Giving You Colonel Durnford of Isandlwana 1879

Colonel Anthony William Durnford's final moments.



Colonel Anthony William Durnford was born in Ireland in 1830. He was a brave man who would earn his celebrity in the final moments of his life, fighting bravely, as a valiant soldier, in a battle that was one of the biggest disasters in British military history.

As a 12 year old boy he left Ireland to grow up with his uncle in Dusseldorf Germany, but as a young man he came to England and enlisted in the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, London. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1848.

He was stationed overseas in Ceylon, but tried to get transferred away during the start of the war in Crimea against imperial Russia. He wanted to see action. He was not accepted for this and was disappointed to miss the campaign. While in Ceylon he also got married. 

He was then sent to Malta for a few years and had three children by his wife. Sadly, the first - a boy, died in infancy. The second - a daughter survived, but the third - another daughter, also died in infancy. This was a traumatic time for Anthony William Durnford and his wife. They separated after this and, for a while, he was stationed in Gibraltar, before returning to England.

He was then sent to South Africa in 1872 and stationed at a place called Pietermartizburg. He was now 42 and may have thought his army career had been uneventful on the action side of things.

In South Africa his first chance came and he took part in his first action when he was caught in a skirmish with  an African tribe called the Hlubis at Bushman's River. He fought bravely and took two stab wounds during the fight. He managed to kill two assailants with his pistol but one of his wounds left his lower left arm paralysed from the elbow down. He had no use of his left hand after this and would ride with his native horsemen (The Natal Native Horse) keeping his redundant hand inside his jacket similar to the way Napoleon sometimes did.

Colonel Durnford was very popular among his fellow horse contingents and was regarded affectionately as a larger then life character - a commanding Irishman with a confident presence. He moulded his Natal Native Horseman in to fine riders and very competent men.

In 1879, Colonel Durnford and his men were used in Lord Chelmsford's invasion of the Zulu's land when Britain declared war upon the Zulu King Cetshwayo. The mission was to be a disaster. A large force of the British army encountered the Zulu warriors at a place called Isandlwana. A huge battle took place between over 23,000 Zulus against 858 British troops and 471 native soldiers. All but 55 of the Britain's troops were wiped out during this battle.

During the desperate struggle, Colonel Durnford and his men rode out and tried to hold the left horn of the flanking Zulu army and put up a very fierce resistance faltering the enemy until his men ran out of cartridges. They then had to remount and return to the main camp where the Redcoat British foot soldiers were being over run by the Zulu forces.

Colonel Durnford and his last remaining men put up a last stand as they ran headlong into the Zulus. They were overcome and killed - falling alongside the other soldiers of the British army. Of the 55 soldiers who did manage to escape across the Buffalo river; a few were NNH soldiers. 

Rusty Buckley's Strawberry Arse Complaint.

One day Rusty panicked and run to the doctors. The dialogue went something like this:

Rusty "Doctor I think my arse is turning into a strawberry."

Doctor  "mmm, I see... Bend over, I have some special cream for that."

He didn't half walk funny at work the next day... :)  

Last Boer War Veteran

111 year old Boar War veteran

I had to put this one on the blog about a 111 year old man who fought in the British army during the Boer War of 1899 to 1902. He was a 19 year old when he went into Queen Victoria's army and over seas to South Africa. In 1992, he came back to London from Canada, where he had emigrated, to lay a wreath at the cenotaph to commemorate his fallen comrades of the Boer War. 

The above clip shows some moving cinematic scenes of the Boer war and interviews the 111 year old veteran.

DECLINE of EMPIRES: The Signs of Decay

(From YouTube)

Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback, Sorrows of Empire and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic , talks about the similarities in the decline of the Roman and Soviet empires and the signs that the U.S. empire is exhibiting the same symptoms: over extension, corruption and the inability to reform.

Chalmers Johnson is president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, a non-profit research and public affairs organization devoted to public education concerning Japan and international relations in the Pacific.

 

I was very fixed by this man's talk on, what he sees as, the inevitable decline of the USA. I was impressed and frightened by such a prospect. What would we do in Europe? Would it have a profound effect on us today with no Soviet threat?

