TOPIC:

Christopher Richard Harburn

Private, Pietermaritzburg Rifles – Anglo Zulu War

- South African General Service Medal (Zulu Medal) to Pte. C.R. Harbourn, PMBurg Rifles

Kit Harburn, for such was he known, was born in Pietermaritzburg in the Colony of Natal in 1860 the son of Christopher Richard Harburn, a Brickmaker and Currier by trade and his wife Elizabeth. Harburn senior had emigrated to Natal the previous year in search of opportunities not available in an England caught up in the mechanisation of the Industrial Revolution. The family had settled in the hamlet of Pietermaritzburg which was, even then, the capital city although not the principal town of that Colony.

Mr Harburn was soon up to his ears in debt as were many of the settlers who had made the journey south. Court papers dated 14 December 1864 showed that his estate had been declared insolvent “by misfortune and without any fraud or dishonesty on his part”. Despite selling his worldly goods and chattels including his “iron bedstead, white and coloured blankets, quilt and pillows” he was still unable to raise the amount owing to his creditors and was, to all intents and purposes, destitute.

It was in this world that the boy Christopher was raised and the threat of impending penury was probably never far from his thoughts as he grew older. Life moved on and he grew into a man pursuing the profession of Hairdresser in the growing and dusty town. I stress hairdresser because, unlike a barber, he would have enjoyed female custom as well as male.

The dawn of 1879 brought with it events which were at once to disturb the equanimity of the small populace of Pietermaritzburg. Relations between the Zulus across the Tugela River in Zululand and the white settlers had long been poised on a knife edge and, although it is not my intention to discuss the various causes of the conflict that was about to engulf Natal, suffice it to say there were quite a number leading up to the eventual declaration of hostilities between the two parties. The catastrophe of Isandhlwana in late January of that year followed by the Zulu humiliation and the restoration of wounded British pride that was Rorke’s Drift a few days later led the redoubtable burghers of the City of Pietermaritzburg into a state of panic. Would the Zulus decimate the thinly stretched British forces and invade the city or would they be stopped at the gates?

Questions such as these plagued the citizens of Pietermaritzburg on an hourly basis, not helped by the flow of bad news emanating from the front. Poorly defended Pietermaritzburg had taken the decision to form a Home Guard where those not destined to join the Colonial units fighting alongside their British compatriots could join up and defend the home front and Harburn was one of this band of men. Joining the Pietermaritzburg Rifles he was assigned the rank of Private and went about his business whilst in a permanent state of readiness should the call come that the Zulu hordes were on their way. According to an article in the Western Daily Press of 15 March 1879 “The Maritzburg Rifles and the City Guard together form a total of 250 men – not a bad nucleus should it come to serious business”

The danger averted with the eventual vanquishing of the Zulu forces after the burning of Ulundi and the capture of Cetewayo later in 1879; Harburn and his comrades were stood down and returned, full-time, to their civilian pursuits. He was awarded the SAGS medal with no clasp for his efforts.

Peace prevailing once more the dreaded spectre of financial ruin entered the equation for Harburn – just like his father some fourteen years before – he was about to approach the courts with a request to be declared insolvent. On 28 February 1884 his turn came. The situation is best summed up in a statement he made in the Master’s Office on 26 March of that year. It read thus,

“C.R. Harburn duly sworn states: I began business as Hairdresser in February 1881 without capital (he was only 21 years old at the time). Mr Stacey set me up in business. He found everything and was to receive half profits. We had a weekly settlement, and these settlements appear in the books which are at Mr Stacey’s. He has taken possession of all the stock in the hairdressers shop. I did not give my consent to this being done. Last January I agreed to purchase his interest in the business for £20 giving him four promissory notes. I have a copy of my agreement with him. I gave a bond to Mr S…. in September 1883, and then I had not the sole interest in the shop.

I considered the business more mine than Mr Stacey’s. I was paying for the stock and was soon to buy him out as I was paying him off. At first (for about 6 months) I got half the profits after that I drew £2 a week and divided the remainder – subsequently I drew £3 a week and divided the remainder with Mr Stacey. This was up to 31st December last. I started with the arrangements to pay him off as soon as I could, but the payments lasted longer than I thought.

