In the historic footsteps of his great uncle

A visitor to Talana Museum walked in the footsteps of his great uncle who fought in the Anglo Boer War and was at the battle of Talana in Dundee in October 1899.
Sir Charles Marling was out from the UK with tour guide, Pat Rundgren, and Museum curator, Pam McFadden, to follow the wartime exploits in the area of Sir Percy Marling.
Sir Percy won a Victoria Cross at the battle of Tamai, Sudan, in 1884, after giving up his horse for Private Morley of the Royal Sussex Regiment, who was in imminent danger of being slaughtered. Although originally a member of the King’s Royal Rifles, Percy Marling VC was attached to the 18th Hussars at the battle of Talana. Pat and his wife, Cheryl, took Sir Charles and his wife, Lady Judi Marling, to the summit of Mpati for a spectacular overview of the site; to the old British campsite (near the RTI offices); Adelaide Farm on the Nyanyadu farm (where a contingent of the 18th Hussars surrendered to the Boers) and, finally, to the spot where Percy would have stood while watching the Boer retirement off Talana hill.

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Sir Percy was not with the contingent captured by Boers at Adelaide farm and joined the British forces in Dundee after the battle of Talana and acted as rear-guard down Van Tonder’s Pass as General Yule ordered the British retreat from Dundee to Ladysmith.
There was also a trip to the Museum which Sir Charles found fascinating. Pat told the Courier the tour was very interesting “especially as Pam and I had worked on his (Sir Percy’s) autobiography while compiling stories of participants in the battle for our book on the subject, and we were able to follow his movements quite easily.”
While visiting, he and Lady Judi were accommodated at the Rorke’s Drift Hotel.