Cruelty of Fate

by James Mace

  In January 1900, and now a major general, Charles returned to South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War. He was tasked as garrison commander of Pretoria and later the Orange River Colony. That November he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB). Two years later, and now well into his sixties, Major General Tucker at last returned home following the successful conclusion of the Boer War. His knighthood investiture would not happen, however, until his return to England, and was conducted by King Edward VII. Lord Kitchener, the General Office Commanding of British forces in South Africa, described Tucker as, ‘An officer who has never feared responsibility, or failed in giving emphatic pronouncement to the good common-sense of which he is possessed’. He was promoted to lieutenant general soon after his return to Britain. He also married his second wife, Ellen Mary O’Connell, the same year.

  In 1903, Lieutenant General Tucker was named General Officer Commanding of the Scottish District, which he held until his final retirement two years later. In all, he served forty-two years with the Colours. In 1911, he was given the esteemed honour of being named Colonel of the South Staffordshire Regiment; a position which he held for the remainder of his life. In terms of age, he became one of the longest-lived veterans of the Anglo-Zulu War. Lieutenant General Sir Charles Tucker, KCB, died on 22 December 1935 at the age of ninety-seven. His medals are displayed at the Staffordshire Regimental Museum in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England.

  Brevet Major Robert Hackett survived his terrible wounds, though he would never see again. According to Colonel Wood’s diary,

  The morning after the action, he was a pitiable sight, for a bullet had passed from one temple to another, and without actually hitting the eyes, had protruded the eyeballs, injuring the brain. He was unconscious of the terrible nature of his wounds, possibly from pressure on the brain, and observed to me ‘your Commissariat officers are very stingy in not lighting up this Hospital tent; the place is in absolute darkness’. We were so fond of him that nobody ventured to tell him the truth, and it was not until he was in Maritzburg that the doctors begged a lady, who was a constant visitor to the Hospital, to break the news to him.

  He was invalided home to Ireland as unfit for further service and lived in the care of his brother, Colonel Thomas Hackett. The two were fond of hunting. Tragically, the elder Hackett died during a shooting accident. Major Robert Hackett spent the remaining years of his life as a blind invalid before passing away on 30 December 1893 at the age of sixty. He never married nor had children.

  Captain Henry Cecil D’Arcy continued to lead his depleted, yet invigorated troop following the battles at Hlobane and Khambula. The survivors of the Frontier Light Horse were assigned to Brigadier General Wood’s Flying Column during the second invasion of Zululand. Henry led numerous patrols, while personally setting fire to many homesteads in what became a personal mission of vengeance for what happened at Hlobane. During a patrol on 3 July, the mounted troops under Redvers Buller were ambushed, with D’Arcy severely hurting his back while attempting to save a wounded trooper. Though his injuries would prevent him from taking part in the climactic Battle of Ulundi the following day, his heroic actions led Lord Chelmsford to recommend him for the Victoria Cross. The award was presented by General Wolseley in Pretoria on 11 December 1879.

  Though Wolseley wrote in his diary that he did not feel the VC was warranted, as D’Arcy had failed to save the life of the wounded trooper, publicly he stated, ‘I am sure, Mr D’Arcy, that not only in South Africa, but in every other colony of the British Empire, it will now be understood from the gift of this decoration by Her Majesty, that Her Majesty does not reserve this honour for Imperial Troops alone, but is anxious to distinguish the courage and devotion of the soldiers of Her Colonial Empire’.

  Though just thirty years old, his injuries from the Zulu War greatly affected Cecil D’Arcy’s health. His back would trouble him for the rest of his life, and he seems to have contracted malaria while showing signs of asthma. He also suffered greatly from depression, yet he volunteered to return to active service with the Cape Mounted Rifles in 1880 during the Basuto ‘Gun War’. Disillusioned even further, Cecil resigned his commission the following year and purchased a farm near Stutterheim. He never married, and the constant pain in his body led him to take up drinking. That August, he went to stay with a friend, Reverend Taberer, and his wife, where he subsequently disappeared. It was bitter cold that night with a light snowfall. Four months later, an African man found a decomposing body six miles from the Taberer home with a gold watch and ring that were identified as belonging to D’Arcy. Captain Henry Cecil D’Arcy, VC, is assumed to have died on 6 August 1881 at the age of thirty-one.

