Signalman William Aynsley HMS Active Vignette

[Plynkes]

I don't recall the finer details of this guy's story. Does anybody know how he came to be at Isandlwana in the first place? The naval brigade from Active were part of Pearson's column and right at that moment were fighting the battle of the Nyezane, many miles away. He appears to have got a little lost. You're at the wrong battle, mate!


And many, many apologies for this, it is such bad form of me, but I sometimes it is hard to leave a nit unpicked. According to Ian Knight, the men from Active wore white trousers and white caps. Of course, nitpicking is mean, and artistic licence is a perfectly acceptable thing. Pay no attention! But if you don't let these things out, you might burst! 

[Hammers]

The ribbon is what has the name of the ship on it, I believe, Peder. I guess so you don't have to get a new hat if you are transferred to another vessal. Though I don't blame Helen for not painting that on. There's no way I could make it say HMS Active and it not look a mess.

Great work, Helen. Looking forward to seeing more of your Zulu odyssey.

I know very well that the ribbon carries the ships name or the name of a unit. I have myself proudly worn "rundhatt" sporting "HMS Vidar" on it when I was boldly hunting Soviet submarines in the archipelago of Blekinge and Stockholm. I know some navies still wear their ribbons long. Sweden does not, neither does the UK or am I wrong?

[Plynkes]

That I do not know, mate. They tend to mostly be wearing berets when you see them on the telly these days. That seems to be the standard working/undress headwear right now.

[Hammers]

That I do not know, mate. They tend to mostly be wearing berets when you see them on the telly these days. That seems to be the standard working/undress headwear right now.

Berets in the navy? Forsooth...

[Ranthony]

I don't recall the finer details of this guy's story. Does anybody know how he came to be at Isandlwana in the first place? The naval brigade from Active were part of Pearson's column and right at that moment were fighting the battle of the Nyezane, many miles away. He appears to have got a little lost. You're at the wrong battle, mate!


And many, many apologies for this, it is such bad form of me, but I sometimes it is hard to leave a nit unpicked. According to Ian Knight, the men from Active wore white trousers and white caps. Of course, nitpicking is mean, and artistic licence is a perfectly acceptable thing. Pay no attention! But if you don't let these things out, you might burst! 

As far as I recall, He was Lt. Milne's batman and found himself part of the column  as Milne had been assigned to Chelmsford's staff.

I believe Milne left camp with Chelmsford to chase what they believed to be the main Zulu army.
I will assume that Milne felt no need to bring Aynsley along.
There's an account somewhere of Milne using his naval telescope to survey the battlefield from Mangeni falls, after a survivor managed to escape and report the goings-on.

Milne reported no fuss through his telescope, despite the battle raging on and his batman fighting for his life.

Must have been a Dud glass eh?

[Plynkes]

Thanks, Ranthony. That makes sense. Didn't for a minute believe that he had simply followed the wrong column after looking up from tying his shoelaces, but the thought did make me chuckle.

[Helen]

I do chuckle. I did mention he was Lieut Milne's servant. The link at the bottom of the post shows the Naval operations in Zululand also details the actions and individuals during the campaign.

Bless you all.