Images from Southern Africa
Pre-Boer War Photographic Images
94th Regiment
Officer.
c. 1881
European and
Native Zulu
Constabulary.
Natal
c. 1890's
John Rouse Merriott
Chard V.C.
Royal Engineers
Mounted Photograph
c. 1880
While besieged for more
than two months at the
mission station at Eshowe
during the Anglo-Zulu War of
1879, the British garrison had
been plagued by Zulu snipers
on the nearby hill
Mbombotshana. Volunteers
were called upon to clear the
enemy from the heights and
six men stepped forward
including Trooper Garland of
the Victoria Mounted Rifles.
That night the men made their
way to the top of the hill and
drove off the Zulu riflemen the
next morning.
Trooper, later Quarter Master
Alpheus Howe Garland
Victoria Mounted Rifles/Natal
Mounted Rifles
For his actions Garland
received a Mention in
Despatches.

After the war he continued
to serve in Victoria Mounted
Rifles and later the Natal
Mounted Rifles.
Autograph
Major Gonville Bromhead

24th Regiment of Foot/
South Wales Borderers
c. 1883
Col. Anthony
Durnford
Royal Engineers
Mounted Photograph
c. 1875
Sergeant of the
5th Royal Irish
Lancers and wife
c. 1898
"Courage"
The Death of Lieutenants  
Melville and Coghill 24th
Regiment.


Chromolithograph
10 1/2 Inches by 10 1/2 Inches
(26.5 cm x 26.5 cm)
British/American Tobacco Co.,
Ltd.
Litho by A. Hoen & Co. Inc.
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.
c. 1880
Lt. Nevill Coghill,
V.C.
24th Regiment of Foot
Mounted Photograph
c. 1880
Lt. Teignmouth
Melvill, V.C.
24th Regiment of Foot
Mounted Photograph
c. 1880
Colour Sergeant Bourne: "It's a miracle."    Lieutenant John Chard: "If it's a miracle, Colour Sergeant, it's a short chamber Boxer Henry
point 45 caliber miracle."    Colour Sergeant Bourne: "And a bayonet, sir, with some guts behind it."
                                                                                                                                                                                 From the 1964 film ZULU
Perhaps there is no more tragic figure in the annals of Queen Victoria's "Little Wars" than
that of Louis Napoleon, the Prince Imperial of France. The son of Napoleon III, he was the heir
of the Bonapartist throne of Imperial France and the last hope for an Imperial restoration after
the death of his father.

Raised amidst the glorious traditions of the Second Empire, young Louis was a personal witness
to France's defeat at the hands of Prussian efficiency during the Franco-Prussian War.

Exiled to England with his mother after the war, the family was joined by Napoleon III after his
release from Prussian custody although the former Emperor died not long afterward. With little
in the way of a future for the exiled heir of a failed dynasty, Louis was granted admittance to the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in 1872. Through hard work and a winning personality Louis
graduated in 1875 although as a foreign prince he was denied holding actual rank in the Royal
Artillery, his chosen branch of service.

With the outbreak of the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879 and the news of the disaster at Isandlwana
Louis sought permission to join forces departing for South Africa. Denied by Prime Minister
Disraeli he none the less was given letters of ....
Napoleon Eugene Louis Joseph
Bonaparte, The Prince Imperial
of France

Mounted Woodburytype

from
The South African
Campaign of 1879
London Stereoscopic Company,
London, England
c. 1880
Autograph Signature
of the Prince Imperial
from the
Duke of Cambridge's
Guest or Calling Book
14 February, 1879
Bandsman
Ted LeGros
Prince Alfred's
Guard
1885
Trooper "FB"
Natal Volunteer
c. 1880's
Unidentified
Cape Mounted
Rifleman
1877
Lt. Coghill: "There Melvill, there stretched out is my Lord Chelmsford's Army. What a
wonderful adventure we undertake. What a marvellous spree."
                                                                                              from the Cy Endfield film Zulu Dawn
Boer War-era Photographic Images
Signalers
The Queen's West Surrey
Regiment
Natal Field Force
c. 1900
Trumpeter Donovan
4th Dragoon Guards
c. 1904
Private
1st Batt., West
Riding Regt.
c.1901
Saddler Corporal
"Tom"
Royal Artillery?
1900
Sergeant J.
Alexander
Royal Horse Artillery
c. 1900
Unidentified Old
Soldier
c. 1900
Medic
Royal Army
Medical Corps
c. 1900
Harry "Breaker" Morant: "It's a new kind of war, George. It's a new war for a new century."
                                                                                                                                      from the Bruce Beresford film Breaker Morant
Royal Artillery
Howitzer Battery
Natal.
c. 1902
Trooper F. E.
Ashton
Natal Volunteer?
c.1900
Unidentified
Officer
Cape Town
c. 1900
Band Sergeant A. J.
Warren
1st Bat., Gloster., Regt.
1902
Group of British
Infantrymen
c. 1902
"John Bull - is a Little "Boer-ed"
Original Boer War Political Cartoon
Pen and Ink/ Water Colour on Paper.
7 inches by 10 inches (17.5 cm x 26.5 cm)
Charles K. Cook
c. 1900
England
"Jim"
Black African
Soldier
1 August, 1902
Three Soldiers
Outside
Blockhouse
c.1901
Lieut. Harold
Robert Jones 2nd
Battalion, The
Hampshire
Regiment
c. 1901
Canadian Trooper
South African
Constabulary
c.1903
Unidentified
Soldier
Newcastle, Natal
c. 1902
Sergeant G. Wright
Cape Mounted Rifles, South African
Constabulary, New Zealand Expeditionary
Force
c.1905
Unidentified
Private
Cape Town
Highlanders
c. 1895
Original painting by artist Frank Craig titled
Bursting Shell - Elandslaagte painted in 1899 possibly
for
The Graphic.

