Drinking Water Zulu War 1879.

Where did the water come from that? The troops carried with them in their packs. I don’t think they would have had water-purifying tablets in those days. Filling up from rivers would have been quite dangerous with regards to disease. I know they had water carts, which makes me think, they may have boiled the water in large quantities, which was then poured into the water carts. They may also have collected rainwater, which would have been far safer to drink than water from the rivers. Doe’s anyone have a photo of the types for water bottles that would have been issued to the troops in 1879. Also interested in any personal accounts from the solders with regards to the drinking water in those days.

hi Impi.
Here you go .

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They had no choice and drank basically whatever they found , many instances of people referring to drinking
muddy water , water which had decaying animals lying in it . I think they used Charcoal Tablets as a purifier
and also they didnt have much of an idea in regard to the water borne diseases from which they could suffer .
I think disease linked to water was thought about as being a possibility but only from the medical personnal .
Happy to be corrected . Have never read anywhere where they collected rainwater , intentionally anyway .
cheers 90th.

Thanks 90th. The strapping on the bottle itself looks like lead, its that correct.

The Zulu's would have been drinking from the same water source. So they would have contracted the same diseases as the troops, but there seems to be no mention of this.

24th wrote:

The Zulu's would have been drinking from the same water source. So they would have contracted the same diseases as the troops, but there seems to be no mention of this.

I'm guessing that if they drank it since birth, then it wouldn't affect them, whereas the British troops would have been used to semi decent water from birth.

Hi 24th .
The Zulu's wouldnt have been drinking from the same water source if there was something wrong with it . They would have
known exactly where to get the best drinking water as they had lived there for hundreds of years , whereas the soldiers
basically grabbed what was available . Cisco is also more than likely correct , if the water was dodgy the zulu would have
had a far higher level of tolerance as they were raised in that part of the world .
Impi . I dont know what the bands on the bottle are made of but i will endevour to find out for you .
cheers 90th.

hi Impi .
Some more info on the water bottle , courtesy of ' Uniforms And Weapons Of The Zulu War ' by Christopher Wilkinson - Latham.

' Oliver Patern Water Bottle first introduced in 75 . It's shape was that of a small Coopered barrell , bound at the top and bottom
with a band of Galvanised Iron . Manafactured in Italy by Guglielminetti Bros of Turin . It was 6.3in High , 4.1in Wide, Weighed
2 lb 8 oz and had a capacity of 1 qrt. At the top was a Galvanised Iron Stopper which was removed for Re- Filling as it had a
drinking hole with a wooden plug in the centre '.
cheers 90th.

Cisco
The 1860's Britain most of these men grew up in the water was possibly far worse than Zululand if you came from the cities!, it wasn't until the sanitary commitees were formed in the late 1870's that precaution for removal off effluent and foul water became the norm. In 1854 Cholera had broken out in London, Newcastle and Bristol.

If anything the ground water in Zululand be quite mineral rich, as the strata is mainly ironstone, OK the buffalo runs the colour of oxtail soup in January, but it didn't run through major "conurbations" where effluant outpours in to it.

The sanitary conditions in and around the camps was very poor, look at the casualty rate of the army on the move compared to once they encamped, Eshowe being the classic example, Wood however, moved his camp approx 500 yards to a better location at Khambula, his disease count was a fraction of that from areas of concentration.

Rorkes Drift was a sh@thole of epic proportions, you have to think an army of 3000 men, requiring water and ablutions comibined with the 100's of cattle that had concentrated there, the area would have been a morass.

Disease killed more soldiers than bullets and assegias ever did.

Sanitation and hygiene are the critical measures that can be taken to prevent typhoid. Typhoid does not affect animals and therefore transmission is only from human to human. Typhoid can only spread in environments where human feces or urine are able to come into contact with food or drinking water. Careful food preparation and washing of hands are crucial to preventing typhoid. I would suspect the Bristish abolution accomodation was with in the camp area.

I would have thought the Zulu abolution area would have been outside the vicinity their living accommodation.

Wasn't the British people back in england still pouring human waste into the streets, or had this been stopped by way of sewage systems..

Neil

Good point mate, I guess that RD was like Glastonbury on a Monday after the week long festival :-)

I based my assumptions on the following

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I thought that just after this London was cleaned up ??

cheers

Muddy puddles ok for Washing, Beer ok for drinking.

I was glad to seize an opportunity to wash my face in a muddy puddle, in company with Private Bush 24th, whose face was covered with blood from a wound in the nose caused by the bullet which had passed through and killed Private Cole 24th. With the politeness of a soldier, he lent me his towel, or, rather, a very dirty half of one, before using it himself, and I was very glad to accept it. In wrecking the stores in my wagon, the Zulus had brought to light a forgotten bottle of beer, and Bromhead and I drank it with mutual congratulations on having come safely out of so much danger.


