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Pinned Like Rats in a Hole by Mark Churms.


Pinned Like Rats in a Hole by Mark Churms.
5 editions.
£2.20 - £5600.00

Zulu Warrior at Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood. (P)


Zulu Warrior at Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood. (P)
One edition.
£340.00

Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood.


Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood.
3 editions.
£34.00 - £500.00


Rorkes Drift by Jason Askew.


Rorkes Drift by Jason Askew.
11 editions.
£2.70 - £4300.00

To the Meallie Bags, Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood. (P)


To the Meallie Bags, Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood. (P)
One edition.
£350.00

Last Man Out by Mark Churms.


Last Man Out by Mark Churms.
6 editions.
£2.20 - £4000.00


Pinned Like Rats in a Hole by Mark Churms (P)


Pinned Like Rats in a Hole by Mark Churms (P)
One edition.
£270.00

Rorkes Drift 22nd January 1879 - Defending the Store House by Jason Askew


Rorkes Drift 22nd January 1879 - Defending the Store House by Jason Askew
5 editions.
£2.20 - £50.00

Battle of Isandhlwana, 22nd January 1879 by Brian Palmer.


Battle of Isandhlwana, 22nd January 1879 by Brian Palmer.
8 editions.
£2.20 - £3600.00


Helping Hand, Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood.


Helping Hand, Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood.
3 editions.
£37.00 - £450.00

Wounded by Mark Churms.


Wounded by Mark Churms.
5 editions.
£2.20 - £5600.00

Last Stand of the 24th Regiment at the Battle of Isandhlwana by Simon Smith


Last Stand of the 24th Regiment at the Battle of Isandhlwana by Simon Smith
5 editions.
£60.00 - £600.00


Plugging the Gap by Mark Churms.


Plugging the Gap by Mark Churms.
6 editions.
£2.20 - £5600.00

Isandlwana 22nd January 1879 - The Death of Private W Griffiths VC by Jason Askew


Isandlwana 22nd January 1879 - The Death of Private W Griffiths VC by Jason Askew
4 of 5 editions available.
£2.70 - £300.00

Last of the 24th by Bud Bradshaw.


Last of the 24th by Bud Bradshaw.
3 of 4 editions available.
£120.00 - £300.00


Defence of Rorkes Drift by Lady Elizabeth Butler.


Defence of Rorkes Drift by Lady Elizabeth Butler.
6 editions.
£30.00 - £500.00

Eve of Distinction by Mark Churms.


Eve of Distinction by Mark Churms.
5 editions.
£2.20 - £5000.00

The Defence of Rorke's Drift by Jason Askew.


The Defence of Rorke's Drift by Jason Askew.
7 of 8 editions available.
£2.70 - £600.00


Night of the Zulu by Bud Bradshaw.


Night of the Zulu by Bud Bradshaw.
4 editions.
£120.00 - £200.00

The Battle of Isandlwana by Jason Askew.


The Battle of Isandlwana by Jason Askew.
8 editions.
£2.70 - £4800.00

Soldier, 24th of Foot at Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood. (P)


Soldier, 24th of Foot at Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood. (P)
One edition.
£380.00



Text for the above items :

Pinned Like Rats in a Hole by Mark Churms.

Depicting Private Hook and Private Williams, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Foot inside the burning hospital at Rorkes Drift, 7pm January 1879. At about 6 pm the Zulus first forced their way into the hospital building where some thirty patients were defended by a handful of able-bodied men. A running fight ensued as the patients were evacuated from room to room, a desperate struggle made all the more terrible when the Zulus set fire to the thatched roof. Here Private Alfred Henry Hook holds Zulus of the uThulwana regiment at bay whilst Private John Williams helps a patient escape, Hook received a head wound when a spear struck off his helmet.


Zulu Warrior at Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood. (P)

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Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood.

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Rorkes Drift by Jason Askew.

