The Rorke's Drift Men E-Book

James W Bancroft

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 403

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Through the night of 22/23 January 1879, a small garrison of British soldiers behind a makeshift barricade of bags and boxes successfully defended the storehouse and field hospital at Rorke's Drift, against an army of Zulu warriors who outnumbered them by about twenty to one. This heroic stand became on of the most famous actions in the history of the British Army, and inspired the epic film 'Zulu!' But who were these men who made such a stubborn resistance when all seemed lost, and what legacy have they left us? For the first time, details of the lives of all these men have been collected into one reference work, categorised in the counties to which they were associated, in the form of biographical tributes. The Rorke's Drift Men is a valuable addition to any military library.

Leseprobe

HEROES OF THE ZULU WAR

JAMES W. BANCROFT

First published 2010 by

Spellmount, an imprint of

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2016

All rights reserved

© James W. Bancroft, 2010

The right of James W. Bancroft to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 8060 9

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

Contents

Foreword

The Defence of Rorke’s Drift

The Biographies

Corps of Royal Engineers

General Staff

The Royal Regiment of Artillery

2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment (The Buffs)

1st Battalion, 24th Regiment

B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment

A Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment

D Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment

E Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment

F Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment

G Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment

H Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment

2nd Battalion, 90th Light Infantry

Army Medical Department and Hospital Corps

Commissariat and Army Service Corps

Army Chaplains Department

Natal Mounted Police

1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, Natal Native Contingent

2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment, Natal Native Contingent

Bibliography

Foreword

On 22 January 1879, a garrison of British soldiers successfully defended the storehouse and field hospital at Rorke’s Drift against an army of Zulu warriors. This heroic stand has been written about extensively and inspired the epic film Zulu! Yet, surprisingly, information about the soldiers who took part has not been so readily available. The main bulk of the troops who defended the post came from 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment, particularly B Company, with some men from the 1st Battalion, men of the Royal engineers and the Royal Artillery. There was also a sergeant from the 3rd Regiment and a corporal of the 90th Light Infantry, and there were colonials from the Natal Mounted Police and the Natal Native Contingent. There were also several men from the Army’s Medical and Commissariat departments, a member of the general staff, a chaplain and a civilian ferryman.

Most of the rank-and-file soldiers in the garrison were rough-and-ready lads from the coal mining and cotton manufacturing communities in and around city slums, and their only alternative to the highly-disciplined life in the British Army was the precarious environment and drudgery of the pit and mill. In addition to this there were a number of men present who had gained a great deal of experience serving in various campaigns around the world. This combination, and their staunch loyalty to their regiment made them a formidable fighting unit, and the rifle in their hands gave them a decisive advantage! The Zulu warriors who fought at Rorke’s Drift were undoubtedly a fearless foe, who expected to face little resistance from the small garrison. However, the British fought for their lives with great gallantry, and held the Zulu assaults back so stubbornly that the warriors lost heart and retreated back across the river border. Sixteen gallantry medals were awarded to defenders, one being cancelled at a later date. Seven were presented to soldiers of the 24th Regiment, which was the most ever given to one unit for a single action. There have been attempts to devalue what is considered by some to be a high number of recognitions, but it was no more than they deserved. In fact, the important part some men played was definitely overlooked.

More than 125 years after the campaign the names Rorke’s Drift and Zulu are still immediately recognised and stir great passion. However, many Rorke’s Drift men returned to a life of poverty, and a struggle for survival equal to that which they had endured on active service, and in some cases their lives were rocked by heartbreak and terrible tragedy. Most had faded into obscurity until now. The Rorke’s Drift Men contains biographical tributes to all the defenders known to me, with information drawn from eyewitness accounts, official reports, military service records, census returns and other official civilian documentation. I have tried to present the work in the form of biographical tributes as opposed to lists of facts and figures. The basis of the work has been my own files concerning British courage and achievement compiled over the past 35 years, with additional help from numerous Zulu War enthusiasts and family descendants of defenders, particularly Kris Wheatley, a great-granddaughter of Caleb Wood, whose enthusiasm for the subject and standard of research concerning the defenders of Rorke’s Drift must be applauded. I also acknowledge the help of the Royal Corps of Transport, the Royal Army Medical Corps, both museums being in Aldershot; and Alun Baynham-Jones, the curator and associates at the South Wales Borderers Museum at Brecon, which should be the first visit of anyone wishing to further their knowledge of the subject.