  In a rather strange postscript, in 1925, a former trooper of the Frontier Light Horse was playing cricket in Newcastle, Natal when he saw an elderly spectator who he recognised as Cecil D’Arcy. Upon being confronted, the old man confessed to being D’Arcy, stating that he had come across a corpse while wandering the countryside and left his watch and ring on the body, so that people would assume he was dead. He then begged the man to keep his identity a secret, as he wished to remain ‘dead to the world’. There was no way for the story to be corroborated, and the old man was never seen again. Cecil’s Victoria Cross and South Africa Campaign Medal were left at the Taberer home at the time of his disappearance and are now held by members of the D’Arcy extended family.

  Lieutenant Edward Browne was recommended for the Victoria Cross for his gallantry during the Battle of Khambula. The medal was presented by General Wolseley at Pine Tree Camp, Natal, on 22 August 1879. His was the only VC awarded to a member of the 24th Regiment for action outside of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift.

  Edward continued to serve with the 24th, now known as the South Wales Borderers. He commanded their 2nd Battalion from 1893 to 1897, after which he was promoted to full colonel. He spent the next three years in command of the South Wales Borderers Regimental District before being appointed Assistant Adjutant General of the North-Eastern District in York, where he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. His final year with the Colours was spent as General Officer Commanding of the North-Eastern District until his retirement in November 1903. During his career he was created a Companion of the Bath (CB).

  Brigadier General Edward Browne, VC, CB, would enjoy less than four years of retirement before passing away unexpectedly in Montreux, Switzerland at the age of fifty-four. He was buried in an unmarked grave, which was later reused in 1991, with his remains now tragically unaccounted for. His medals, including the Victoria Cross, are held by the Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh in Brecon.

  Brigadier General Edward Browne’s medals, on display at the Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh. (from left to right) The Victoria Cross, Companion of the Bath, Queen Victoria Jubilee Medal, and the South Africa Campaign Medal

  Lieutenant Henry Harward continued with his duties, despite the growing resentment felt by the enlisted soldiers in the 80th Regiment, who considered him a coward and felt he had abandoned them. A year after the disaster at Ntombe, he was arrested by order of General Wolseley, now General Officer Commanding as well as High Commissioner for Southern Africa. Specifically, the charges levelled by Wolseley during Harward’s arrest on 14 February 1880 were:

  1. Having misbehaved before the enemy, in shamefully abandoning a party of the Regiment under his command when attacked by the enemy, and in riding off at speed from his men.

  2. Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline in having at the place and time mentioned in the first charge, neglected to take proper precautions for the safety of a party of a regiment under his command when attached.

  Harward’s defence centred around his following of orders which came from the late Captain Moriarty, and only after his command disintegrated did he ride back to find help. The trial lasted from 20-27 February, after which Harward was found not guilty of both charges. This incensed General Wolseley. Though he could not change the verd
ict, he refused to endorse it. His official response was, ‘Disapproved and not confirmed: Lieutenant Harward to be released from arrest and returned to duty’. He then wrote a lengthy report on why he refused to confirm the results of the court-martial, stating emphatically that under no circumstances could an officer in a position of command ever quit the field while his men were still in danger. In both his diary, as well as a letter to the Duke of Cambridge, Wolseley stated rather venomously that Harward should have hanged for his cowardice, and that he would have personally volunteered to perform the deed.