The painting depicts the climax of the Zulu attacks at the defence of Rorkes Drift. The Zulus were unable to effectively penetrate the mealie bag defenses at Rorkes Drift, even though they succeeded in burning down the hospital, and peppering the storehouse with bullet holes. The confined space available to the British garrison caused a certain degree of physical compression, but this in fact worked against the Zulus, as it drove the defenders closer together with the result being that the volley fire from the defenders was concentrated and subsequently very effective at close range, as opposed to the spread out skirmish line type formation used at Isandlwhana. The Zulu attacks also became uncoordinated, being driven forward by charismatic individuals, but lacking the support of the necessary numbers needed to overwhelm the desperate defenders, who now appreciated that they were literally fighting for their lives.


To the Meallie Bags, Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood. (P)

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Last Man Out by Mark Churms.

Private Robert Jones. Decorated for conspicuous bravery and devotion to the wounded at Rorkes drift. Private Robert and William Jones, posted in a room of the Hospital facing the hill, kept up a steady fire against enormous odds, and while one worked to cut a hole through the partition into the next room, the other shot Zulu after Zulu through the loophooled walls, using his own and his comrades rifle alternatively when the barrels became to hot to hold owing to the incessant firing. By their united heroic efforts six out of the seven patients were saved by being carried through the broken partition. the seventh, sergeant Maxwell being delirious, refused to be helped, and on Robert Jones returning to take him by force he found him being stabbed by the Zulus in his bed, Robert Jones died in 1898 in Peterchurch Herefordshire . Both men were awarded the Victoria Cross.


Pinned Like Rats in a Hole by Mark Churms (P)

The original oil study for the larger painting of Pinned Like Rats in a Hole, part of the Rorkes Drift series by Mark Churms.


Rorkes Drift 22nd January 1879 - Defending the Store House by Jason Askew

By about 6pm the Zulu attacks had extended all around the front of the post, and fighting raged at hand-to-hand along the mealie-bag wall. Lieutenant Chard himself took up a position on the barricade, firing over the mealie-bags with a Martini-Henry, whilst Lieutenant Bromhead directed any spare men to plug the gaps in the line. The men in the yard and on the front wall were dangerously exposed to the fire of Zulu marksmen posted in the rocky terraces on Shiyane (Oskarsberg) hill behind the post. Several men were hit, including Acting Assistant Commissary Dalton, and Corporal Allen of the 14th. Surgeon Reynolds treated the wounded as best he could despite the fire. Once the veranda at the front of the hospital had been abandoned, the Zulus had mounted a determined attack on the building itself, setting fire to the thatched roof with spears tied with burning grass. The defenders were forced to evacuate the patients room by room, eventually passing them out through a small window into the open yard. Shortly after 6pm Chard decided that the Zulu pressure was too great, and ordered a withdrawal to a barricade of biscuit boxes which had been hastily erected across the yard, from the corner of the store-house to the front mealie-bag wall. In this small compound the garrison would fight for their lives throughout most of the coming night.


Battle of Isandhlwana, 22nd January 1879 by Brian Palmer.

Last stand of the 24th South Wales Borderers at Isandhlwana during the Zulu War. The battle of Isandhlwana, a Zulu victory over the British forces on 22nd January 1879 about 100km north of Durban. Lord Chelmsford led a column of forces to seek out the Zulu army camped at Isandhlwana, while patrols searched the district. After receiving a report, Chelmsford set forth at half strength, leaving six companies of the 24th Regiment, two guns, some Colonial Volunteers and a native contingent (in all about 1,800 troops) at the camp. Later that morning an advanced post warned of an approaching Zulu army. Shortly after this, thousands of Zulus were found hidden in a ravine by a mounted patrol but as the patrol set off to warn the camp, the Zulus followed. At the orders of the Camp Commander, troops spread out around the perimeter of the camp, but the Zulu army broke through their defences. The native contingent who fled during the attack were hunted down and killed. The remaining troops of the 24th Regiment, 534 soldiers and 21 officers, were killed where they fought. The Zulus left no one alive, taking no prisoners and leaving no wounded or missing. About 300 Africans and 50 Europeans escaped the attack. Consequently, the invasion of Zulu country was delayed while reinforcements arrived from Britain.


