Bringing home the Dead

The Prince Imperial’s body was returned to England.

Was the Prince's body the only one to be returned to England?

I can appricate that none of the soldiers from Isandlwana would have been sent home due to the mutilation of their bodies.

But surly some bodies must have been sent home, or was it a case of status. (Prince Imperial)

Were there provisions for bringing home our dead soldiers back in 1879?

And just out of interest how did they preserve the body of the Prince Imperial during the long voyage back home.

P.S
(They Put Nelsons body in a barrel of Rum or Brandy) Rumour has it the sailors tapped in the barrel for free drink, not knowing what was in there ????

Old H. I have had alook. But its looks like only the Princes Body was sent home.

Old H. Writes

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And just out of interest how did they preserve the body of the Prince Imperial during the long voyage back home.

On the 3rd June the embalmed body of the Prince was placed in a zinc coffin and returned to England. His body would have been badly decomposed before starting the journey.

Thought you might like to know this.

Badly decomposing bodies, trauma cases, frozen and drowned bodies, and those to be transported for long distances also require special treatment beyond that for the "normal" case. The restoration of bodies and features damaged by accident or disease is commonly called restorative art or demisurgery and all qualified embalmers have some degree of training and practice in it. For such cases, the benefit of embalming is startlingly apparent. In contrast though, many people have unreasonable expectations of what a dead body should look like, due to the unrealistic portrayal of "dead" bodies (usually by live actors) in movies and television shows. Viewers generally have an unrealistic expectation that a body going through decomposition should look as it did before death. Ironically, the work of a skilled embalmer often results in the deceased appearing natural enough that the embalmer appears to have done nothing at all. Normally cosmeticians are very happy when someone can bring in a picture and the decedent's regular makeups, if worn, to help make their loved one to look as they did when alive.

Embalming autopsy cases differs from standard embalming because the nature of the post-mortem examination irrevocably disrupts the circulatory system, due to the removal of the organs and viscera. In these cases, a six-point injection is made through the two illiac or femoral arteries, subclavian or axillary vessels, and common carotids, with the viscera treated separately with cavity fluid or a special embalming powder in a viscera bag. In many morgues in the United States and New Zealand, these necessary vessels are carefully preserved during the autopsy; in countries where embalming is less common, such as Australia and Japan, they are routinely excised.

Long-term preservation requires different techniques, such as using stronger preservative chemicals and multiple injection sites to ensure thorough saturation of body tissues.

Embalming is meant to temporarily preserve the body of a deceased person. Regardless of whether embalming is performed, the type of burial or entombment, and the materials used — such as wood or metal caskets and vaults — the body of the deceased will eventually decompose. Modern embalming is done to delay decomposition so that funeral services may take place or for the purpose of shipping the remains to a distant place for disposition.

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Lieutenant Edgar Anstey was the first soldier from South Australia to die in battle overseas. His body was found two days after the battle by his brother, Captain Thomas Anstey of the Royal Engineers, not far from the place now known as The Fugitives' Trail. Zulu warriors did not take prisoners in battle, and normally ritually disemboweled their enemies. Anstey's body, however, was intact and clothed.

His body was originally buried under a cairn of stones, near where he had been killed, his remains were later interred in the graveyard at the Church of St John the Baptist in Woking, Guilford, Surrey, England.



Click on his name Lieutenant Edgar Anstey

There as to be more than two. Are we talking, being sent home after a recent death. or Months after death.

hi sas1.
I am fairly certain that only 2 people that died in action in zululand were returned to england for burial, prince imperial and LT Anstey.
cant find any other instances were it is mentioned, Durnford was buried at isandlwana , then exhumed and reburied in FORT NAPIER
CEMETARY in PIETERMARITZBURG, this may have happened to others , but im not sure.

cheers 90th.

"Anstey’s older brother was sent out to Natal later in 1879 to investigate what had happened at Isandlwana and why? He was a noted cartographer. A fellow officer
believed he knew where Edgar had died. As they walked along the trail littered with skeletons of British soldiers, they turned the bodies over with their boots.
In most cases the skeletons were so dry they rattled to the touch. On the banks of the Mazinyana stream there lay approximately 60 bodies, so close in death many were touching. Thomas stared into the parched face of his dear brother Edgar! Edgar’s body was shipped back to England where he was buried in a private ceremony in the St John’s graveyard in Woking, Surrey."

This is one of only two white bodies removed from the field of Isandlwana for burial elsewhere. Intriguing to consider that in 1879 a British officer born and raised in South Australia perished at the hand of the Zulus in Zululand would be returned to England for burial."

The other would have been Durnford as 90th Pointed out. Buried at Fort Napier Cemetery In Pietermaritzburg.

Bodies brought back - as well as the Prince Imperial and Lt. Anstey - Captain the Hon. E. V. Wyatt-Edgell, 17th Lancers was brought back from Ulundi. As well as Durnford being reburied in PMB, Trooper G. T. MacLeroy, Natal Carbineers, also killed Isandlwana, was also reburied in PMB.

Information: Provided by a well Known Zulu Historian.

Hi others brought home,all served in the Zulu War - F.V.Northey 3/60th KIA at Ginginhdlovu buried at Epsom, G.R.S.Bowlby 94th died of complications after a Leopard attack buried Cuckfield Sussex,, Guy C Dawney killed by a Buffalo buried Great Bookham Surrey, regards rai KLH

The war of the axe : or, Adventures in South Africa

Bowlby, 94th Regiment, who, shortly before the Transvaal war
broke out, was fatally injured by a " Cape-tiger."

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