Zulu Wars soldier buried in Surrey

Date 22nd January 1879 Many people will have heard of the great British stand at Rorke's Drift during the Zulu wars but how many people know that earlier in the same day there was a tragic defeat of the British at Isandlwana by the Zulu army . Even more surprising is that just one man who fought and died during this battle was eventually brought back to England to be interred in a small church yard in St Johns on the out skirts of Woking in Surrey. His  grave marker is shown above. A little of his history follows: Edgar oliphant Anstey Son of George Anstey, Esq. (originally of London) was born in Highercombe, South Australia. named after his father's family's original home near Dulverton, Somerset. In 1873, he graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the First Battalion, Twenty-fourth Regiment of Foot (later known as the Second Warwickshire Regiment, the South Wales Borderers, and the Royal Regiment of Wales). During the Anglo-Zulu War he was attached to Captain William Mostyn's "F" Company, !st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, and was killed in action during the disastrous engagement at Isandlwana on January 22, 1879 in which over 1,200 British Imperial, Colonial, and Native forces were massacred. Anstey was the first soldier from South Australia to die in battle overseas. His body was found two days after the battle by his brother, Captain Thomas Anstey of the Royal Engineers, not far from the place now known as The Fugitives' Trail. Zulu warriors did not take prisoners in battle, and normally ritually disemboweled their enemies. Anstey's body, however, was intact and clothed. Originally buried under a cairn of stones, near where he had been killed, his remains were later interred in the graveyard at the Church of St. John the Baptist in Woking, Surrey, England. Below is the true story of the events leading to his remains being brought to England. My thanks to Pete for uncovering this additional note. Isandlwana was the action immediately prior to the action at Rorke's Drift made famous by the film Zulu. Isandlwana as it was in 1879 Isandlwana as it is today