Maurice Gifford

On the completion of his education, he entered the Merchant Service, and was on board the training ship Worcester for three years.

In 1878, he entered the service of the British Steam Navigation Company, in which he remained until 1882, visiting many parts of the globe.

That same year he fought in the Mahdist War and served as assistant correspondent to the Daily Telegraph at the time of the engagement of Tel-el-Kebir.

[2] Next, Gifford went to South Africa and became general manager of the Bechuanaland Exploration Company and soon became involved in the First Matabele War, 1893.

[6] On 1 July 1910, while undergoing a rest cure for nervous breakdown, Gifford met his death from a fire caused by his clothes being set alight by a cigarette.

Gifford (right), Frederick Russell Burnham (middle), Matabeleland , 1893
Maurice Gifford, Gifford's Horse, Matabele War 1896
A formative photograph of 17 men. Eight stand, seven sit on chairs and two are on the floor. Sir Byron Leighton Claud Grenfel Major Frederick Russell Burnham Captain Gordon Forbes Abe Bailey unidentified Lord Brooke Major Bobby White Lord Downe Major-General Sir Henry Edward Colville Major Harry White Major Joe Laycock Sir Winston Churchill Sir Charles Bentinck Colonel Maurice Gifford unidentified
Returning from the Boer War on the RMS Dunottar Castle , July 1900. [ 9 ] Standing L-R: Sir Byron Leighton, Claud Grenfel, Major Frederick Russell Burnham , Captain Gordon Forbes, Abe Bailey (his son John would marry Diana Churchill in 1932), next two unidentified, John Weston Brooke . Seated L-R: Major Bobby White, Lord Downe , General Sir Henry Edward Colvile (a year later Churchill as MP would demand an inquiry over his dismissal from South Africa), Major Harry White, Major Joe Laycock , Winston Churchill , Sir Charles Bentinck. Sitting L-R: unidentified, Col. Maurice Gifford (who had lost his arm in the Second Matabele War).