Captin A.H. Neumann.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
A.H. Neumann, South African Light Horse, Late Native Contingent, Famous African Explorer and Big Game Hunter, Author of Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa , and Fondly Known as ÔNyama Yangoo by Natives of the East Africa Highlands South Africa 1877-79, one clasp, 1878 (Capt: A.H.Neumann, Native Contgt.),partially officially corrected; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, three clasps, Cape
Colony, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith (Lieut: A.H. Neumann, S.A. Lt: Horse.)

Captain Arthur Charles Neumann born Bedfordshire, 1850; became a coffee planter in Natal aged 18. He later tried cotton,tobacco growing and gold mining in the Transvaal with his brother Charles. Whilst operating a trading post in Swaziland, he became fluent in the local dialects and befriended the King of the Swazis, Ubandeni. He was able to put this friendship to good use with the outbreak of the hostilities with the Zulus, joining one of the Native Contingents as a Captain and an interpreter for Captain Macleod, the then Chief of Swaziland Police. It was feared at the time that the Swazis would join forces with the Zulus against the British, and one day whilst Macleod and Neumann were out riding together near the border they received news from a galloper informing them of the disaster at Isandhlwana. Given the precarious position that they were in with relation to the Swazis they were urged to keep the news from Neumann’s friend King Ubandeni. After consultation, however, Macleod considered it a better plan to break the news to the King himself, insisting that a British army would soon come to avenge the defeat. Upon delivering the news to the King, Macleod and Neumann were greeted with complete silence, as the two men would have realised at the time both their lives hung in the balance. Some hours later, native spies confirmed Macleod’s report and the King sent for him saying, ‘Mafu, you speak the truth and if it takes the whole Zulu army to destroy one English camp, the English will win’. As a result of Macleod’s snap decision the Swazis fought with the British against the Zulus and later against the Basutos. In the latter conflict it was the Swazis under Macleod who surrounded Sekukuni and captured him

Neumann rejoined his brother in a farming venture in 1880 and for the next ten years travelled and hunted along the Limpopo River before being employed by the East African Company to map routes for projected railways. It was whilst in this employment that his camp was attacked in Masai country and he received a spear wound.

For a brief period he was employed as a Magistrate, before going looking for adventure again - this time he travelled North to Mombasa to organise an elephant shooting expedition. In the three years that followed, he spent all his time wandering the unknown interior, amongst the Ndoroba savages by Mount Kenia and the Lorogi Mountains. Here, totally in his element, he learnt the local dialects, traded with the natives and continued to enhance his reputation as a hunter. During this period he mentions shooting a rhino with a horn measuring 40 inches and having killed 11 elephants. On the 1st of January 1896 his personal servant was carried offbefore his eyes by a crocodile and shortly afterwards he was himself badly injured by a cow elephant which gored him and knelt on him in the thick bush. He was saved from death only by the springy undergrowth and could not lie in any position except on his back for two months. He later sold all his his ivory, amongst which were tusks up to nine feet in length. Having made a fortune out of the latter, he then wrote his book Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa and was credited with the discovery of several new animal and insect species. He was revered and loved by the natives of the East
African highlands, who knew him as ‘Nyama Yango’, literally translated as ‘My Meat’ - the name is said to have been given tohim because once he had marked his target, he never missed. J.G. Millais, the famous hunter author, likened Neumann to Selous, Livingstone, Speke, Grant Thomson and Burton, as a man caring little for worldly applause, but bent upon gaining a knowledge of the unknown for benefit of those who came after him. He also stipulates that the achievement of a totally peaceful settlement of the highlands in later years was dueen tirely to Neumann’s way of life and influence on the natives

