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Trooper Henry St John TUCK
B Troop, Salisbury Horse Date of birth: 18th August 1868 Date of death: 4th December 1893 Killed in action aged 25 Buried at Matopo Hills, Zimbabwe
Henry St John Tuck was born at Bathwick on the 18th of August 1868 the eldest son of William Henry Tuck, a gentleman and painter, and Jane St John (nee Budd) Tuck of 7 Sydney Place, Bathwick, Bath, later of South Kensington. He was christened at Bathwick on the 23rd of September 1868. He was educated privately by Dr Friedlauder of Clapham Common and at Lancing College from January 1883 where he was in Seconds House. On leaving school he continued his studies in Germany. He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve before moving to South Africa where he joined the Cape Mounted Rifles in 1890 and was part of the Pioneer Column that year. He was discharged in 1891 but in 1893 he volunteered for service with the Salisbury Horse during the Matabele Wars against their chief Lobengula. His unit formed part of the expedition under Major Forbes which left Bulawayo on the 14th of November 1893 with a force of 320 volunteers, three maxim machine guns and two hundred native carriers. By the 3rd of December the column had reached the banks of the Shangazi River where there was evidence that the Matabele had only recently left the area. Forbes decided to form laager and send Major Allan Wilson, Commander of the Victoria Column, and a force of twelve men to pick up the tracks of Lobengula’s warriors. After dark two of Wilson’s men returned with the news that Wilson had tracked the Matabele and considered that the prospect of capturing Lobengula was so good that he had decided not to return. He requested that the rest of the column should follow but Forbes considered the risk of attack on his encampment to be too strong and decided instead to reinforce Wilson with twenty two men under Captain Henry John Barrow. They left at 1am on the 4th of December, and arrived with Wilson just before dawn. Among Borrow’s men was Trooper Henry Tuck. At daybreak Wilson and his men crossed the Shangani River and approached Lobengula’s camp where they called on the king to surrender. The camp was deserted and it soon became clear that the king had continued to retreat during the night. Instead they were confronted by a large force of Matabele warriors who fired a ragged volley at them killing two horses and forcing Wilson to lead his men to the protection of a nearby anthill. As the number of warriors increased and the volume of their fire grew Wilson withdrew his men still further, seeking the cover of some trees. By this time Wilson’s group had lost several horses and had suffered casualties. Grouping the wounded into the centre of his men he set out on a fighting withdrawal towards the river, all the time being pursued by the enemy. After a mile they found their path back to the river blocked by a larger group of several hundred Matabele warriors and decided to make a stand in a clearing, as to attempt to break the Matabele line and escape would have meant abandoning their wounded. Three men, however, did manage to get away and as they escaped they heard the shots and cries of the Matabele as they closed in on Wilson’s men. According to Matabele sources they were called on to surrender but refused, and using their dead horses as cover, they fought on until late afternoon when the survivors were overrun and shown no quarter by their enemy. Nothing was heard of them by the rest of the column until some two months later when a trader named Dawson was led to the spot by some local natives and buried the remains of the men. In 1904 these remains were exhumed and moved to the Matopo Hills where they were laid to rest under a memorial. On the 2nd of October 1894 one of the three survivors from the patrol, Frederick Russell Burnham, was interviewed about what he had heard of the action from the Matabele warriors who were present: - "According to the information obtained from the Kaffirs, Wilson fought for three or four hours, shooting carefully all through, so that every shot should tell. The first cessation in the shooting was when they sent for Gambo's impi as a reinforcement. During that pause they saw Wilson's men tearing up their shirts to bandage the wounds of their companions. Thereupon they began singing. Some Kaffirs say it was like the singing of the whites which they heard at the church in Victoria. After the singing of that song the fighting was resumed with the reinforcements the Kaffirs had received. They give a thrilling description of Wilson's bravery up to the last. They say: - "The tall induna with broad-brimmed hat and the large moustache stood straight up fighting after all his men had been killed, or were lying down wounded. One of the wounded kept handing him the guns which he had loaded. He had many bullet-wounds, but he remained standing and shooting till he could no longer raise his arms, then a young Matabele rushed up to him and pierced him with an assegai. Wilson reeled. The young Kaffir withdrew his assegai and pierced him a second time, whereupon Wilson fell down dead. After they had returned, thinking all were now dead, one of the wounded rose and walked away, with a revolver in each hand. They repeatedly shot at him, without being able to hit him, and they consequently took him for a magician. But a shot from far away in the valley struck him through the hips, whereupon he sank down. In this sitting position he kept on firing over his shoulder, for he could not turn himself. He was a man with a grey beard (probably Robertson). But we have also heard the Kaffirs say that they found only one wounded man, whom they brought to Lobengula and wished to keep alive, but that he died of his wounds; also that, after singing of the hymn by Wilson's men, they heard only one volley and then all was still; from that and the fact that almost all had been shot through the head, they drew the conclusion that Wilson, after the ammunition had been exhausted, gave orders to load the guns with the last cartridge, and that after singing the hymn, every one shot himself through the head rather than fall into the hands of the Kaffirs. I cannot believe this; for when the corpses were fetched, they were found lying in a circle, with one man at a little distance, and that the last shooting was of such short duration was, I think, because the Kaffirs charged and killed the men with assegais; hence that last volley and the succeeding quietness". In 1904 their remains were exhumed and moved to the Matopo Hills where they were laid to rest under a memorial. The men who fell were: - Major Allan Wilson Captain Henry John Borrow B Troop, Salisbury Horse Corporal Harry Graham Kinloch B Troop, Salisbury Horse Captain Frederick Fitzgerald No. 1 troop, Victoria Rangers Captain William Joseph Judd No. 4 Troop, Victoria Rangers Captain Argent Blundell Kirton Transport Officer, Victoria Rangers Sergeant Clifford Bradburn Victoria Rangers Lieutenant Arend Hermanus Hofmeyr No. 4 Troop, Victoria Rangers Lieutenant George Hughes No. 1 Troop Victoria Rangers Troop Sergeant Major Sidney Charles Harding Victoria Rangers Sergeant Harold Alexander Brown Victoria Rangers Corporal Frederick Crossley Colquhoun Victoria Rangers Trooper William Abbott B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper William Bath B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper William Henry Britton B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Edward Brock B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper L. Dewis B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Dennis Michael Cronly Dillon B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Harold John Hellett Victoria Rangers Trooper George Sawers Mackenzie B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Matthew Meiklejohn B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Harold Dalton Watson Moore Money B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Percy Crampton Nunn B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Alexander Hay Robertson Victoria Rangers Trooper John Robertson B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper William Alexander Thomson B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Henry St John Tuck B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Philip Wouter De Vos B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Frank Leon Vogel B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Henry George Watson B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Thomas Colclough Watson B Troop, Salisbury Horse Trooper Edward Earle Welby Victoria Rangers He was awarded the Matabele Campaign Medal.

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