George Astell Pardoe Lieutentant, 13th Light Infantry

Lieutenant George Astell Pardoe, who died in General Newdigate’s camp on the Mhlatuze River, on 14 July 1879, of wounds received at the battle of Ulundi, was the second son of Edward Pardoe, Esq., of Amberwood, Christchurch, Hampshire, formerly Captain 15th and 82nd Regiments, and his wife Harriet, daughter of William Astell, Esquire, M.P., of Everton, Bedfordshire. He was born on 5 September 1855, at Brighton and was educated at Cowes, Isle of Wight, under the Rev. Arthur Watson, MA, and at Eton. He passed the competitive examination for entrance to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, on 11th February 1875, taking a high place, and obtaining his commission, at the same date, on the unattached list. After a year spent at Sandhurst he was gazetted to the 13th Light Infantry, and in May 1876, joined the 1st Battalion of that regiment in South Africa. Lieutenant Pardoe carried the colours of the 13th Light Infantry at Pretoria, when the reading of the Queen’s proclamation on the annexation of the Transvaal took place. Soon afterwards he was invalided home in consequence of a dangerous illness, but rejoined his regiment in South Africa before the commencement of the campaign against Sekhukhune in 1878, in which it served, and in which he twice narrowly escaped being shot in the bush.
Lieutenant Pardoe was with Colonel Evelyn Wood’s column throughout the whole of its operations on the Transvaal frontier, and during its subsequent advance into Zululand. At the very commencement of the battle of Ulundi, he was shot in both thighs. Though most skilfully and tenderly treated and nursed both by the surgeons and his brother officers, haemorrhage recommended at the end of ten days, and amputation of the left leg became the only possible means of saving his life. The shock was, however, too great for his system: he never rallied afterwards, but died on his way to the base hospital at Utrecht. His body was carried to Fort Marshall, and was there buried on the day after his death. By the thoughtful kindness of those in command at the time, a cairn and wall of rough stones protect his grave; a cross has since been erected on the spot by his brother officers to his memory. His character cannot be better described than by quoting from a letter written by one of them: - “A more honourable, high-minded, generous young fellow did not exist: he was a favourite with everyone, from the Colonel down to the youngest bugler.” A mural tablet that has been placed in Highcliffe Church, near Christchurch, by friends in the neighbourhood, also testifies to the estimation in which he was held, and to the sorrow caused by his early death.
Descended from an Essex family, Lieutenant Pardoe is the third of his name who during the present century has died on active service. In 1810, George Pardoe, Royal Navy, fell in an engagement off Palamos on the Spanish main, and in 1814 his brother, Ensign Edward Pardoe, Grenadier Guards, was severely wounded at the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, and in the following year killed at the battle of Waterloo.
Lieutenant Pardoe is also commemorated on the ‘South Africa 1879-80-81’ memorial in the Sandhurst Chapel.

Source:Anglo Zulu War Historical Society

HI ALL.

as we have a picture of his grave thought i would share this , as gruesome as it may seem to some readers, this from the
SURGICAL EXPERIENCES IN THE ZULU AND TRANSVAAL WARS 1879 AND 1881. by DUGALD BLAIR BROWN.

LT PARDOE of the 13TH LIGHT INFANTRY, was hit in the engagement at ULUNDI, and i saw him almost immediately afterwards.
The bullet entered the right thigh about its middle passing through a direct line without injuring vessel or bone, and entered the thigh of the opposite limb about its upper third, causing severe comminution of the femur, and then escaped on the other side. The wound in the right thigh healed, without a drop of pus coming from it in a few days. The wounds were small, clean, and round and no difference was perceptible between the entrance or exit. Those in the left thigh were different , the wound of entrance being twice the size of that of the other limb, and that of the exit being large, deep, and gaping and there was considerable haemorrhage present. I put the limb up in a long splint at the time, and immediately after the battle i wished to remove the limb. This was not agreed to, and i lost sight of him for 2 days. When seen then his leg was still in the splint i had put on, but the case had become more complicated. A considerable tumour, pulsating strongly , occupied SCARPA"S SPACE. Ten days later the wound began to bleed alarmlingly and all efforts failed to check it. The limb was then amputated - i assisting - but the patient died on the table. The following was the condition of the limb i found on making an examination afterwards. The whole of the femur, except a few inches near the TROCHANTERS and CONDYLES ,
was fractured, and existed only in fragments, large ,loose, sharp edged and pointed pieces. The MEDULLARY CANAL was full of fungoid mass smelling most foully, and all the fragments of bone were quite destitute of living covering. An inch below where the PROFUNDA BRANCH is given off by the FEMORAL the main artery was cut half through, evidently by one of the sharp fragments of the FEMUR , and a long dark clot wes hanging from it. The tissues immediately in this area were in a softened condition, the abductors
and vastus muscles being pulpified and seperated from one another, and the space filled with blood-clot.

