REVIEW: ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA 19 APRIL

As one of the last few survivors of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift – immortalised in the iconic film Zulu – Alfred Saxty’s campaign pair was a leading highlight of this sale, and it did not disappoint, selling overestimate at £22,000.

Saxty was just 22 when, on 22 January 1879, he and just over 150 British troops faced around 4,000 Zulu warriors in one of the most famous battles in British military history.

He started the battle as a Corporal in 'B' Company of 2nd Battalion, 24th Foot, Saxty and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant the day after the battle.

Somerset-born Saxty had enlisted two and a half years earlier, serving first in South Africa, then in the Mediterranean, before moving to India in August 1880 with the regiment and going on to serve in Burma from May 1886 to January 1887, before returning to India again.

After his service in the Burma campaign, Saxty re-engaged for the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment at Madras on 4 October 1887, ‘for such term as shall complete 21 years’ service.’ He transferred to the 2nd Battalion of that regiment on New Year’s Day 1888, and then transferred to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on 14 July 1891. Reduced to Corporal in October 1894, he was discharged at his own request at Thayetmyo, Burma, on 28 February 1895.

In 1934 he attended the Northern Command Tattoo, held at Gateshead, County Durham, 7-14 July, when he appeared in the arena with fellow Rorke’s Drift veterans Lieutenant-Colonel Bourne and Privates Cooper, Jobbins and Wood, all former comrades at Rorke’s Drift. An annotated photograph of them together was included with this lot.