Capt. A. Gardner 14th Hussars (Staff Officer No.3 Column)

Capt. A. Gardner 14th Hussars (Staff Officer No.3 Column) survivor of Isandlwana & present at Hlobane, Khambula & Ulundi
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Photo By Tim Needham.


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Provided by forum member Littlehand.

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"Captain Gardner was one of only 5 out of 67 officers to survive the 1879 Anglo-Zulu war in South Africa. He served with the 14th Hussars. The memorial service followed the original funeral for Captain Gardner, who went on to become a member of Parliament and died in 1907, with the same hymns and readings.

We are grateful to Kate, a local historian, who found Captain Gardner’s grave in our churchyard as part of her research, and has paid for the restoration of the gravestone at her own expense!

Kate is very knowledgeable on the period of history and her passion for the topic was clear. She gave an excellent slideshow presentation, telling the story of Captain Gardner’s early life and the part he played in the Anglo-Zulu war. She used original historical artefacts, which included a Zulu shield, an ‘ikwala’ (stabbing spear) and a ‘iwisa’, (a cudgel fashioned from dense hardwood). British Army weapons included a Martini-Henry rifle, bayonet, spent bullets and even a used rocket casing! The red British Army tunic and uniform was also on display. Keith Ayres provided a sound track of Zulu chanting, which added to the atmosphere.

It was a very moving, informative and interesting afternoon. Special thanks to Kate for donating all the takings on the day to the church. Thanks to all for helping make this a successful event.

Lynda Dale
Vice Chair, Friends of St Mary’s Church."

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Capt. A. Gardner 14th Hussars   (Staff Officer No.3 Column) survivor of Isandlwana & present at Hlobane,   Khambula & Ulundi (Stansted Mountfitchet Churchyard)
Photo by Tim Needham

Photo & Text By Kate.

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"Evening all,

As can be seen above Alan is buried at St Mary's church Stansted Mountfichet.

I had his headstone cleaned and restored in 2016, which was relatively straight, forward so that  hopefully he will not be forgotten.

However it was a different story inside the church. His brothers and sisters all have memorials and Alan's wife, Nora's family (the Blyth's) have a series of stained glass windows.  However Neither Alan nor Nora have any sort of memorial which I thought was a real shame and I decided to do something about it.

Now as you can imagine trying to add anything to a Grade2* listed Norman church would seem almost impossible.
Well after 8 months of applications, case conferences, frustrations, paperwork, e-mails, phone calls and more paperwork I finally gained permission to have a brass plaque put up inside which is now in place.  It mentions Alan's Zulu War exploits as well as his wife's hunting prowess.

Unfortunately I don't know how to put photos up on here or I would put up a picture of the new memorial.

It really is something special for me to see him remembered after 110 years alongside his family and see a plaque with the word Isandlwana on it in my local church.

Now even if something happens to Alan's headstone he will not be forgotten.

I currently, with the family's permission, have a faculty application submitted to have a stone placed on his plot remembering his wife, as for reasons unknown she has no stone, which is a real shame as she is an amazing woman in her own right.
So watch this space.

St Mary's Church, Stansted Mounfichet, Essex is a lovely location and I well recommend a visit."

Kate

Taken from John Youngs post in the rededication section.


The following are posted on Kate’s behalf.

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