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Name: STIGAND, Hugh Chauncey OBE (Major)

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Birth Date: 25.10.1877 Boulogne-sur-Mer

Death Date: 20.12.1919 killed by Dinkas in Mongalla, Sudan

First Date: 1905

Last Date: 1919

Profession: Hunter, tracker, field surveyor, explorer and soldier. One of the finest British officers ever to have served in Africa

Married: In Paddington 4 Jan 1913 Nancy Yulee Neff (American) b. 30 July 1889 Pittsfield, Mass., d. 1 Feb 1981 Taunton (late m. Barrington Moore 1883-1966)

Children: Florida Yulee Agnes (1917 Eastbourne-1965)

Author: 'Central African Game and its Spoor', 'Scouting and Reconnaissance in Savage Countries', 'The Game of BEA', 'To Abyssinia through an Unknown Land', 'The Land of Zinj', 'Dialect in Swahili', 'Admin. in Tropical Africa', 'Hunting the Elephant in Africa'

Book Reference: Cuckoo, Kill, Stigand, Safari Trail, Rundgren, White Man, Havash, Drumkey, EAHB 1906, North, EAHB 1907, Chandler, Mills Norfolk

War Service: The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment

General Information:

Cuckoo - Msa-Nbi railway - Simba - The story of the heroic fight with 4 lions at this spot, with Stigand as chief actor in the drama - in earlier book of Foran's. ............. story of him arriving at Kisii during Kisii rebellion (p.345)  
Kill - 'a very close friend of mine from boyhood; we were at the same Army Crammer together and served in Kenya side by side. He was outstanding even among the most noted of hunters, and his courage was of the very highest order. I know of no other man who could have said that he had been severely injured by an elephant, a rhinoceros and a lioness, and yet survived to tell all of it. As a boy he had a passion for physical culture, and had been a show pupil of Eugene Sandow. His truly astounding bodily strength stood him in good stead when the lioness attacked him. Stigand was killed on Christmas Eve, 1919, when Governor of the Mongalla Province in the Sudan, during the progress of a sudden revolt by the Dinka tribe. An eye-witness of that final tragedy, when Stigand was speared to death by the Dinkas in an ambush, told me that he died fighting to his last breath. He fell riddled with spear-thrusts delivered at very close range, after all his ammunition had been expended. Round his body was a solid wall of dead and wounded Dinka warriors. By his heroic death, he saved his own men from certain massacre. His end was in keeping with his splendid life. Those who knew and loved Hugh Stigand would have expected nothing less from such a very gallant Englishman.
Stigand - At the time of his death, Major Stigand was Governor of the Mongalla Province in the Sudan. ... "Major Stigand was hunter, tracker, field surveyor and explorer and the same faculties that enabled him to succeed in these capacities were employed by him in the study of temperament and customs of the people he had to do with, and in the investigation of the problems, political, economical, social and commercial he was required to solve" - Times Literary Supplement - Sept 6th 1923. Born 25th October 1877, at Boulogne-sur-Mer, where his father was British Consul .... remained there till 5 or 6 ....... then to Ragusa, - the port of Gravosa in Dalmatia ....... 1884 to Venice and Trieste where he visited Sir Richard Burton, who was then Consul there. ....... Then to London where he left his father for 22 years - when he next saw him he was over 80. At 14 he went to Radley College, near Oxford for 2 years - "the most miserable years of my life" ...... Eventually he entered the Army. ........ 1900 to Aden and Africa - hunting and fever. ........ 1902 - seconded and appointed to 1st (Central Africa) Batt. KAR at Zomba. ...... 1905 - tossed by a rhino. ......... Stigand was a man of wonderful physique, well proportioned and finally developed; a true model for a sculptor. His early experience in weight-lifting and physical training taught him how to 'fall' correctly, an accomplishment which stood him in good stead when he was tossed by the infuriated rhinoceros. He was of commanding presence, with firm countenance and clear, piercing eye. When 'on trek' he used to grow a magnificent beard, which added to his stately appearance. ....... The Somalis, who admire a man of majestic presence, would do anything for him. To them he was known as 'Kaider' (a tall, straight tree with a bushy top), or as 'Oora' (a handsome, scrubby bush supposed to resemble his beard). .............. At the end of 1905 he went to BEA and in 1906 was badly mauled in the arm by a lion at Simba on the Uganda railway. The damage was serious, so he came home for treatment and the limb was saved. ........ In 1907 he was back in EA. ...... In August 1908 his connection with the KAR ceased. He went home via Lake Rudolf, the Omo River and Abyssinia.   
Safari Trail - tall and purposeful and his natural strength had been reinforced - he had been a pupil of Sandow, the celebrated strong man of Edwardian days, who died because like so many strong and vigorous men he refused to admit the advance of age; he did not survive the effort of lifting a motor car out of a ditch. Stigand, once in London on leave, had found himself short of funds and had appeared on the music hall as Sandow's assistant, lifting incredible weights for a weekly wage. Mauled by elephant, lion, buffalo and rhino!     
Rundgren - Lyell said of him - 'I know of no man who has had so many and such narrow escapes from wild beasts as Capt. Stigand. Mauled by a lion, tossed by a rhino and seriously wounded by an elephant.'   
White Man - When Capt. Stigand passed through in 1908 the Rendille near Marsabit, over 100 miles from the border, implored him to stay and protect them from the dreaded invasion of Abyssinian slavers.   
Havash - Stigand, Aylmer and Mr Corfield all killed in the act of defending tribes under the protection of the Union Jack from hostile raiders.
Drumkey 1909 - Subaltern, 1st KAR, 1903; Militia 1898; Royal West Kent Regiment 1899; Special Service Officer, Somaliland 1901; Captain, Queen's Own Royal West Kent
Elephant - C.H. Stigand, who wrote "Hunting the Elephant in Africa," was described by Sir Frederick Jackson as a "prince amongst pioneers and hunters". He was a most observant naturalist and is spoken of by Abel Chapman as standing foremost among the pioneers, Selous alone outstanding. His favourite rifle was a .256, with which he shot all kinds of game. He once had a narrow escape from an elephant which knocked him down with its trunk, jabbed a tusk through his thigh, between the bone and the muscle, flung him clear and went on.
EAHB 1907 - entered the Army from the Militia in 1898; served with Royal West Kent Regt. in Burmah 1899; with Royal West Kent Regt in Aden 1899-1900; as a Special Service Officer in Somaliland 1901; with Royal West Kent Regt in Aden 1901-02; with 1st KAR in BCA 1903-05; with 1st KAR in BEA 1905 and 1906

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