Beschreibung:

A Rare and Emotive South Africa 1879 Casualty Medal awarded to Trooper Francis ‘Louis’ Secretan, Natal Mounted Police, killed in action at the Battle of Isandhlwana during the final retreat along the Fugitives’ Trail towards the Buffalo River, the location of his death confirmed as reported by his brother Archer Jeston Secretan in The Standard, March 25th, 1879, comprising: South Africa Medal, 1877-79, single clasp, 1879 (Tr F. Secretan. Natal Md Police.); officially engraved in large upright capitals, court mounted for display. Light and attractive tone, small lower reverse edge bruise and tiny nick, otherwise good very fine, and extremely rare when found with such detailed biographical and historical information. Francis Louis Secretan was born in 1856 in Croydon, Surrey. His father Francis Herbert Secretan was a Stockbroker at the Stock Exchange in London, who had married Ellen Elizabeth Levin at Hackney, Middlesex, in 1853. Francis Louis Secretan was raised with his three brothers and two sisters, with whom he soon relocated to Camden Town by the time of the 1861 Census, later moving towards his father’s place of birth in Leyton, Essex by the time of the 1871 Census. Francis Louis Secretan and his brother Archer Jeston Secretan both appear to have taken the decision for an adventurous move to South Africa c.1877-8, at the age of 21 and 20 respectively. The two brothers appear to be new arrivals at the time of the Anglo-Zulu War, when both joined the Natal Mounted Police at Pietermaritzburg, Natal, on the 23rd of April 1878 (their recent arrival indicated by the lack of a local contact address used upon enlistment by A J Secretan, deferring instead to the address of their father in Essex as noted in the NMP enlistment register). The two brothers soon found themselves in the thick of it, as the NMP was sent as part of the invasion force into Zululand under General Lord Chelmsford. Having moved towards the frontier the British, Colonial & Native forces arrived at Isandhlwana, and against the advice of Inspector Phillips - the NMP Second in Command, the camp was made with their backs set towards the foot of the monumental rock formation there, and critically without making the recommended defensive ‘laager’ of Wagons on the perimeter. Archer Secretan was subsequently sent with his NMP Commanding Officer Major John G Dartnell as part of a small reconnoitring force to track Zulu movements roughly 10 miles to the South East, leaving his brother Francis and a remaining 33 men of the NMP to remain at the camp with the majority of the British Forces, set against the eastern side of the foot of the hill at Isandhlwana. Lord Chelmsford also personally led a larger force of approximately 1200 British & Native soldiers (further dividing his troops) to reconnoitre, leaving the camp under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pulleine of the 1st/24th Foot, taking seniority over Lieutenant Colonel Durnford of the colonial Natal Native Contingent. It was here on the 22nd of January, 1879, that Francis Louis Secretan was killed in action. At roughly 11.00am the ‘head and horns’ of the Zulu warrior force swept around and directly into the British camp, and despite desperate resistance for as much as three hours, the British and Colonial and Native forces were vastly outnumbered and routed by the attacking Zulu forces, estimated at between 12,000 and as many as 20,000. To summarise, according to contemporary reports, the British and Colonial forces near the camp initially stood in lines two deep with their rifles, initially taking a heavy toll on their attackers. However these tactics left them very exposed, and through a combination of weight of enemy numbers and a possible lack of readily available ammunition, the Zulus closed extremely quickly to get within stabbing range of their assegais, and despite attempts to form squares of resistance and mount desperate fighting retreats and last stands, the British & Colonial force in the camp was