| Identified on the reverse by a period inscription as Mr H. Garland this Cabinet Photograph depicts an officer or senior NCO of the Natal Mounted Rifles. He is in all likelihood the same H. Garland who as a trooper in the Victoria Mounted Rifles was Mentioned in Despatches for actions at Eshowe during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. He wears the 1877-79 South Africa Medal (which is often referred to as the Zulu War Medal) with the single clasp awarded for that war. The Natal Mounted Rifles were formed in 1888 from several Zulu War-era volunteer units including the Victoria Mounted Rifles, the Stanger Mounted Rifles, the Alexandra Mounted Rifles and the Durban Mounted Rifles. I have not been able to uncover much about Garland, including his first name. Even Goetzsche's The Official Natal Mounted Rifles History only gives Garland's first initial though this is the source of the information that Garland was Mentioned in Despatches. Besides being part of the garrison of Eshowe, Garland was probably also presant at the Battle of Inyezane on 22 January, 1879. Cabinet Photograph William Laws Caney - Photographer Late of D'Urban & Kimberly, South Africa c. 1890 |
