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Body of British soldier in Zulu war 'identified' by a button.
The remains of one of the 1,329 British soldiers killed at the battle of Isandlwana may finally have been identified 130 years after the greatest military defeat in the history of the Empire.
An incident at the Battle of Isandlwana Photo: WORLD HISTORY ARCHIVE / TOPFOTO
The army of the Zulu king Cetshwayo routed Lord Chelmsford's invading force at the battle in 1879, which was followed by the heroic defence of Rorke's Drift, by a hugely outnumbered unit which won 11 Victoria Crosses in the process.
Corpses littered the battlefield after Isandlwana, and were later buried in groups under small stone cairns that still dot the landscape.
Further excavations found a small, rusting button from a general staff uniform, allowing Amafa, the KwaZulu-Natal heritage body which administers the site, to identify the body as Colour Sergeant MC Keane, a clerk to Colonel John Crealock, Lord Chelmsford's military secretary, as he is the only general staff member listed as killed on that day – the vast majority of the dead came from the 24th regiment of foot, the South Wales Borderers.
At the time, the territory which would later become South Africa, was divided into British and Afrikaaner colonies as well as areas under the cojntiol of the native rulers.
Arthur Konigkramer, Amafa's chairman, said it was extremely rare to be able to put a name to bodies at Isandlwana.
"We have had to rebury quite a lot of people there where graves have been exposed through erosion," he said. "There's no question in my mind, it can only be that man, because he was the only one that had that uniform on.
"The button was in context with the body, there's no doubt about that." The distance down the trail from the camp suggested he had access to a horse, he added.
"He would have been at the back of the camp and he would have had a pretty shrewd idea of when the game was up." If Colour Sergeant Keane's descendants can be traced he would like to carry out DNA testing to prove the identity of the body.
But battle experts gave warning that basing identification merely on a button was insufficient.
Celia Green, spokesman for the South Wales Borderers museum in Brecon, said there were other soldiers present from the general staff, such as Colour Sergeant George Mabin, who survived the battle.
Nicky Rattray, widow of David Rattray, the Zulu war specialist and friend of Prince Charles who was murdered in 2007, said: "I think it's fascinating and very interesting," but Rob Caskie, principal lecturer at her Fugitives' Drift Lodge, said that further work was necessary.
Other soldiers from the general staff were present at the battle, he pointed out, and the body could belong to one man and the button another.
"These men were desperately fleeing for their lives," he said. "It was a desperate, desperate afternoon.
"It's four miles along Fugitives Trail from the battlefield to the river and they were being killed all the while. As the men fled they were trying to makes themselves as light as possible, ripping off their jackets. Buttons would fly off."
The remains of one of the 1,329 British soldiers killed at the battle of Isandlwana may finally have been identified 130 years after the greatest military defeat in the history of the Empire.
An incident at the Battle of Isandlwana Photo: WORLD HISTORY ARCHIVE / TOPFOTO
The army of the Zulu king Cetshwayo routed Lord Chelmsford's invading force at the battle in 1879, which was followed by the heroic defence of Rorke's Drift, by a hugely outnumbered unit which won 11 Victoria Crosses in the process.
Corpses littered the battlefield after Isandlwana, and were later buried in groups under small stone cairns that still dot the landscape.
Further excavations found a small, rusting button from a general staff uniform, allowing Amafa, the KwaZulu-Natal heritage body which administers the site, to identify the body as Colour Sergeant MC Keane, a clerk to Colonel John Crealock, Lord Chelmsford's military secretary, as he is the only general staff member listed as killed on that day – the vast majority of the dead came from the 24th regiment of foot, the South Wales Borderers.
At the time, the territory which would later become South Africa, was divided into British and Afrikaaner colonies as well as areas under the cojntiol of the native rulers.
Arthur Konigkramer, Amafa's chairman, said it was extremely rare to be able to put a name to bodies at Isandlwana.
"We have had to rebury quite a lot of people there where graves have been exposed through erosion," he said. "There's no question in my mind, it can only be that man, because he was the only one that had that uniform on.
"The button was in context with the body, there's no doubt about that." The distance down the trail from the camp suggested he had access to a horse, he added.
"He would have been at the back of the camp and he would have had a pretty shrewd idea of when the game was up." If Colour Sergeant Keane's descendants can be traced he would like to carry out DNA testing to prove the identity of the body.
But battle experts gave warning that basing identification merely on a button was insufficient.
Celia Green, spokesman for the South Wales Borderers museum in Brecon, said there were other soldiers present from the general staff, such as Colour Sergeant George Mabin, who survived the battle.
Nicky Rattray, widow of David Rattray, the Zulu war specialist and friend of Prince Charles who was murdered in 2007, said: "I think it's fascinating and very interesting," but Rob Caskie, principal lecturer at her Fugitives' Drift Lodge, said that further work was necessary.
Other soldiers from the general staff were present at the battle, he pointed out, and the body could belong to one man and the button another.
"These men were desperately fleeing for their lives," he said. "It was a desperate, desperate afternoon.
"It's four miles along Fugitives Trail from the battlefield to the river and they were being killed all the while. As the men fled they were trying to makes themselves as light as possible, ripping off their jackets. Buttons would fly off."
