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Auction: 26003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 58

The South Africa campaign medal awarded to Lieutenant H. T. Curling, 'N' Battery, 5th Brigade, Royal Artillery, the only front-line Officer to come away from the Battle of Isandlwana, 22 January 1879, with his life

South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1877-8-9 (Lieut. H. T. Curling. 5th Bde. R.A.), slightly later officially engraved naming, ex-brooch mounted, suspension re-affixed, somewhat polished and worn with pride, with silver top riband bar

Ex-Adrian Greaves Collection.

Exhibited:
Royal Hospital Chelsea, alongside four Zulu War Victoria Crosses.
Royal Welsh Museum, Brecon.
Firepower Royal Artillery Museum.
Royal Logistic Corps Museum.
Featured in numerous lectures by David Rattray at the Royal Geographical Society.
Anglo-Zulu War Historical Society Events & Conventions.

Another Medal, in a group with his Afghanistan Medal 1878-80 is known to exist in the Royal Artillery Museum - although the naming on the other example has not been inspected.

Henry Thomas Curling was born at Ramsgate on 27 June 1847 and was educated at Marlborough and Sandhurst, being commissioned into the Royal Artillery in July 1868. He would serve with the famed 'N' Battery, 5th Brigade during the Zulu War and was the only frontline officer to survive the clash at Isandlwana, for which he was 'mentioned' (London Gazette 15 March 1879, refers). Made Captain in August 1879, he served during the Afghanistan campaign of 1878-80 (Medal without clasp). Made Major in February 1885 and Lieutenant-Colonel in January 1895, finally made Brevet Colonel in January 1899. Unmarried and without issue, the Colonel was a Justice of the Peace, a keen shot, and enjoyed riding to hounds: he died at his home in Ramsgate, Kent, on New Years Day 1910.

Throughout his life, he was a prolific letter-writer, evidence of which formed the basis of The Curling Letters of the Zulu War, by Greaves & Best and published to great acclaim in 2001, being reprinted in 2004 & 2009. Those letters are offered as Lot 388 in this Auction.

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Estimate
£4,000 to £6,000

Starting price
£3200