Latest topics | » 1409 Pte David Lloyd, Defender of Rorke's DriftToday at 8:19 am by Julian Whybra » The curious tale of Cetshwayo's "gunpowder depot" and an aggressive snakeYesterday at 9:36 am by Hobbes » Anson A. Mayer/MaherTue Apr 23, 2024 7:10 pm by cmeghen » Late Father's Militaria CollectionSun Apr 21, 2024 2:16 pm by Julian Whybra » A Hungarian soldier in the Zulu War (?)Sun Apr 21, 2024 11:28 am by Eddie » Lieut. B. Pohl, No. 7 Coy 1/3 Natal Native ContingentSat Apr 20, 2024 9:26 am by SRB1965 » Alfred Fairlie Henderson photographs.Fri Apr 19, 2024 7:04 am by John Young » No. 985. PTE. EDWARD READ. 2-24 Regt. (South Wales Borders).Sun Apr 14, 2024 8:12 pm by Julian Whybra » Private Willis 2/24th Regiment his letter from South AfricaSat Apr 13, 2024 2:49 pm by 1879graves » Sickness among Crealock's menFri Apr 12, 2024 4:52 pm by Hobbes » Wheeler John Cantwell DCM, RD survivor of the Royal Horse ArtilleryTue Apr 09, 2024 5:20 pm by Kenny » Brevet Major W.R.B. ChamberlinSun Apr 07, 2024 5:44 pm by Jager1 » Private 1941 Samuel MacClue / McClune 1/24th RegimentSun Apr 07, 2024 3:11 pm by Dash » Sergeant W E Warren RA - VeteranSun Apr 07, 2024 10:50 am by DavidS » "With 6 good riflemen"Sat Apr 06, 2024 5:10 pm by Hobbes » Punch's view of Chelmsford's tactics!Wed Apr 03, 2024 5:17 pm by SRB1965 » Colonialism: A Moral LegacyMon Apr 01, 2024 11:16 am by Julian Whybra » John Robert DunnSat Mar 30, 2024 12:09 pm by 90th » An early memorial to the Prince Imperial?Sat Mar 30, 2024 10:35 am by John Young » The Poem "A Child Hero" referring to Rupert WeatherleyFri Mar 29, 2024 1:07 pm by Bongo » Writing adviceTue Mar 26, 2024 2:26 pm by Julian Whybra » Private John Scott 24th Regiment a fugitive at largeWed Mar 20, 2024 12:53 pm by Dash » Your favourite line from Zulu or Zulu DawnTue Mar 19, 2024 4:52 pm by Julian Whybra » 100,000 posts!Tue Mar 19, 2024 2:20 pm by Julian Whybra » Zulu Dawn/Zulu - New Immortals Film The Way Forward ?Sat Mar 16, 2024 2:34 pm by jgregory » Badge on 2/60th and 3/60th foreign service helmets Sat Mar 16, 2024 11:05 am by John Young » Corporal James Frowen Williams F Company. Fri Mar 15, 2024 9:08 am by Julian Whybra » British rations and moraleMon Mar 11, 2024 11:05 pm by Julian Whybra » Blue Plaque to James Egan, alias Private HaganMon Mar 11, 2024 9:16 pm by ADMIN» A few questions regarding Rorke's Drift and IsandlwanaWed Mar 06, 2024 9:16 pm by Julian Whybra » William J Hoare 24th Regiment??Sun Mar 03, 2024 7:08 pm by Dash » Swinburn Carbine issue in AZWThu Feb 29, 2024 12:53 pm by Rob D » Australians who went to Zululand and fought in the 1879 war.Thu Feb 29, 2024 8:39 am by John Young » Philip Price Thu Feb 29, 2024 7:55 am by Julian Whybra » Alfred Fairlie Henderson Thu Feb 29, 2024 7:47 am by RoryReynolds |
April 2024 | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | | | | | | Calendar |
|
Top posting users this month | |
New topics | » The curious tale of Cetshwayo's "gunpowder depot" and an aggressive snakeWed Apr 24, 2024 3:26 pm by Hobbes » Lieut. B. Pohl, No. 7 Coy 1/3 Natal Native ContingentSat Apr 20, 2024 12:38 am by WeekendWarrior » Alfred Fairlie Henderson photographs.Fri Apr 19, 2024 7:04 am by John Young » Late Father's Militaria CollectionThu Apr 18, 2024 3:04 pm by A Crockart » Anson A. Mayer/MaherTue Apr 16, 2024 5:28 pm by cmeghen » A Hungarian soldier in the Zulu War (?)Sun Apr 14, 2024 8:01 pm by Hobbes » Sickness among Crealock's menThu Apr 11, 2024 8:51 pm by Hobbes » Wheeler John Cantwell DCM, RD survivor of the Royal Horse ArtillerySun Apr 07, 2024 9:36 pm by Hobbes » John Robert DunnSat Mar 30, 2024 11:47 am by SueSNB |