James W. Bancroft, Eccles, 2010

The Defence of Rorke’s Drift

Tension between British authority and various factions in South Africa had been building up for years prior to 1879, especially concerning the independent-minded Boer farmers and the warrior nation of the Zulu. Because of this, many British Army units were already in South Africa taking part in the ninth of a series of Cape frontier wars. The 2nd Battalion had embarked on the troopship Himalaya on 1 February 1878, for active service at the Cape. This campaign consisted mainly of sweeping skirmishes to flush rebel natives out of the bush, and the rebel leaders were captured and dealt with by mid-1878. However, the main threat to stability in the region came from the highly-disciplined army of fearless Zulu warriors. In order to deal with the Zulu threat the British issued a deliberately harsh ultimatum to the Zulu king, Cetshwayo. British forces began to build up at strategic places along the border with Zululand, and when Cetshwayo failed to comply to the ultimatum, they invaded in three main columns on 11 January 1879. The 3rd (Central) Column, under the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Chelmsford, crossed the Buffalo River into Zululand at a commandeered mission-station known as Rorke’s Drift. The main bulk of this section of the invasion force was made up of soldiers of the 24th Regiment, which left B Company of the 2nd Battalion to garrison the storehouse and field hospital which had been established there, along with some men from other imperial and colonial units.

The main invasion force set up camp in enemy territory on the slopes of a rock feature called Isandlwana. However, Lord Chelmsford considered this to be a temporary base, so on the morning of 22 January 1879 he took half his force forward to find a suitable site for an advanced base camp, and to try to locate the enemy; leaving over a thousand British and colonial troops to guard the ill-prepared camp. Later that day a vast Zulu army swarmed down from the hills around Isandlwana in a devastating surprise attack. In the initial stages of the battle firepower from the British ranks kept the Zulus back, but the 24th Regiment were eventually overwhelmed by the enemy’s superior numbers and were forced to stand and fight in hopeless disorder. They were massacred almost to a man, but the few survivors of the battle, and the warriors themselves, told how the British soldiers stood back-to-back and fought bravely for their lives until they ‘fell like stones’. A wing of the Zulu army, consisting of four regiments of warriors about 4,000-strong, who had not ‘washed their spears’, advanced into Natal seeking additional blood at Rorke’s Drift.

Cetshwayo ka Mpande was crowned king of the Zulus in 1873, and was said to be more intelligent, and at times equally as ruthless as the great Zulu chief, Shaka. When he failed to respond to the harsh ultimatum put to him by the British Government – which included that he should disband his army – British troops invaded Zululand and war began.

Under the command of Lieutenant John Chard, Royal Engineers, and Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, 24th Regiment, the hundred or so able-bodied men in the garrison had been warned of the Zulu advance, and with orders to stand and fight, they hastily built a makeshift barricade with bags and wooden boxes to form a compound between the two buildings, and six men were posted in the hospital having been told to barricade the entrances and windows and defend the patients as best they could.

The first Zulu onslaughts were met by withering British rifle fire, and many warriors fell ‘as if they had been cut off at the knees’, but they eventually rushed the barricade and the defenders were forced to use their bayonets in fierce hand-to-hand combat. After setting fire to the roof of the hospital the Zulus forced their way in, killing some patients, while others were rescued by being passed through holes cut in partitions and then helped out of a window. Most of them reached an inner redoubt where they joined their comrades in the desperate fight for survival.

Having received orders to stand and fight, British soldiers began to empty the storehouse of anything they could use to build a barricade. The men worked with a sense of urgency knowing that their lives might depend on whether they could complete a perimeter wall before the Zulus attacked. (Richard Scollins)

A wall of grain bags three units high was constructed, enclosing the front of the hospital and running along the ledge of the rocky terrace to the stone wall of the kraal, and also coming from the far end of the storehouse down to the edge of these rocks. Two wagons were utilised to form part of the defensive wall connecting the right hand front corner of the storehouse with the left hand back corner of the hospital. The arrows indicate the initial Zulu attack. (Tracey Bancroft)

A Zulu onslaught against the barricade.

With good foresight, Lieutenant Chard ordered two piles of mealie bags which had been left outside the storehouse to be built up into a high redoubt as a second line of fire, and from where he could get an elevated view of the perimeter on all sides. It would also be the place where they would make a last stand if the Zulus pushed them back from the original barricade. However, the British fought with exceptional bravery and the Zulus eventually lost heart and moved off. When a relief column arrived on the following morning fifteen defenders had been killed, two were dying, and ten were badly wounded. The Zulus had suffered about 500 casualties.

The tragedy at Isandlwana was one of the worst disasters in British military history, and sent a shockwave across the nation. Lord Chelmsford requested reinforcements from Britain, and a new invasion was planned. On 28 March 1879, a British column assaulted a strategic Zulu stronghold at Hlobane Mountain, only to suffer a serious reverse. However, on the following day, the Zulu army attacked the British camp at Khambula and suffered such heavy losses that it never recovered. On 4 July a large British force, in square formation, moved on the Zulu capital at Ulundi, and was attacked by about 20,000 warriors. British firepower cut them down in their thousands, and imperial cavalry put them to flight. The Zulu capital was burnt, and the campaign came to a close when Cetshwayo was captured a few weeks later.