 

Then I began to think on who would be the next big noise on the block (world trade wise) Surely they would make the same mistake. What surprises me about this is the fact that the USA has not had a particular long reign as the dominant power. Not even a hundred years. This man says that history moves faster now, but surely the US has got longer then this man speculates?

 

As he went on and began to compare what the US trade deficit is like and the ability to pay back, plus consuming more and more; I began to see his point of view. It certainly creates an eerie prospect because I, as a Brit, don't see the USA in any bad light the way some countries, he spoke of, do.

 

I think the UK and many European countries might suffer if the USA does decline. I wonder if all us Europeans might be sneaking off and getting into bed with China, India and Brazil. Perhaps one of these will be the big kids on the block in the future. The world has changed so much in the last twenty years.

 

 

 

 

 

A book called The Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne 1812 - 1813

In the year of 1812 the French Emperor Napoleon gathered a vast army of 600,000 men and invaded imperial Russia. At the time, Napoleon had built France up to be a very powerful country and the nations influence stretched across Europe. With the defeat of Russia, only the United Kingdom would remain and the French Emperor would be able to deal with this nation once all mainland Europe was under his control.

It was to become one of the biggest military disasters in history and by the end of the ordeal - a year later; only 93,000 exhausted soldiers of Napoleon's beloved army would return.

The Russian winter set in during the retreat home

Among the survivors was a soldier called sergeant Bourgogne - a man of the Imperial Guard. Although the French army took the capitol city of Russia (Moscow) There was nothing there and the main population had abandoned the city to retreat into the surrounding wilderness. The prisons were opened and the inmates were granted a full pardon if they looted and burnt the city. This the prisoners did and the French were forced to abandon the city and begin the long march home as the horrendous Russian winter began.

Gruelling retreat

Sergeant Bourgogne documents this and went through all the terrible ordeals in order to survive. He later wrote this account that was first published in 1857. The next complete version was done in 1897 and then translated into English in 1899. It is a terrific read and a gruelling testimony to one man's determination to get back home during one of the most noted horrors to fall upon an army. If you like your history, then give this book a try. I was engrossed and could not put it down.

Moyra Melons friend has over sized ear rings.

Moyra Melons felt sorry for her best pal Brenda Bouncer, who preferred to work in the building industry. When it got hot Brenda went all navvy like the blokes she worked with.

Brenda, like Moyra, had a fascination with ear rings and would only wear her best danging ones on the particular hot summer's day in question. A day when Moyra Melons saw her friend on a building sight with a pneumatic drill.

"They're bouncing about a bit," called Moyra to her friend Brenda as she walked along the street.

"Its this drill," called back  Brenda Bouncer. "I can't get it steady with these things bouncing up and down."

"Why wear such long ear rings on a building sight Brenda? Why work on a building sight at all? This is a place where men are men and we women should be glad of it."

Brenda scoffed tartly. "I wear nice ear rings to help passers by. They get fed up with looking at hairy arsed builder's bottoms. I thought such ear adornments would be more to their attentions. I hoped they would prefer to look at a pair of dangling jewels instead."

Moyra understood her friend. "But surely the pneumatic drill is a problem. They're bouncing about all over the place."

"I know," replied Brenda. "I should cover them up on this occasion." She got a large pair of protective ear muffs and covered her ear rings inside the red ear guards.

"You'll have to let the passers by suffer the navvy's builder's bottoms," added Moyra Melons.

Fortunately for the passers by, none noticed the navvy builders bottoms, which came as a delightful surprise to Brenda Bouncer 

Poor girl realised she had been worrying unduly. Strange that, don't you think?

STAGECOACH: 1939 John Wayne version (IN COLOUR)

I was delighted to find this full movie in colour. I love this film and it was the first western I remember watching as a kid. I admit it is the total romantic view of the Wild West of America, but it oozes of the nostalgia that is the retro America that we universally love. This film is pure quality and it is the American doing their thing during the heyday of Hollywood. John Wayne - every young kids hero - no matter where you are from.