Isandlwana 1879

Memorial to the Old Boys who fell at Isandlwana

(located on the battlefield)

Memorial to the Old Boys who fell in the various 'colonial wars' of the 1870s
(located in the foyer of Clark House, Maritzburg College)

Clark’s inspiration: The tale of the College Warriors at Isandlwana

When looking upon the breast of a College boy, one is suddenly struck by the penetrating sight of a crossed carbine and assegai set against a blood-red background. When arriving at College, each boy is told the legend of how his badge represents the bloodletting and bravery of the black and white combatants of the Natal colonial conflicts of the 1870s. What follows is the story of the final moments of Old Collegians[1]; Frederick Durrant Scott, George Shepstone, George Macleroy, Harry Davis, Adrian Blaikie and Thomas Doyle beneath the towering colossus of Isandlwana. Their story is one fraught with bravery reconciliation in the sense that they all made a final stand with Colonel Anthony Durnford; a man whom many of them had blamed for the death of their comrade[2] and former schoolmate Robert Erskine, despite being able to flee on horseback[3]. 

In the early morning of the 22nd of January 1879; a young man named George Macleroy (‘Kelly’ to his mates) found himself posted five kilometers east of Isandlwana, in a vedette overlooking Ngwebini Valley. He had been ordered there by his popular lieutenant[4], Scott, and told to keep an eye out for Zulu patrols.  It was nearing seven in the morning and the mercury was rising. Moments later, Macleroy’s attention shifted from the heat to the sound of hooves in the valley below. He strained his eyes and made out the dark shapes of Zulu men on horseback. At first he thought that they were the men of Colonel Durnford’s Natal Native Horse (NNH), but soon realised that they were not wearing the felt hats and red bandannas that the NNH troops were issued with.  His suspicions were confirmed when he realised that the number of mounted Zulus, estimated to be over 5 000, vastly outnumbered the group of NNH troopers allocated to Durnford.

Macleroy and Harry Davis, Old Collegians and vedette companions, were about to race westwards toward Scott’s position on top of the ‘Conical Hill’ to the east of Isandlwana when they were visited by a fellow Carbineer who told them to proceed to Scott’s position. Before they reached the Conical Hill, they came across Scott, who ordered them to join his squadron of mounted volunteers who had been ordered to observe the enemy near the iThusi Ridge. When reaching the ridge that overlooked iThusi, Scott’s party realised that the Zulus they had seen that morning were in fact the vanguard of the Zulu Army’s central chest and not the remnants of a minor patrol. 

Scott and his men observed the Zulus for just over half an hour before Scott decided to engage them. Riding to within 1 000 metres of the approaching tribesmen, Scott ordered his men to spread out at ten meter intervals and dismount. A minute later, and with the Zulus now 700 metres from the Carbineers’ skirmishing line, Scott’s booming theatrical voice echoed across the plain below iThusi, “Fire!”[5] And so Scott’s Carbineers, with Macleroy and Davis amongst them, fired the first shots of the Battle of Isandlwana into the central chest of the Zulu Army. Interestingly, one of Scott’s former classmates was about to encounter the Zulu Army’s right horn[6]. 

Captain George Shepstone was the son of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, K.C.M.G and one College founding scholars. At the start of the Zulu War, he joined Colonel Durnford’s NNH and was appointed as an officer on his staff. Durnford arrived at Isandlwana at about 10h30, having already been informed of the Zulu threat to the north east. After a brief and heated conference with Colonel Pulleine[7], Durnford decided to take a group of his NNH to the eastern horn of iThusi. Instead of joining his Commanding Officer, Shepstone was sent with Captain Barton, Lieutenant Raw and two troops of the NNH to investigate a report that 6 000 Zulu troops were advancing across the Nqutu plateau. Shepstone’s party climbed the Tahelane plateau to their north and then rode east, towards Nqutu. They had not gone eight kilometers before they came into contact with the Zulus’ right horn, a body of close to 15 000 men. 

