Teignmouth Melvill 24th Regiment 22nd January 1879 |
| Lieutenant and Adjutant Teignmouth Melvill, 24th Regiment. Zulu War 1879 ON January 22, 1879, when the camp at Isandlwana was attacked by the Zulus and nearly every man killed, Colonel Pulleine, seeing the disastrous turn that affairs were taking, called to Lieutenant and Adjutant Melvill to take the colours of the regiment and endeavour to cut his way through the enemy to save them. His heroic conduct is described more fully in the record of Lieutenant Coghill (V.C.), with whom he was associated, and with whom, on the banks of the Buffalo River, he met his death. Teignmouth Melvill, born in London on September 8, 1842, was
the son of Philip Melvill, Secretary in the Military Department
to the East India Company. Educated at Harrow, Cheltenham, and
Cambridge, he graduated B.A. in 1865. Entered the Army in 1865, and received his Lieutenancy
December 2, 1868. Proceeded with his regiment to Malta, Gibraltar, and (in
1875) the Cape. Passed examination for Staff College and was ordered home to
join that establishment when the Galeka War broke out, upon which he
obtained permission to rejoin his regiment, and served through the suppression of
the outbreak. At the commencement of the Zulu War he joined the Headquarters'
Column, and, with his regiment, took part in the attack and
capture of Sirayo's stronghold on January 13, 1879.
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