HUBERT HERVEY: STUDENT AND IMPERIALIST

Hubert Hervey, the youngest son of Lord and Lady Alfred Hervey arrived in Rhodesia well-educated, but was described as having a delicate physique. Time spent in the saddle as a trooper in the 1893 Matabele War and on various missions for Jameson in Gazaland and Mocambique soon led to his transformation into muscular health.

His death at the battle of Tshingengoma at the young age of 37 cut short a life of promise and potential. He had just been appointed by the British South Africa Company as Deputy Administrator in Barotseland; a position he never lived to fill. His great friend Robert Coryndon took over the post; then went on to become Resident Commissioner in Swaziland and Basutoland and finally Governor of Uganda and then Kenya.  

Hubert Hervey’s relative Earl Grey succeeded Jameson as Administrator of Rhodesia between the years 1896 – 1898 and claims authorship to Hubert Hervey Student and Imperialist a Memoir. Jono Waters states in Heritage No 35 of 2016 on Page 123 that the book was in fact ghost written by Hugh Marshall Hole.

He is buried at Umlugulu Cemetery along with other soldiers and volunteers on the edge of the Matobo Hills, a few kilometres from the battlefield. [See under Matabeleland South on the website www.zimfieldguide.com for a description of Fort Umlugulu and the cemetery]

His life is celebrated at Falcon College at Esigodini; the boarding school has six houses for the students, one of which is Hervey House. In addition to his grave memorial at Fort Umlugulu cemetery, there are memorial plaques at Eton, Sandringham Church and the Memorial Hospital, Bulawayo.

https://zimfieldguide.com/matabeleland-south/hubert-john-antony-hervey-1859--1896