Memories of Forty-Eight Years' Service

8vo; original black cloth, lettered in gilt on spine, with gilt device to upper cover; pp. xii + 522, incl. index; publisher's adverts.; plates; battle plans and maps, incl. folding.  Spine gilt a little dull; some wear to extremities, incl. backstrip; joints starting; contemporary gift inscription to front free endpaper, and another pencilled inscription to pastedown; short tear to margin of large, folding map, repaired with archival tape; foxing to edges and endpapers, occasionally elsewhere.  Good condition. 

Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien (1858-1930), distinguished himself first in the Anglo-Zulu War, being recommended for a Victoria Cross following Isandlwana and sharing in the final defeat of the Zulus at Ulundi.  In 1882 he was in Egypt for the Arabi Pasha campaign, before moving on to India, returning to Egypt between 1884 and 1885.  He participated in the Sudan campaign in 1898, and had a chequered experience of the Anglo-Boer War, doing well during the earlier stages, before seeming to lose his way somewhat during the guerilla phase.  His part in the First World War was cut short somewhat by his feud with French, although he did take charge of Home Defence thereafter.  "He was of medium height  and spare build, and his blunt directness was marred at times by a fiery temper.  He was essentially a soldier's general, not given to ostentation, and he had the gift of being able to infuse a fighting spirit into his men, who respected him for his stubborn strength and tenacity of purpose." - DSAB III, p. 744