Dogs of Zulu War

Dick, A British Fox Terrier

Dick - Mentioned in Dispatch - On January 22, 1879, the Zulu impis (regiments) had surprised and annihilated several companies of the British 24th Foot. Elated by their success, the Zulus hurried to attack a single company (B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment) holding some farm buildings at Rorke's Drift.
A lucky fugitive from this previous massacre had given the post a few hours warning. There were only three officers at Rorke's Drift: one was Surgeon Reynolds, Army Medical Department, whose loyal companion was Dick, a small fox terrier.
About 4:30 p.m. over 5,000 Zulu warriors swept down on the band of British soldiers. It was impossible for the handful of men to stop the Zulus at a distance, and the attackers quickly swarmed around the buildings in hand-to-hand fighting.
Surgeon Reynolds, in the post hospital, was having a difficult time tending to the wounded while shots flew through the windows. With Reynolds was Dick.
The Zulus eventually succeeded in setting fire to the thatched roof of the hospital building, necessitating that the sick and wounded be moved into the open. Surgeon John Reynolds fearlessly continued attending to his patients. Always by his side was Dick, quite unmoved by the hail of shots and spears falling about him. The only time he left his master was to nip at the shins of an overbold Zulu.
The siege kept up until 4 am. the next day, when the Zulus retreated, leaving hundreds of their dead in the vicinity of the post. Surgeon Reynolds, among others was awarded the Victoria Cross and, specially Mentioned in the Dispatch for "his constant attention to the wounded under fire where they fell," was Dick. All who were present paid tribute to the little dog who stuck by his master's side through the whole ordeal.

Lion

One casualty of the battle cleverly made his way back to the regiment after the battle. He had suffered terrible wounds but survived until 1884 when he died and was buried in County Kilkenny at the Kilkenny Barracks, Eire. He was the regimental mascot, Lion, a dog of dubious pedigree.

Here lies "Lion" the Regimental Dog 1st. Btn. 24th Regiment who died Oct. 1884

This faithful creature followed the fortunes of the Battalion through the Kafir and Zulu wars of 1877-78-79 and was severely wounded

at the battle of Isandlwana

Please see Pictorial catalogue of AZW graves for photos & Grave Click Here Lion the Regimental Dog 1st. Btn. 24th Regiment.

Click Here :Early British Dogs courage under fire!

The only survivors who did reach Rorke*s Drift laager were the dogs belonging to the camp, who kept coming back one by one, thin and poor, but seemingly overjoyed to get
among the red-coats again. Most of them were cut with assegais. There were several terriers left in camp, but these apparently were not able to escape, or probably would not surrender and died with their masters. Colonel Degacher, of the 2-24th, had left a well-bred pointer in camp, and for some days hoped the dog would find his way back to him.
Days passed, and other dogs rejoined their corps, but Slap never put in an appearance. At length, at daybreak on the morning of the 5 th of February,

A fortnight after Isandhlwana, when the entrance to the laager was opened, there was the dog, having swum the river during the night, sitting on his haunches, waiting to be admitted. He was sadly cut by assegais, but seemed not to think about his wounds now that he had effected his escape. Could this have been Lion.

hi all.
Found this, Im sure someone asked if there was a picture of Don available ?
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cheers 90th.

Hi Pete,

I've sent you a PM.

Cheers
Bookworm.

Pope chatted with anstey for a moment,
he was lonely and missed his terrier
" Pip " which he left with surgeon reynold's
back at the mission station. morris p 353.

xhosa2000

I think you'l find Morris made that up.


Cheers

DB what evidence do you base that on?

drummerboy
i6  

Hmmm. ,

but, having said that, Morris
left no source, so what made
you say that, where did you
get that from? i'm vaguely
interested mainly because of
your age, myths are perpetuated
and some, attempt to become
facts. cheers xhosa

Chard1879 wrote:

DB what evidence do you base that on?

 

That's the point there isn't any at all, Morris left no source and both men died at Isandlwana. I remember reading about it, i think it may have been in one
of D Jackson's letter's to Morris where he took apart Morris's version of events using sources from the survivors.

Cheers

DB. If Jackson said it happen, then it happen. For ages now, your only source as been Jackson. Please don't say it didn't happen, because Jackson didn't say it.

 

If you read my response you would see that i stated Morris left no source and both men died the next day.

The only way to know that an event DID happen with 100% certainty, is for there to be a primary source of evidence for it. This is as good as proof, for example, the primary evidence to prove, once and for all, that David Jenkins was at Rorke's Drift is eagerly anticipated by many of us!

Clearly though, there will not be primary documentation to prove every single occurrence! And the absence of primary evidence, does not mean that an event did NOT happen. It MIGHT well have done; it probably did, if there was even a whisper that it did. Much of the picture of what happened during the battle of Isandhlwana is based on secondary, tertiary information, rumour, balance of probabilities, logical thinking and so on.

DB. You will get on so much better, if you didn't hang on to every word by Jackson. You never mentioned him when you first joined, JW who is also a fan of Jackson has obvisouly influenced you greatly. But it does become annoying, when your limited to Jackson. There are others.

PS We also know JW views on Morris! It seems " Morris" never got anything right!

Just some friendly advise. Take or leave it! Or run it past JW first.

CTSG

I clearly stated in my last post why Morris most likely made up the conversation, i did not say because of Jackson, i stated because there is no evidence for it and that
both men died the next day.

Since joining I've had two pieces of work published of which i'm proud of, read every book i can on the war, like HCMDB, By orders of the great white queen, Cetshwayo's Dutchman ect,  i am not limited to Jackson i merely quoted him, as i have done with Ian Knight and others.

 

What's the publication DB. We have one.

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Hi 24th

The other one was on Adenorff being at RD it published in June in the AZWHS, but i don't have a link for it  

Cheers

24th, you can find the same information here.

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impi wrote:

24th, you can find the same information here.

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Much the same:scratch: 

very impressed that man dont take no crap
off anybody, your instincts serve you well.bayete!
you have washed your spear, ' drummer man '
xhosa

stop picking on ' the kid '.
not being condescending
drummer man, the kid was
col sgt frank bourne dso.
good company:D 

well said Xhosa - well done DB to have two peices published is impressive at whatever age - I have been trying to complete my piece on the Lancers at Ulundi for abiout 3 years now!!

and you will do it Sergio:D  crack on
that man, its something else for us
' Zulu war nutcases ' to look forward
to. cheers mate Les.

Hi All .
We covered the Dogs of war a while back and from memory DB is correct , the dog at RD was either known as Jack or Dick , Dick I think was correct , this is covered in Knight's ' Nothing Remains But To Fight ' and ' The Rorkes Drift Doctor ' by Lee Stevenson . The dog was owned by Reynolds , and was painted next to Reynolds for that reason by De Neuville
in his R.D Painting .
Cheers 90th

" Pip"

Hi CTSG.
I may not have made myself clear but I was attempting to say the dog wasnt named '' Pip '' it was Dick or Jack .
Morris was incorrect in its name and owner , Ian Knight as I said in my earlier post states this in ' Nothing Remains But To Fight and also covered in Lee Stevenson's '' Rorke's Drift Doctor '' .
Cheers 90th

my only reference was Morris, 90th  
xhosa