This letter shows the men were obtaining water from rivers.

From Private Edward Hughes, E Company, 1-24th Regiment, 2nd Division to his parents at 4, Little Crown-street, Caernarvon.

Upoko River.July 1879


"We have had a very hard time of it but we are now enjoying a few days' ease. We have been up as far as the King's Kraal, Ulundi on the White Umvolosi and after burning all the kraals we came across and knocking the Zulus out of time, have returned to this camp to wait the issue of affairs.
We arrived, after a very hard and tedious march, at the King's Kraal, encamping opposite it on the 1st of July. Nothing of any importance occurred until the 3rd when the Zulus surprised us by opening a smart fire on some of our men who were down at the river getting water. The fire was quickly returned by our men down there on duty. The light cavalry were immediately got ready; 4 nine-pounders were got into position; and it was determined to shift the Zulus out of the place, for as long as they were allowed to remain there, it was evident that we could not get any water without great danger. A couple of shells were, therefore, thrown across the river. This had the effect of making the Zulus scamper off to their kraals at full speed. But our horsemen were waiting for them and chased the enemy as far as their kraals. Our men were obliged, however, to retire for the enemy were reinforced by some thousands. Our loss was slight; that of the enemy considerable. The same night the Zulus kept us awake for nearly two hours singing and shouting in a terrible manner.
Next morning, the 4th, we were all quietly awakened at a very early hour. No bugles sounded and everything was done as quietly as possible. Our men crossed the river and made for the open plain. This movement was quite unexpected by the Zulus, for at seven o'clock about 15,000 of them were seen making for our side of the river; but just at this critical moment our column had reached the open. They were then seen by the enemy who imagined that they had a very easy thing of it. But they calculated wrongly for they were greeted by a tremendous fire from our men as they advanced. Forty-five minutes passed after the first shot, when the Zulus wavered; our men cheered heartily; away went the Zulus as hard as they could run, closely followed by the 17th Lancers who mowed them down like grass.So ended the battle of Ulundi and with it Cetywayo's power over his people.Our loss, as near as I can ascertain, was ten men killed and about fifty wounded."

Supporting Neils post.

"The drinking water came primarily from the Thames and this was so fetid that it resulted in the first epidemic of Asiatic cholera in 1832 which is believed to have killed 5,300 Londoners. However, at the time no-one linked the cholera with the drinking water!"

A couple of extracts from Diary of Henry Eason HMS Shah
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Type of Water Canteen used during the Zulu War.
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Its intersting to read Littlehands insertions, in particular the sanitary Conditions., the whole idea that disease was spread by water was being widely understood by 1879, not only in the towns and cites, but also in the army. Victorian's being what they were have left us many "monuments to excrement", sewerage works, water pumping stations, underground drain pipies and sewage pups, these gothic and classical structures on the landscape testiony to the massive leaps being taken by the last quarter of the C19th.

By the early 1870's "Medical Officers of Health" were appointed in local councils and authorities to eliminate the causes of disease, the army too as Littlehands extractions show also had them. Thier whole remit was to eradicate the causes of disease, the removal of sewerage and refuse, know harbours of bacteria that cause disease.

Standard proceedure in camp setting out was to position on the latrines, normally a four feet deep drop pit dug at each location. The norm was to regularily top the cess pit with fire ashes, the result was the neutralisation of the contents. It was a common practice, used for years, many local authorites had "nightsoil men", who removed foul middens and carted it away (in the night) to the council yards whence it was mixed with ashes and sold to farmers as a fertiliser. Now anyone who has walked over ploughed fields will always spot bits of broken crockery, because the common scource of this was household waste, which was 90% ashes and cinders from the fireplaces.

Officers worth their salt would, amongst all the other paraphernalia carry water filters, these were like miniature chimney pots, lined with carbon, you poured the water in the top, and it filtered through to a tap at the bottom, I know these were utilised as there is fragments of a Doulton made water filter in the museum at St Winifreds, Isandlwana.

Dysentary, Enterric and other maladies of the gut, caused by eating poorly cooked or stored meats to is a potential killer, especially as whilst the disease was known, the cure wasn't.

Quote :

Now anyone who has walked over ploughed fields will always spot bits of broken crockery

Certainly have. Thanks for the interesting information Neil...

S.D

Saul
amongst my other hobbies, which do not include the explosion of black powder, I had for any years another hobby, it was rubbish!..
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