Staff Surgeon Norbury Diaries

Guest

Several years ago I ran across this article. (I believe it was from the Anglo Zulu War Historical Society, but I could be wrong.)

“The diaries of Surgeon Commander Norbury RN
The diaries of this important Zulu War figure have now been found and it is hoped that Adrian Greaves and Ian Knight will be able to transcribe them with a view to having them published in the Society Journals. Being old and written in pencil, the task will be a major undertaking. Commander Norbury accompanied the Naval Brigade from Fort Pearson and took part in the battle of Inyezane, the siege of Eshowe and the battle of Ulundi. There is much that is new in the diaries, which include some remarkable sketches.”

Does anyone know if these esteemed gentlemen have completed their task, and if any part of the diaries has been published? Norbury’s book “The Naval Brigade in South Africa During the years 1877-78-79” gave a good overview of the Naval Brigade during the Zulu War, but the diaries would hopefully provide a lot more information.

Petty Officer Tom

Posts : 1603 Join date : 2009-09-21

I think Pete's in touch with Ian Knight, perhaps he could e-mail him the question.

Subject: Re: Staff Surgeon Norbury Diaries Wed Nov 06, 2013 5:57 pm

Tom, I have passed this on to Ian Knight. Will post reply when received.

Subject: Staff Surgeon Norbury Diaries Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:31 pm

Hi Pete.
As far as I'm aware there is no publication of Norbury's diary per se . His book which isnt set out as a diary publication contains 307 pages , of which the 1879 zulu campaign begins on page 175. As POT has posted the book is titled '' The Naval Brigade In South Africa - During the years 1877 -78 -79 '' by Fleet Surgeon Henry F Norbury . I'm confident if his actual diary had , or was being released , I'd have a copy as would xhosa and springy to name a couple of other book tragics ! You need to study mo

.
90th

Subject: Fleet Surgeon Norbury Diaries Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:36 pm

Forgot to mention that I think a couple of years back some personal items of Norbury's , and may even have contained his diary , were auctioned either on ebay , or an auction house and I seem to think the price was over 10,000 GPB's ! Shocked

Happy to be corrected .
90th

Subject: Re: Staff Surgeon Norbury Diaries Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:59 pm

Tom is this what your looking for?

https://www.1879zuluwar.com/t4139-staff-surgeon-h-f-norbury-and-surgeon-w-d-longfield

Guest

littlehand

The link you posted is to the Medical and Surgical Journal for HMS Active, and lists those who were injured, or became ill, as well as those who died. What I am looking for is the diaries that he kept while with the Naval Brigade during the Zulu War. It was these that Greaves and Knight were hopefully going to transcribe.

90th

I don’t think anyone intended to publish them as a book, but rather “having them published in the Society Journals.”

As for the auction of some personal items of Norbury’s, it was his photo album that was auctioned in 2008, at George Kidner Auctions.

Admin

Thanks for passing on the request to Ian Knight. Now we just sit back and wait to hear what he has to say.

Petty Officer Tom

Subject: Staff Surgeon Norbury Diaries Wed Nov 06, 2013 11:53 pm

Hi POT.
Yes it was a photo album ! , I knew it was something personal and an item rich in history ! . Yes , possibly the Diary may have been transcribed into a Society Journal , as you and I are both aware , they havent been released in book form ....unfortuntaley

. I'm still certain if they had been realeased in a journal or such , you , for one would know about it ! You need to study mo

, would also think myself , springy , JY and Les may also had wind of it . Shocked

Cheers Tom , 90th

Subject: Re: Staff Surgeon Norbury Diaries Fri Nov 08, 2013 4:48 pm

Ian's Reply.

" Unfortunately this has got no further. The original hand-written diaries, in two large field notebooks as I remember, were loaned for a while to the AZWHS. Adrian showed them to me, said he wanted to transcribe them, and asked if I would be interested in collaborating on something for publication, and of course I said yes. Unfortunately I do remember that they were written in pencil, in some cases with lines going up and down the page as well as across. They were very difficult to read - although I also remember than large portions had been marked in the margins, and that these turned out to be sections that were published verbatim in Norbury's book. He had presumably done some editing of his own at the time and decided which bits were for publication and which not. So yes, there was quite a of information extra to the published version, although at that stage I didn't get enough time to evaluate it. Sadly, shortly after we'd decided this course of action, the owner rather surprised us by asking for them back. I think Adrian did try to photocopy them but the writing was so faint it was completely illegible.

So, I'm sorry to say, nothing has yet come of it - although I presume the originals are still out there somewhere, and I hope one day they will resurface".

Guest

Thanks Admin!

I was hoping for better news from Mr. Knight. Too bad the owner of the diaries took them back before they were able to be transcribed. Sad

Petty Officer Tom

Posts : 2593 Join date : 2009-04-24

Ah! That's not good news.

Posts : 1 Join date : 2022-09-02 Location : West Sussex

My great grandfather was Henry Frederick Norbury, and I have been trying to find out more about him. I have one of his journals (hand written in ink) but it is from after the Zulu war and not that easy to read. I have found that National Archives has more of his journals which don't seem to have been digitised and might be worth exploring. Does anyone know the name of the person who owned the diaries? If it is a relative of mine I might have a little more influence on borrowing them.

The photo album mentioned above was sold by my mother/aunt at an auction (George Kidner, Lymington) in Nov 2008. Unfortunately I was only told about this after the event ...! I am planning on contacting them to see if they have any info they could release on who bought the album.

Posts : 3463 Join date : 2021-01-04

Welcome to the forum, good luck with your enquiries and we look forward to seeing what you can find out
Kate

Posts : 3463 Join date : 2021-01-04

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Natal witness 25th September 1879

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