Lance Sergeant Armstrong Victoria Mounted Rifles

Hi Littlehand
I checked 'For God , Queen & Colony ' by Terry Sole ; Victoria Mounted Rifles , William Armstrong , Sgt Major . Marked as Joining the Natal Volunteer Guides . No dates or other info given .
Cheers 90th .

ps. The Victoria Mtd Rifles and all the other mtd Colonial units that were with Pearson at Eshowe were ordered back to the Tugela on the 28th Jan and arrived there that same evening , where volunteers from these units were then formed into the Natal Vol Guides approx 10th March .

Hi All,
I am new to this forum. Not sure what topic to use- selected this from the reference to Armstrong and Victoria Mounted Rifles. My interest follows from the involvement of my great grandfather in the Zulu war. I am in possession of his reminiscences which contain some references to events I'd like to put in context - would appreciate any help in that regard.

He was A colonial, John Armstrong from Verulam, Natal and was a volunteer with the Victoria Mounted Rifles/ Natal Mounted Rifles 18 years old in 1878. He mentions various incidences:
seconded to Pearsons no. 1 column: training at Thrings Post: setting off for Eshowe.
Crossed Tugela at Bond's drift (2 days due to size of column); An encounter during a scouting party with Dabalumanzi - who he knew well from trading expedition in Zululand 2 years earlier;
Forming a laager on crossing the Inyesane river which was surrounded by large force of Zulus under Dabulamanzi - he attributes Zulu retreat to rockets used; building fort at Eshowe; part of detail of mounted men sent back to accompany Sir Garnett Woolsey; stopped off at the Tugela where he stayed behind; spent rest of war patrolling border - based near farm of Sir Liege Hulett.  

I am also in possession of a photograph of six soldiers posed in front of a tent in which a soldier wearing 3 stripes on his arm is labelled as J Armstrong (others still legible are A Garland and R Logan)

By and large, this sequence of events seems to follow what accounts I have been able to access on the internet- except for the involvement of Dabalumanzi at Inyezane and the use of rockets by the Naval contingent.

Mikie, welcome to the forum. If you wish, you can email me the photo and I will post on your behalf. I'll PM my email address.

Mikie,

Welcome to the forum.  I would be very interested in reading the reminiscences of your great-grandfather.

There were two men named Armstrong on the medal roll for the Victoria Mounted Rifles.  Both men are identified by their last name only.  One was Sergeant-Major Armstrong, and the other was Trooper Armstrong.  (There was no one on the medal roll for Victoria Mounted Rifles with the rank of Lance-Sergeant.)

I have found a reference to a Lance Sergeant Armstrong of the Victoria Mounted Rifles in the newspapers in March, 1879.  I will send it to another member and ask him to post it for you.

I have also sent you a P.M.

Tom

Hi,

Attached is the photograph. I am beginning to wonder if the image might not be of John's older brother- William G Armstrong who was 6 years his senior. The came from a farm at Verulam so it is conceivable that they both joined up. There was another older brother George S who would have been of an age to join up. John was an apprentice blacksmith at the time.

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Text and photo by Mikie

In Terry Sole's ' For God , Queen & Colony , Victoria Mtd Rifles Sgt Major William Armstrong and Trooper John Armstrong Both awarded the Medal with 1879 Clasp .
90th

Thanks for the posts,
I have ascertained from an incidental comment in another source (David Lincoln, "An ascendant sugarocracy: Natal's miller-cum-planters, 1905-1939, Journal of Natal and Zulu History XI, 1988), that William G Armstrong did also serve in the volunteers in the Zulu war. The photograph is almost certainly of William Armstrong, rather than younger brother John, as closer examination shows faint strokes that make the initials clearly "W G". I received the photograph as part of a bundle of papers about John, hence my initial assumption. I guess remaining the puzzle is the rank insignia: three chevrons could be a Lance Sergeant in some units, but not Sergeant Major?

I have discovered the identity of the Victoria Mounted Rifle volunteers in the image I posted: From left to right (the numbering can be seen faintly in the image): 1) Bob Logan, 2)Alf Garland, 3) William Armstrong, 4) William Groom, 5) Johnnie Armstrong and 6) (prone in front) Bill Starr. The information came from an Ancestry family tree of a descendant of William Groom who had posted the same photograph (untorn) with the names (un-numbered, but the order matches the numbering of the 3 names visible in my photograph).

Hi Mikie

I have the medal with 1879 clasp to Frank (Francis) Galloway who served with the Victoria Mounted Rifles and, later, the Natal Volunteer Guides - would you be kind enough to look for any reference to him in the papers you have to Armstrong?

Regards

Rory