JOURNAL OF ROBERT G. WOLRIGE GORDON DURING THE ZULU CAMPAIGN 0F 1879

23 pages, no date (circa 1979)

Bound with:

JOURNAL OF ROBERT WOLRIGE GORDON, ESQ., Grenadier Guards, Attached to the Guard’s Camel Regiment, during the Soudan Campaign of 1884-85

Privately Printed

85 pages. 

London, Printed at Waterlow and Sons Limited, 1887

The two bound in full red morocco with gilt ruling on the upper cover and spine but without titling – the leather is worn along the edges of the spine and at the corners, presentation inscription on the front free endpaper reads, ‘Mary, from Robert Gordon Gilmour, 12th May 1894.’ 

Apparently unrecorded and we have been unable to trace another copy. 

Brigadier-General Sir Robert Gordon Gilmour, 1st Baronet, CB, DSO, CVO (27 February 1857 – 24 June 1939), born Robert Gordon Wolrige Gordon (he changed his name in 1887), was a British army officer and Captain of the Royal Company of Archers. Gilmour joined the army, and served in the Anglo-Zulu War (1879) and in the Sudanese campaign 1884-85. He served as commander of the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, during the Second Boer War 1900-02, and received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) 29 November 1900,[1] and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1902. He was later a Captain of the Royal Company of Archers, and was on 29 July 1926 created a Baronet, of Liberton and Craigmillar in the County of Midlothian.(Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Robert_Gilmour,_1st_Baronet)

In the Zulu War he describes the aftermath of the death of the Prince Imperial (2nd June: ‘Escort or Lancers brought in the Prince’s Body. Carey ought to be shot. In the afternoon the division paraded and funeral service was held over the Prince. Lord C., chief mourner, looked very much cut up. 3rd. Marched to where the Prince was killed, ten miles off. Passed several kraals, which we destroyed. Country very mountainous. 4th. Went down to look at the spot where the Prince was killed, half a mile off the main road. Carey must have gone out of his way a great piece to get into danger. Coward. Court of enquiry on him. Saw the bodies of the two men who were killed with him. One had several assegai wounds in the face… Woods column ahead of us.’ He continues giving an account of the battle of Ulundi, ‘….The big guns banged away, and all went on furiously. If the Zulus had attacked us in the bush, I am sure they would have beaten us; as it was, they attacked us in the best position we could possibly have had, being on a fine open plain…The Zulus completely surrounded us on every side, and their line must have extended for miles…’ Of the Sudan Campaign he writes, 1st February 1885: ‘Awful news. A greater shock never fell upon an army. Seems to have taken all the spirit out of everyone. Stuart Wortley arrived early this morning with the terrible tidings that Khartoum is in the hands of the enemy, Gordon most likely dead, that Sir Charles Wilson’s two steamers are both on a rock in the middle of the river….If this is true there is nothing for us to do but to retire ….We (the Guards) destroyed or made useless by throwing into one well 20,000 rounds of ammunition, which we could not carry away with us. The Commissariat gave away, left or destroyed 90,000 lbs. of flour, 21,000 lbs. of biscuits, 30,000 lbs. beef, and 900 lbs.bacon….’