Zero tolerance to harassment and bullying. |
Due to recent events on this forum, we have now imposed a zero tolerance to harassment and bullying. All reports will be treated seriously, and will lead to a permanent ban of both membership and IP address.
Any member blatantly corresponding in a deliberate and provoking manner will be removed from the forum as quickly as possible after the event.
If any members are being harassed behind the scenes PM facility by any member/s here at 1879zuluwar.com please do not hesitate to forward the offending text.
We are all here to communicate and enjoy the various discussions and information on the Anglo Zulu War of 1879. Opinions will vary, you will agree and disagree with one another, we will have debates, and so it goes.
There is no excuse for harassment or bullying of anyone by another person on this site.
The above applies to the main frame areas of the forum.
The ring which is the last section on the forum, is available to those members who wish to partake in slagging matches. That section cannot be viewed by guests and only viewed by members that wish to do so. |
Fair Use Notice | Fair use notice.
This website may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorised by the copyright owner.
We are making such material and images are available in our efforts to advance the understanding of the “Anglo Zulu War of 1879. For educational & recreational purposes.
We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material, as provided for in UK copyright law. The information is purely for educational and research purposes only. No profit is made from any part of this website.
If you hold the copyright on any material on the site, or material refers to you, and you would like it to be removed, please let us know and we will work with you to reach a resolution. |
| | Frederick Hitch. Rorkes Drift Defender 22nd/ 23rd Jan 1879 | |
| | Author | Message |
---|
24th
Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25
| Subject: Frederick Hitch. Rorkes Drift Defender 22nd/ 23rd Jan 1879 Fri May 01, 2009 11:42 pm | |
| Frederick Hitch was born on November 29th 1856 at Chase Side in Southgate, then a hamlet in Middlesex, now a suburb of London. He was born into a typically large Victorian family. His father, John, a shoemaker, was originally from Hull, and his mother, Sarah nee Champness, was from Epping.
Fred was the tenth of eleven children. An older sister, Susan, would die at the age of eighteen months, ten years before Fred was born.The only one younger than Fred was his brother Charles and there is evidence to suggest that Fred was closer to Charles than with any of the others.
Fred did not follow into his fathers trade of shoemaker. With no education and no training, there were very few opportunities for employment.Fred did eventually find work as a bricklayer's labourer. It would have been Fred's task to mix the mortar compound and carry the bricks up to whatever level the bricklayer was working at. A menial job of this kind brought with it miserly wages. People like Fred were two-a-penny in the building industry and they were forced to accept whatever rate of pay they could.
We do not know what crime led Fred to appear before the magistrates at Westminster Police Court on March 7th 1877. It may have been an opportunistic crime, it may have been one compounded by an empty belly. Alternatively it could have been one of many such enterprises and happened to be the only one he was caught at. The records of the court were destroyed during the Second World War and so far, no newspaper reports of the case have come to light.
