Henry Cecil Dudgeon D'Arcy VC (11 August 1850 – 1881) was a New Zealand-born recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

forces. He won the VC on 3 July 1879 at

Ulundi Ulundi, also known as Mahlabathini, is a town in the Zululand District Municipality. At one time the capital of Zulu Kingdom in South Africa and later the capital of the Bantustan of KwaZulu, Ulundi now lies in KwaZulu-Natal Province (of which, ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

during the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coupl ...

when he was 28 years old, and a

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

in the

Frontier Light Horse The Frontier Light Horse, a mounted unit of 200 volunteers, was raised at King William's Town, Eastern Cape Colony in 1877 by Lieutenant Frederick Carrington. It is often referred to as the Cape Frontier Light Horse and served under Brevet Lieute ...

Early life

D'Arcy was born in

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

, New Zealand, where his father Major Oliver Barker D'Arcy (sometimes D'Arcey) of the 65th Regiment was in the British garrison. In 1860, Oliver D'Arcy transferred to the

Cape Mounted Riflemen The Cape Mounted Riflemen were South African military units. There were two separate successive regiments of that name. To distinguish them, some military historians describe the first as the "imperial" Cape Mounted Riflemen (originally the ' ...

and settled with his family at

King William's Town Qonce, formerly known as King William's Town, is a city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River. The city is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London. Qonce, with a population of around ...

in the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

Anglo-Zulu War

Redver buller sauvant un officier à Hlobane

During the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, Cecil D'Arcy was an officer in the

, a mounted unit of 200 volunteers raised at King William's Town in 1877 by Lieutenant

Frederick Carrington Major General Sir Frederick Carrington, (23 August 1844, Cheltenham – 22 March 1913, Cheltenham), was a British soldier and friend of Cecil Rhodes. He acquired fame by suppressing the 1896 Matabele rebellion. Biography Carrington was educ ...

. At the

Battle of Hlobane The Battle of Hlobane (28 March 1879) took place at Hlobane, near the modern town of Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa during the Anglo-Zulu War. Background The British commander Frederic Thesiger (Lord Chelmsford) intended to invade ...

on 28 March 1879, his unit acted as the rearguard and 20% of the 156 members were killed. D'Arcy was recommended for the VC by Evelyn Wood for going back to save the lives of wounded men in the descent of Devil's Pass; the award was not approved on the grounds that he was a volunteer and not a member of the imperial forces. Five other awards were approved, including to Colonel

Redvers Buller General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forc ...

; he had rescued D'Arcy who was retiring on foot and carrying him on his horse, while hotly pursued by Zulus. At the

Battle of Kambula The Battle of Kambula took place on 29 March 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War, when a Zulu military force attacked the British camp at Kambula, having routed the mounted element of the British force at the Battle of Hlobane the day before. The b ...

on the following day, the Frontier Light Horse were part of the pursuit of the retreating Zulu forces. Captain D'Arcy wrote in a letter published in ''

The Natal Mercury ''The Mercury'', formerly ''The Natal Mercury'', is an English-language newspaper owned by Independent Media (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of Iqbal Survé’s Sekunjalo Investments and published in Durban, South Africa. Content The paper focus ...

'' in April that they "followed them for eight miles, butchering the brutes all over the place. I told the men, '

No quarter The phrase no quarter was generally used during military conflict to imply combatants would not be taken prisoner, but killed. According to some modern American dictionaries, a person who is given no quarter is "not treated kindly" or "treated ...

, boys, and remember yesterday'. And they did knock them about, killing them all over the place". The FLH troopers extracted their revenge for their comrades killed the day before at Hlobane. He was awarded the VC for his actions on 3 July 1879 when a mounted reconnaissance was ambushed near Ulundi. In a dispatch dated 5 July in ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...

'', Redvers Buller wrote that D'Arcy "reckons neither personal inconvenience nor danger in the execution of any order, determined and bold; he has frequently shown great personal gallantry, and has always given a fine example to his men." The citation of the VC award reads; He was presented with his medal in December 1879 by Sir

Garnet Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, (4 June 183325 March 1913), was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, We ...

in Pretoria.

Further information

After the Frontier Light Horse was disbanded, D'Arcy joined the

as a captain. He served in the 1880

Basuto Gun War The Basuto Gun War, also known as the Basutoland Rebellion, was a conflict between the Basuto and the British Cape Colony. It lasted from 13 September 1880 to 29 April 1881 and ended in a Basuto victory. Following Basutoland's transformation int ...

, but resigned his commission in April 1881. In ill health, he stayed with Rev. Charles Taberer in

Keiskammahoek Keiskammahoek (also spelled Keiskamahoek) is a town in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. From 1981 until the end of apartheid, the town was part of the Ciskei bantustan. Geography Keiskammahoek is a small rural town that is situated some f ...

to recuperate. During the night of 6–7 August 1881 he left the house; his body was not found for several months. He was interred on 3 January 1882 in the cemetery of

beside his parents. He is also considered South African, though he probably considered himself British or

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

Speculation

In 2008,

David Randall David Randall (April 1951 – 17 July 2021) was a British journalist and author of ''The Universal Journalist'', a textbook on journalism. He was assistant editor of ''The Observer'' until 1998, when he joined ''The Independent on Sunday'' and ...

in ''The Independent'' newspaper in London reported claims that D'Arcy faked his death.

References

* * * *

External links