Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Zulu War medal to Colour-Sergeant M. C. Keane, Staff Clerk to Colonel John Crealock, who was the only member of the General Staff to be killed at Isandhlwana and whose remains were recently discovered and identified

South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1879 (Staff Clerk M. C. Keane. Genl. Staff) pawnbroker’s marks in obverse fields, polished, otherwise nearly very fine and extremely rare £6000-8000

Colour-Sergeant M. C. Keane was killed in action at Isandhlwana on 22 January 1879. He was serving as Staff Clerk to Colonel John Crealock, Military Secretary to Lord Chelmsford, commanding the forces in Zululand, and was the only member of the General Staff to be killed at Isandhlwana.

In 2009 his remains were supposedly discovered and identified by means of a General Staff Corps button found close to the skeleton. Archaeologists found it during excavations being carried out by Amafa, the heritage organisation responsible for the protection of the historic battlefield. Amafa spokesman Mr Konigkramer said the finding had helped historians build up a clear picture of what had happened to the young Colour-Sergeant during the bloody battle, in which 1,350 British troops were slaughtered by 22,000 Zulu warriors. Mr Konigkramer said: ‘Keane was not a front-line soldier and was likely one of the last to abandon camp at Isandlwana when it was obvious the Zulu were overwhelming it. He was staff clerk to Colonel John Crealock, military secretary to Lord Chelmsford, commander of the British invasion of Zululand. He was probably on horseback which would explain his body being found some way down the Fugitives Trail along which survivors fled towards the uMzinyathi river and the safety of Natal. He was probably speared by a warrior in the part of the Zulu army which had snaked behind Isandlwana mountain to trap the fugitives. His body was found alone which is unusual.’ He added: ‘If the button had come from the uniform of a soldier of the 24th Regiment, he could never have been identified as hundreds of them died at Isandlwana and are among the 1,300 men buried there.’