There are two reasons to believe that whatever crime Fred committed, it was not a serious one. Firstly, he was tried at a Police Court and not the Sessions House or a Crown Court; and secondly, when he applied to become a taxi driver the police would have performed a check to see if he had a criminal record. If there was any doubt that he was not a "fit and proper person", his cab licence would have been refused.
Fred probably pleaded guilty to the offence with which he was charged, he may have been held in custody had he pleaded not guilty. His case, and the sentencing were done in a matter of hours. It was a matter of hours that was to change Fred's life. He was given the option of going to prison or joining the army.The Victorian penal system left a lot to be desired, and the army would not have been much fun either. It probably was an easy decision for Fred to make. At least now he would be clothed and fed.
We get the first physical description of Fred when he joins the Army: he is 5'8'' tall, has brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.We also have proof as to how illiterate Fred was, as he could not even sign his own name on his enlistment papers but instead made a X. Two days later 1362 private Frederick Hitch joined the 2nd Batallion of the 24th Regiment of Foot. He was stationed at Chatham but in January 1878 came news that they were being sent to South Africa.
On February 2nd 1878 Fred, "twenty-four officers, eight staff-sergeants, thirty-nine sergeants, forty corporals, sixteen drummers and…" 745 other privates set sail on the Troopship Himalaya. They reached Simon's Bay on February 28th and remained there whilst they replenished their stocks. They set sail again on March 6th and landed at East London on the 9th. From their they were despatched on trains to King William's Town - known locally as "White Man's Grave".
After several days march Fred and the rest of the 2/24th finally, on April 6th, located the troublesome Galekas and after a brief skirmish in the dense Petrie Bush the natives were beaten. Their were further battles on April 30th and again on May 9th. Their leader, Chief Sandili, escaped but his wounds were found to be fatal. Sandili's death saw an end to the Ninth, and last, Kaffir War.
Throughout May and June the 2/24th were stationed at Mount Kempt and on June 19th a dutiful Fred sent home £2 to his mother - not a small sum of money considering that a private was lucky to see a penny a day from his shilling a day wages, once all the expenses had been taken into account.
By this time the Zulu nation had reached its peak. No other African tribes could threaten it - only the red soldier. By imposing impossible restrictions and obligations on the Zulus, Britain soon managed to escalate a war against the Zulus for no other reason that because they were there - and "there" posed a potential threat to British interests.
Yesterdays hero was soon to be tomorrows unemployed as on August 25th, a medical board ruled that Fred was unfit for further duty and he was discharged from the army. He gave his intended employment as a bricklayers labourer but a bricklayers labourer with a game arm was not much use to anybody and it is unlikely that Fred ever returned to the building sites.
Although he would have received a £10 a year pension from the War Office for his Victoria Cross (increased to £50 in 1898), he received little else, there was in those days no invalidity pension. This was not a new problem but it was one that had been partially addressed by a Captain Waller, who founded an organisation consisting of loyal ex-servicemen who could be entrusted to stand guard at business premises. That organisation, which is still with us today, is the Corps Commissionaires and within five weeks of his discharge, Fred was a Commissionaire.
Fred's life seemed to be improving, when compared to his pre-army life. In July 1881 he married Emily Meurisse. For some unknown Fred drifted in and out of employment with the Commissionaires, on his wedding certificate his occupation is listed as a labourer. By the time their first child, Frederick, was born Fred and Emily had moved out of Porchester Square and were now living in the family quarters of the Commissionaires at Exchange Court, just off the Strand.
The next few years were to prove very disruptive to the Hitch household. Fred, still drifting in and out of the Commissionaires was at one time a railway porter and at other times just listed himself as an "Army Pensioner" or as a caretaker at the Imperial Institute in South Kensington.Despite the constant moving around and different employments, Fred was soon able to settle down not with one job but two as well as the added bonus of an income from a third source.
