Down Rabbit Holes and Up Family Trees

My father had a Mills Cigarette tin in which he kept some medals. His medals from WWII and two medals from his grandfather, Richard Walford Stevens. One for the Anglo Zulu War of 1879 and the other for WWI. There was no back story about Richard Walford except that he had taken part in the Battle of Isandlwana and had survived. This was always a bit romantic because even as a child I knew that the Zulu warriors had destroyed the British force at Isandlwana and only very few had escaped.

Isandlwana was a seminal event in South African history. He was there so I wanted to know how that came to be, what part he played in the battle, and what happened to him afterwards. Apart from the medals and a fob watch chain, the only information I had about him was sketchy family anecdotes. There were no pictures or documents. After some twenty years of slow and steady gathering of snippets here and snippets there, there is now enough information to paint a picture of his life.

I have built the narrative around the letters which Richard Walford wrote home from Helmekaar after the battle. I have sought to provide context to his rather laconic comments and to illuminate them through the more expansive comments of others who were there and an examination of the histories of the event. Who were the people he mentions? What did they do? What was he involved in that he didn’t mention? How did his little piece of the battle fit into the whole thing? What was the “ditch” he defended? This is not an historical analysis of the battle. It is just an examination of the bits that directly impacted him with sufficient background on the geopolitics of the time to assist those, mainly family, who live outside South Africa and have not been exposed to its history.

I have bookended this expansion of his narrative with, firstly, a description of his family background and his move to Natal and, secondly, an analysis of his life after the war such as could be obtained from public records and newspaper mentions.

I have been greatly helped in my research by two groups of Anglo Zulu War historians and enthusiasts who can be found online at 1879zuluwar.com and at Ian Knight’s Anglo-Zulu History Group on Facebook. They have kindly provided me with information, photographs and copies of documents and newspaper articles. I must also acknowledge direct assistance from Ian Knight, Gary Richardson, Cam Simpson, and Michael Denigan. Thank you all.

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©Alun Stevens 2023