# Richard Thomas Glyn

Lieutenant-General Richard Thomas Glyn CB CMG (23 December 1831 – 21 November 1900) was a British Army officer. He joined the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) by purchasing an ensign's commission in 1850. Glyn served with the regiment in the Crimean War and rose in rank to captain before transferring to the 24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot in 1856. He served with that regiment in the Indian Mutiny and was appointed to command it in 1872. In 1875 he accompanied the 1st Battalion of the regiment on service in the Cape Colony and fought with them in the 9th Cape Frontier War of 1877–78. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath after the war.
Glyn commanded No. 3 Column, including men from both battalions of his regiment, during the first British invasion of Zululand in 1879. Whilst Glyn was accompanying Lieutenant-General Lord Chelmsford on a reconnaissance, the column's camp was attacked and overrun in the Battle of Isandlwana, with almost 600 men of the 24th Regiment killed. In the aftermath of the Battle of Rorke's Drift Glyn assumed command of the British garrison there. Though suffering from depression and a mental breakdown he made orders to recover the missing Queen's Colour of the 1st Battalion and to bury the bodies of his men. He was excluded from a court of enquiry held by Chelmsford into the defeat at Isandlwana and survived an attempt by Chelmsford's staff to blame him for the disaster.
Glyn commanded a brigade in the second invasion of Zululand that brought the war to an end with a British victory, for which he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. He returned to the United Kingdom after the war to command the regimental depot at Brecon, Wales, and superintended the transformation of the 24th Regiment into the South Wales Borderers. Glyn was promoted to general rank before his retirement, after which he served in the ceremonial role of colonel of the regiment of the South Wales Borderers until his death.

## Early career

Glyn was born on 23 December 1831. He was the only son of Richard Carr Glyn; his great-grandfather was Sir Richard Glyn, 1st Baronet, of Ewell.
Glyn joined the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) as an ensign by purchasing a commission on 16 August 1850. Glyn received promotion to lieutenant, also by purchase, on 24 June 1853 and served with his regiment in the Crimean War from 1855 to 1856. Vacancies that arose in the field (such as by deaths by enemy action or disease) could be filled without purchase and Glyn was promoted in this manner to the rank of captain on 7 September 1855. For his service in the Crimea he received the Crimea Medal, with a clasp indicating service at the Siege of Sevastopol, and the Ottoman Empire's Turkish Crimea Medal.
In 1856 Glyn married Ann Penelope Clements, they went on to have three daughters. Glyn transferred to the 24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot on 30 September 1856. Glyn served with the regiment during the Indian Mutiny, from 1857 to 1858, and received the Indian Mutiny Medal. He was promoted to the rank of major by purchase on 23 July 1861 and to lieutenant colonel, also by purchase, on 13 February 1867. Glyn received command of the 24th Regiment in February 1872 and on the 13th of that month was granted the brevet rank of colonel.

