheeley

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:20 pm

Tom

Are you sure it says T.Hill? It may, but the "T" looks a bit small to me, with the top of the letter a bit lower than it should be. As it also starts fractionally to the right of where it should do, I wonder if part of this initial is missing, as evidenced by the possible small hole where the lead appears to have gone, as it has in other parts. On the other hand, I can't see a surname in Graham's list which otherwise might fit. Depends on the date, which I can't read!

Your eyes are better than mine in deciphering the smallpox which killed the eleven Kroomen (West Africans, presumably?) unless this is mentioned elsewhere on the memorial or recorded elsewhere?

The other chap, near the bottom, who also "fell from aloft", was D. Turner, on "Nov. 4th." I think the year is "dittoed" from above.

Is the memorial limited to Boadicea crew? I see inscribed at least one who died in 1879, yet Tavender (which doesn't include 1ABW) lists only "dangerously wounded" from the AZW, no fatalities, as Peter W has indicated above.

Despite the lichen, I'm sure the inscriptions would be easily read on site, as the angle, light and shadow are very important in deciphering lichened inscriptions. Most of them seem to tie up nicely with Graham's 1ABW list.

Someone near Pompey will have to go along and have a look, or a nice helpful nurse from HMS Haslar!

Peter

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:31 pm

Peter,
I am 99% sure it it Hill. The initial does look more like the letter "l" and is a bit smaller. (did the cross bar of the "T" come off?). After the name Hill is his rank which is "Boy". There is a T. Hill, A.B. on the medal roll for Boadicea. Since I cannot make out the date of his death either, it is possible that he died before the ship arrived at Durban and therefore he would not have been on the medal roll.

My eyes are only better when I magnify the photo. The top of the panel reads:
W.H. Burfield AB and Eleven Kroomen
Died During An Epedemic of Smallpox
Jan and Feb 1879

l. Hill Boy fell From Aloft __________

The panel above this one reads:
W.F. Reid Sig J. Harwood Stoker
Died of Fever In Zululand May 1879

Both of these men are listed on the medal roll and were entitled to the 1879 clasp for their medal.

The memorial is limited to Boadicea crew. Is it possible that Reid and Harwood did not die from their fevers until they had been evacuated from the front to the hospital at Herwin or Durban, and therefore Tavendeer did not list them?

Tom