X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Frederick Gustavus Burnaby


Frederick Gustavus Burnaby

Having been disappointed in his hope of seeing active service in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882, he participated in the Suakin campaign of 1884 without official leave, and was wounded at El Teb when acting as an intelligence officer under General Valentine Baker.

Henry Newbolt's poem "Vitaï Lampada" is often quoted as referring to Burnaby's death at Abu Klea; "The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel's dead...", (although it was a Gardner machine gun which jammed).

Fukushima Yasumasa

In any case, Fukushima was an admirer of Colonel Burnaby, a British cavalry officer, who had made an epic ride to Khiva in 1874 after receiving word that the Russians had closed the border to Turkistan.



see also