The Biographies

Corps of Royal Engineers

John Chard

John Rouse Merriott Chard was born at Boxhill, Plymouth, on 21 December 1847. He was the second son of William Wheaton Chard (1819–1873) of ‘Pathe’, in the village of Othery, Somerset, and Mount Tamar, Plymouth, and his wife Jane, daughter of John Hart Brimacombe, of Stoke Climsland, Cornwall. They had married at Launceston in the December quarter of 1839. His older brother, Wheaton, followed family tradition and became a colonel in the 7th Royal Fusiliers, while his younger brother, Charles, became a vicar. There were five sisters, and the family worshipped at St Budeaux Church in Plymouth. His great-nephew, Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Chard, regimental secretary of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in 1979, stated: ‘All my family are Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and he was the black sheep because he became a sapper – but he ended up doing rather well.’

John Chard of the Royal Engineers had fame reluctantly thrust upon him. He was at Rorke’s Drift to work on a ferry which had broken down, and he found himself as the senior officer at the post when news arrived that an army of Zulus was on its way to attack the garrison. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his cool leadership throughout the engagement. Queen Victoria was an admirer, and he became known as the Hero of Rorke’s Drift.

He was educated at the Plymouth New Grammar School, and received some private tutorship. He attended the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, where he was remembered for always being late for breakfast. He passed-out in 1868, and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 15 July 1868. After two years at Chatham he sailed to Bermuda in October 1870, being employed in the building of fortifications at the Hamilton Dockyard. His father died at Plympton near Plymouth in 1873, and he returned to England in January 1874. In the following month he was posted to Malta, where he was again employed in the construction of defences. He returned to England in April 1876, and after a short stay at Chatham, was appointed to the Western District at Exeter.

As the situation in South Africa worsened he was ordered to report to Aldershot to join the 5th Company, Corps of Royal Engineers for active service at the Cape. The unit set sail from Gravesend on 2 December 1878, arriving at Durban on 5 January 1879. His vaccination injection had become inflamed and his right shoulder was very sore, but British troops were already assembling on the Natal-Zululand border, so with no time to recover he was ordered to take a small party of engineers to join the 3rd Column at Rorke’s Drift. For almost the entire journey the tracks were bad, and by the time he arrived at his destination on 19 January the column had already invaded enemy territory. One of the ponts which was used to ferry the troops across the Buffalo River had broken down, so Chard and his men set up camp on the Natal bank to work on repairing it.

Two days later he received orders to take his party of engineers to the British base camp at Isandlwana, about eight miles away, and he set off with them on the morning of 22 January. While he was there he saw enemy activity on the distant hills, some movement being in the direction of Rorke’s Drift, so he set off back to report what he had seen, arriving at the post by midday. The officer commanding the post, Major Spalding, did not seem too concerned about the situation and informed Chard that he was leaving him in charge while he went to Helpmekaar to hurry forward a company of regular infantry which was overdue, uttering the immortal words ‘nothing will happen!’ as he left.

Lieutenant Chard then returned to the river with a guard of seven regular soldiers and about 50 natives, and just after three o’clock he was in his tent catching up on correspondence when Lieutenant Adendorff rode up and informed him that the camp at Isandlwana had been taken by the Zulus. Shortly afterwards a message arrived from Bromhead urging him to come up to the camp. Some of the men offered to moor the ponts in the middle of the river and defend them from the decks. Chard must have been heartened by the plucky offer, but he decided that they would be better deployed defending the garrison with their comrades. On returning to the post, they found that preparations for the defence were underway. Bromhead informed him that a Zulu force was on its way to attack the mission station, which they were to hold at all costs. He agreed with most of the arrangements made, and added a few suggestions for improvements to the barricade, then saw to it that every man knew his place and was prepared for battle.

Regular soldiers and men from colonial units fought side by side in fierce close combat with ferocious Zulu warriors of the uNdi Corps at Rorke’s Drift. British dead and seriously wounded numbered less than 30, but Zulu casualties totalled as many as 500. (Richard Scollins)

About two hours into the battle the Zulus launched a particularly fierce assault. Lieutenant Chard was using his revolver to help to keep the enemy at bay when Private Jenkins suddenly ducked the officer’s head down as a Zulu slug just missed him. It was due to Lieutenant Chard’s good foresight that two piles of mealie bags were built up into a high redoubt as a second line of fire, and from where he could get an elevated view of the perimeter on all sides. It would also be the place where they would make a last stand.

The citation for the award of Victoria Cross to Lieutenant John Chard published in the London Gazette of 2 May 1879, states:

The Lieutenant-General commanding the troops reports that, had it not been for the fine example and excellent behaviour of these two Officers under the most trying circumstances, the defence of Rorke’s Drift post would not have been conducted with that intelligence and tenacity which so essentially characterised it. The Lieutenant-General adds that its success must, in a great degree, be attributable to the two young Officers who exercised the Chief Command on the occasion in question.

A colonial trooper said that ‘the men spoke highly of Chard’, and his cool leadership proved invaluable that day. He was appointed captain and brevet-major dated from the 23 January 1879, thus becoming the first man in history to move from a lieutenancy to a majority in the army in a single day. He, and his fellow defenders received the thanks of the government.

