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  • MEDAL AWARDED TO DUBLIN CORPORAL MAKES £72,000

    The Zulu War medal awarded to Corporal James Bushe.
    Photography Jan Starnes© Dix Noonan Webb Ltd

    The Zulu War medal awarded to Dublin Corporal James Bushe made £72,000 at Dix Noonan Webb in London today. It went to an internet bidder.  The estimate was £40,000-50,000 and it was knocked down for a hammer price of £60,000.  This becomes £72,000 with commission.

    Cpl Bushe was one of 16 Irishmen known to have taken part in the defence of Rorke’s Drift – the former trading post of Irish merchant James Rorke – when a 150 strong garrison held off an advance by 4,000 Zulu’s in 1879. He suffered a nose wound from a bullet that killed one of his comrades, but later served in the Mediterranean, India and Burma.

    A tailor by trade he enlisted in 1870 at the age of 18.  He was discharged from the army in 1891 and his later history is unknown.

    The Zulu War medal awarded to another Irishman, Michael Minihan, made £84,000 at Dix Noonan Webb last December. This was a record for  a Rorke’s Drift defender who was not awarded the VC.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for July 8, 2017)

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