it is very technical, but im glad it wasnt me !!.
cheers 90th.

time to hit the sack, late nights coming up with the ashes wed.

I have Lt. Pardoes sword. I'd be happy to post some pics if anyones interested, although I'm not sure which is the appropriate section.

Hi Nail73

Please do post pictures of the sword here.

Andy

Hi Neil
I'd be keen to see the Sword .
90th

Lt. Pardoe's 1822 pattern infantry officers sword by Henry Wikinson. Original receipt dated Feb 1876.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

More pics...[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

2 more...[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Brilliant Neil, thank you for sharing.

Thanks Frank, glad to contribute. I'm quite interested in provenanced swords from the the AZW but haven't seen any others. Does anyone else have/seen one or are there any pics on the site? Thanks

Hi nail73

Fantastic pictures. Thank you.

Please take a look at this thread
https://www.1879zuluwar.com/t10472-isandlwana-battlefield-sword#96029

Andy

Thanks Neil , OUTSTANDING ! , Thanks for taking the time to share , greatly appreciated .
90th

Thanks for looking. Judging by the state of the edge it seems to have seen some action and possibly not only at Ulundi. As Lt. Pardoe was with the 1/13 in Woods column it seems fairly certain he was engaged at Kambula and likely at Hlobane too. Would be very grateful if there's a Hlobane expert here who could guide me in this, was the whole of the 1/13 involved or just a part of it? Thanks
Neil

Hi Neil
It was basically the Mounted Colonials at Hlobane , although some of the Imp Mt Infantry were there , so a few possible members of the 1/ 13th , but very minimal to be honest .
90th

Thanks for that much appreciated

Following on from Gary’s comments above, here are a couple of officers from the 1st/13th who were present at Hlobane.

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Major William Knox-Leet V.C.
(John Young Collection.)

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Lieutenant Henry Walsh, No. 1 Squadron, Mounted Infantry.
(John Young Collection.)

JY

Great pics John thank you, I will try and read up on both of those men. Don't suppose there is a list anywhere of officers who were present at Hlobane? That would be too easy...

Neil,

You will find a list of the regular army officers and the commanders of irregular unit present at Hlobane in They Fell Like Stones - Battles & Casualties of the Zulu War, published in 1991. It is long out-of-print but there are copies on Amazon & EBay.

JY

Thanks John, I've just ordered it

Neil,

You will find an engraving of Pardoe on page 200.

JY

That's brilliant John thank you so much for making that available. Does anyone know the source for the biographical info at the top of the thread?

Neil,

It is an updated & revised version of Pardoe’s biographical notes that appeared in the 1880 edition of The South African Campaign 1879 by J. P. MacKinnon & S. Shadbolt.

The original text is accompanied by the following photograph:
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Lieutenant G. A. Pardoe
(John Young Collection.)

JY

Excellent JY , your book ' They Fell Like Stones ' certainly comes in handy , as does your other ... ' Victoria's Harvest ' ..for all us AZW nutters ! . What did you do regarding the Anniversaries yesterday , research etc etc ??? . Hopefully you stayed indoors !?
90th

Smoko,

Thanks for that, but can I correct you Victoria’s Harvest is a co-authored work with David Truesdale, the eminent Irish military historian, rather than a solo effort.

I spent much of yesterday’s anniversary in my study looking at photographs of long dead men. I attended the NAM lecture as something of an escape.

How about yourself?

JY

Thanks for the recommendations John, between those two books and the other replies I've had, I think I'll find all the info I need. What a brilliant forum this is.

JY I can tell you what he didnt do ! Return e mails

Frank,

What more do you expect? I bet he was bingeing on a Chips Rafferty box set!