After dismounting and firing at the approaching Zulus, Shepstone and Barton must have agreed that their force wasn’t big enough to keep the right horn from surrounding the camp, so Shepstone was sent back to the camp to ask for troops to reinforce their position. When Shepstone arrived he was irritated to find that the camp hierarchy were somewhat distracted by an order they had just received from Chelmsford. Exhausted and realising the extent of the Zulu threat to the camp, Shepstone couldn’t help himself and blurted out-

 “I am not an alarmist, sir, but the Zulu’s are in such black masses over there, such long black lines, that you have to give us all the assistance you can. They are fast driving our men this way.”

The words had not left Shepstone’s lips when Durnford and his troops appeared on the ridge east of the camp, rhythmically dismounting and firing as they retreated. Whilst retreating, Durnford’s and Scott’s troops soon linked up when Durnford called out: “Carbineers, hurry up and follow me!” as they were led into a donga. Macleroy and Davis joined the firing line in the donga and began inflicting heavy causalities on the Zulus who faced them. However, Durnford soon told the men in the donga to retreat towards the camp as their ammunition was running low and the regular British troops to their left were retreating. 

Meanwhile to the north of Durnford; Shepstone, having been promised support from Colonel Pulleine, had re-joined Barton’s firing line on the slopes of the Tahelane plateau. The men were advancing in skirmishing order and their fire was so effective that many of the Zulus to their front threw down their weapons and ran away. Shepstone’s judgement doesn’t seem to have been clouded by this success or the smoke that hung in the stagnant humid air, as he quickly realised that a fresh body of Zulu warriors was beginning to encircle his position further to the west. Shepstone quickly ordered the firing line to retreat in an orderly fashion towards the camp while he took a body 60 men around the western side of Isandlwana, where he intended to stop the Zulu right horn from encircling the camp. 

At about the same time; Macleroy, Davis and the rest of the Durnford/Scott party had retreated toward the camp. They had sent runners back to their tents to fetch ammunition and were now fanned out in a skirmish order facing the left horn. Despite being the latest in breech loading technology, the Martini-Henry carbines used by the Durnford/Scott party were no match for the throngs of lightning-quick young men of the uVe regiment who charged their line. It was at about this time that Macleroy was wounded, shot by some antique musket that one in three Zulus on the battlefield possessed. Realising that his wound was serious; Macleroy was helped on to his horse by a fellow Carbineer, Trooper Muirhead, and ushered towards the wagon road leading back into Natal[8]. However, soon after Macleroy’s flight; the line was penetrated and the men found themselves fighting their way towards Durnford and Scott, who was heard calling out “Carbineers, to the front!” The remaining Carbineers, stragglers from the 24^th Regiment and other colonial volunteers; amongst them Old Collegians: Harry Davis, James Blaikie and Thomas Doyle; formed a square surrounding Scott and Durnford. It was there that the Durnford/Scott party prepared to make it’s last stand, in an act that held the wagon road open long enough for a few mounted men to escape from the battlefield and flee back into Natal. 

As fate would have it, Shepstone decided to make a stand of his own amongst the boulders and scrubs of Isandlwana’s western slope. He and his men managed for a short while to stop the Zulu right horn from cutting the wagon road north of the Durnford/Scott position, before they too were overwhelmed. One of the Zulus who overran Shepstone’s position left us with the only account of the final moments of this gallant Old Collegian. According to this Zulu- 

“We were told that there was present a son of Somseu[9]. He fought bravely. He killed our people. The others feared to approach him. Suddenly there dashed in our brother Umtweni before he could load, and killed him.”

With the right horn racing across the wagon road, Durnford and Scott’s position was surrounded. Durnford, realising that there was no choice but to clear his tarnished name by fighting to the death, called out to his men in their final moments, “Now, my men, let us see what you can do!” The final moments of these brave men (many of whom had the opportunity to escape on their horses once they realised that the line had broken) wasn’t witnessed by any white escapees and can only be unravelled through an account given by Mehlokazulu, a Zulu warrior who fought against them. According to him-

“The Carbineers defended a position and their fire was very dense. A long time elapsed before they were overcome and we finished with them. When we managed to surround them, they all died together there. They threw their weapons to the ground when their ammunition had run out and then they started using their pistols, as long as the ammunition held out and then they formed a line, shoulder to shoulder and also to the rear, fighting with their knives.”

