ZULU WAR MEDAL

I have a Zulu war medal to Tr .W.Charlesworth of the N.M.P. Can anyone tell me if he is entitled to a bar.

Hi EOA.
According to the Forsyth roll ....... No . Listed under Natal Mounted Police , Headquarters and Reserves who DID NOT CROSS THE
ZULU BORDER , MEDALS WERE THUS ISSUED WITHOUT A CLASP . ( Capitals as they appear in the roll ) .
cheers 90th.

ps . There is also a T. Charlesworth on the same roll ,more than likely his brother ? .

Hi EOA.
On further investigation courtesy of Terry Sole's book , For God , Queen and Colony .

Charlesworth . Walter . From Pietermaritzburg. Attested 17 / 8/ 87 ( Which should read 77,78 or 79 I would think ! ) . Age 20 yrs
11 mths , Discharged 10 / 10 / 91 !! . T. Charlesworth mightn't be his brother as he was from Adelaide , Sth Australia . Attested
17 / 8 / 76 . Discharged 17 /8 / 79. ( Thomas ) .
cheers 90th

Hi EOA

Phill might be able to add some meat to the bones when he comes online.

Is this the same Charlesworth.

HIS name was Thomas Charlesworth and in February 1884 he rode out from Southport, just south of what today is Darwin, to look for an overdue mail coach said to be carrying gold.

The English-born mounted constable, aged 32, had dodged spears in South Africa's Zulu wars of 1879, but was now about to be done in by a small but deceptively deep creek.

The lone Charlesworth came upon Peter's Creek, just north of Adelaide River, at nightfall. The rain was hard and Charlesworth, wearing oilskins and boots, and perhaps looking for a way across the fast-rushing creek, slipped on the muddy bank and fell in.

His body was later discovered in the creek by a police search party from Adelaide River. His remains were probably, by then, in no condition to be transported to a cemetery, and so he was buried near where he was found.

Commentary in the local paper was that "the poor fellow" should never have been sent out alone to battle raging rivers and streams. He was never given a headstone and over time the location of his grave was lost.



In late July 1999, Adelaide River's Sergeant Glen Huitson told a local council works manager, Bill Roberts, that some army mates had given him a GPS reading of a spot that looked like a grave, on the banks of Peter's Creek.

Huitson was interested in police history and thought it fitting that Charlesworth's resting place be found and that the long-lost constable be honoured with a memorial of some kind.

Tragically, only four days after this conversation with Roberts, Huitson was gunned down on the Stuart Highway by the so-called "real" Crocodile Dundee, Rodney Ansell.

Partly as a way of honouring Huitson, Roberts went to Huitson's widow to see if he'd noted the GPS position somewhere, but was unable to turn anything up.

More recently, Roberts was working in the Peter's Creek area when he decided to take a wander. He found a grave-shaped rise in the ground. He thinks it may be Charlesworth's resting place. Roberts was raised in these parts and has a sharp eye for nature and anomalies in the bush. He points to how the ground is different here: full of small rocks and slightly elevated above the flat and rockless surrounding terrain.

"Here's a man laying out here with nothing at all to remember him," says Roberts.

"It's not nice. If he is here, I doubt whether anyone would want to move him but it would be good to see some sort of memorial. Partly for him, partly for Glen Huitson."

Roberts is reluctant to stick a shovel in the ground, so he's talked to a bloke named Dave Turner, who has ground-penetrating radar equipment, which is normally used to detect underground cables.

Turner has located skeletons before and is prepared to have a probe before the wet season sets in. "You won't actually see a skeleton, just a disturbance and the ground will be different to what's surrounding it," says Turner.

Whether they find him or not, Mounted Constable Charlesworth must be feeling strong vibes from the world above him.

Back when he served at Southport, the Territory was a part of South Australia. SA police have also - quite separately to these events - been working on the overdue acknowledgment of Charlesworth. Today, after 124 years, his name will be honoured with a plaque at the National Police Memorial in Canberra, which recognises police who die in the line of duty.

Hi All

From South Australian Register, Saturday 29 March 1884

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

This is from Northern Territory Times and Gazette, Saturday 1 March 1884

Most of the article is the same as the above apart from this below.

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

Nice one..

Hi All.
Sad but a very interesting story , it's amazing what can be found nowadays on the Net ! . Well done to Impi / Graves .
cheers 90th.

Well done impi, an outstanding bit of detective work there.
Do you have a link to your info source?
RIP Thomas Charlesworth.

Hi All

The article in the Northern Territory Times and Gazette, Saturday 1 March 1884 states that the Charlesworth Family had come from Birmingham.

I have found a possible match.
This family lived in Birmingham in 1871 and had the boys Names of Thomas and Walter and the ages match.

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

A little further research is needed to prove this the correct family but never the less and very good match.

Graves is certainly on to something here, with the 1871 census entry above. There are only 19 people in Birmingham named Charlesworth on the 1871 census, these being 3 families, one from All Saints, one from St Thomas, one family from Ladywood. The Birmingham St Thomas family are the family of Thomas and Walter.

Doing a little maths, Walter would have attested in 1878 if he had attested at the age of 20. Thomas would have been 30 when he died in Peter's Creek, not 32 as mentioned in the newspaper article.

The whole family is present on the 1871 census, but Ralph (father) Sarah (mother), Thomas, Walter, Ralph Jr - the entire family in fact - have completely disappeared from the 1881 census - so they have gone somewhere. I can't trace any of their names elsewhere in the UK either.(The other 2 families are still there and have grown). St Thomas family I would guess have emigrated since the 1871 census.

Hi Tasker

Quote :

St Thomas family I would guess have emigrated since the 1871 census.

Yes you are correct but I have not established a date for the family immigrating to South Africa yet. (I ran out of time on Friday at the records office)
I started to check the register of passport applications for 1871, 72, 73, 74 and 75 but did not find any Charlesworths. I still need to check the 1876, 77 and 78 on my next visit to the records office.

I also need to check the following:
New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922 to see when Thomas arrived in Australia.

I will update you if I find anything out.

Keep up the good work Graves.

Fascinating story of the Charesworths, the kind that would make a wonderful film!

I have a particular interest in the Natal Mounted Police, so I have enjoyed reading this thread. Thank you to the contributors.

Regards
Brett

Hi All
Both Walter & Thomas Charlesworth were/are my great Uncles.
EOA .... would you consider selling me Walter's medal ? :-)

Regards
Chris