## Southern Africa

The 1st Battalion of the 24th Regiment was posted to the Cape Colony in Southern Africa in 1875 and Glyn accompanied them. Glyn served in the 9th Cape Frontier War of 1877–78 commanding the Transkei Field Force, operating in Kaffraria against the Xhosa people. After the conclusion of the war Glyn was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
The 2nd Battalion of the 24th Regiment was posted to the Cape to join the 1st Battalion in preparation for the 1879 Zulu War. At this point Glyn was the second-most-senior British officer in Southern Africa, after Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, who commanded British forces in the war. Chelmsford gave Glyn command of his No. 3 Column, the principal British invading force, but allowed him little independence of command, as Chelmsford accompanied the column in the invasion of Zululand. Glyn commanded the troops in the opening action of the war, at Sihayo's Kraal on 12 January 1879.
On their way to the Zulu capital of Ulundi, No. 3 Column made camp at Isandlwana. On the morning of 22 January Glyn accompanied Chelmsford on a reconnaissance in force to Mangeni, leaving Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pulleine of the 1st Battalion of the 24th Regiment, in command of the camp. Pulleine was later joined by the more senior Colonel Anthony Durnford, with additional troops. During Glyn's absence, a large Zulu force attacked the camp in the Battle of Isandlwana. The British position was overrun with few survivors; Durnford, Pulleine and almost 600 men of the 24th Regiment were killed. Glyn and Chelmsford's force passed through the battlefield later that day on the way to Rorke's Drift, which a small British garrison of the 14th Regiment had successfully defended against a Zulu attack.
Glyn's post-battle report on Isandlwana was emotional and written, in part, as an attempt to vindicate the actions of his officers in the battle. Because there were so few British survivors, some aspects were pure speculation. The report was the first official record of the actions of Lieutenants Teignmouth Melvill and Nevill Coghill, who had made a fatal attempt to save the Queen's Colour of the 1st Battalion of the 24th Regiment. This colour had been received by Glyn on parade at Curragh Camp in 1866 from the Countess of Kimberley (wife of John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley). After reading an account of Melvill and Coghill's actions from eyewitness Lieutenant Walter Higginson of the Natal Native Contingent, Glyn ordered a party to Isandlwana to bury their bodies. A second party sent by Glyn later recovered the remains of the colour. The damaged colour was retrieved and later repaired by Glyn's wife Anne; it remained in use by the regiment until 1933.
Glyn was given command of Rorke's Drift by Chelmsford. He led a demoralised force, isolated from any immediate assistance and in fear of Zulu attack. Rainy conditions and the outbreak of disease did not help matters, nor Glyn's orders confining most of the garrison to the interior of the post. Glyn arranged the fortification of the post into Fort Bromhead (named for Gonville Bromhead, who had led B Company of the 24th Regiment in the Battle of Rorke's Drift) and, later, established a new fort near the Buffalo River, Fort Melvill. Glyn's command was dysfunctional due to him being affected by depression; he suffered a temporary mental breakdown. The 24th Regiment's dead at Isandlwana went unburied until 20 June as Glyn insisted on the work being done by men of his regiment.
When Chelmsford held a court of inquiry into the defeat at Isandlwana he chose not to call Glyn as a witness. The court served principally as a means of exonerating Chelmsford and placing the blame for the defeat on Durnford. Criticism of Chelmsford was deflected by his staff onto Glyn, who was unable to answer the charges in person. Glyn refused to answer written requests for an account of his interpretation of Chelmford's orders relating to the camp at Isandlwana. Glyn noted privately that Chelmsford knew what his orders had been and that Glyn's duty was to obey them. Glyn's wife Ann was indignant at his treatment and robustly defended him, which forced Chelmsford's staff to cease this line of action.
In the second invasion of Zululand from May 1879, Glyn commanded the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Division. He led the brigade at the 5 July Battle of Ulundi, the decisive last major battle of the war, which ended in British victory. Historian Donald Morris characterised Glyn, during this period, as "a short, grouchy officer" who frequently fell out with his subordinates.

## Later career

After the Zulu War Glyn returned to the United Kingdom to command the regiment's depot at Brecon, Wales. He spent a period on retirement half pay from 19 May 1880. Glyn was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George on 30 October 1880 for his services in the Zulu War. Glyn superintended the change of his regiment's name to the South Wales Borderers under the 1881 Childers Reforms and was given command of the 24th Regimental District created by those reforms.
Glyn was promoted to major-general on 30 September 1882 and his appointment as commander of the regimental district ended on 6 December 1882. He was promoted to the honorary rank of lieutenant-general shortly before his retirement on 30 September 1887. Glyn was appointed to the ceremonial role of colonel of the regiment of the South Wales Borderers on 29 May 1898.

## Death and legacy

Glyn died at his home, Chequers, in Stratfield Saye, Hampshire, on 21 November 1900, aged 68, not long after witnessing his regiment depart for Southern Africa for service in the Second Boer War. He is buried in his family's plot at Ewell, Surrey. A hoof from his horse, Yellow Rose, serves as an ash tray in the officers' dining room of the Royal Welsh, the successor regiment of the South Wales Borderers.