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Picture courtesy of DNW

SAGS (1) 1879 (840. Pte. M. Campbell. 1-24th Foot.)
NEF £6000-7000

Michael Campbell was killed in action at Isandhlwana on 22 January 1879. Having deserted shortly after enlisting, he was apprehended and sentenced to 336 days imprisonment, June 1876. In October 1878 he was sentenced to imprisonment for 252 days, but this appears to have been remitted.

From Spink, July 1994

SAGS (1) 1877-8-9 (Pte H Newberry, 1/24th Foot)
SAGE (1) 1879 (Pte T Newberry, 1/24th Foot)

Alfred and Thomas Newberry, brothers killed at Isandhlawana.

JEFFREY HOARE AUCTIONS No. 65 - 16th April, 2000

Lot: 246

South Africa Medal 1877-79, clasp 1877-78-79 engraved, in slightly sloping capitals.

862 PTE. W. FREEMAN, 1-24TH FOOT

VF Condition

Estimate: $3,500.00 Canadian

Private William Freeman is listed as Killed in Action at Isandhlwana in the casualty roll.

From the next DNW auction in September.


Picture courtesy of DNW

SAGS (1) 1877-8-9 (954. Sergt. J. Carkson. 1/24th Foot.)

Sergeant John Clarkson was killed in action at Isandhlwana on 22 January 1879.

Clarkson attested on 21 April 1864, aged 18 years, and re-engaged at Malta on 21 March 1871. He was promoted to Corporal in April 1873, and to Sergeant on 1 October 1874. His effects were claimed by his father. A brief mention is made of him in The Road to Isandhlwana, by Philip Gon:

‘‘A’ Company was told to move up in support of the guns. With William Degacher commanding the battalion, Francis Porteous was its only officer, but his men were veterans of the Trasnkian campaign and his sergeants, Brown, Clarkson and Heppenstall, were all old soldiers...’

From the next Spink auction.

SAGS (1) 1877-8-9 (1890 Pte. N. Kempsell, l/24th Foot).

Nelson Kempsell was bom at Chipstead, Surrey in early 1855, the son of Kennard Kempsell, a carpenter, and his wife, Patience. He was baptised at ‘Kingswood by Reigate’ on 18 March 1855; the 1871 census reveals that young Nelson originally found employment as an agricultural worker and that his family was living at 91 Charlwood’s Bottom at Chipstead.

Shortly after his enlistment in the 24th Foot, he was posted to the 1st Battalion in Gibraltar in April 1872. His career got off to an unhappy start, regimental musters revealing a spell in hospital, followed by two days in a military prison.

In early 1875 the Battalion was embarked for the Cape of Good Hope, where Kempsell again found himself in confinement at Simon’s Town, losing his recently acquired Lance-Corporal’s stripes. Otherwise employed on garrison duties at Cape Town or King William’s Town, he was called to arms in the operations of 1877-78.
As stated, he was subsequently killed in action at Isandhlwana on 22 January 1879. His effects were claimed by his father.


Picture courtesy of Spink

The marble wall plaque erected to his - and Edward Flint’s memory - at St. Margaret’s, Chipstead was paid for by J. G. Cattley, Esq., a former employer of both men. Cattley, a Yorkshireman and a director of Royal Exchange Assurance, owned the nearby 500-acre Shabden Estate.

This presents the likely scenario that Kempsell and Flint were onetime employed as agricultural workers on his estate and indeed fought side-by-side - and fell together - at Isandhlwana; sold with copied research, including muster rolls.

SAGS (1) 1879 (648 Pte W Nicholas, 1/24th Foot). Lusted February 1975 £265.

Lusted notes that the 1879 clasp is not common to an Isandlwana casualty.