Major Chard remained at Rorke’s Drift to supervise the burial of hundreds of dead Zulus in mass graves, and to work on a more permanent stone perimeter. Suffering the hardships of atrocious conditions, he was struck down with fever, and on 17 February he was taken by ambulance wagon to Ladysmith, where he was looked after by a Doctor Park and his wife. After showing signs of improvement he suffered a relapse, and just after the announcement of his Victoria Cross award it was reported in local newspapers that he had died. However, he was nursed back to health, and was able to report for duty in time for the British re-invasion.

He joined Colonel Wood’s column at Khambula to inspect the fortifications, and was involved in all the operations with the flying column. His unit followed up Colonel Buller’s scouting activities, building bridges and repairing roads, and he was in the British square formation which advanced on Cetshwayo’s capital at Ulundi for the final crushing defeat of the Zulus on 4 July.

He was decorated with the Victoria Cross by General Garnet Wolseley during a parade of the troops at St Paul’s Camp in Zululand, on 16 July 1879. For his service at the Cape he also received the South Africa Medal with 1879 clasp.

He arrived at Spithead aboard the Eagle on 2 October 1879, where the Duke of Cambridge welcomed him and delivered a message from Queen Victoria inviting him to an audience with her at Balmoral, where she presented him with a gold signet ring. He was invited to a second audience with the Queen, and on 21 February 1880, he presented the sovereign with a more detailed account of the action at Rorke’s Drift. He was received at Plymouth as a local hero, being presented with a gold chronometer and a superb sword of honour which had been specially manufactured and richly carved. He was presented with an illuminated address by freemasons in Exeter, and was guest of honour at dinner receptions in Taunton and at the Wanderers Club in Chatham. He was held in the highest regard in the West Country for the rest of his life. Queen Victoria was appreciative of his unassuming manner and the modest way in which he told of the events at the defence of Rorke’s Drift, and it was said at the time when he submitted his official report, which was modest and to the point, that ‘He has spoken of everybody but himself.’

However, John Chard may have been too modest for his own good, and seems to have been a man with no particular ambitions. Some senior officers, including General Wolseley, who was not a supporter of the awarding of gallantry medals, and General Buller, a fellow West Countryman, made less than complimentary remarks about his ability in the field, and some unnecessary personal insults, and Captain Walter Jones of the Royal Engineers, who was a friend, said of him,

He is a most amiable fellow … but as a Company Officer he is so hopelessly slow and slack … With such a start as he got, he stuck to the company doing nothing. In his place I should have gone up to Lord Chelmsford and asked for an appointment. He must have got it, and if not he could have gone home soon after Rorke’s Drift, at the height of his popularity and done splendidly at home. I advised him, but he placidly smokes his pipe and does nothing.

His niece, Dorothy, who remembered him from when she was a child, recalled him as a man who never seemed to come to terms with what he had done and never considered his deed to have been as heroic as people thought. Her story of his arrival back in Somerset sums up the type of man he was. Major Chard was met at Taunton by civic dignitaries, and after some speeches he was driven to North Curry, where he was met by crowds waving admiringly. Told by his sister to take off his hat and wave back to them, he reluctantly did so, muttering sheepishly, ‘All I did was my duty.’

John Chard never married, but he is known to have had a relationship with a woman called Emily Rowe, who bore a daughter to him at Exeter, believed to have been on 16 February 1882, who was named Violet Mary. Emily Rowe married a man named Lawson Durant, and had a second daughter, Irene, born on 6 January 1884. Emily Durant died in 1939. Violet’s birth would have been kept secret because of the stigma of illegitimacy at the time, and because of Chard’s fame and association with the Queen. He left an annuity to Emily and Violet for the duration of her lifetime, and the family have preserved two letters written by Chard and addressed to Emily telling her about his trip to Japan. At his funeral it was recorded that an anonymous wreath bearing the inscription ‘that day he did his duty’, took pride of place beside a tribute from Queen Victoria on the coffin.

In January 1880 he began service at Devonport, before proceeding to Cyprus in December 1881, where he was appointed regimental major on 17 July 1886, and during which time his mother died in 1885. He returned home in March 1887. He was posted to Fulwood Barracks in Preston in May 1887, remaining there until being posted to Singapore on 14 December 1892, where he was commanding Royal Engineer for three years, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 18 January 1893. On his return to Britain in January 1896, he took up his final post as Commanding Royal Engineer at the Perth District. In May that year he presented Queen Victoria with Japanese mementoes he had brought back for her. He was promoted to colonel on 8 January 1897.

