Colonel Henry Thomas Curling (27 July 1847 – 1 January 1910) was a

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

officer of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

who served between 1868 and 1902. He fought in the

Anglo-Zulu war The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in present-day South Africa from January to early July 1879 between forces of the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Two famous battles of the war were the Zulu victory at Battle of Isandlwana, Isandlwana and th ...

and during 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 ...

was one of only a few British officers to survive; in fact he was the only British front line survivor. Afterwards he wrote a dramatic report on the battle and several letters home that described it further. After the Zulu war he saw service in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. The letters he wrote during the Zulu war were posthumously published in the book ''The Curling letters of the Zulu War: "there was an awful slaughter"'' (2001) co-authored by Adrian Greaves and Brian Best.

Early life

Henry Curling was born on 27 July 1847 in

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

, Kent, England, the son of Dr Henry Curling and Mary Ann (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Warwick).Greaves (2011), pp. 164–5 He was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

and then the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich before being commissioned into the

in 1868.

Military career

Curling joined the Royal Artillery on 15 July 1868 as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

and ten years later he was sent to South Africa with N Battery of the 5th Brigade. When the

was declared in January 1879 the 5th Brigade was a part of the central column of the invasion force which set up their camp near the lion shaped hill called

Isandlwana Isandlwana () (older spelling ''Isandhlwana'', also sometimes seen as ''Isandula'') is an isolated hill in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. It is located north by northwest of Durban.''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (1950), v.12, 703. T ...

on the 20th. In the early hours of the 22 January the General Officer Commanding Lord Chelmsford decided to split his forces in order to chase what turned out to be a Zulu decoy. Only two of the RA guns were left in camp under the charge of Major Stuart Smith and Lieutenant Curling.Greaves (2011), p. 84 Having spent much of the morning turned out in a defensive position they returned to the camp at 11 am only to be sent back out at 12 where they came immediately into action against a large body of Zulus about 3–4 thousand yards away. Soon the infantry were sent to meet the enemy but, unable to slow their approach they were quickly ordered back. Unable to take the road to Rorke's Drift, Curling and Smith followed a crowd of natives in an attempt to save the guns; however, the only escape route was down a steep ravine in which the guns became stuck fast. Zulus were amongst the crowd trying to escape and were relentlessly killing so they left the guns. Major Smith was killed some time later during the flight as they climbed down a cliff but Curling was able to cross the Buffalo river safely, his horse swimming with three or four men hanging on to it.Best, Curling & Greaves (2001): Letter home 2 Feb He was one of only five British officers to survive the

of which Captain Edward Essex and Lieutenant

Horace Smith-Dorrien General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien, (26 May 1858 – 12 August 1930) was a British Army General. One of the few British survivors of the Battle of Isandlwana as a young officer, he also distinguished himself in the Second Boer War. Smit ...

were transport officers; Lieutenant Alan Gardener was a staff officer who was sent to the camp with orders during the battle only to find it destroyed; and Lieutenant William Cochrane was running an errand for his CO when the camp was overrun.Greaves (2011), pp. 161–183 "Battlefield participants" Thus Curling was therefore the only front line officer to survive.Greaves (2011), p. 93 After the Zulu war he was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 16 August 1879 in charge of C Battery, 3rd Brigade based in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, then on 6 February 1885 gained his

Majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

whilst serving at

Aldershot Command Aldershot Command was a Home Command of the British Army. History After the success of the Chobham Manoeuvres of 1853, reformers of the British Army decided to create a permanent training camp at Aldershot. To begin the preliminary work a smal ...

. Finally he was given command of the Royal Artillery in Egypt as a Lieutenant colonel (promoted 4 January 1895).

Retirement and death

Colonel Curling retired in 1902 to his home town of Ramsgate where he died on 1 January 1910. Many of his friends only learned about his daring escape from Isandlwana after his death.

References

Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curling, Henry 1847 births 1910 deaths British Army colonels Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War People educated at Marlborough College People from Ramsgate Military personnel from Kent Burials in Kent 20th-century British Army personnel