Unknown Isandlwana casualty - Oswald Bretherton

Posts : 232 Join date : 2011-10-18

I've recently come across a memorial inscription on a family headstone in Birkenhead which mentions the death of an OSWALD BRETHERTON at Isandlwana, however, having searched through the various casualty rolls for both the battle & the whole war I can't seem to find him mentioned anywhere.

The main inscription is as follows;

… BRETHERTON/
who died 18th November 187… , aged 62 years./
also of Alice CHIPPENDALE, his wife/
who died 11th February 1875, aged 57 years

Oswald, 4th son of Edwd BRETHERTON
Killed at Isandula, Zulu-land
22nd January 1879
aged 25 years.

One possibility of course is that he enlisted under a false name, but if anyone has any further information which may help identify this individual I'd be interested to hear.

Regards,

Tim

Nothing even close on the casualty roll. scratch

Posts : 232 Join date : 2011-10-18

Hi Tasker,

Forum member Rai England has done a little digging for me and has found an article from September 1879 which alludes to the death of Oswald Bretherton; it confirms that he did indeed join the army under an assumed name but doesn't state what that name was, also it says that he was killed at Ulundi which is strange. As Rai points out, it seems unlikely that the family would have the wrong battle inscribed on the grave and so it's likely that Isandlwana is correct.

Regards,

Tim

The alias sounds the most plausible. Such a pity that so little info is known about the men who perished. One wonders if the the Bretherton/Chippendale family knew the alias?
Seems odd that a man named Oswald of awhat must surely have been a better off family with such a stone memorial would need to enlist under a false name. scratch

Yet another iSandlwana mystery.
(If indeed he was killed at Ulundi and I agree that this is probably an error, that ought to make narrowing him down a little more possible with so few British casualties.)

Posts : 190 Join date : 2011-03-16 Age : 54

Father Michael Bretherton was a solicitor and lived at Hamilton Square Birkenhead, had a big big family, Salute