"Mr. Kevill Davies, he was born in 1817 and was educated at Eton. He entered the army and received a commission in the 17th Lancers. He served with that regiment throughout the Zulu campaign, and at the battle of Ulundi he distinguished himself. In the heat of fighting, he noticed a member of his regiment unhorsed and surrounded by Zulu warriors; he found and caught a loose horse and galloped over to the man – at great risk to his own life he got him remounted and they both returned to the charge. The soldier wrote later to his father, recounting that his horse had been killed under him and he had been left standing in the centre of crossfire, and had it not been for the incredible bravery of Kevill Davies he would be a dead man.
In September 1879 he was promoted to Captain of the 17th Lancers, however in August the following year this was cancelled when he retired from the service. Shortly afterwards, the puzzling reason for this became clear…………his fellow soldiers were constantly talking of the extremely shabby way that he had been treated by the Horse Guards. Captain Kevill Davies gained his troop on the death of Captail Wyatt Edgell who was shot at Ulundi, and was declared to be one of the most popular men in the cavalry with pluck abounding, and a superb horseman. Every brother Officer swore by him, and nobody at the Cape behaved better or deserved his promotion more. Yet, after having earned it in the field, when he returned home he was required to pass a special army exam before he left the service, or have his promotion cancelled. He refused to take this exam, and everyone backed him up in his decision, – the meanness and shabbiness of the Horse Guards was universally condemned.
He became a Magistrate in Herefordshire and lived a quiet life in the County before dying on Christmas Day 1896 aged 48."
Source:Herefordshirepast.
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