JY

Hi JY
Didn't do very much just scoured ebay and some online book stores ! , was involved on Ian's FB page for a while .
Frank
If you're meaning I didn't return an email etc , that my friend would be because I didn't get one (any ) !
90th

Sent again.

Hi Frank
Got it , replied and sent
90th

Hi all,
I am the great great neice of George Astell Pardoe and inherited his medal and a porcelaine picture of him, the same image as the one in one of the mentioned books.

My Grandad Reginald Pardoe died aged 97 in 2007 and told me the family story was that George "fell on his sword" to avoid living with one leg.

I cannot believe his sword is in existence and am overwhelmed by this finding. A friend of mine was interested and did a search and found the recent thread which has been very emotional.

I researched him for my twins for a primary school history project about 8 years ago. At this point the info of his grave and battle details popped up but not all the surgeons details.

I don't know how the artefacts were lost from the family it must have been sold at some point.

I have bought both books online second hand and am so pleased to have found your research website and that people are so interested.

One day I hope to visit his grave in South Africa. I think my Grandad would have been most interested in this research. I also have an Edward Pardoe who also was an Ensign who died at Waterloo. A lot of the Pardoe men served, my Grandad in Ww2 in the Merchant Navy Atlantic Crossings as ships engineer, his brother Cyril, captain of the Parthian submarine mined and lost at sea in the Adriatic, their father a captain in the Navy and a White Star line officer survived Ww1

Joan

Hi Joanlees
I've been fortunate enough to visit the Grave of Lt Pardoe several times , which isn't far from Fort Marshall , from memory there are another 3 or 4 buried in the same walled cemetery .
90th

https://kznpr.co.za/isandlwana-fort-marshall/

Hi Joanlees
Welcome to the forum.
If you wish to know a bit more about where he would have been and what the Regimant got up to in South Africa there is a super little book called:-
'A Brief History of the 13th Foot (P.A.L.I.)in South Africa 1877-78-79 by Edward D McToy.'
Chapter 15 (4 pages) is all about the death of Lieut. Pardoe. Its quite a rare little book so in case you can't find it here is the chapter

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Happy hunting
Kate

90th wrote:

Hi Joanlees
I've been fortunate enough to visit the Grave of Lt Pardoe several times ,  which isn't far from Fort Marshall , from memory there are another 3 or 4 buried in the same walled cemetery .
90th

Thanks 90th, it is nice to know that he has a grave

Thanks Kate for this extra information

Photographs of Pardoe's grave taken and very kindly provided by 90th
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Great stuff digga
Kate

Cheers Kate , Thanks for posting the pics , always a pleasure having a chat .
90th

Kate and 90th, thanks so much for this information.  Here is a picture of the medal and a 13th uniform badge I have.  And a poster I did with my children did for A Primary school project

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Fantastic pictures. Thank you for posting them up Joan.
Your children are very lucky. Anglo Zulu War projects at primary school!! Blimey
All we did at that age was smear glue  onto cardboard and sprinkle it with milk bottle tops and glitter
Kate

Joanlees Thanks for the kind words , always happy to help if able . Thank You for sharing the pics , outstanding . Those items are very valuable , not only family wise but in monetary value also , if they aren't insured might be an idea to look into it ? .
Regards 90th ( Gary )

[quote="90th"]Joanlees Thanks for the kind words , always happy to help if able . Thank You for sharing the pics , outstanding . Those items are very valuable ,  not only family wise but in monetary value also , if they aren't insured might be an idea to look into it ? .
Regards 90th ( Gary )

[/Hi Gary, many thanks, I did look into the value for insurance. After posting the medal pictures here I was very quickly contacted to sell it, and felt very pressured. It remains with me and will remain in the family and is now properly insured. I had no idea of the true value or interest in the Zulu wars. It was of personal/family importance to me but did not realise the significance of the items. I did get quite worried that I had posted the photos here afterwards to be honest. I am a former academic researcher (geography) and didn't expect the consequences of what happened afterwards.]

Hi Joan
Well the best thing is you've hung onto it .... and you won't be letting it go ! , at least not cheaply in any case . Glad you got it sorted insurance wise , and yes your average person isn't likely to have any idea of what something like this is actually worth ! . The AZW is and can be a wonderful community , but like everything there's the usual minority who at times can be dodgy ( unfortunately ) . I'm glad you've reported back with the positive and negative experiences you've encountered .
Cheers Joan
90th