Thomas Corfield was a Lieutenant in the Cape Mounted Rifles.

"Thomas Corfield was a Lieutenant in the Cape Mounted Rifles. He served in Egypt where he was awarded a medal. The regiment was then posted to South Africa and Thomas saw action in the Zulu Wars 1877 to 1879 and 1880 to 1881, being awarded two medals.He also probably served in the Boer War, 1899-1901.

Subject: Thomas Corfield was a Lt in the CMR Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:28 am

Hi Littlehand .
I looked for him in the Forsyth Medal Roll , didnt find him till I checked the other Ranks , Cape Mounted Riflemen , Corfield T.W.
Medal With Clasp 77-78-79. This unit didnt fight in the actual Zulu War , but he may have been part of another Colonial Unit .
Listed as the Commandant of Corfields Regt is non other than C.D'Arcy VC , his VC being earned in the action of 3rd July , the day before Ulundi , when Buller's force was very nearly cut off when it crossed the river toward Ulundi , D'Arcy had attempted to save Trpr Rubenheim but to no avail , as his horse reared and threw both of them off , D'Arcy was forced to flee and Rubenheim was left to his fate . I also checked the Frontier Light Horse Roll from Terry Sole's ' For God , Queen & Colony '
Corfield wasnt in there . Maybe someone else can shed some more light on Thomas Corfield and his service of 1879 .
Cheers 90th Merry Christmas

Posts : 558 Join date : 2012-05-05

http://www.whosyerdad-e.com/families-c/individual.php?pid=I310&ged=14022007m.ged

There were actually two Corfields in the Cape Mounted Rifles:

Privates E. Corfield & T.W. Corfield.

The CMR & CMY fought against Morosi.

What puzzles me about the original post is the following phrase: He served in Egypt where he was awarded a medal. The regiment was then posted to South Africa...

Served in Egypt doing what? The last campaign that Britain had fought in Egypt, prior to 1882, was against Napoleon Bonaparte. Britain had no actual interest in Egypt prior to 1875. The statement just doesn't gel.

John Y.

Posts : 33 Join date : 2011-01-09 Location : Barnsley UK

Presumably he was one of the many foreign officers that took service with the Khedive during the 1860/70's, the most famous of which would have included Charles Gordon and William Loring.

sjwalker51,

Both Gordon and Loring had learnt their trade; Gordon in the Crimea and Asia & Loring in North America.

Thomas William Corfield was only 23 years of age in 1879, personally I doubt he ever served the Khedive in any capacity, but that's just my opinion.

I did some further digging on the name Corfield and the Cape Mounted Rifles/Riflemen.

According to I. T. Tavender's book Casualty Roll for the Zulu & Basuto Wars... Pte. Corfield, T. W. was wounded at Morosi's Mountain on 20th November 1879.

Yet according to http://www.britishmedals.us/files/cassa.htm Private Corfield T.W. Cape Mounted Riflemen was wounded Morosi's Stronghold but on 8th April 1879.

D.C.F. Moodie in The History of the Battles & Adventures... volume 2 of the 1888 work, has an Ernest Corfield, who in turn appears as Earnest Scorfield in another report as being mortally wounded in the assault of the 8th April 1879.

I can see why I normally avoid Morosi's Mountain actions!

John Y.