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Cranston Fine Arts Military Art and Artists Featured Current Military Artists Mark Churms Zulu War |
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John Chard, 1879 by Mark Churms. (P) Study for the original painting Eve of Distinction. |
Last Man Out by Mark Churms. Private Robert Jones. Decorated for conspicuous bravery and devotion to the wounded at Rorkes drift. Private Robert and William Jones, posted in a room of the Hospital facing the hill, kept up a steady fire against enormous odds, and while one worked to cut a hole through the partition into the next room, the other shot Zulu after Zulu through the loophooled walls, using his own and his comrades rifle alternatively when the barrels became to hot to hold owing to the incessant firing. By their united heroic efforts six out of the seven patients were saved by being carried through the broken partition. the seventh, sergeant Maxwell being delirious, refused to be helped, and on Robert Jones returning to take him by force he found him being stabbed by the Zulus in his bed, Robert Jones died in 1898 in Peterchurch Herefordshire . Both men were awarded the Victoria Cross. |
Into the Fire by Mark Churms. Crouching low behind their shields, the warriors of the uThulwans, iNdlondo and uDloko regiments advance around the foot of Shiyane hill. Led by their commander, Prince Dabulamnzi kaMpnade, the main Zulu force attacks the British outpost at Rorkes Drift, 4.50pm, 2nd January 1879. |
Pinned Like Rats in a Hole by Mark Churms. Depicting Private Hook and Private Williams, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Foot inside the burning hospital at Rorkes Drift, 7pm January 1879. At about 6 pm the Zulus first forced their way into the hospital building where some thirty patients were defended by a handful of able-bodied men. A running fight ensued as the patients were evacuated from room to room, a desperate struggle made all the more terrible when the Zulus set fire to the thatched roof. Here Private Alfred Henry Hook holds Zulus of the uThulwana regiment at bay whilst Private John Williams helps a patient escape, Hook received a head wound when a spear struck off his helmet. |
Cpl Allen and Cpl Lyons, Rorkes Drift 1879 by Mark Churms. (P) Study for the original painting Wounded. |
Pinned Like Rats in a Hole by Mark Churms (P) The original oil study for the larger painting of Pinned Like Rats in a Hole, part of the Rorkes Drift series by Mark Churms. |
Plugging the Gap by Mark Churms. Lt Gonville Bromhead stands over Private Hitch, B Co. 2/24th. Rorkes Drift, front barricade |
Wounded by Mark Churms. Corporal Allen and Corporal Lyons, B. Company 2nd Battalion 24th Foot Rorkes Drift Back Wall, 6pm January 22nd 1879. After the initial Zulu assault on the back wall of the post failed at about 4.30pm, a fire-fight broke out between Zulu snipers posted on the terraces of the Shiyane (Oskarsberg) Hill and the defenders posted behind the barricade of wagons and mealie-bags. This section of the wall as commanded by Sergeant Henry Gallagher, of B Company. At about 6 pm, Corporal Lyons was leaning over the barricade to aim when he was hit in the neck by a bullet which paralysed him, as his friend, Corporal Allen, bent to help him, Allen too was shot through the arm. In the foreground Corporal Attwood of the Army Service Corps distributes ammunition. The wall was abandoned shortly after and the British retired to the small are in front of the storehouse. Allen was later awarded the VC, and Attwood the DCM. He was born at Churcham, Gloucestershire, and served for five years in the Monmouthshire Militia before joining the 24th Regiment. He served through the Kaffir War 1877-8 before his bravery at Rorkes Drift for which he was presented with the Victoria Cross by Lord Wolseley on August 3rd 1879. He later served in the 1st Volunteers Battalion Royal Fusiliers. |
Eve of Distinction by Mark Churms. Lt. John Rouse Merriot Chard, Royal Engineers.At about 3.30 on the afternoon of 22nd January 1879, Lieutenant John Rouse Merriot Chard, Royal Engineers, was supervising repairs on the military pont on the Mzinyathi river, at the border crossing at Rorkes Drift, when survivors brought news that the advanced British camp at Isandhlwana had been over-run by the Zulus, and that a wing of the Zulu army was on its way to attack Rorkes Drift. Chard ordered Driver Robson to pack up the wagon and return to the mission station, where a stockpile of supplies was under the guard of B Company, 2/24th Regiment. Chard, in consultation with his fellow officers, made the historic decision to make a stand at Rorkes Drift. |
Pot That Fellow by Mark Churms. Acting Assistant Commissary J.L. Dalton commissariat and transport department and colour sergeant F. Bourne, during the battle at the front wall about 6pm at Rorkes Drift. Frank Bourne was born on the 27th April 1854 in Balcombe Sussex, when Bourne was 18 he joined the 24th Regiment in 1872, being promoted to Corporal in 1875 and Sergeant in 1878. Sergeant Bourne was promoted to Colour Sergeant soon after the rgeiment arrived in Natal. Colour Sgt bourne was part of B company whose job was to guard the hospital at Rorkes Drift. Colour Sgt Bourne played a major role in keeping the defending troops effective. Colour Sgt Bourne was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his role in the defence, and it is surprising that he was not awarded a Victoria Cross as 11 were awarded for the defence. Col Sgt Bourne retired form the army in 1907, but joined again for WW1, serving in Dublin. He was the last survivor of Rorkes Drift, passing away at the age of 91 on the 8th May 1945 by coincidence being VE day. |
Wounded by Mark Churms (P) The original study for Wounded which was not used due to the size of the figures compared to the rest of the series even though as an oil study it shows more detail and is probably the best in this series of studies by Mark Churms. |
Eve of Distinction by Mark Churms (P) The original oil study for the larger painting of Eve of Distinction |
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