The horse mortgaged to S… and Molyneux was sold on 21 December to Mr Sanson – one of the cows I also sold. The other cow was never in my possession – I had the expectancy of it, having bought it, but not received delivery. I bought a billiard table from Mr Holliday in January last on 2 months credit for £7. I told him I could not pay cash, and he agreed to let me have it on that credit. I borrowed money from Mr Reed about 3 years ago in an amount of £100 – I gave him up my title deeds and gave him also an acknowledgment of debt. The money was lent me for 2 years at 7%. I did not offer him a Bond – I gave him the paper and he was to secure himself. I had the loan from Reed renewed, and a similar acknowledgment given.”

What use had Harburn for a billiard table? Here it must be said that this enterprising young man had also purchased a hostelry on the Durban road, just outside Pietermaritzburg, known to the thirsty traveller as the “Star and Garter”. His hairdressing business was at 97 Burgher Street, Pietermaritzburg. The court agreed to his insolvency and he was left without an income and debts to pay.

This did not deter him from finding love however, on 10 August 1886 at Estcourt he wed Mary Ann Elizabeth Lucy Hayman a 17 year old girl in the care of a guardian – Auguste Joseph Durville. Only 25 years old at the time he was still practising as a Hairdresser but gave a Durban address leading us to believe that he had fled Pietermaritzburg and its memories.

Married life must have been good to Harburn as his life now entered a period of prosperity. The family moved to Ladysmith where, according to the Voter’s Roll in the Natal Government Gazette of 29 August 1893, Harburn was a property owner still pursuing a career as a Hairdresser. That he was involving himself in civic and community affairs was confirmed by two things – the first being his acceptance, on 5 April 1891 into the membership of the Klip River Lodge of the Free Masons where he was described as a 31 year old Tobacconist and the second, a Local Board Notice dated 24 January 1899 wherein the undersigned, of which he was one, “hereby request that you will call a public meeting of Voters at an early date, for the purpose of considering the question of the conversion of this Township into a Municipality.” This meeting was to take place at the Town Hall, Ladysmith on Saturday, 4 February 1899 at 8 o’clock P.M.

Harburn and his fellow Voters were not to know that, in less than nine months from the time of meeting, they would not only be at war with the two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State but that they and their townsfolk would be suffering the ravages of a siege with the Boers having invested Ladysmith. This conflict, erupting as it did on 11 October 1899, soon had a direct impact on Northern Natal. First there was the battle of Talana outside Dundee followed by Elandslaagte and the Imperial forces falling back on Ladysmith which, as has been mentioned, was invested by the Boers who peppered the town from the heights on the outskirts with rounds from Long Tom and other artillery. A Town Guard had been hastily formed on 11 September 1899 when it became apparent that war was unavoidable – this for the purpose of relieving the need to use uniformed men for Guard Duty in the town as well as to monitor the movements of the locals.

Harburn was among the number, according to the nominal roll, that enlisted – his entry showing that he was 40 years old and a Tobacconist of Murchison Street by trade. Mention of a medal earned with the Natal Royal Rifles was made but this can only be a reference to the “Zulu” war medal referred to earlier. According to the medal roll dated 24 July 1901 he was issued with a Queens South Africa medal for his efforts but this was returned (reason not provided) in January 1910.

The siege was lifted on 1 March 1900 and the town began the process of putting itself back together again. Harburn continued on and wasn’t heard from again until an Illiquid Case hit the Supreme Court on 6 August 1926 wherein he was the Plaintiff. The defendant was one Edward Vincent Bambrick and the gist of the matter was that Harburn had undertaken to sell his shop at 96 Murchison Street to Illing Bros. represented by Bambrick. The tables were turned however, when Bambrick took occupation of the premises, did a stock-take and discovered that the stock in hand was nowhere near that claimed by Harburn. The matter was eventually withdrawn largely owing to the death at the age of 64 years 8 months of Harburn on Thursday, 8 October 1925.

He had passed away at No. 1 White Road, Ladysmith survived by his wife and four children – Christopher Durville Harburn (born 1887), Elizabeth Maud Brown (born 1890), Arthur George Harburn (born 1893) and Vera Mann (born 1898)

Oh Rory, good gracious, historic Murchison Street, sadly, for me, only a vague memory, is it still extant?
I need to see it!

I will take a snap of it when I am next there Frank as it falls under my jurisdiction and post it here. Still going strong with the Siege Museum and Town Hall still lining the street.

P.S. I have just been informed that Harburn also served in the Basuto Gun Wars as a Trooper with Willoughby's Horse - on the roll for prize money but not on the roll for a medal.

Regards

Rory

Hi Rory......

One medal out of a possible three...... Maybe he did not do it for the glory......

Great story though......

Mike