On 8 August 1903, Lady Audrey Buller visited Plymouth Hoe to unveil a Memorial to the memory of Prince Christian and officers and men of the Devon, Somerset and Gloucester Regiments who fell in the Boer War between 1899 and 1902. Before his recall to England, her husband, General Sir Redvers Buller had been the original commander-in-chief of this war.
In a previous South African war against the Zulus, Redvers Buller, then aged 39, had shown bravery for which he had been awarded the Victoria Cross and to the people of Devon, he was a hero.
Prince Christian was Queen Victoria's grandson, his full title being Major His Highness Prince Christian Victor Albert Ludwig Ernst Anton, heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, G.C.B., G.C.V.O. of the 4th King's Royal Rifle Corps. He was born at Windsor Castle 14 April 1867 and died at Pretoria 20 October 1900 aged 33. Weakened by injuries received at the Battle of Colenso in 1899, the Prince died of an enteric infection.
The Memorial was designed by London-based architect Frederick W. Marks. It was commissioned by Alfred Mosely, C.M.G., of Koffyfontein and Kimberley, who also established the Princess Christian Hospital at Pinetown, Natal, in 1900. The sculptor was Emil Fuchs, an Austrian who lived from 1866-1929. The builders were Fenning & Co ( not a local firm).
"One point in our position was occupied by the enemy the whole day but at dusk in a very heavy rainstorm they were turned out of the position at the point of the bayonet in the most gallant manner by the Devon Regiment led by by Colonel Park. General White's despatch 7 January 1900."
*The inscription refers to the action on Wagon Hill on 6 January 1900 when the Devons suffered heavy losses charging the crest of the hill as they drove the Boers back during the Siege of Ladysmith.
The photograph above was taken by William Maxwell Crockett who had a photographic studio at 18 Durnford Street, Stonehouse. Born in Liverpool, he had married Louisa Greed in Taunton in 1874 and they began their married life - and William's professional life - in East Street, Taunton. The move to Stonehouse was made in the early 1890s.