While in Scotland he was found to have cancer of the mouth. In November 1896, he was too ill to visit Balmoral at the request of Queen Victoria, and underwent an operation in Edinburgh. In March 1897 surgeons had to remove his tongue. He was still able to converse quite well, but his condition became critical, and in August 1897 doctors diagnosed that the cancer was terminal. He was placed on sick leave from 8 August 1897. He spent the last days of his life with his brother in the rectory at Hatch Beauchamp, where many friends, including Queen Victoria, expressed their concern about his condition. On 11 July 1897 he had received the Diamond Jubilee Medal and a book containing a signed portrait of his sovereign. After suffering terrible distress towards the end, he died peacefully in his sleep at Hatch Beauchamp Rectory on 1 November 1897, aged 50. He was buried in the churchyard at Hatch Beauchamp, where a rose-coloured marble cross headstone marks the spot. Queen Victoria sent a wreath bearing an inscription written in her own hand, ‘A mark of admiration and regard for a brave soldier from his sovereign.’ There was a wreath from Colonel Bourne, and the officers of the South Wales Borderers, and there were tributes from all over the world. For many years the Queen’s wreath lay beneath a memorial window which was placed in Hatch Beauchamp Church. Memorial plaques have been placed in Jesus Chapel at Rochester Cathedral, Kent, and at Othery Church in Somerset. There is a bronze bust of him in Taunton Shire Hall, Somerset and there are items associated with him at the Royal Engineers Museum, Chatham, and the Territorial Army Centre in Swansea has a ‘John Chard VC House’.

The chief Royal Engineer lays a wreath in Hatch Beauchamp Churchyard at the final resting place of John Chard during a service to commemorate the centenary of the defence in 1979, which was attended by some of Chard’s descendants.

The location of Chard’s Victoria Cross remained a mystery for many years until 1972, when what was described as his South Africa Medal, and a ‘cast copy’ of his VC were offered for auction in London. Sir Stanley Baker, who had portrayed Chard in the film Zulu!, purchased the set for £2,700. It was offered for auction again in 1996, and one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of the VC began to unfold. Prompted by the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the original Victoria Cross, the auctioneers decided to send it to the Royal Armouries at Leeds to be examined. The tests revealed it to be identical to all authentic VCs cast from the cascobels of cannon captured by British forces in the East, and therefore proved to be the genuine original medal. It is now in the medal collection owned by Lord Ashcroft.

Charles Robson

Charles John Robson was born on 7 January 1855, at 7 Ebury Mews, Belgravia, London, the son of George Robson, a coachman, and his first wife, Ann (formerly Dieper). He had five older sisters. In 1871 they lived at 16 Bloomsbury Street, Westminster, and his father was working as an ostler.

Charles left his job as a groom, and enlisted into the Corps of Royal Engineers at Bow Street Police Court on 30 April 1873, suggesting that he chose a stretch with Her Majesty’s army, as opposed to a stretch at Her Majesty’s pleasure. He was described as being five feet five inches tall, and weighing 133 pounds. He had a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. He had several scars on his neck and between his shoulder blades and his muscular development was average. 12046 Driver Robson was sent to Aldershot, being posted to ‘B’ troop (Equipment) RE Train. He spent three days in jail at Aldershot in January 1874 for some petty misdemeanour which is unrecorded, and would be the only blemish on his army career, and he was in hospital on several occasions suffering with a variety of ailments. In October 1874 his mother had fallen down some stairs which left her paralysed, and she died a month later.

Charles Robson was Lieutenant Chard’s batman. He spent most of his time during the defence shooting down Zulus who were trying to ransack the Royal Engineers’ wagon.

Lieutenant John Chard joined the company on 18 April 1876, and Charles was detailed as his batman and groom. He received good conduct pay of one penny a day from 13 September 1876. On 2 December 1878, he and his officer accompanied the 5th company as they boarded the SS Walmer Castle bound for active service in South Africa. They arrived in Durban on 4 January 1879, where they were greeted by a torrential downpour in which they had to unload hundreds of tons of stores and equipment. Lieutenant Chard and Driver Robson, a corporal and three sappers, were ordered to go up to Rorke’s Drift post to repair the pontoon bridge across the Buffalo River. A small mule train was organised on which the men and their equipment were loaded. Chard rode on horseback with Charles on his spare mount.

On the morning of 22 January the engineers rode to Isandlwana, where they saw Zulus on the distant hills. He and his officer rode back to Rorke’s Drift, leaving the other men at the base camp. During the defence he placed himself behind the stone kraal at the eastern end of the defences where he could fire at the Zulus who were trying to ransack the Engineers’ wagon. He told Chard that during the fighting ‘I was protecting our things.’

Charles remained at Rorke’s Drift for several weeks to work on a more permanent fortification of the garrison. On 4 July 1879, he and his officer were in the British square at the Battle of Ulundi, for the final devastating defeat of the Zulus. Following the cessation of hostilities the 5th Company moved to Saint Paul’s Mission, where they were occupied in building another fortified position. They embarked aboard the SS Eagle and arrived in Portsmouth on 2 October. They were met as heroes, and Charles accompanied his officer on many official engagements, including a trip to Balmoral for an audience with Queen Victoria.

