Overall length: 59.5cm (23.5in)
Hardwood and bone. Large two-tone diameter spherical head with tapering haft inset with tablet inscribed ‘HELPMEKAAR 1879’.
Following the bloodbath at Isandlwana on 22 January 1879, shattered British and colonial survivors found refuge in the relative safety of the fortified border post at Helpmekaar. Meanwhile three thousand victorious Zulus bore down on Rorke’s Drift. Prior to the invasion of Zululand, Lord Chelmsford established his headquarters and reserve storage at Helpmakaar, and it was there that the Colours of the 1/24th Foot (saved by Lieutenants Melvill and Coghill) were eventually reunited with the rump of the regiment. In the days that followed it is likely that the present relic was also brought in to Helpmekaar as a trophy of war. Indeed, as is well known, Lieutenant Chard himself indulged in the age old practice of collecting relics from the wreckage of the battlefield, in his case from the compound at Rorke’s Drift in the days that followed the epic defence.