Helping Hand, Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood.

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Wounded by Mark Churms.

Corporal Allen and Corporal Lyons, B. Company 2nd Battalion 24th Foot Rorkes Drift Back Wall, 6pm January 22nd 1879. After the initial Zulu assault on the back wall of the post failed at about 4.30pm, a fire-fight broke out between Zulu snipers posted on the terraces of the Shiyane (Oskarsberg) Hill and the defenders posted behind the barricade of wagons and mealie-bags. This section of the wall as commanded by Sergeant Henry Gallagher, of B Company. At about 6 pm, Corporal Lyons was leaning over the barricade to aim when he was hit in the neck by a bullet which paralysed him, as his friend, Corporal Allen, bent to help him, Allen too was shot through the arm. In the foreground Corporal Attwood of the Army Service Corps distributes ammunition. The wall was abandoned shortly after and the British retired to the small are in front of the storehouse. Allen was later awarded the VC, and Attwood the DCM. He was born at Churcham, Gloucestershire, and served for five years in the Monmouthshire Militia before joining the 24th Regiment. He served through the Kaffir War 1877-8 before his bravery at Rorkes Drift for which he was presented with the Victoria Cross by Lord Wolseley on August 3rd 1879. He later served in the 1st Volunteers Battalion Royal Fusiliers.


Last Stand of the 24th Regiment at the Battle of Isandhlwana by Simon Smith

Battle of Isandhlwana. Zulu victory over the British forces on 22nd January 1879 about 100km north of Durban. Lord Chelmsford led a column of forces to seek out the Zulu army camped at Isandhlwana, while patrols searched the district. After receiving a report, Chelmsford set forth at half strength, leaving six companies of the 24th Regiment, two guns, some Colonial Volunteers and a native contingent (in all about 1,800 troops) at the camp. Later that morning an advanced post warned of an approaching Zulu army. Shortly after this, thousands of Zulus were found hidden in a ravine by a mounted patrol but as the patrol set off to warn the camp, the Zulus followed. At the orders of the Camp Commander, troops spread out around the perimeter of the camp, but the Zulu army broke through their defences. The native contingent who fled during the attack were hunted down and killed. The remaining troops of the 24th Regiment, 534 soldiers and 21 officers, were killed where they fought. The Zulus left no one alive, taking no prisoners and leaving no wounded or missing. About 300 Africans and 50 Europeans escaped the attack. Consequently, the invasion of Zulu country was delayed while reinforcements arrived from Britain.


Plugging the Gap by Mark Churms.

Lt Gonville Bromhead stands over Private Hitch, B Co. 2/24th. Rorkes Drift, front barricade


Isandlwana 22nd January 1879 - The Death of Private W Griffiths VC by Jason Askew

SOLD OUT.


Last of the 24th by Bud Bradshaw.

Soldier of the 24th Regiment of Foot (South Wales Borderers) loads his last round at the Battle of Isandhlwana.


Defence of Rorkes Drift by Lady Elizabeth Butler.

On January 22nd 1879, during the Zulu War, the small British field hospital and supply depot at Rorkes Drift in Natal was the site of one of the most heroic military defences of all time. Manned by 140 troops of the 24th Regiment, led by Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers, the camp was attacke by a well-trained and well-equipped Zulu army of 4000 men, heartened by the great Zulu victory over the British forces at Isandhlwana earlier on the same day. The battle began in mid afternoon, when British remnants of the defeat at Isandhlwana struggled into the camp. Anticipating trouble, Chard set his small force to guard the perimeter fence but, when the Zulu attack began, the Zulus came faster than the British could shoot and the camp was soon overcome. The thatched roof of the hospital was fired by Zulu spears wrapped in burning grass and even some of the sick and the dying were dragged from their beds and pressed into the desperate hand-to-hand fighting. Eventually, Chard gave the order to withdraw from the perimeter and to take position in a smaller compound, protected by a hastily assembled barricade of boxes and it was from behind this barricade that the garrison fought for their lives throughout the night. After twelve hours of battle, the camp was destroyed, the hospital had burned to the ground, seventeen British lay dead and ten were wounded. However, the Zulus had been repulsed and over 400 of their men killed. The Battle of Rorkes Drift is one of the greatest examples of bravery and heroism in British military history. Nine men were awarded Distinguished Conduct Medals, and eleven, the most ever given for a single battle, received the highest military honour of all, the Victoria Cross.


