PENSION FOR 62 YEARS

New Zealand Herald. 15th March 1941.
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Good on her!
Both lost sons in the Zulu War!

From ' The Noble 24th ' Wetherhead , Henry , 1 / 24th / 489 Private .
Named Weatherhead on the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal Roll . Attested 28 / 7 / 1859 ; Age 19 Years . Re-engaged at Malta 10 / 12 / 1867. Recommended for Long Service and Good Conduct Medal 1 / 10 / 77 . Effects recorded for claim by Next - of - Kin , South Africa Medal with Clasp 1879 . KIA Isandlwana . No mention of him ever being a Corporal which is stated in the NZ Newspaper !   
90th

I will see if I can find any connection, between Mary Ann Weatherhead and the Empress!

Never heard that name before!

Came across this, on website named " correspondence. "

8 February 2004

I am researching the Weatherhead branch of my family tree and have discovered that one of my ancestors attended the Royal Military Asylum in Chelsea. His name was Albert Edward Weatherhead who was the son of Henry Weatherhead, a career soldier. Henry was a Private in the 1st Battalion 24th Regiment of Foot and was attested on 28 July 1859, aged 19 years. He lost his life on 22 February 879 at Isandlwana during the first battle of the Zulu War.

After her husband's death, Albert's mother gave birth to a sibling in 1880, increasing the children to three. I can only assume that she must have hit upon 'hard times' as Albert was sent to the Royal Military Asylum and his sister Mary Anne was sent to the Soldiers Daughter's Home in Roslyn Hill, Hampstead.

The only information that I have regarding Albert is that in 1881 he was aged 12 years and living at the RMA and in 1901 he was a postman living in Farnborough (near to his mother, who also lived there).

From your website I gather that you have access to the RMA admissions register. Would it be possible for you to look for Albert? I have no other information on him, or his father, other than that described here.

Henry Weatherhead is a distant relative of mine. I have been putting together his family story for some time and, in due course, will publish details. Mary Ann and the children had all been in South Africa with Henry and the Regiment, after Henry's death at Isandlwana, and the family's return to Farnborough, she became a domestic servant for Empress Eugenie at Farnborough Place. Watch this space.

Steve

A quick, lazy search through the index's of,
Eugenie & Napoleon..David Duff.. no mention

Life of Napoleon 111..Archibald Forbes..no index.

Prince Imperial..Roland Gant..no index.

The Empress Eugenie and her Son..Edwarde Legge.. no mention.

With His Face to the Foe..Ian Knight..no mention.

The Prince Imperial..E E P Tisdall..no mention.

The Prince Imperial..Katherine John..no mention.

Which does not mean nothing in its self, i will skim each for any reference
to her.

I would be surprised if there is any mention in the literature Les, the Empress had a large domestic staff at Farnborough Hill and Mary Ann was very much "below stairs" ( in a Downton Abbey sense!).  The house Mary Ann lived in still stands, just a couple of blocks away from me. Henry, by the way, was a Lance Corporal at the time of his death.

All the best

Steve

Census shows Mary Ann Weatherhead as a laundress Farnbrough.  Looks like she had a son and daughter with her!

http://www.historicfarnborough.co.uk/1891census-sheet1.html

Hiya Steve, yeah i get that! i wonder what capacity she
was employed as..40 years is a long stretch.

Hi Les

Not at all sure she was actually there for 40 years. In the 1881 census she is described as a "pensioner-soldiers widow", in 1891 a "laundress", in 1901 a "laundress working at home", in 1911 a "charwoman". Interestingly, in 1881 there was a boarder living with her, aged 3, named Edward C E Le Soir, almost certainly the child of another of Eugenie's staff (not an old Farnborough name!). The amount of pension was not great, but reasonable for the time. In 1880 it was 3 shillings and sixpence a week plus 1 shilling for each child (unless they were in the Royal Patriotic Schools, as two of Mary Ann's children were). This was raised to 5 shillings a week in 1892. Officers widows, by the way, received £30 per year and £7 for each child.

Steve

Very interesting chaps the census, lots of info there,
sliced at ten yearly interval's,see what you mean
about the length of service. i dont know the layout
of the estate back in the day, but usually they could
contain mini villages within, if that makes sense..
3 and 6 a week, hmmm i suppose scaled down to the
money of the day it was'nt so bad. Le Soir not an old
Farnborough name, it surely was...

As Henry and his family have now come up on the forum I will post their photograph.

Remember, this is a family of the 1/24th. Mary Ann was "on compliment" for 15 years as a regimental wife, the eldest daughter, at the back, was born at Shorncliffe. The eldest son (not in the picture) was born in Malta. The next son (on the left) was also born in Malta, as was the younger daughter in the middle. The baby girl on Mary Ann's lap was born in South Africa and sadly died in 1880. Mary Ann is also pregnant in this picture, the baby was born back in England. Henry has four good conduct stripes and his Lance Corporals stripe so the photograph was taken around mid-summer 1878, just a few months before the battle in which Henry died.

We spend much of our time discussing the great and the good because the records often survive for those people. But not so much the likes of Henry, who faced that terrible onslaught by overwhelming odds, and who now lies under one of the white cairns. Neither do we know very much about those families who were left to fend for themselves as a result, and how they survived.

