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Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:56 am

I understand that the Zulus fully looted the camp at Isandlwana for some time after the battle, and wondered what became of some of thoes trophies of war: I imagine that hundreds of tunics, helmet�s, cap badges and buttons must have found there way into Zulu villages after the disaster.

I wonder if after all these years some of thoes things still exist in Zulu homes, or have been discovered by Zulu decedents in the present day?

Anyone every heard of such a thing?

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:12 pm

David

I'm sure you're right that many of these items remained in the possession of Zulu for years and years. It's certainly the case that anything portable and considered desirabe appears to have disappeared from the camp, and a good many of these items turned up in Zulu homesteads and elsewhere during the remainder of 1879 and in the few years afterwards: guns, ammunition, uniforms, footwear, bits of colour poles and all sorts of military or personal paraphernalia. They must have continued to turn up in dribs and drabs over the following decades too. I think it likely that a useful, practical use would have been found for many of them.

Of course, with so much to-ing and fro-ing over Zululand in the 1880s, 1890s and 1900s by British, Boer and colonial military units during the civil war, the Dinizulu "rebellion", the South African War and the Bambatha rebellion, there would be plenty of additional military bits and pieces which might turn up many years later without having any connection at all with 1879. And the considerable movement of large swathes of the Zulu population after 1879, both within Zululand during the 1880s & 1890s and from Zululand to distant parts (in the mines for example) at all times since, means that there is also every chance of small items travelling long distances at any time since January 1879. It wouldn't surprise me if many odds and ends weren't simply lost or abandoned years later during some of the notoriously difficult river crossings encountered all over Zululand during the rainy seasons - and still await discovery. The three-handled cup presented to King Cetshwayo by Queen Victoria in 1882 was, after all, discovered in river mud near Ulundi in 1938.

I wonder what the most recent - or relatively recent - interesting finds have been. Wasn't a sword (or something similar) discovered in a hut roof in recent years?

Peter

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:10 pm

Hello Peter,
Thank you for that most facinating reply. I very much appreciate your taking the time to respond.
Kind regards,
David

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:36 pm

A great deal of items were taken from the camp and the fallen men, but I don't think any of the revolvers carried by officers and colonial volunteers were ever mentioned as being found, or handed in.

Apparently, the Zulus were not that impressed by them, but I seem to recall, important men within the regiments, indunas and such, carried them more as trophies, as a sort of status symbol.

Were any discovered in later battles carried by warriors ?

Coll

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:33 am

Edward Essex threw his away, when he ran out of ammunition, somewhere on the Fugitive's drift track.
Incidentally, his sword which he left in his tent when he rode out of the camp during the morning was looted, but incredibly was returned to him after the campaign finished.

Graham

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:00 pm

Graham

Do you know who it was that got one of his boots back after Ulundi ?

Coll

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:03 pm

Coll

I have never heard of that story before - I must admit that it hardly seems a suitable trophy to plunder, maybe that's why they returned it after the war.

Graham

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:00 pm

Coll,
It was Henry Harford.
His Deans field boots were looted from Isandlwana. The left one was picked up at Ulundi by one of his ex Contingent who recognised it and then walked 200 miles to return it to him.

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:05 pm

Not a lot of people know that !

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 5:02 pm

Graham

Harford's diary (Daphne Child ed.) relates the story of how his boot came back to him (plus two handkerchieves) and Ian Knight skilfully weaves the account into his The Sun Turned Black.

Peter

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:13 pm

Mel

Thanks for your reply.

I checked my books and even found a photo of the said boot.

Coll

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:29 am

Hi All

Following on from Coll's posting, if you have a shoe fetish, and want to see the photo of Harford's boot, it's in Ian Knight's "Zulu: The Battles of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift" (the hardback version of his "Sun Turned Black"). It also appears in the recent David Payne book on Harford.

With regard to other "trophies" taken from Isdandlwana. In Ian Knight's "Brave Mens Blood" there is a photo of two carbines lost at Isandlwana and recovered at Ulundi. These were in the QDG Museum in Cardiff Castle. However, I believe one was stolen. Also Ian's "Companion ..." does have mention of the recovery of artifacts lost at Isandlwana.

Bill

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:05 pm

Right Bill...

And some stuff taken by the Zulu at Isandhlwana..to name some:
MH rifles...ammunition...revolvers...swords...uniforms...shirts...boots... greatcoats.("particularly prized")..food in sacks...tins...boxes...blankets...saddles...harnesses... folding beds...trunks...utensils...cutlery...candlesticks...cutlery...ink wells.
And there's a comment that the Zulus were still taking things out of the camp when Chelmsford came back from Mangeni in the evening....

p211..Companion

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:16 pm

Rich

... cricket pads ...

They must have filched at least one as only one of a pair was recovered! (Whether the batsman's left or right was not recorded). And as only one stump was recovered from the field, does this mean they spirited away the other five of a set? They must have known they needed bails, too, as none were reported found.

Peter

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:38 pm

Peter Ewart wrote:

Rich

... cricket pads ...

They must have filched at least one as only one of a pair was recovered! (Whether the batsman's left or right was not recorded). And as only one stump was recovered from the field, does this mean they spirited away the other five of a set? They must have known they needed bails, too, as none were reported found.

Peter

Presumably the Zulus felt that they could make better use of these items than an English cricket team ... ?

Wink