Spiralling Histories

To start this spiral I needed to repost the "full circle"  story I wrote in 2018. Back then, I thought it was a closure, a completed circle of personal history. 

I was wrong

Last year my seemingly complete ring began to spiral in the most unexpected and wonderful way. It started with us taking a dear friend on holiday to see the Fochabers Folk Museum. We'd actually never been there ourselves. Most times Fochabers is a town we drive through travelling to somewhere else. 

First of all I can say it's a surprising Tardis of a seemingly small museum, full of unexpected twisty ways leading to all sorts of fascinating things. We all enjoyed it, but it was at the end, talking to the ladies who volunteer there, that the real magic happened. 

They have a display for Allen Wilson. If that name means nothing to you, then please read my blog post Full Circle or look up the Shangani Patrol. 

And this is where the circle became a spiral

My father's father, Gabe Frost, found a British Cavalry sabre from the 1800s Matabele wars, out in the wilds of Matabeleland in the 1950s. This is a photo of him. 

 

After my grandfather died, my dad became the owner of this beautiful sabre. I'm afraid to say, I used to sneak it out of my dad's wardrobe and have imaginary swordfights in the garden. I grew very adept at beheading my mother's flowers. But mostly it has stayed hidden away, wrapped in cloth and stored in chests and wardrobes. 

 

But no longer

 

 This month, August 2025, I donated it, and a military bugle, to the Fochabers Museum. They were very pleased. And today they phoned to say that they are going to wall mount it above the Allen Wilson display. Not just a full circle, but an ever spiralling portion of our mutual histories. 

I can feel my dad and his father smiling

A Full Circle

I wrote this many years ago years ago, but decided to post it again for friends and family.

What do Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and this very impressive stone building in Scotland have in common? Some things I never knew and someone I would NEVER would have expected!

© Copyright Ann Harrison and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

This gorgeous neo-Gothic building is a school in the Morayshire town of Fochabers. I decided to look up more about the place and what I found has led me on a most amazing (and very moving) journey through three continents and my childhood memories. 

I hope you enjoy this remarkable adventure as much as I have. 

The school is the Milne Institute; it was built by a man named Alexander Milne who was born in Fochabers in 1742. That might have been the end of this blog post, except in finding the story of Alexander Milne I stumbled onto a name I knew very well... Allan Wilson.

wikimedia.org Shangani memorial panel postcard

To most people that won't mean much, but to any Rhodesian it means a lot. Allan Wilson is a hero, both in Rhodesian and British history, but I never knew he was born right on my "doorstep"  until I found him listed as a "famous Fochaberian" and read that he had been a student at the Milne's Institute school.

The Famous Fochaberians site says this:

Allan Wilson was educated at Milne's Institution, excelling in outdoor pursuits. In 1878 he emigrated to South Africa and joined the Cape Mounted Rifles, later being commissioned as a lieutenant in the Basuto Police. He was appointed Major in command during the Matabele Campaign in which he and many of his soldiers were killed.

He led his small band of soldiers across the Shangani River seeking to capture Lobenguela, the King of the Matabele. The King escaped them. On their retreat, Wilson and his men found the Shangani in flood … after a brave fight, they were all killed. Buried in the Matopo Hills near Cecil Rhodes' grave, Allan Wilson was long regarded as a national hero.

Reading that brought back so many memories, especially of childhood visits to the Shangani memorial, where Allan Wilson and his men now rest, in the absolutely stunning spot high high up on those giant granite Motopos hills that will always be home.

Some friends sent me photos of their own memories of the Wilson Memorial, to share. The first lovely family shot is courtesy of Bill Teague. He's the little guy pointing up in the bottom photo. 

This colour one if from my friend, Robb 

The people of Fochabers placed two standing stones in a memorial garden, in 2002, to commemorate all the remarkable people born in their town. We went there to take a look...

The stone on the right has Allan Wilson's name at the top

We took photos, shed a few tears, and stood in awe that we'd come a full circle in such a story; so wonderfully complex, this journey of lives and deaths.

Another stone memorial, another stunning view

It's a long walk up to that burial site on the Motopos hill, but once you were up there... oh what a view! I'd turn in a circle and feel like an eagle, flying free.

Did Allan Wilson's spirit return to his own home on the River Spey?

Eagles fly here too