No Future Without The Past.
Clash of Empires
South Africa
Clash of Empires
South Africa

Clash of Empires

On returning from the battlefield trip to Ypres I was able to travel to London to attend the last day of the Clash of Empires exhibition which was held at the Royal Philatelic Society building, Abchurch Lane, City of London. The exhibition covers the the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War and ran for the month of July 2023.

The curators are Alex Haimann and Ian Knight. Alex from Missouri, USA is the owner of all the artefacts in the exhibition. His passion started when at the age of 11 he bought some Toy Soldiers from the Guards Museum in London. He also has a huge passion for stamps and thus you can see this connection is clearly more personal, with written letters and messages. Postage, Postcards and letters were the internet of the day and it creates such unique connect between those involved. It was wonderful to meet Alex and chat about his collection. He offered me the chance to interview him for my blog and I have listed the link below. I am sorry to say the audio has quite a bit of background noise as it was captured on a phone and the exhibition was quite busy.

Ian Knight is a world leading historian on the Zulu Wars and has published more than thirty books on the subject. Ian has such knowledge of the subject, and I could listen to his recollections with no regard for time. Again, Ian was happy to be interviewed by me as you will see in the video link below.

Click here for the Interview with Alex Haimann and Ian Knight

This was the best collection of artefacts from the Zulu Wars I have ever seen. The displays told a story from beginning to end. It has been wonderfully put together and has taken over eight years of planning.

The Royal Philatelic Society London
Fully battle ready with Alex Haimann.

Officers’ 1869-1878 shako plate. 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment. The sphinx badge reflects battle honours previously awarded for combat against Napoleon’s forces in Egypt.

Horace Smith-Dorrien 95th Regiment, one of only a handful of officer survivors from the Battle of iSandlwana. He was commander of II Corps at Le Cateau in World War One mentioned in my previous post on Le Cateau.

Postcard sent by Rev. George “Ammunition” Smith to Harry Elmer. Smith was at Rorke’s Drift and describes the hardships he faced in the aftermath of he battle, especially losing his possessions and catching fever. The black annotated Bible was presented to Lt John Chard by the Ladies Rorke’s Drift Testimonial Fund. The fund presented Bibles to all survivors with the Officers’ edition being larger.
Canvas Folding-Roll kit. Spaces for your cutlery and cleaning items. This was owned by Private W Beckett, 24th Regiment. Private Beckett was in hospital at Rorke’s Drift where he assumed a defensive position. During the battle he was wounded and died the following morning.

Cattle horn engraved with motifs representing British troops and Zulu warriors during the Anglo-Zulu wars. Also a clipped autograph of King Cetshwayo on blue paper. He was taught to write his name whilst in captivity.

Foreign service helmet tin with nameplate inscribed Major Hazlerigg Royal Scots Fusiliers. Next to this is the helmet belonging to Col AG Hazlerigg.

View of the exhibition room.
Original items from the films Zulu and Zulu Dawn.

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