Records relating to the Buffs and other units destroyed.

Posts : 1857 Join date : 2009-03-25

Can anyone confirm if it's true that military records relating to the Buffs and other units were destroyed during the Zulu War by accident.

Thanks in advance. Idea

Posts : 2308 Join date : 2010-07-02 Age : 41

24th. Never heard of this. I just trying to think of what accident could have caused the destruction of the records. I can only think of fire. So is there any records of a fire incident in any of the forts or barracks. scratch

Fort Napier. I haven't got time to write it out but will do so tomorrow. It appears there were a lot of little grass huts. The Buffs and 17th Lancers to name but a few. A Sgt got drunk and a paraffin lamp got knocked over. Will post full account tomorrow. Good Night Idea

Haven't forgot, but just got in, so I will post tomorrow.

Lttlehand, love the description...........little grass houses :lol!:

Many years ago when the British pulled out of Natal they left behind a designated chief, as a mark of his position they presented him with an ornatly carved throne.
Over the following weeks he heard of a plot to steal his throne and usurp his position so during the night he stowed it away in his 'grass house'.
However during the night it fell down and crushed him.

Hence the motto: People who live in grass houses should not stow thrones.

Regards

"The burning of the Buffs and other corps was an instance of gross carelessness. It occurred in the so-called Barracks of Fort Napier. Which were simply grass huts like those of a Zulu Kraal. " In one were the papers of the 17th Lancers, in another those of the King's Dragoon Guards; the documents of the 94th occupied a third hut, those of the 58th a fourth, while in a fifth were entrusted the records of the Buff's. A sergeant who slept in the last got drunk. And it is said. Upset a paraffin lamp with the result that in a very few minutes the whole place was in a blaze, Cash book, ledges, tabulated document, together with a large amount of miscellaneous property, were hopelessly destroyed, the greater part of the documents being of a nature which rendered them difficult to replace. The heat of the fire may be judged of from the fact that a silver watch was picked up afterwards melted into a soiled mass"

Source: The Zulu War Through Contemporary Eyes