Roy Stockdill wrote, Tuesday, September 17, 2013 1:01 PM > Why did he become so famous > He won the Victoria Cross in the Zulu War That's one reason - everyone loved a hero. > Buller was held to blame for some serious defeats Indeed - but mostly in hindsight. > setbacks in his attempts to relieve Ladysmith > at the battles of Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz. ... but *at the time* I think he was respected by and popular amongst his troops. And at home, too. The Boer War had a great deal of support at home, and the generals were all household names. It was the biggest army that Britain had ever sent overseas. The public odium came later. You say, > "building up to large numbers in > 1900-1910, then falling gradually away." I'm surprised it fell gradually. But maybe it was the children of his soldiers showing their respect. Both my grandfather's were in the army there then - one a regular, the other in the Imperial Yeomanry (Territorials).
From: "Piercefield" <Piercefield@btinternet.com> > Roy Stockdill wrote, Tuesday, September 17, 2013 1:01 PM > > > Why did he become so famous > > He won the Victoria Cross in the Zulu War > > That's one reason - everyone loved a hero. > > > Buller was held to blame for some serious defeats > > Indeed - but mostly in hindsight. > > > setbacks in his attempts to relieve Ladysmith > > at the battles of Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz. > > ... but *at the time* I think he was respected by and popular amongst > his troops. > > And at home, too. The Boer War had a great deal of support at home, > and the generals were all household names. It was the biggest army > that Britain had ever sent overseas. > > The public odium came later. > > You say, > > "building up to large numbers in > > 1900-1910, then falling gradually away." > > I'm surprised it fell gradually. But maybe it was the children of his > soldiers showing their respect. > > Both my grandfather's were in the army there then - one a regular, the > other in the Imperial Yeomanry (Territorials). > Thanks for those observations. In fact, Redvers as a forename was scarcely influenced by Sir Redvers Buller winning the VC in 1879. There were few instances before 1899 but the explosion in popularity came in the final quarter of that year when Sir Redvers would have been not long arrived in South Africa. I expect at the time he was as well known as Baden Powell. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE