A quick 2 day trip to London allowed us to visit a few graves , we missed a lot due to shortage of time but that gives us an excuse to visit again .First stop was Chiswick for Fred Hitch VC , a well liked and Brave soldier he fought on with as severe wound ,his popularity continued after the war as his amazing grave stone shows a beutiful monument paid for by public subscription .
 |
| Fred's Monument ,suitable for Royalty |
 |
I did a bit of modelling so those that know me can gauge the size of this (im 6ft2")
Our Next stop was Brompton there are quite a few AZW veterans here ,plus lots of other amazing people ,veterans of waterloo even a indian chief ,but time allowed us to only find 2 graves , Lord Chelmsford the villain of the AZW and Charles Robert St Leger Shervington a hero of Eshowe who was recommended for a VC but didnt receive it possibly as he was a volunteer officer in the NNC rather than regular .Sadly he later took his own life ,his body found by his father who he is buried with . |
 |
| His Lordships Grave |
 |
| close up of the inscription |
 |
| Shervingtons Grave |
 |
the inscription
Our next stop was Kensall Green another cemetery packed with famous people ,but our point of call was Surgeon Reynolds VC |
 |
| Surgeon Reynolds |
Our final visit of the day was to Ewell to see the grave of Colonel Richard Glyn of the 24th foot , requested the wagons at Ishandlwana were lagered but was over ruled by chelmsford and was ordered to accompany Chelmsford was missed the slaughter at the camp ,was involved in the second invasion as well .His grave is sadly overgrown and fenced off next to a old church tower ,by the time we arrived his was dusk so not the greatest photo .
Day 2 allowed us to visit 2 Rorkes Drift heroes Gunner Arthur Howard RA and probably the most famous due to the excellent protrayal by Nigel Green n the movie Zulu ,although mainly wrong for example Frank was only 25 at the time of the battle ,its believed he turned down a VC for promotion he ended his carrer as a Lt Colonel he passed away on VE day 1945
Synchronicity..I was not 10 mins ago reading about the battle of Rorkes drift !
ReplyDelete