The Transvaal War: The Battle of Majuba Hill.
PRIOR, (Melton) & WOODVILLE (R[ichard], C[aton])
Drawn by R.C. Woodville from Notes supplied by Officers present to our Special Artist, Mr. Melton Prior. Folding engraved plate, 22½" x 29". Light browning, folds, split at a fold, old paper tape repair verso, else very good. Extra Supplement to the Illustrated London News , May 14, 1881
"Prior arrived at Majuba "just in time to see the remains of the troops coming down from the summit in hasty retreat" ( Campaigns of a War Correspondent ). He got a careful description of events from [John] Cameron [of the Standard ], whom the Boers had released as a non-combatant... "Dear Old Cameron was not much of an artist, but he gave me a lot of notes and rough sketches of the fight, which I was able to work up under his guidance and forward to England."" [Hodgson The War Illustrators p.115] The descriptive caption text includes the identification, "The figure pressing forward on the extreme left of the picture is Mr. J.A. Cameron, Special Correspondent of the Standard . Prior was to witness Cameron's death four years later at the battle of Metemmeh when both were reporting on the progress of General Stewart's Desert Column.
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