Benjamin Ginn here was not traced until 2007. He was born in 1846 to Benjamin and Eliza Ginn, Ben snr coming from Royston in Hertfordshire and being a direct descendant of Robert Ginn of Anstey (d.1587 for whom see earlier). I frankly could not find Ben jnr in any census return, and there being no evidence that he died young I had assumed that he joined the army - I was correct.
It turned out that Benjamin joined
the “Death or Glory Boys” ie the 17th Lancers, famous for their role
in the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Their name derives from their original insignia, the “Death’s Head” a
skull and crossed bones with the words “or glory” underneath. It is still in use for their successor
regiment (Queens Royal Lancers) today.
Group of 17th Lancers of Crimean War
(Imperial War Museum)
(Imperial War Museum)
The Lancers had suffered
very heavily in the Charge of the Light Brigade (they were in the front rank)
and spent some years in India
thereafter where they played a major part in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny
and there lost another nearly four hundred men to wounds and disease.
The regiment returned to
the UK
in 1865 and not surprisingly went on a major recruitment spree. In 1866 they were in Aldershot, a recruiting
party going out to London, recruiting Ben Ginn
there on 27th October of that year - reference WO12 1351 at National Archives. He was 20.
The Lancers spent some
years at home, being in Ireland
for some years this being the reason that Ben does not appear in the 1871
census. They were used once or twice to
put down civil unrest.
By the late 1870s they
were back in England, in
1878 being at Hampton Court
and Hounslow. They were soon to see
action
In 1878/9 The British
had engineered a war with the Zulu Nation in South Africa – for mostly political
reasons- the British wished to annexe the area.
A great warrior nation,
the Zulus did not easily give in, and at the Battle of Isandlwhana in January
1879 (subject of the film "Zulu Dawn") wiped out a British column of some 1500 men. A small detachment of the 24th
Foot was to later heroically defend the post at nearby Rorkes Drift (subject of the film "Zulu") but the
British had suffered one of their worst disasters, news of which reached London on 11th February. There was uproar.
24th Foot-1879
An expeditionary force
of a number of infantry battalions and two cavalry regiments (the 17th
Lancers and Kings Dragoon Guards) was hurriedly put together and at the end of
February the Lancers embarked from Southampton and Victoria Docks for Natal in South
Africa.
They were in the Rorkes Drift area by May 1879 according to their
regimental history.
On 21st May
the Lancers went out to Isandlwhana to bury the mutilated British corpses left
untouched since 22nd January.
Not a pleasant task. Having
brought back the abandoned wagons from the battlefield to Rorkes Drift, an
embittered regiment set out with the Second Division of the British forces to
exact vengeance.
Crossing the Blood River,
the troops crossed into Zululand on 1st June 1879 and
had their first encounter on 5th June where an officer of the
regiment was shot dead. By this time the
Zulus had accumulated some 1500 British rifles.
Zulu warrior
After a short delay of
some weeks whilst the regiment was split into two, it merged once more and with
the 2nd Division pressed on in to Zululand
to capture Ulundi, the Zulu capital and home of the King. There were several infantry battalions,
including some Scots, and the column was preceded by Scottish pipers whilst the
three squadrons of the 17th formed the rearguard.
The column comprised
some five thousand men, not all British regulars, and on 4th July
they came under attack from an estimated twenty thousand Zulus.
The British formed a
massive square, the infantry (supported by two erratically firing gatling guns)
on the outside, forming a perimeter of bullets and bayonets, whilst on the
inside stood the 17th Lancers, all five hundred of them, standing
patiently by their horses waiting for the order to mount up.
Ulundi
For forty five minutes
the Zulus attacked the square against a withering fire. Finally they broke. The 17th were told to mount up,
the square opened and the whole regiment formed itself into two lines and
charged the Zulus. It is a famous charge
and is depicted on many paintings.
Depiction of the Charge
At first using the
lance, the Lancers rapidly turned to the sword and cut the Zulus right and
left. Undaunted, many Zulus fought
bravely until they fell, stabbing at the British horses, trying to get the
riders down. It was all to no avail, and
heavily pursued the Zulus scattered. It
was to be the last and biggest battle of the Zulu War.
Ben was subsequently
promoted to Lance Corporal and, as such, is in the South Africa Medal Roll with
the clasp “1879” to show that he took active service in Zululand.
Subseequently, some of
the 17th came home, but six troops including Ben were ordered to India, landing at Bombay.
They spent the following ten uneventful years at Mhow and Lucknow, at some point Ben
being promoted to Corporal.
On 9th October 1890 the
regiment embarked on the “Serapis” (above) for home, arriving at Portsmouth on 3rd November and
taking camp at Shorncliffe. Fortescue,
the regimental historian writing in 1895, tells us that of the 500 NCOs and men
that went out to South
Africa in 1879, only 30 returned. The rest had died in action, of disease or
had left the service. Ben was one of an
exclusive club.
Too exclusive perhaps,
because Ben was told that he was going to be pensioned off himself. The man obviously knew no life but the army
and grew depressed about it. It also
looks like there were few veterans of his ilk to discuss things with, adding to
his isolation.
We are told that Ben took
leave immediately upon his return, coming back to Shorncliffe at the end of
February 1891 . He witnessed the marriage of his sister
Eliza on 21st February of that year in Bloomsbury. We are also told that he was fretting about an
old injury, perhaps a wound from Ulundi, perhaps wondering whether he was fit
for manual labour. Very shortly after
his sister’s marriage this was to have tragic consequences.
He was apparently accustomed to sleeping in the storerooms in camp, as others were, these housing the cavalry carbines (rifles) but no ammunition. On the night of Sunday 1st March 1891 he obviously smuggled some bullets into the storeroom, as over that night (having been locked in) he shot himself in the head and died instantly. He was 45. It was a tragic end to the sort of life that built and maintained Victorian Britain and it's Empire.
For more details on the Regiment read A History of the 17th Lancers by Fortescue (1895) and the 17th/21st Lancers by ffrench-Blake (1968). Benjamin's suicide and the background to it is recorded in the Folkestone Chronicle, Folkestone Express and Folkestone Herald (all of March 7th 1891)
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