| WHERE I GOT MY NAME |
| Chauncey Hugh Stigand counted among his
honours the 'Order Of The Nile', War Medal and Victory Medal and memberships
in the Royal Zoological Society and the Royal Geographic Society. Just
before his death he was "Bey" or Governor of the Mongalla Provence of Sudan.
The man also spoke a dozen languages several well enough to be a certified
translator and held the Army allcomers boxing title. Born in 1877, Stigand was considered the most physically powerful officer in the British Army. Stigand was noted not only for his bravery and skill with a rifle but also for his unusual understanding of native people and their languages. In the past there have been many "Big Game Hunters" who wrote overmuch of their own exploits, it becomes wearisome to read the endless lists of animals they killed. With Stigand our problem is the direct reverse, he tells little of his own achievements or of his maulings resulting in close brushings with death by Rhino, Lion and even Elephant as documented in D D Lyell's The African Elephant and its Hunters. Ironically Stigand had written about the manner of his own death............ war with Dinkas can be avoided 99 times out of 100 but sometimes either the enemy is unfamiliar with firearms or enjoys a particular superiority of men or both. Then nothing is seen of the assailants except a few flying men. Suddenly there is a rush in the thick grass and the little column gets massacred......... At 0715hrs the Equatorial Battalion is marching in square formation, the dull swish of their puttee's soggy against the tall green/gold grass of Kor Raby in the Mongolla Province of Sudan. The Aliab Dinka who will kill Stigand is 19 and unafraid, he is one of "The Fearless Ones of the White Nile" he clutches 7 feet of hand hammered iron as keen as steel and straight as bamboo, he has sprinkled sand over the blade to dull its glint and is ready to kill or be killed. The warrior who has marked Stigand as prey has slithered off to his left in a silent, serpentine motion bunching with fellow warriors for a rush through heavy grass just as Stigand had predicted. A low bird call swells into the bellow of battle as the Spearmen and Equatorial Battalion join, hand to hand. Stigand is not in one of the squares the Major [posthumously] has opted to buy his men time and is jinking and and dodging a sleet of spears running and firing as the Aliab surround him and the first fluttering, humming, fluted blade slices home. Maintaining his balance Stigand continues firing. How many Dinka were killed by Stigand is not recorded with their bodies being dragged away leaving only smears in the grass, it would be safe to bet the rent money however that one of the finest rifle shots in africa did not go cheaply and his discarded cartridge cases would later attest to this. So this is the Chauncey Stigand I have been named after.....my dad is a bit of a romantic and I am VERY glad he opted for Stigands surname ..........the thought of dad screaming "CHAUNCEY" at the top of his lungs in front of several of my beach Lady-Friends just does not bear thinking about! |