Qualla: Dick King

Dick King: Introduction

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0. Two riders left Port Natal in the dark, heading south along the coast. One was Richard Philip King, an English trader. The other was Ndongeni, his Zulu servant. Behind them, the British garrison was surrounded, running out of food, and days from surrender. Ahead lay 960 kilometers of wilderness, 120 river crossings, and ten days in the saddle -- assuming everything went right. It was May 1842, and the fate of British control over what would become KwaZulu-Natal rested on whether these two men could reach Grahamstown before the garrison fell. One of them rode a horse named Somerset. The other had no saddle at all.

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Image: JMK | CC BY-SA 3.0

Dick King: From Gloucestershire to the Frontier

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0. Dick King was born on 26 November 1811 in Dursley, a small market town in the English county of Gloucestershire. His family emigrated to the Albany district of the Cape Colony as part of the 1820 Settlers -- a British government scheme that shipped roughly 4,000 emigrants to the ...

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Image: JMK | CC BY-SA 3.0

Dick King: The Killing Season

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0. King first proved himself in a crisis born from exactly that collision. In February 1838, after Zulu king Dingane murdered the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief and his entire delegation at his royal kraal, word reached Port Natal through the American missionary George Champion. The...

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Image: JMK | CC BY-SA 3.0

Dick King: The Ride That Changed Everything

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0. Four years later, King would put that knowledge to use. In May 1842, Boer-British tensions had escalated into open fighting at Port Natal. Captain Charlton Smith's British garrison was besieged, outnumbered, and running low on supplies. Someone needed to reach Grahamstown -- 960 ...

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Image: JMK | CC BY-SA 3.0

Dick King: Relief and Recognition

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0. King returned to Port Natal a month later aboard the Conch, one of the British vessels carrying the relief force. The ship arrived at the bay on 24 June 1842, and the reinforcements saved Smith's garrison from what would have been imminent surrender or starvation. Both riders wer...

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Image: JMK | CC BY-SA 3.0

Dick King: Bronze Horse, Incomplete Story

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0. A statue of Dick King on horseback was unveiled on the north shore of Durban Bay on 14 August 1915. It shows King astride Somerset, riding south. Ndongeni is absent from the bronze. Several of Durban's most prominent landmarks carry King's name: Kings Park Rugby Stadium, Kingsmea...

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Image: JMK | CC BY-SA 3.0