That is why I want to put together as much as I can on this family, not because they are distant relations, but because there are many other similar stories of the rank and file at Isandlwana that may not ever be told.

I would like to think that, at some point, a corner might be found at Brecon to tell the tale.

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Steve

Well this thread turned into an interesting find.  Rusteze I was just thinking what a small world we really live in. LH thanks for you posts. Rusteze are you able to post a clearer photo ?

Hi Steve
Excellent work that man .
Cheers 90th

Hi Steve
Do you know the whereabouts of Henry's South African War Medal ? .
90th

Bonjour Rusteze,
Why don't you write an article on Henry Weatherhead?
Cheers

Would be good know more!

Hi all

Thanks for your interest. I have more research to do on Henry and his family and then I will pull it all together and try and publish something. I don't know where his medal has got to Garry - it will be pretty expensive if it turns up on the market! I suspect it is lurking somewhere in the extended family though, there were four surviving children.

Steve

Hi Steve
If I do stumble across Henry's medal would you want to know ?
Cheers 90th

Garry

Yes please!

Steve

Last year I posted a few details of L/Corporal Henry Weatherhead 1/24th and his family, a distant relation of mine who died at Isandhlwana. I came across a little more information on where the families on the regimental compliment were housed while in Malta. Three of Henry's children were born in Malta, before the whole family embarked with the regiment for South Africa.

This is the San Salvatore Gate in Malta where some of the 1/24th was housed and following is a description of the accommodation. It shows what the families endured on overseas postings. It is quite difficult to find very much information on this aspect of the life of the wives and families - nearly all of whom were left as widows after Isandhlwana with their husbands and fathers not even buried.

Does anyone know where the families were accommodated in Cape Town, where I think they remained when the Regiment went to Natal, and do the buildings survive?

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Steve

Steve
I would hazard a guess at the Wynberg military camp. There are quite a few of the old buildings left but access on to the base is difficult. In what is now the 'Chelsea Area' just outside the camp are a lot of small cottages that were originally part of the camp and could easily be the accomadation your looking for. Google Wolff Street Wynberg Cape on Google Earth and have a look at the area.

cheers

Thanks Frank. I wondered about the castle but Wynberg looks a pretty good bet. I am inclined to think they would have been in barracks with the cottages for officers. I don't think Iv'e read anything about the families other than they were shipped home. I wonder who broke the news that all of their men were dead.

Steve

Just a bit more information.

"8 February 2004

I am researching the Weatherhead branch of my family tree and have discovered that one of my ancestors attended the Royal Military Asylum in Chelsea. His name was Albert Edward Weatherhead who was the son of Henry Weatherhead, a career soldier. Henry was a Private in the 1st Battalion 24th Regiment of Foot and was attested on 28 July 1859, aged 19 years. He lost his life on 22 February 879 at Isandlwana during the first battle of the Zulu War.

After her husband's death, Albert's mother gave birth to a sibling in 1880, increasing the children to three. I can only assume that she must have hit upon 'hard times' as Albert was sent to the Royal Military Asylum and his sister Mary Anne was sent to the Soldiers Daughter's Home in Roslyn Hill, Hampstead.

The only information that I have regarding Albert is that in 1881 he was aged 12 years and living at the RMA and in 1901 he was a postman living in Farnborough (near to his mother, who also lived there).

From your website I gather that you have access to the RMA admissions register. Would it be possible for you to look for Albert? I have no other information on him, or his father, other than that described here.

Graham Marley

3 March 2003

Hello Graham,

A boy fitting your description was admitted to the RMA 1 Aug 1879 aged 10 years and 5 months, noted as being a Protestant, son of Lance Corporal Henry of the 24th Regt of Foot and Mary Ann. He was delivered to his mother on the 17th February 1883. No address is shown. Albert Edward also appears in the 1881 census folio 92 page 10, aged 12, and declared as being born in Malta. A line scan of the entry in the WO143-18 admissions ledger, 1826 to 1880
Peter Goble
Source:Correspondence.

Yes, thanks Greaves. It was Graham's tree that alerted me to the connection some years ago. I think a number of the children of the widowed families of Isandhlwana were offered places at the army's schools.  

Their last daughter Elizabeth Jane was born in 1879,  Mary Ann was pregnant when Henry was killed. Henry's son Henry had died in South Africa age 12. Another daughter Martha Matilda died in 1880 age 3. The eldest daughter Blanche married, and one of her sons was killed on the Western Front in 1915. I think they did their bit. What a tough life.

Steve

Bonsoir à tous,

About the misery of the wifes of the dead private soldiers:

"They were poor and utterly forlorn, with little hope of help from the army, which scarcely recognized their existence. The hard-hearted Hamilton-Browne was touched by their misery. He was disguted by the religious platitudes that their fellow British "di-gooders" offered them, but he was impressed when an American, an apparent ex-Confederate Colonel, gave the women his money in addition to his prayers."
Source: Like Lions they fought" by Robert B. Edgerton p. 109-110

"Forty-two 1st Battalion wives were widowed, and the suggestion was put forward that they stay on in South Africa as settlers. A fund was started in King William's Town for the bereaved families and £215 was collected in two weeks. On 2 February Reverend John Gordon conducted a mémorial service in the Military Reserve on that other Buffalo river. The text he chose was: 'the beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places'".
Source: The road to Isandlwana by Philip Gon p.250

Cheers
Frédéric