He transferred to the 7th Field Company at Chatham in February 1880. However, when the 7th Company left for Natal in 1881, he decided to leave the army and discharged to the Reserve from the 11th Field Company on 20 June 1881. However, in September 1881, he began a new job at the Chatham barracks as a civilian groom and general servant to Captain C.H. Gordon RE. He accompanied his officer to Cork, and when his officer returned to Chatham in July 1882 they parted company. He was re-called to the Colours on 2 August 1882, and posted to Aldershot as batman to Lieutenant Maude. He received two pence good conduct pay from that date, and on 13 November 1882, he re-engaged to serve a further twelve years. He received his final discharge on 30 April 1894.

Charles met Jane Elizabeth Farrand in Aldershot, and they married at Hale Parish Church in Surrey on 13 May 1883. He and Jane both gave their address as Heath End, Hale, and by 1891 they had moved to 8 Perowne Street, Aldershot, and it was there on 22 June 1891 that their only child, Annie Lilian, was born. The family moved to Orchard Road in Dorking, Surrey, and by 1901 they had moved to Ceres Road in Plumstead, before settling at 43 Swingate Street in Plumstead, where he kept a chicken house, grew a grapevine and enjoyed smoking his variety of pipes. Charles and Jane worked in the Royal Arsenal during the First World War, and in 1917 Annie, then Mrs Peter Ewart, gave them a grandson, Edwin Peter, who remembered his ‘kind, solidly-built’ grandfather with great respect.

Major Chard seated in foreground, with his batman Charles Robson at the back in uniform and wearing a rosette. This picture was probably taken during Chard’s tour of the West Country on his arrival back in England.

Charles Robson died on 19 July 1933, at St Nicholas Hospital in Plumstead, the cause of death being ‘cerebral embolism’. He was 78, and he had been married to Jane for 50 years. He was buried in an unmarked common grave in Plumstead Old Cemetery. A hand-carved wooden marker plaque was placed at the grave site on 22 January 1993, and in 1999 a more permanent memorial plaque was placed at the grave by the Royal Engineers Association.

General Staff

George Mabin

George William Mabin was born on 5 October 1848, the oldest of seven children born to George Jellard Mabin and his first wife Frances (formerly Howe). His father was a mariner, who had become the landlord of The Plough public house in Culver Street, Bristol. On George’s seventh birthday, his father composed a special acrostic poem for him. While George senior was at sea in 1855, Frances became the licensee of the Royal Oak in Charles Street, Bristol, and on his return the family moved to 14 Elbroad Street, Bristol, where George earned a living as a sail-maker, before taking over the Elephant and Castle in Merchant Street, Bristol. Frances died in 1865.

They were living at the Bay Horse in Lewin’s Mead, Bristol, when George enlisted into the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own), on 29 May 1868. He was five feet six-and-a-half inches tall, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. He had ‘two small blue dots on his left forearm’. 1566 Private Mabin gained a 2nd Class Certificate of Education on 29 November 1869, and was promoted corporal on 3 July 1870. He was appointed military staff clerk on 20 May 1872, and promoted sergeant, being promoted colour-sergeant on 20 May 1875.

George Mabin was a member of the general staff doing duties as a clerk at Rorke’s Drift when he received news that the camp at Isandlwana had been taken by the enemy and a wing of the Zulu army was on its way to attack the small outpost.

He had been posted to Dover on 30 August 1870, where he met Mary Elizabeth Ranger, and they were married at St Mary’s Church on 3 January 1872. Three children were born in the next few years: George Gerrard in Manchester in 1873, Florence Gertrude in Dover in 1875, and Samuel Edward in Dover in 1877.

Colour-Sergeant Mabin was appointed to the district officer at the Cape of Good Hope on 6 June 1878, and sailed to South Africa on the SS Nubian. His wife apparently went with him, and he was serving at Rorke’s Drift on 22 January 1879. In an account given in 1914, he stated

I was sitting at my office tent door at the station, we did not expect any trouble. Just after three in the afternoon, a man, hatless and bootless, rode up on an exhausted horse; he halted at the tent and I immediately asked him what had occurred. ‘Good God, the camp is taken and they are coming here!’ We had scarcely finished our preparations when the approaching Zulus were observed coming round the spur of the Oscarberg Mountain. There were eighty-six of us bearing arms, and we prepared to sell our lives as dearly as possible. The first man I ever killed in my life was a big Zulu. As he advanced he took cover behind anything that presented itself. He dropped behind a rock prior to making another rush, when I covered the rock with my rifle, and as he rose to come out again I pulled the trigger, and he leaped at least five feet in the air and dropped dead. About seven in the evening the Zulus attempted to fire the hospital, lighting tufts of grass and attaching these to their assegais and throwing them into the thatched roof of the building which was soon alight. The flames, as a matter of fact, aided us, because by their light we were able to distinguish the Zulu as they formed into bodies for succeeding rushes. I was on the look-out and discovered a movement on the Zululand side of the river. Owing to the light, I could not determine what was happening; whether they be friends or enemies approaching. But in the next ten minutes I found they were mounted men, and to our intense joy it proved to be the General at the head of the remainder of the column, and their approach was the signal for the full flight of the Zulus.

