On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:52:09 +0100, roy.stockdill@btinternet.com wrote: >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. I also knew a Buller Fenwick. -- Steve Hayes Web: http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com/ http://hayesgreene.blogspot.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/afgen/