These were the young men who inspired the College badge and motto, Pro Aris et Focis. They gave their lives, which could have been spared by fleeing on horseback, for their hearths and homes. Whilst most College boys will not die in a Victorian blaze of martial glory, it was our founding father’s wish that we privileged few will live out our years in the service of our families and community.

---

1. We will refer to them as Old Collegians even though the school only changed its name to Maritzburg College in 1888. 

2. We also know that Shepstone was close to Erskine as he helped bury his body after the Durnford/Carbineer debacle at Bushman’s Pass.

3. Who was a popular Old Collegian and Carbineer, killed at Durnford’s side when he unsuccessfully led a force of Carbineers to put down the Hlubi Rebellion in the Drakensberg in 1873.

4. At this stage, colonial regiments like the Carbineers voted for their officers.

5. As an amateur actor, Scott had graced the Pietermaritzburg stage the night before the Carbineers had left for Zululand with a performance of Richard Sheridan’s The School for Scandal.

6. Both Scott and Shepstone were in the foundation class of 1863.

7. Was the British officer in charge of the camp at Isandlwana. Despite having been in the army for 22 years, Pulleine had not experienced battle before his appointment as officer in charge of the camp.  

8. The wounded Macleroy was making his way past the wagon park down the road to Natal with Muirhead when he was hit by a throwing assegai and killed. Although he was buried in PMB after the war, the site of his death is to this day marked by a rock denoting his initials.

9. Theophilus Shepstone’s Zulu praise name.

Captain George John Palmer Shepstone

Studio portrait of Captain Shepstone

An artist's impression of Shepstone's Natal Native Horse in action at Isandlwana
(view towards fugitives' trail)

Fellow Old Collegians Mathew Marwick, Tim Orchard and Dylan Loser (author) at Capt. Shepstone's grave 2012

The white cairns that mark Capt Shepstone's last stand
(view from fugitives trail)

Extract from The Star 1879, highlights the reaction of Capt Shepstone's Wife

George; the son of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, K.C.M.G.; was born in Pietermaritzburg on the 11th of June 1849. As the son of a very important member of the colonial government in Natal, George was born into Natal's elite white settler society. Since the late 1850's, this section of society had been lobbying for an institution that would provide suitable education for their youth. On the 2nd of March 1863 George, whose future had probably already been aligned with colonial service, was sent, along with 32 other "colonial ruffians", to the new Pietermaritzburg High School in Longmarket Street. After studying at the High School, he went to Capetown (Bishops) to finish his education. 

On his return to Pietermaritzburg, he successively held the appointments of Secretary to the Chief Justice and Registrar of the Supreme Court, and thereafter was admitted as an Advocate. Subsequently he entered into commercial life, and became a partner of the firm of Messrs Henderson & Co. He joined the Natal Native Horse raised at the commencement of the Zulu War, and became Staff Officer of the late Colonel Durnford, with the rank of Captain On the 22nd January, 1879, the Natal Native Horse were hurried up to support the camp at Isandlwana. He was described in The Story of an African City as: "of a friendly disposition, and universally popular, he was deeply lamented by a large number of friends and companions.

He was good friends with his brother in law, Lieutenant Alfred Fairly Henderson, and it seems that he arranged to get him a commission with Natal Native Horse. Lieutenant Henderson was commanding Hlubi troops at Isandlwana and was one of the few officers to survive the battle. When he reached  the safety of Helpmekaar he wrote the following letter to his father regarding the battle and Capt George Shepstone:

“You will have heard before this reaches you of the fight and massacre in Zululand. I would have written you yesterday only I wanted to try and hear something about George [Capt. G. J. P. Shepstone, Natal Native Horse, killed - Alfred’s brother-in-law]. I am afraid there is no hope for him. Colonel Durnford we think was killed as he has not turned up. The kaffirs surrounded us in thousands. We were fighting from about 9.30 a.m. until about 2 p.m. when the Zulus drove us into the camp. Our kaffirs fought well and stood their ground until we were surrounded. I never saw George all through the fight as he was with another part of our mounted men. There must have been about five hundred of our men killed. Twenty-two of the Natal Carbineers are killed. I don’t know what they are going to do with us just now. We have lost everything belonging to us. We may have to go down to town to fit out again then I will be able to give you more particulars.”Alfred wrote again three days later with further details:

