To the Memory of Brave Men:
The Last Stand of Major Allan Wilson at the Shangani, 4th December 1893
The Last Stand of Major Allan Wilson at the Shangani, 4th December 1893
Allan Stewart was a late Victorian painter in the
journalistic mode who looked upon his painting as a form of reporting, and also an extra source
of money for the illustrated press. Paintings of imperial scenes no longer
necessarily sought to create heroes. With the advent of the illustrated newspapers and magazines
like The Graphic and The Illustrated London News, there was a new appetite for pictures
which helped to tell a story.
To do this Stewart used the methodology of the
journalist. He interviewed survivors and borrowed memorabilia from the campaign
to create an authentic image that brings to the observer the immediacy of the
event.
This painting shows the destruction of a group of
soldiers fighting for the British South Africa
Company, cut off during a campaign against the Matabele but standing strong - disciplined
and resolute. It does show the view that the public liked to have of soldiers
in the empire -doing their duty against a disorganised foe and only going down
because of the sheer numbers opposing them. A scene of defeat is transformed
into one of victory.
There were no survivors amongst the British soldiers
although the only eye-witness accounts we have are from Matabele warriors who
have said that
The scene is from the First Matabele War in 1893 when
forces of the British South Africa Company, headed by Cecil Rhodes, invaded Matabeleland and Mashonaland to
acquire land for those settlers who has settled in Mashonaland but found the
land particularly unproductive. Rhodes was determined to destroy the Matabele as
a force and when Jameson contrived to secure an excuse to invade, Rhodes sold
sufficient shares in the British South Africa Company to pay for an invasion of
Matabele land using three columns of
men. Major Wilson of the company’s police signed up recruits who were
guaranteed land for their troubles. The eventual force of over 600 men was equipped with the
latest Maxim guns. The Matabele leader, Lobengula tried to sue for peace but
Rhodes wanted nothing but a war.
Jameson’s force was initially surrounded by a large
Matabele army of over 5,000 as soon as it crossed the Shangani River, but Lobengula’s
army was forced to retreat under heavy Maxim fire. Jameson’s victorious men
marched into the Matabele town of Gubulawayo but Lobengula had escaped.
On 3 December, a forward reconnaissance patrol under
the command of Major Wilson was sent across the Shangani River to ascertain in
which direction Lobengula had gone. Wilson was to report back before nightfall
but in the event he pushed ahead looking for Lobengula. Early on the morning of
4 December he reached Lobengula’s camp
but was forced to retreat in the face of overwhelming odds. The patrol was soon
surrounded and the entire patrol of seventeen men died fighting.
The men became a legend and were subsequently buried in the Matopos Hills
alongside Rhodes. The skirmish was commemorated in paintings, verse, prizes and
medals, and the legend was embellished with the men taking off their hats in
the face of the last Matabele charge and
singing ‘God Save the Queen.’
The painting was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1896 and later donated to the
people of Rhodesia and placed in the town hall at Bulawayo. The painting
inspired two films, Major Wilson’s Last Stand (1899) and The Shangani
Patrol (1970).
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