The Last of "C" Company

This is my latest. With a little artistic license!
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Steve

Steve,
Where is Melvill (the Queen's colours of the 1/24th)?  
Congretulation for your work.
Cheers
Frédéric

Bonjour Frederic

Never let the facts get in the way of a good composition! Or, with some authors, a good story.

Steve

With your last comment, i have a thought for Hamilton-Browne, David Rattray, Julius (Julio For Frank) Cesar and...Wellington (of course!) about his narrative of the battle of Waterloo....
Cheers.

Frédéric

Steve,
You show one officer (unlike Fripp with his battle of Isand) but we we do not see his face and the faces of the others soldiers with him .
Zulus, dead, or others men near the tents are absents of the picture, the rocky outcrop is immense....
Is it a deliberate artistic choice,?
A desire to "avoid melodrama" (unlike Fripp with the "boy" in the middle of his paint)?
Do you want to show the solitude of these anonymous men of the C Coy, their courage (they don't flee but resist / I.E the flag, the white smoke of the guns, the bayonets...) and their desperate fight?
Cheers.

Frederic
Thank you for asking. I do not claim so much was in my mind, but your last sentence captures my feelings about the scene.  I did not want to illustrate an abattoir even if that was factually what happened. There is something about the location itself that fascinates us all I think and it is to do with the mountain. For me, it also works for Rorke's Drift, but not for any of the other battle locations.

On a more practical level, I can't do Zulus!

Steve

Good stuff Steve .
90th

Bonjour Steve,
Thank you for your answer.
I agree with the fascination generated by the mountain ...
I sometimes glimpse its outline in the mountainous terrain of my county !!!
cheers
Frédéric

Steve / Frederic
There is certainly something '' about '' the Mountain , I don't know how many times I've looked at it ! , let alone snap away merrily from the Balcony of Isandlwana Lodge . Frederic , you must save your Euro's and get yourself there mon ami , believe me , you won't ever regret , or forget it
90th

Gary
It's a dream for me...not for my beloved wife!!!
Cheers

Frederic you can always leave her shopping in Paris for a week , and you go to Isandlwana
90th

I think it is because it is truly monumental both in the landscape and in what it represents. Fripp has it best, rising up through the smoke into the sunlight, now he could paint!

Steve

Agreed Steve , Fripp certainly could paint , I'm always looking at his Isandlwana effort
90th

Frederic I realised what I wrote after I pressed ' Send ' .... you could always give her cash ( not to much ! ) and you bring the M/C with you , mine gets a hammering in Sth Africa !
90th

For a week shopping in Paris you could buy Isandhlwana and ship it home.

Steve

True Steve , it depends where you shop , my Missus didn't go over the top , she did well
90th

Yes, Fripp was indeed a very good painter, but then again, so was Richard Caton Woodville.

Some of R. Caton Woodville's paintings really inspired me when I was a young lad, the look on the men's faces, the eyes of the charging horses, a great painter.

Another very fine painting is the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, and was painted by Christopher Clark, a brilliant painting of this glorious charge.

FYI. His grandson Tony Woodville erected a new headstone over Richard's previously unmarked grave. The ceremony took place 28th September 2013 at the St.Mary's Roman Catholic cemetery on Harrow Road (not far from Kensal Green cemetery)

"From: "Carol & Graham Marley" <themarleys@ukgateway.net>
Subject: [Lon] 1851 census lookup, WEATHERHEAD
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 06:41:39 +0100

Hi List,

I have reached a brick wall with my WEATHERHEAD research.

My 2g Henry WEATHERHEAD was born somewhere about 1840, his parents did not
register his birth (things would be a lot simpler if they had!).

He joined the 1st Battalion 24th Regiment of Foot on 28/7/59, aged 19 years.

He married Mary Ann CHAPLIN 12th Dec 1864 at Cheriton Kent, whilst stationed
at Shornecliffe. Marriage certificate lists his father as Thomas
WEATHERHEAD, shoemaker. Also one of the witnesses was Arthur WEATHERHEAD
who I assume to be a brother.

Henry was killed by a Zulu at Isandlwana on 22nd January 1879, ALL of the
regimental records were lost at the battlefield.

I have located Thomas WEATHERHEAD in the 1881 census, living at 22 Samford
Street, St Marylebone. He is noted as born abt 1806 St Marylebone. In the
same household is a grandson, Thomas WEATHERHEAD born abt 1866, Paddington.

Question, is the 1951 census named indexed yet?. If so could SKS please
lookup WEATHERHEAD, it's not a very common name, and see if they can find
the above living together.

Yours hopefully,

Graham"
Source>Rootsweb

Can anyone show the regimental records were not lost?

John

The records that were lost were the ones they had with them - obvious really I suppose. But those records relating to pay (which was the main reason for compiling records anyway) were regularly sent back to the War Office. Hence for the 1 and2 Battalion 24th they exist today up until September 1878 and onwards from January 1879. What was lost related to Oct78-Jan79. Also bare in mind that government departments, including the War Office, discard most of their records after a few years unless they are felt worthy of preservation. I would guess that perhaps 10% of the total is kept. A good example of this disposal policy is the service papers of soldiers that died. They were simply destroyed because they held no further interest to the army. Only if they survived and might have earned a pension were they kept.

Steve