Teignmouth Melvill was born in London on 08/09/1842. Nevill Josiah Aylmer Coghill, ten years Melvill’s junior, was born in Ireland on 25/01/1852. Both came from wealthy backgrounds (Coghill’s family were Irish baronets) with strong military pedigrees and both were
commissioned, in their early 20s, into the 1st Battalion 24th Regiment of Foot (then the 2nd Warwickshire Regiment).

As 1879 dawned, Coghill and Melvill were both serving in South Africa, Mevill as regimental adjutant and Coghill as aide de camp to Sir Bartle Frere, the British High Commissioner for Southern Africa. The Scramble for Africa was at its height, with European powers carving up the
continent, and officials like Frere had their sights set on controlling the whole of Southern Africa, an area rich in diamond mines and sugar plantations. The Zulu Kingdom, a powerful African nation with a proud martial tradition which bordered Britain’s Natal colony, was a major obstacle to this ambition.

On 11/01/1879, on the flimsiest of pretences, British forces and their colonial auxiliaries invaded Zululand. Coghill and Melvill were both with the British centre column, Coghill having rejoined the regiment as ADC to Colonel Glyn. The British had every expectation that the invasion would be a walkover, but their confidence bred a fatal complacency. When the column made camp in the shadow of the mountain of Isandlwana on 20/01/1879, no efforts were made to fortify the position.

On the morning of 22/01/1879, a 20,000 Zulu impi (army) fell upon the camp. The British, taken completely by surprise by the fast-moving, disciplined and highly motivated Zulus, were ignominiously routed. The Zulus took no prisoners.

As the ragged British defence collapsed, Melvill rode out of the camp carrying the Queen’s colour of the 1/24th, still in its leather case, across his saddle. Contrary to popular myth, there is no evidence that he was ordered to do so. He joined the panicked mass of fugitives fleeing the
massacre for the safety of the border, some seven miles away. Somewhere on the road he met Coghill, also on horseback, who had left the camp before Melvill, and together they rode hell for leather for the swollen Buffalo River, which marked the border.

Artist’s impression of Coghill & Melvill’s last stand, Charles Fripp

What happened next is impossible to know for certain. The one eyewitness account of Coghill and Melvill’s crossing of the river was given by a Lieutenant Higginson of the Natal Native Contingent, who claimed to have accompanied them, but other accounts have cast doubt on
Higginson’s trustworthiness and whether he was even there. According to Higginson, as the three of them waded into the fierce current, he and Melvill were thrown from their horses but managed to grab onto a large rock in the middle of the river where they were stranded, Melvill still holding the colour. Coghill, who had safely reached the opposite bank, rode back into the river to help them, in spite of a badly injured knee and the Zulus bearing down on them. 

Unable to carry the colour any further, they abandoned it to the river, taking some comfort in the knowledge that it had been kept out of enemy hands. Under fire, all three managed to reach the bank safely, but Coghill’s horse was shot, leaving them stranded. Higginson claimed that Coghill and Melvill were unable to go any further, so he left to find fresh horses. He returned to see the two Lieutenants surrounded by advancing Zulus, armed only with their revolvers. Their bodies and the colour were recovered two weeks later.