“I wrote you the other day to say that I had got out of the fight the other day. I have not as yet heard anything about George. If I had known what sort of a man Durnford was (when he got into action) I don’t think I would have gone with him. He was close to me during most of the fight and he lost his head altogether in fact he did not know what to do. The General was (I think) a good deal to blame as he left the camp in such a bad place to defend. As far as I can make out there are about 700 killed white and black. They say there were about 20,000 Zulus and I think there must have been quite that number. We shot hundreds of them but it seemed to make no impression they still came on. Here we are now with nothing, all I saved was my mackintosh which was on the saddle. I have got one shilling left today. We have got to patrol the country with my troop and the Edendale troop, the only ones left...”

Lieutenant Frederick John Durrant Scott
(Officer in Command of Royal Natal Carbineers left at Isandlwana)

Drawing of Scott (London Illustrated News)

Scott (right) with his brothers (all of the Royal Natal Carbineers)

Frederick, the son of Mr D. B. Scott (one of the early settlers in the Colony), was born at Pietermaritzburg on the 19th April 1851. He (like George Shepstone) was a foundation boy of the Pietermaritzburg High School, and continued there until 1866. In his last year he occupied the second place in the school and then left to finish his education at Godolphin School, Hammersmith. There he not only passed through his curriculum with much credit, but distinguished himself in athletic exercises. In 1868 he won the medals for the best athlete in the school and the best batting average.In years that followed he maintained this character, and was ever distinguished for his prowess in sports. 

Returning to the Colony, he first filled the position of a clerk in a merchant's office, and subsequently became a partner in the firm of Messrs Mason & Scott. He joined the Natal Carbineers in 1874, and rose to the rank of second Lieutenant. He marched to the front in December, 1878, and was in command on the 22nd January, 1879, when he fell at Isandlwana at the side of Colonel Durnford. According to The Story of an African City: "he left behind him the name of a brave Volunteer, esteemed and beloved by his men."

There is also evidence that Scott was quite involved in the Pietermaritzburg social scene, appearing in a play before he left for Zululand and officiating numerous club rugby games. 

Trooper George Thompson Macleroy

'Kelly'

Studio portrait of Trooper Macleroy

George, son of the late Mr George Macleroy (for many years General Manager of the Natal Bank), was born in Pietermaritzburg on the 7th of November 1856. He enrolled at the Pietermaritzburg High School in 1867. He remained at the school for six years, occupying, when he left, a prominent position in the Upper Room. According to The Story of an African City: "he was greatly esteemed for his kind and genial disposition, and will long be remembered for his wit and humour; as a caricaturist, also, he was much appreciated. During this period he won for himself many friends, and on more than one occasion was awarded the Good-Fellowship Prize by them."

It is interesting to note that Macleroy is mentioned in A South African boy : schoolboy life in Natal as the boy who knocked out an infamous bully who had been picking on the author, Albert Baker.

On leaving school he entered into commercial life, and by close attention to duty gave promise of a successful future. Shortly before the Zulu War he joined the Natal Carbineers, and, like so many of his comrades, did not survive the action at Isandlwana. At a subsequent date his remains were removed to the Pietermaritzburg cemetery by his sorrowing parents.

The spot, approximately 1 kilometer down the fugitives trail from the wagon park, where Trooper Macleroy fell (courtesy of Rob Caskie 2013) .

Trooper James Adrian Blaikie

Drawing of Blaikie (London Illustrated News on Graphic)

Photo of Blaikie's grave at Isandlwana (courtesy of John Gray, 2010)

James was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in March 1859. He enrolled at the Pietermaritzburg High School in June 1869 and remained there until December 1872. During his time at the High School he had risen to a high position in the school. He then went to Fettes' College, Edinburgh, to complete his education.

When he returned to Natal, he first entered the Civil Service and then a solicitor's office (where, according to The Story of an African City: "he was long remembered for his remarkable intelligence"). During this time he joined the Natal Carbineers as a trooper, and lost his life on 22nd January 1879 on the field of Isandlwana. His remains were identified as amongst those who fell surrounding Durnford and Lieutenant Scott.

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