George stated that his only wound was a very slight one on the shin, made by a spent cartridge. He was promoted to sergeant-major on 19 February 1880, being appointed superintendent clerk to the General’s Staff at Fort Napier, Pietermaritzburg, where the aptly named Albert Napier was born in 1880.

Sergeant-Major Mabin saw active service during the uprising in the Transvaal in 1881. He was present at the engagement with Boer commando units at Laing’s Nek on 28 January, at Ingogo on 8 February, and he was standing close to General Colley when he was shot dead during the disastrous engagement at Majuba Hill on 27 February. It was during this campaign that George earned himself the nickname ‘The Fighting Clerk.’

Sergeant-Major Mabin received the Cape of Good Hope Meritorious Service Medal on his retirement from an unblemished military career in 1898.

He was posted back to England, and in December 1882, William was born at 6 North View, Stapleton Road, Bristol. By 1884 he was garrisoned at The Castle in Cape Town, where five more children were born: Frances Mary Catherine in 1884; Reginald Victor in 1886; Blanche Amy in 1888; Harold Edgar in 1890; Maud Millicent in 1893 and Gladys Elsie in 1897. Sergeant-Major Mabin was discharged at Aldershot on 31 May 1898, after an unblemished military career. He received the Cape of Good Hope Meritorious Service Medal with an annuity.

He returned to South Africa as a civilian in 1900, where he took employment as a clerk for the Governor of the Cape. His wife died in 1906, at their home at 20 Williams Street, Cape Town.

A few years later George married Sarah Annie Stroud, but he was widowed again in 1920. He developed malignant tumours on his thigh and lung, and on 30 October 1938 he underwent an operation at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town (famous for the world’s first heart transplant). However, he did not fully recover and died on 11 November. He was buried alongside his wives in the family plot at Maitland Cemetery in Cape Town. His obituary described him as ‘an exemplary husband and father, a soldier, and a veteran of Rorke’s Drift.’

The Royal Regiment of Artillery

John Cantwell

John Cantwell was born in May 1845, at St James’s parish, Dublin, the son of John Cantwell. He was employed as a servant before enlisting into the 9th Regiment, on 6 November 1868, at the age of 23 years and six months. 1740 Private Cantwell was described as being five feet eight inches tall, with a fresh complexion, hazel eyes and light-brown hair, and had ‘marks of cupping over his left scapula.’ He gave his next of kin as his sister, Mary, of Melbourne, Australia.

He transferred to the Royal Regiment of Artillery with the regimental number 2076 on 1 April 1872, serving at home until 5 July 1872, when he sailed to the island of St Helena. He gained a 4th Class Certificate of Education on 7 July 1875, and on 16 August 1876 he gained leave to marry Caroline Margaret Dickinson at the Ladder Hill Garrison, Jamestown, St Helena. His new wife was a 22-year-old seamstress, and they had two children. He returned home on 14 September 1876 and joined N Battery, 5th Brigade, as 23182 Gunner Cantwell, on 1 July 1877. He passed a wheelers course on 4 January 1878.

The unit received orders for active service in South Africa and embarked on the troopship Dublin Castle on 9 January 1878. They arrived at the port of East London, and marched to King Williamstown, arriving there on 11 February 1878, to find that much of the heavy baggage transported by sea had been broken into. From there they moved to various places in the colony, where they saw active service in the 9th Cape Frontier War.

He was promoted bombardier wheeler on 29 July 1878. Between July and September the Battery marched from the Transkei to Greytown, pausing for a while at Kokstad. By 3 September 1878 they had moved to Natal, and on 2 November 1878 the Battery was given orders to move to Greytown. They arrived at Helpmekaar in December 1878, where they received the order to move up to the Zululand border at Rorke’s Drift.

John had reverted back to gunner on 21 January 1879, and he is believed to have been the artillery storeman at Rorke’s Drift, probably defending the store building during the battle. When the hospital was being evacuated he saw one of his NCO comrades, Bombardier Lewis, struggling desperately on his hands and knees trying to get from the hospital to the inner entrenchment, with Zulus scaling the barricade to attack him, so he risked his life to go out and assist him.

He returned to St Helena from South Africa on 15 May 1879, and arrived at the general depot at Woolwich on 4 July that year, which was the day British troops defeated the Zulu army at Ulundi and brought the conflict to a close. On 11 February 1880 he was recommended to receive the silver medal for distinguished conduct in the field for his bravery during the defence, and he was presented with the medal by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on 8 March 1880. He also received the South Africa Medal with 1877-78-79 clasp.

