Frances Ellen Colenso (30 May 1849 – 28 April 1887) was an English historian of the Zulu Wars.

Life

Colenso was born in

Forncett Forncett is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,000 in 381 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,126 at the 2011 census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

in 1849. Her father was

John Colenso John William Colenso (24 January 1814 – 20 June 1883) was a Cornish cleric and mathematician, defender of the Zulu and biblical scholar, who served as the first Bishop of Natal. He was a scholar of the Zulu language. In his role as an Ang ...

and her mother was Frances Colenso. She was known as "Fanny" by her family and friends. Colenso was educated at the

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

inspired

Winnington Hall Winnington Hall is a former country house in Winnington, now a suburb of Northwich, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The building is in effect two houses ...

until 1864 before attending the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. She wrote and aspired to be an artist.B. M. Nicholls, ‘Colenso, Harriette Emily (1847–1932)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200
accessed 2 Jan 2017
/ref> Lieutenant-Colonel

Anthony Durnford Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony William Durnford (24 May 1830 – 22 January 1879) was a British Army officer of the Royal Engineers who served in the Anglo-Zulu War. Breveted colonel, Durnford is mainly known for his defeat by the Zulus at the Ba ...

was stationed at

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

in 1873 where he was befriended by her father. Durnford had a close relationship with Colenso. Though Durnford and his wife lived separate lives, the fact that he was married meant that he and Frances could only be close friends.J. P. C. Laband, ‘Durnford, Anthony William (1830–1879)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200
accessed 2 Jan 2017
/ref> After Durnford's death at the

Battle of Isandlwana The Battle of Isandlwana (alternative spelling: Isandhlwana) on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British invaded the Zulu Kingdom, Zululand ...

, Frances wrote a book with his brother exculpating him from responsibility for that British defeat by the Zulus. Frances also campaigned for the Zulu people suffering under the British-imposed break-up of the Zulu nation following the end of the Zulu War. Bishop Colenso, Frances's father, died in June 1883 and her elder sister Harriet became the de facto head of the family. Frances published two books on the Zulus and the British (''History of the Zulu War and Its Origin'' in 1880 and ''The Ruin of Zululand'' in 1885) that explained events in Zululand from a pro-Zulu perspective. The books were not popular and Harriet is thought to have had a guiding hand in their production. Colenso developed tuberculosis after nursing an infected soldier in Natal. She spent her final days being treated for tuberculosis in

Ventnor Ventnor () is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface D ...

, where she died, possibly of a heart attack, and is buried.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colenso, Frances 1849 births 1887 deaths People from Forncett Historians of South Africa Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Guild of St George 19th-century English historians English women historians Historians of warfare