This 1899 illustration by artist Frank Craig depicts
the British guns going into action at Elandslaagte
during the Boer War in 1899. This black and white
gauche painting was probably done for the British
publication
The Graphic for whom Craig worked as
an artist.
"I'm free! I'm Winston Bloody Churchill, and I'm free!"
                                                                   from the 1972 Richard Attenborough  film Young Winston
"Fred"
Eastern Mounted
Rifles
c. 1905
Captain William
Degacher
1st Batt. 24th Foot
c. 1877
Unidentified
Soldier or Police
Constable
c. 1890
Captain George
Vaughan Wardell
1st Batt. 24th Foot
c. 1877
Private
1st Battalion
the Welch Regt. or
North Stafforshire
Regt.
c. 1890
Left: A veteran of
the Anglo-Zulu
War, this private or
NCO was a
member of the
58th Regiment of
Foot.

Carte de Visite
Natal, South Africa
c.1880
Wearing his recently presented 1877-79 South
Africa Medal, this private or possibly NCO was
a member of the 58th  (Rutlandshire) Regiment
of Foot. His collar badges clearly bear this out.

The 58th arrived in South Africa directly from
England as part of the reinforcements
requested by Lord Chelmsford after the
abortive first invasion of Zululand in early 1879.
Taken from the April 1935 issue of The
Journal of the South Wales Borderers
, this
image is an exact facsimile of the
muster roll that was
drawn up by hand for Col. Glyn, 24th
Foot on 3 February, 1879 by Lt. John
Rouse Merriot Chard, R.E. who was
commanding at Rorke's Drift, January
22-23, 1879.

While several muster rolls for Rorke's
Drift exist, and exhibit some variations,
this one in Chard's own hand is can be  
considered as authoritative as any.
Sergeant Thomas Connelly DCM
Royal Irish Regiment

c. 1903
Signed "Yours Truly", this photograph
of 5689 Sergeant Thomas Connelly of
the Royal Irish Regiment shows him
sometime after the end of the
Anglo-Boer War. He wears his Queen's
South Africa Medal with six clasps and
the King's South Africa Medal with its
usual two. He also wears his
Distinguished Conduct Medal which he
was awarded in 1901.
Connelly received a Mention in Despatches for the his actions from General
Roberts in the September 10, 1901 edition of The London Gazette. This was
upgraded to the Distinguished Conduct Medal in the September 27, 1901
issue of the Gazette.
Far left:Unidentified Mounted
Infantryman - 58th Regiment
of Foot.

Carte de Visite
Natal, South Africa
c. 1880
Left: Private James Osborne -
58th Regiment of Foot -
2nd Battalion, The
Northamptonshire Regiment.

c. 1882
At far left is a Carte de Visite of an unidentified
mounted infantryman of the 58th Foot taken in
Natal, South Africa shortly after the end of the
Anglo-Zulu War  of 1879. On the right is a
photograph c. 1882 of Private James Osborne VC
of the 58th Foot / 2nd Battalion, The
Northamptonshire Regiment.

When closely compared both these photos appear
to depict the same individual. If this is the case
then the carte de visite would be a relatively rare
image of an other rank taken prior to being
invested with the Victoria Cross.

James Osborne was born on 13 April, 1857. He
served with the 58th Regiment of Foot as a
mounted infantryman during the Anglo-Zulu war
of 1879 and remained in South Africa after the
end of that conflict.
Graaff Reinet
Volunteer or
Constable
Cape Colony
c. 1885