Fred was still employed as a messenger at the Imperial Institute but he was no longer living there. Instead the Hitch household were living above a pub in Little Durweston Street, off Crawford Street. On October 7th 1893 Fred gained his licence to sell liquor there but on July 23rd the following year his licence was forfeited.
When Winifred was born in October 1894 Little Durweston Street is still given as the household address but his employee is still the Imperial Institute.It is around this time that Fred may have become a Hackney Cab proprietor - the owner of a hackney coach. He was not qualified to drive it for a living but there was nothing to prevent him from purchasing a coach and horse, perhaps with his Victoria Cross pension, and renting it out to a licensed hackney cab driver.
Whatever links Fred had with the pub in Little Durweston Street, his name still appeared above the door, as Lord Miles discovered before writing to The Times in March 1895:
Sir,- In a mews connecting York-street and Crawford-street, in postal district W., there is a small public house known as the Durweston Arms. Over the window of this public house, as a signboard, is painted in large letters the name of the publican:- "F. HITCH, V.C." Have any of your readers ever met with a case in which this coveted and most honourable distinction has been used for the purposes of trade or business.
Fred was not the first to notice the benefits of trade when linked to the Victoria Cross but such associations were frowned upon by the War Office and that painted sign, and the notice given it by Lord Miles, may have done much to hinder Fred's attempts to receive a replacement cross when his one was stolen.
A fund was initiated for a decent memorial for Fred's grave by Chiswick Urban District Council. Members of the public were invited to send in donations and the proceeds from the screening of a film were also donated. The memorial was finally erected on Friday 19th June 1914 and was described by The Times as a "..block of granite some 7ft. in height. On the top is carved the Union Jack surmounted by a sun helmet, bearing the badge of Hitch's old regiment, while at one end are replicas in bronze of the Cross and a palm leaf.
Source: 36regimentra |
| | | littlehand
Posts : 7076 Join date : 2009-04-24 Age : 55 Location : Down South.
| Subject: Re: Frederick Hitch. Rorkes Drift Defender 22nd/ 23rd Jan 1879 Sat May 11, 2013 11:18 pm | |
| |
| | | tasker224
Posts : 2101 Join date : 2010-07-30 Age : 57 Location : North London
| Subject: Re: Frederick Hitch. Rorkes Drift Defender 22nd/ 23rd Jan 1879 Mon May 13, 2013 7:10 pm | |
| The first 2 sentences of the first article LH posted..........some things never change. |
| | | Mr M. Cooper
Posts : 2590 Join date : 2011-09-29 Location : Lancashire, England.
| | | | 24th
Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25
| Subject: Re: Frederick Hitch. Rorkes Drift Defender 22nd/ 23rd Jan 1879 Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:45 pm | |
| NEWS ITEMS Colonist, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8266, 5 June 1895, Page 3 [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] |
| | | ADMIN
Posts : 4349 Join date : 2008-11-01 Age : 65 Location : KENT
| Subject: Re: Frederick Hitch. Rorkes Drift Defender 22nd/ 23rd Jan 1879 Sun Sep 11, 2016 10:04 pm | |
| |
| | | gardner1879
Posts : 3458 Join date : 2021-01-04
| Subject: Re: Frederick Hitch. Rorkes Drift Defender 22nd/ 23rd Jan 1879 Wed Sep 21, 2022 5:23 pm | |
| [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Thursday 09 January 1913 |
| | | jgregory
Posts : 36 Join date : 2023-04-30
| Subject: Re: Frederick Hitch. Rorkes Drift Defender 22nd/ 23rd Jan 1879 Sun Jun 25, 2023 4:06 pm | |
| |
| | | | Frederick Hitch. Rorkes Drift Defender 22nd/ 23rd Jan 1879 | |
|
Similar topics | |
|
| Permissions in this forum: | You cannot reply to topics in this forum
| |
| |
| |