His next postings were to Malta from 15 December 1880 until 2 October 1884, and to India from 3 October 1884 until 18 January 1886. As 3460 Gunner Cantwell he served with the 10th Brigade, Royal Artillery, and as 3760 Gunner Cantwell he served with the 9th Brigade. He served at home from 19 January 1886 until 19 July 1887, when he was discharged from the Woolwich depot: ‘In consequence of his having been found medically unfit for further service’, his character being described as ‘very good’.

His intended place of residence was 2 Phillipa Street in Woolwich, and within a month he was appointed by the Secretary of State for War to join the Civil Service, being employed in the engineering department of the Royal Gunpowder Factory at Waltham Abbey, where former-General Noble of the Royal Artillery was the superintendent. He was employed there for over five years. However, his wife’s health began to fail and he was recommended to go to South Africa, so he resigned and sailed to the Cape on 5 November 1892, where he lived at 8 Picciones Buildings, Loop Street, Durban. He was employed as a prison officer at the Central Prison in Addington, Durban, from 6 January–6 May 1893, on a salary of £10 a month, until Sir Charles Mitchell appointed him warder at the Central Prison in Pietermaritzburg. He had applied for a transfer back to Durban, when, on 10 August 1898, he was assaulted by one of the inmates, a ‘lifer’ named A. Dubois, which left him with an enlarged spleen from which he never fully recovered. Having had his pension commuted on 12 December 1895, and no further payments being made to him, he is known to have greatly annoyed his employers for his constant requests for an increase in his pension, which possibly influenced their punishment of Dubois, who only received five days in solitary confinement on half-rations. He then left the prison service and took employment as a lavatory cleaner, but he considered the hours too long, and by 24 March 1900 he had ceased this type of work.

John Cantwell was living at 2nd Avenue, Georgeville, Durban, when he was admitted to the Addington Hospital in Durban, where he died on 14 August 1900, aged 55 (the death certificate states his age as 53). Cause of death was ‘hypertrophy of the spleen and valvular cease of the heart.’ His daughter, Mrs J.F. Webb, is mentioned on the death certificate, and his effects amounted to ‘furniture and one old suit.’ He was buried at the Roman Catholic churchyard in Durban.

In 1935, through the Durham Light Infantry Comrades Association, Caroline Cantwell, then aged about 80, presented copies of a ‘Roll of Defenders’ compiled by Lieutenant Chard after the defence, to the South Wales Borderers Museum at Brecon. A forensic handwriting expert has since suggested that the roll may have actually been compiled by John Cantwell. The whereabouts of his Distinguished Conduct Medal and his South Africa Campaign Medal are not known, but his Long Service, Good Conduct Medal was sold to a private collector at Dix-Noonan-Webb auctioneers, on 28 March 2002.

Abraham Evans

Abraham Evans was born on 7 February 1855 in Twyn-y-ffrwd, near Pontypool, and was baptised on 17 March 1855, at the Park Terrace Methodist Chapel. He was the third of five sons in a family of eight children born to James Evans, a coal miner, and his wife Winifred (formerly Bratt). James was joined at the pit by his three eldest sons, including Abraham. His father died in 1873.

Abraham enlisted into the Royal Regiment of Artillery at Newport. 1643 Gunner Evans was posted to ‘K’ Battery, 16th Brigade, at Woolwich. However, the unit became ‘F’ Battery, 24th Brigade on 1 April 1874, and on 1 July 1877 it became known as ‘N’ Battery, 5th Brigade. Gunner Evans was awarded a penny a day good conduct pay from 7 January 1878. The unit received orders for active service in South Africa and embarked on the troopship Dublin Castle on 9 January 1878. They arrived at King Williamstown on 11 February 1878, to find that much of the heavy baggage had been ransacked. The unit saw active service in the 9th Cape Frontier War, which ended in July 1878, and on 2 November the Battery was given orders to move to Greytown. They moved to Helpmekaar, followed by the order to move up to the Zululand border at Rorke’s Drift.

The grave of Abraham Evans was renovated and a memorial stone was erected at a rededication service held in 2001.

Gunner Evans was confined in hospital at Rorke’s Drift suffering from dysentery, and during the defence he occupied the north-west corner room of the building with Gunner Howard. The room had access to the veranda and a window from where the two gunners shot at the Zulus who massed at the front of the hospital. When the roof was set on fire and the situation became hopeless, Gunner Evans noticed a lull in the action and seized the opportunity to run out of the front of the hospital and reach the comparative safety of the inner entrenchment.

Abraham and the other sick and wounded men were evacuated to Helpmekaar, where ‘N’ Battery was camped, having been withdrawn from the field. When he returned to duty Abraham rejoined his battery; in June of that year Prince Louis Napoleon was killed by Zulus while he was out on patrol, and Abraham was on parade as the Prince’s body left for transportation to England. Between July and October 1879, ‘N’ Battery was in the Northern Transvaal, where Gunner Evans saw action against Chief Sekhukhune and the Pedi tribe, at which time he received news that his brother, Paul, had fallen down a pit shaft and been killed.