  Though he could not overturn the results of the court-martial, Field Marshal the Duke of Cambridge, as Commander-in-Chief of all British Forces, concurred with Wolseley that Lieutenant Harward had conducted himself poorly. He therefore directed that a General Order be read to every regiment in the British Army, criticising his behaviour. This effectively ended Harward’s career, and he was soon compelled to resign his commission. Little is known about the remainder of his life, only that his last occupation recorded was simply ‘gentleman’. He died of unknown causes on 10 August 1897 at the age for forty-seven.

  Lieutenant Henry Lysons, along with Private Edmund Fowler, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroism during the Battle of Hlobane. He would not see his medal, however, until August 1882, when he was posted to Cawnpore in India.

  Henry later served in the Sudan Campaign of 1884 to 1885. Following the war, he married his wife, Vanda, and was later created a Companion of the Bath (CB). He eventually rose to the rank of colonel.

  Colonel Henry Lysons, VC, died unexpectedly on 24 July 1907 at the age of forty-nine. He was buried in St Peter’s Churchyard, Rodmarton, in Gloucestershire. His medals are held by the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) Regimental Museum in Hamilton, Scotland.

  Lieutenant Arthur Bigge was mentioned in despatches for his leadership and bravery during the Battle of Khambula. He continued to send news stories to The Times, though he earned the ire of Queen Victoria for his rather candid reporting on the death of the Prince Imperial in June. Despite this, he was appointed equerry-in-ordinary; one of the three officers in charge of the sovereign’s horses. Though this meant retaining a dual status as a member of the Royal Artillery, his duties to the Queen precluded his return to overseas service. In 1881, he married Constance Neville, with whom he had a son and two daughters.

  In 1895, Arthur retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel, when he was elevated to the office of Private Secretary to Queen Victoria. He retained this position until Her Majesty’s death in 1901, after which he was named Private Secretary to the new Prince of Wales; the future King George V.

  In 1910, following King George’s ascension, Arthur became a member of the Privy Council, being elevated into the peerage as Baron Stamfordham the following year. He was a very close advisor to the King and is thought to have influenced his changing of the family name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor during the Great War. Tragically, Arthur’s son, Captain the Honourable John Neville Bigge, was killed during the war. His wife, Constance, would pass away in 1922.

  During his later years, Baron Stamfordham introduced Albert, Duke of York (the future King George VI) to the Australian speech therapist, Lionel Louge; made famous by the book and film, The King’s Speech. This connection was not known until 2011, when a letter from Baron Stamfordham to the future king’s private secretary (dated 18 May 1925) was discovered and authenticated. As such, Stamfordham’s contribution to introducing King George VI to Lionel Louge was overlooked for nearly a century, and he does not appear in either the book or the film.

  Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Bigge, Baron Stamfordham, died on 31 March 1931 at the age of eighty-one. As his son had died childless, and his peerage ineligible to pass on to his daughters, the barony ended with him.

  Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Bigge, Baron Stamfordham, in later life

  Colour Sergeant Anthony Clarke Booth continued to serve as the senior NCO of A Company, 80th Regiment. On 26 December, the Regiment paraded before General Sir Garnet Wolseley. During this ceremony, Booth was presented with a revolver, holster, and belt by General Wolseley on behalf of the European settlers in Natal. While Wolseley had been openly critical of most of the awards for valour during the Zulu War, he personally recommended Colour Sergeant Booth for the Victoria Cross. The 80th Staffordshire was posted to Ireland in April 1880. Colour Sergeant Booth subsequently made the journey to London in order to receive the Victoria Cross from Her Majesty on 26 June 1880 at Windsor Castle. He was one of two VC recipients from the Regiment during the Zulu War; the other being Private Samuel Wassall for saving the life of a Private Thomas Westwood while under intense enemy fire during the Battle of Isandlwana.

  Anthony married Lucy O’Brion in 1866 and they had eight children, two of whom were born after his return from South Africa. At least four of his sons went on to have careers of their own with the Colours. During the latter part of his career he was the senior sergeant-instructor of musketry at the Depot in Lichfield, Staffordshire. He spent a total of thirty-three years with the Colours before finally retiring in April 1898.