Eve of Distinction by Mark Churms.

Lt. John Rouse Merriot Chard, Royal Engineers.At about 3.30 on the afternoon of 22nd January 1879, Lieutenant John Rouse Merriot Chard, Royal Engineers, was supervising repairs on the military pont on the Mzinyathi river, at the border crossing at Rorkes Drift, when survivors brought news that the advanced British camp at Isandhlwana had been over-run by the Zulus, and that a wing of the Zulu army was on its way to attack Rorkes Drift. Chard ordered Driver Robson to pack up the wagon and return to the mission station, where a stockpile of supplies was under the guard of B Company, 2/24th Regiment. Chard, in consultation with his fellow officers, made the historic decision to make a stand at Rorkes Drift.


The Defence of Rorke's Drift by Jason Askew.

The Battle at Rorke's Drift, also known as the Defence of Rorke's Drift, was an action in the Anglo-Zulu War. The defence of the mission station of Rorke's Drift, under the command of Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers, immediately followed the British Army's defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22nd January 1879, and continued into the following day, 23rd January. 150 British and colonial troops successfully defended the garrison against an intense assault by approximately 2000 Zulu warriors. The intense and noisy Zulu attacks on Rorke's Drift came very close to defeating the tiny garrison, but were ultimately repelled by blasts of Martini-Henry rifle fire-and some smart bayonet work-with some guts behind the bayonet thrusts! Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honours. Of particular note in the painting is the dog 'Pip' - he survived Isandlwhana by retreating along the fugitive's trail to Rorke's Drift. During the Zulu attacks on Rorke's drift, Pip did his part in the defence - by jumping on the mealie bag parapets and barking at Zulus- who were hiding in the long grass and sneaking up to the defences, then biting any Zulu who came within range. Unfortunately Pip was not officially recognised for his part in the action. He was not awarded a VC, on the basis that he was a volunteer canine that accompanied an officer, rather than a War Office issued canine. Conversely, if Pip had been killed, then he would not have been officially listed as a casualty, as he accompanied the army in a strictly private capacity. British army horses were in a different category as they were War Office issue, therefore the loss of a horse in action, or to disease, carried a financial liability for the War Office.


Night of the Zulu by Bud Bradshaw.

Depicting one of the nighttime Zulu attacks on Rorkes Drift. The South Wales Borderers defend the outpost by the light of the burning hospital building.


The Battle of Isandlwana by Jason Askew.

The Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British commenced their invasion of Zululand in South Africa, a Zulu force of some 10,000-12,000 warriors attacked a portion of the British main column consisting of about 1,800 British, colonial and native troops and perhaps 400 civilians. The Zulus were equipped mainly with the traditional Assegai iron spears and cow-hide shields, but also had a number of muskets and old rifles though they were not formally trained in their use. The British and colonial troops were armed with the state-of-the-art Martini-Henry breech-loading rifle and two 7 pounder artillery pieces as well as a rocket battery. Despite a vast disadvantage in weapons technology, the numerically superior Zulus ultimately overwhelmed the poorly led and badly deployed British, killing over 1,300 troops, including all those out on the forward firing line. The Zulu army suffered around 350 killed, and up to several hundred wounded. The battle was a crushing victory for the Zulus and caused the abandonment of the first British invasion of Zululand.


Soldier, 24th of Foot at Rorkes Drift by Chris Collingwood. (P)

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