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Defence of Rorkes Drift by Lady Elizabeth Butler. (C)
On January 22nd 1879, during the Zulu War, the small British field hospital and supply depot at Rorkes Drift in Natal was the site of one of the most heroic military defences of all time. Manned by 140 troops of the 24th Regiment, led by Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers, the camp was attacke by a well-trained and well-equipped Zulu army of 4000 men, heartened by the great Zulu victory over the British forces at Isandhlwana earlier on the same day. The battle began in mid afternoon, when British remnants of the defeat at Isandhlwana struggled into the camp. Anticipating trouble, Chard set his small force to guard the perimeter fence but, when the Zulu attack began, the Zulus came faster than the British could shoot and the camp was soon overcome. The thatched roof of the hospital was fired by Zulu spears wrapped in burning grass and even some of the sick and the dying were dragged from their beds and pressed into the desperate hand-to-hand fighting. Eventually, Chard gave the order to withdraw from the perimeter and to take position in a smaller compound, protected by a hastily assembled barricade of boxes and it was from behind this barricade that the garrison fought for their lives throughout the night. After twelve hours of battle, the camp was destroyed, the hospital had burned to the ground, seventeen British lay dead and ten were wounded. However, the Zulus had been repulsed and over 400 of their men killed. The Battle of Rorkes Drift is one of the greatest examples of bravery and heroism in British military history. Nine men were awarded Distinguished Conduct Medals, and eleven, the most ever given for a single battle, received the highest military honour of all, the Victoria Cross. |
| | Item Code : DHM2000C | Defence of Rorkes Drift by Lady Elizabeth Butler. (C) - This Edition |  Buy 1 Get 1 Half Price! |
| | TYPE | EDITION DETAILS | SIZE | SIGNATURES | OFFERS | YOUR PRICE | PURCHASING | | PRINT | Open edition print, featuring printed text and images of medals in the border.
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| Other editions of this item : | Defence of Rorkes Drift by Lady Elizabeth Butler. | DHM2000 |
| | TYPE | EDITION DETAILS | SIZE | SIGNATURES | OFFERS | YOUR PRICE | PURCHASING | | PRINT | Open edition print.
Newly published from the original oil painting owned by Her Majesty the Queen. | Image size 25 inches x 13 inches (64cm x 33cm) plus white border without text. | none | £30 Off! | Now : £30.00
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Half Price! | VIEW EDITION... | | PRINT | Open edition print.
Newly published from the original oil painting owned by Her Majesty the Queen. | Image size 35 inches x 21 inches (89cm x 53cm) | none | Half
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CANVAS | Limited quantity canvas edition. | Size 40 inches x 26 inches (102cm x 66cm) | none | £100 Off! | Now : £500.00 | VIEW EDITION... | GICLEE
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| Artist Details : Lady Elizabeth Butler | | Click here for a full list of all artwork by Lady Elizabeth Butler |
Lady Elizabeth Butler
Elizabeth Thompson, later Lady Butler, was perhaps the leading painter of this genre of the late nineteenth century. Her famous quartet of paintings exhibited between 1874 and 1877 (Calling the Roll after and Engagement in the Crimea - Her Majesty the Queen; Quatre Bras - National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Balaclava - City of Manchester Art Gallery; and The Return from Inkerman - Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull) established her reputation but her subsequent works never quite achieved the fame of these earlier pictures, in spite of such dramatic scenes as Scotland for Ever! (Leeds City Art Gallery) and The Defence of Rorkes Drift (Her Majesty the Queen) She continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy until 1920 but with few exceptions, all her pictures had military themes particularly soldiers in battle. While she never witnessed actual warfare, although she was in Egypt for some years in the 1880s with her husband, Lieut. Gen. Sir William Butler, many of her pictures were drawn accurately using models in some cases, or observing soldiers on maneuvers or practicing charges at Aldershot. For instance, when Queen Victoria commissioned the artist to depict the defense of Rorkes Drift, Elizabeth Butler went down to Gosport where the 24th Regiment was billeted upon its return from Natal, and made sketches from life. The soldiers even re-enacted the battle in their original uniforms worn throughout the campaign.
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