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Attack of the Kaffirs on the Troops under the Command of L.t Col. Fordyce of the 74th Highlanders,

Attack of the Kaffirs on the Troops under the Command of L.t Col. Fordyce of the 74th Highlanders,while forcing their way through the Kroomie Forest on the 8th of September 1851. Dedicated by permission to Major Gen.l Henry Somerset, C.B. & K.H. Commanding the 1st Division of the forces at the Cape of Good Hope.

Painted by H.y Martens from a sketch by Mr Baines. Engraved by J. Harris.
London, Published Nov.r 1st 1852, by Rudolph Ackermann, at his Eclipse Sporting Gallery, 191, Regent Street.
Aquatint with hand colour. Sheet 515 x 685mm (20¼ x 27"). Trimmed to plate, bottom right corner snipped.
A scene from the Eighth Xhosa War (1850-3), with a column of soldiers attacked by Xhosa spearmen in a narrow ravine. Lieut. Colonel John Fordyce had realised that the regiment's usual scarlet tunics were not suited to African warfare, so issued his men with the olive canvas jackets shown here. He was killed at Waterkloof a month later. The war is now best known for the wreck of HMS Birkenhead in 1852. The new recruits, many destined for the 74th, stood in rank as the women and children escaped in lifeboats, commemorated in the ''Birkenhead drill'' of Rudyard Kipling's poem.
[Ref: 52071]  £550.00


 

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