  Colour Sergeant Anthony Clarke Booth, VC, died less than two years later on 8 December 1899 at the age of fifty-three. He was buried in St Michael’s Churchyard, Brierley Hill, England. Lucy was buried with him when she died fourteen years later at the age of sixty-five. In 2017, the monument was toppled and broken. At first thought to be the work of vandals, it was later revealed to have been caused by an errant groundskeeper’s mower. The grave was already in a terrible state of disrepair and in desperate need of refurbishing. Funds were collected by the Victoria Cross Trust in order to repair the monument, which was completely restored during the spring of 2018. Colour Sergeant Booth’s VC and campaign medals are held by the Staffordshire Regimental Museum.

  Colour Sergeant Anthony Booth, VC, with members of his family. His wife, Lucy, is seated on the right. Standing behind are their sons, Corporal William Booth, Sergeant Herbert Booth, Sergeant Anthony Booth, and Private Henry Booth

  Private Edmund Fowler was recommended for the Victoria Cross, along with Lieutenant Lysons, by Colonel Wood who described their actions as, ‘The greatest deed I ever saw performed in my life’. There was an unexplained delay in the award, with his VC finally presented by Her Majesty during a ceremony at Windsor Castle on 13 April 1882.

  Edmund served in the Sudan Campaign of 1884 to 1885, having been promoted to corporal just prior to his regiment’s departure. He elected to remain with the Army, eventually rising to colour sergeant. It was shortly after this promotion that he married Mary Maguire, an Irishwoman from Donegal, Ireland.

  At some point in his career, he was involved in an unspecified ‘incident’ which led to his court-martial. As part of his sentence, he was ordered to forfeit all of his medals, including his recently-awarded VC. Interestingly, it was Queen Victoria herself who intervened on his behalf, ordering the sentence rescinded and his medals restored to him. The remainder of his career appears to have been without further blemish.

  He retired in 1900, having served twenty-one years with the Colours. Edmund ran a fruit shop for ten years, before it was damaged in a fire. He became a pub landlord soon after, living out his retirement years in Essex. Colour Sergeant Edmund Fowler, VC, died on 26 March 1926 at the age of sixty-four. His military medals, including his Victoria Cross, are held by the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) Regimental Museum in Hamilton, Scotland.

  Appendix B: A Zulu Account of the Battle of Khambula

  The following is an account of the iNgobamakhosi’s attack, as part of the ‘Right Horn’ of the Zulu impi at Khambula:

  When we were a long way from the camp, we saw it, and it appeared as if an entrenchment had been made. When we got as near to the camp as the Victoria Bridge is from this Courthouse, the white people came towards us on horseback. They commenced firing first, we did not commence there. We fired and they fired; they retired and we followed them. That was the iNgobamakhosi Regiment. We t
hought the Zulu army was not far off, but it appears that at this time the main body had not got up, I mean that portion which of the army which subsequently rose in the rear of the laager. The horsemen galloped back as hard as they could to camp; we followed and discovered ourselves almost close to the camp, into which we made the greatest possible efforts to enter. The English fired their cannon and rockets, and we were fighting and attacking them for about one hour; I mean the iNgobamakhosi Regiment.

  Before the main body of the Zulu army came up, we, when the Zulu army did not come up, were lying prostrate—we were beaten, we could do no good. So many were killed that the few who were not killed were lying between dead bodies, so thick were the dead. The main body of the Zulu army attacked the camp from the rear, and tried for a long time to get in. The uNokhenke Regiment succeeded in getting into the cattle kraal. The uMbonambi Regiment suffered much loss; indeed, the last two named regiments were almost annihilated. It was unfortunate for the Zulus that the iNgobamakhosi Regiment should have marched quicker than was expected; we had no intention of attacking the camp, but were drawn on to do so by the mounted men before the main body of the Zulu army came up. The regiments were anxious to attack, but we went there cross, our hearts were full, and we intended to do the same as at Isandlwana.