In November 1899 Neumann went to South Africa to take part in the Boer War and he assisted Colonel Bethune to raise the South African Light Horse. Here he served as a Lieutenant, alongside one W.L.S. Churchill, taking part in the Relief of Ladysmith and having a very narrow escape at Spion Kop where a bullet passed through his hat and hair. After the War Neumann returned to Mount Kenia country, but
with the advent of the preservation of game, he saw that his days as an elephant hunter were at an end and he returned to England
in October 1906. Upon arrival he suffered a severe attack of influenza, from which he never really recovered. Millais records his depression at this stage of his life and on the 29th of May 1907 Neumann used one of his own firearms to take his own life. In a bizarre twist it was said that upon the day of his death he appeared to his godchild, Noomi Jackson, at her Convent school in Belgium telling her that he was suffering terribly for transgressions whilst on earth and asked her to pray constantly for him. She recorded how he continued to appear to her every day until she left the school and returned to London. The facts of the visitations were put before the Society of Psychical Research and published in their Journal of May 1908. Published transcription of roll gives recipient’s details as ‘Captain A.H. Neumann Natal Native Contingent’, and as being entitled to a ‘1879’ clasp, the medal however appears entirely as issued.

Excellent reading thanks Littlehand. Where do you find all this infoe:

Agree with John.

Came across this, he preferred Lee-Metford to the Martini-Henry.

"A man who had a great reputation, which far exceeded his actual achievements, was Arthur Neumann, an interesting person, who had a chequered career. He scrimped and saved for years before outfitting his own safari, with which he explored and hunted with the Nderobo tribe near Mount Kenya for three years, and explored north towards Lake Turkana (Rudolph). Neumann at first also hunted with large calibre rifles, but he was introduced to the military Lee-Metford, which he tended to prefer even to his Martini-Henry as a “finishing weapon” from the start. His liking for the light calibre, which he adopted for all his hunting, took a knock though when he was seriously injured by an elephant cow after his .303 jammed. A lengthy period of recuperation followed, after which he painfully made his way back towards Mombasa – still managing to bag his three best tuskers with his popgun, even in his half crippled state, on the way home. He lived to write Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa (Rowland Ward, 1897) and the volume was so well-received by the public, that he became an instant Nimrod of Note, though in all likelihood this retiring man’s bag never exceeded a hundred elephants by many. What struck me on reading his book was the sheer number of rhinos that he killed – mostly as rations for the hungry Ndorobo and surrounding tribes. Neumann was different from some of the other hunters I have read about, though, in that he genuinely hated to kill these animals unnecessarily, or for sport alone, when there was no chance of the meat being used. He didn’t rate them as particularly dangerous, nor did he think they were difficult to kill."

Great post Littlehand. Keep them coming.

"Born in 1850, son of an English rector, Neumann sailed for Natal at eighteen, and with his brother engaged in growing cotton and tobacco on the Umvoti, dug gold in the Transvaal and traded in Swaziland; and, in 1879, served in the Zulu War. He then travelled and hunted extensively around the Limpopo and Sabi rivers.

His ambition to hunt elephants professionally was fired when, as a employee of Sir William Mackinnon's chartered company in 1890, he reconnoitered a proposed railway to Lake Victoria - a region that was a hunter's paradise. The years 1893-96 took him from Mombasa, across Mount Kenya to Lake Rudolf and back, shooting on the way, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and many types of thin skinned game animals. Then followed an interlude of service in the Anglo-Boer War when he took part in the relief of Ladysmith. The war over, he returned to the Mount Kenya area, and in 1903 and 1904 he ranged through the Lorian Swamp, Turkana, and northern Gwaso Nyiro."

http://www.booksofzimbabwe.com/store3/erol.html#383x0&&http%3A%252F%252Fwww.google.co.uk%252Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dcaptain%2520arthur%2520charles%2520neumann%2520zulu%2520war%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D6%26ved%3D0CFEQFjAF%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.booksofzimbabwe.com%252Fstore3%252Fx383.html%26ei%3DnsgrUfeDC6mn0AWCrYCYDA%26usg%3DAFQjCNHhjAC2VxL4L9xbaL8MdZ33YkQQJQ%26sig2%3DK2D0tlhCv4nDTlcYyw_vGg

According to the Forsyth Medal Roll he is listed as Capt A H Newman entitled to medal and clasp 1879 .Listed in the NNC The Battalion served is unknown .
Cheers 90th.