Troop Despatch

Subject: Troop Despatch Thu Aug 22, 2024 12:18 am

I discovered this in The Aberystwyth Observer and Merionethshire News, Saturday, 1 March 1879:

Orders have been sent by the Portuguese Government to the Governor General of Mozambique in consequence of the events in Zululand, to despatch troops and three Corvettes to Delago Bay.

Question:

Would these troops have been despatched to defend Portuguese interests at Delago Bay, which is in Mozambique, or do you think this was a request by the British government to the Portuguese for troop assistance due to the results of the disaster at Isandlwana. If the latter, what evidence of such a unit is there?

Eddie

Subject: Re: Troop Despatch Thu Aug 22, 2024 9:28 am

Eddie,

I would say that any Portuguese forces deployed to Delagoa Bay were purely to protect Portuguese interests there. Given that the then Kingdom of KwaZulu bordered the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. To my knowledge there was no request from the British Government to Our Oldest Allies to support military operations against the AmaZulu.

JY

Subject: Re: Troop Despatch Fri Aug 23, 2024 7:13 am

Interesting. I was thinking that this must be one of the earliest usages of the word Mozambique. All my Victorian atlases refer to it as Portuguese East Africa. It turns out its first use was in 1861 as 'the province of Mozambique'. After that usages were few and far between until the 1890s.

Subject: Re: Troop Despatch Fri Aug 23, 2024 7:12 pm

John/Julian

Thank you.

Subject: Re: Troop Despatch Fri Aug 23, 2024 8:20 pm

Hi John / Julian

I believe it may he been in response to this:

The Weekly Mail, Saturday, March 15, 1879.

In the House of Commons, Mr Bourke intimated that the Government had received information of the shipment by messrs. James Hutton and Co, of Liverpool, of 830 Muskets, and 50,000 lbs of Gunpowder for Mozambique, and had communicated with the Portuguese Government on the subject, and taken other steps to prevent the shipment reaching the Zulus.
Mr Egerton said it was true the transport Russia, England, France, Egypt and Spain had been detained at St Vincent, and the House then went into committee of Supply on the Civil Service Supplementary Estimates.

Mozambique is mentioned quite often during that period:

The Western Mail, Tuesday, March 25 1879.

Telegraphic Communication with the Cape.
The government has agreed with the Eastern Telegraph Company for laying cable from Aden to Zanzibar, Mozambique, Delogoa Bay, and Natal, thus connecting the Cape with the whole Eastern system.

Subject: Re: Troop Despatch Fri Aug 23, 2024 8:32 pm

All

South Wales Daily News, Saturday, October 4, 1879

A Portuguese Journal states that Catewayo recently sent an Embassy to the Government - General of Mozambique to convey his sentiments of friendship for the King of Portugal.

Subject: Re: Troop Despatch Fri Aug 23, 2024 8:44 pm

Eddie,

Given that King Cetshwayo had been made a prisoner of war since 28th August 1879, I imagine that his delegation was a plea to the Governor-General regarding his present situation.

JY

Subject: Re: Troop Despatch Fri Aug 23, 2024 9:21 pm

Hi John

Yes I should think it was.

I have found the answer to my original post in The South Wales Daily News, Tuesday, February 25, 1879.

In a Parliamentary update headed " The Zulu Scare And The Situation - these paragraphs are mentioned:

The Portuguese Government, which usually does not bulk much in the eyes of Europe, has been stirred by the recent events in Zululand, and according to a Lisbon telegraph, the Portuguese Cabinet have sent orders to the Governor General of their Colony at Mozambique to dispatch troops to Delogoa Bay. The meaning of this provide as far as possible against the destruction of the Portuguese Colony in South Africa, in case the British forces are for the moment overwhelmed.

Subject: Re: Troop Despatch Sat Aug 24, 2024 7:23 am

Eddie
Very interesting. Sensible move really. A bit like Poland moving its troops to the Ukrainian and Belarussian borders today JUST IN CASE!

Subject: Re: Troop Despatch Sat Aug 24, 2024 10:15 pm

Hi Julian

Yes very much so.

» Childish despatch sent by Lord Chelmsford
» THE ZULU WAR - DESPATCH OF TROOPS TO NATAL AFTER RECEIPT OF INTELLIGENCE OF THE AFFAIR AT ISANDHLWANA:
» Troop ship Lancaster