Anthony Durnford (24 June 1830 – 22 January 1879) was a Colonel of the British Army who fought in the Xhosa Wars and the Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa. Durnford was killed at the Battle of Isandhlwana with most of his men.
Biography[]
Anthony Durnford was born on 24 June 1830 in County Leitrim, Ireland, United Kingdom, and he was raised by his uncle in Dusseldorf, Prussia. He studied at Woolwich's Royal Military Academy in 1846 and helped in designing the harbor of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, saving it from a fire in 1853. He was deployed to Malta instead of fighting in either the Crimean War or the Sepoy Rebellion, and in 1871 he was again posted to a distant colony, South Africa. On 11 December 1873, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, and by 1879 he was a Colonel. Durnford saw action for the first time in his career in the wars with the Xhosa tribe as well as against the Zulu in 1879, and he was one of the British commanders at the Battle of Isandhlwana in 1879. His ill relations with fellow commander Henry Pulleine led to the British forces being massacred, and he was himself killed by the Zulu warriors.
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