archaeography

"Sir William Forbes Gatacre, Major-General, Knight Commander of the Bath, a Member of the Distinguished Service Order, holding the Kaiser-I-Hind Gold Medal, and the Order of the Medjidieh, and Knight of Grace of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. Third son of Edward Lloyd Gatacre, Esq of Gatacre in this parish. Born at Herbertshire Castle 3 December 1843.
Died near Gambella, Abyssinia, 18 January 1906.

He served with distinction in the Hazara campaign 1888, in the Ton-Hon Expedition 1889-90, in the Chitral Relief Force 1895. He commanded the British Division in the advance on Khartoum 1898, and the Third Division of the South African Field Force 1899-1900, not less memorable was his service as president of the Bombay Plague Committee 1897."

(B.W. Gatacre, 1910, General Gatacre, J. Murray: London, p. 285).

When I think about the demystifying power of the archaeological, something like this comes to my mind: the fate of colonial hero Sir William Gatacre - a broken tombstone, covered by thick grass and dung in a remote corner of Ethiopia.