Roll of Honour (Rorke's Drift)

This was Emailed to me sometime ago let me know if there are any errors.!!!! Cheers. Old Historian2

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General’s Staff

Mabin, George William.Colour-Sergeant


Royal Artillery N Battery 5th Brigade

Cantwell, John. Gunner 2076, awarded Distinguished Conduct Medal
Evans, Abraham. Gunner 1643
Howard, Arthur. Gunner 2077
Lewis, Thomas. Bombardier. 458


Royal Engineers 5th Company

Chard, John Rouse Merriott, Lieutenant, awarded Victoria Cross
Robson, Charles John, Driver. 12046 (Chard's Batman)


2nd Battalion, 3rd (East Kent) Regiment of Foot (The Buffs)

Milne, Frederick. Sergeant. 2260


1st Battalion, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot

Beckett, William. Private. 25B/135, died of wounds 23 January 1879
Desmond, Patrick. Private. 25B/568
Horrigan, William. Private. 1-24/1861, killed in action 22 January 1879
Jenkins, James. Private. 25B/841, killed in action 22 January 1879
Nicholas, Edward. Private. 25B/625, killed in action 22 January 1879
Payton, Thomas. Private. 25B/372
Roy, William. Private. 1-24/1542, awarded Distinguished Conduct Medal
Turner, Henry. Private. 25B/l04
Waters, John. Private. 1-24/447
Wilson, Edward. Sergeant. 25B/56


2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment (2nd Warwickshire)

Adams, Robert. Private. 25B/987 D Company, killed in action 22 January 1879
Allen, William Wilson. Corporal. 2-24/1240, B Company, awarded Victoria Cross
Ashton, James. Private. 2-24/913, B Company
Barry, Thomas. Private. 25B/1381, B Company
Bennett, William Private. 25B/918, B Company
Bessell, William. Lance-Corporal. 25B/l287, B Company
Bly, John. Private. 2-24/2427, B Company
Bourne, Frank. Colour-Sergeant. 2-24/2459, B Company, awarded Distinguished Conduct Medal
Bromhead, Gonville. Lieutenant, B Company, awarded Victoria Cross
Bromwich, Joseph. Private. 25B/1524, B Company
Buckley, Thomas. Private. 25B/1184, B Company
Burke, Thomas. Private. 25B/1220, B Company
Bushe, James. Private. 2-24/2350, B Company
Camp, William Henry. Private. 25B/1181, B Company
Chester, Thomas. Private. 25B/1241, B Company
Chick, James. Private. 25B/1335 D Company, killed in action 22 January 1879
Clayton, Thomas. Private. 25B/755, B Company
Cole, Robert. Private. 25B/1459, F Company
Cole, Thomas. Private. 25B/801 B Company, killed in action 22 January 1879
Collins, Thomas. Private.25B/1396, B Company
Connolly, John. Private. 25B/906, C Company
Connors, Anthony. Private. 2-24/2310, B Company
Connors, Timothy. Private. 2-24/1323, B Company
Cooper, William. Private. 2-24/2453, F Company
Davies, George. Private. 25B/470, B Company
Davis, William Henry. Private. 25B/1363, B Company
Daw, Thomas. Private. 25B/1178, B Company
Deacon, George. Private. 25B/1467, B Company, alias George D Power
Deane, Michael. Private. 25B/1357, B Company
Dick, James. Private. 2-24/1697, B Company
Dicks, William. Private. 2-24/1634, B Company
Driscoll, Thomas. Private. 25B/971, B Company
Dunbar, James. Private. 25B/1421, B Company
Edwards, George. Private. 25B/922, B Company, alias George Edward Orchard
Evans, Frederick. Private. 25B/953, H Company
Fagan, John. Private. 25B/969 B Company, killed in action 22 January 1879
French, George. Corporal. 2-24/582, B Company
Galgey, Patrick. Drummer 2-24/1713, D Company
Gallagher, Henry. Sergeant. 25B/81, B Company
Gee, Edward. Private. 2-24/2429, B Company
Hagan, James. Private. 25B/978, B Company
Halley, William. Lance-Corporal. 25B/l282, B Company
Harris, John. Private. 25B/1062, B Company
Hayden, Garret. Private. 2-24/1769 D Company, killed in action 22 January 1879
Hayes, Patrick. Drummer 2-24/2067, B Company
Hitch, Frederick. Private. 25B/1362, B Company, awarded Victoria Cross
Hook, Alfred Henry. Private. 25B/1373, B Company, awarded Victoria Cross
Jobbins, John. Private. 25B/1061, B Company
Jones, Evan. Private. 25B/1428, B Company, alias Patrick Cosgrove
Jones, John. Private. 25B/1179, B Company
Jones, John. Private. 25B/970, B Company
Jones, Robert. Private. 258/716, B Company, awarded Victoria Cross
Jones, William. Private. 2-24/593, B Company, awarded Victoria Cross
Judge, Peter. Private. 2-24/2437, B Company
Kears, Patrick. Private. 25B/972, B Company
Keefe, James. Drummer 2-24/2381, B Company
Key, John. Corporal. 2-24/2389, B Company
Kiley, Michael. Private. 25B/1386, B Company
Lewis, David. Private. 25B/963, B Company, alias James Owen
Lines, Henry. Private. 2-24/1528, B Company
Lloyd, David. Private. 25B/1409, B Company
Lockhart, Thomas. Private. 25B/1176, B Company
Lodge, Joshua. Private. 25B/1304, B Company
Lynch, Thomas Michael. Private. 25B/942, B Company
Lyons, John. Corporal. 25B/1112, B Company
Lyons. John. Private. 2-24/1441, A Company
Manley, John. Private. 2-24/1731, A Company
Marshall, James. Private. 25B/964, B Company
Martin, Henry. Private. 25B/756, B Company
Mason, Charles. Private. 25B/1284, B Company
Maxfield, Robert. Sergeant. 25B/623 G Company, killed in action 22 January 1879
Meehan, John. Drummer 2-24/2383, A Company
Minihan, Michael. Private. 2-24/1527, B Company
Moffatt, Thomas. Private. 25B/968, B Company
Morris, Augustus. Private. 25B/1342, B Company
Morris, Frederick. Private. 25B/525, B Company
Morrison, Thomas. Private. 25B/1371, B Company
Murphy, John. Private. 25B/662, B Company
Neville, William. Private. 25B/1279, B Company
Norris, Robert. Private. 25B/1257, B Company
Osborne, William. Private. 25B/1480, B Company
Parry, Samuel. Private. 25B/1399, B Company
Partridge, William. Private. 25B/1410, G Company
Pitt, Samuel. Private. 25B/1186, B Company
Robinson, Edward. Private. 25B/1286, B Company
Ruck, James. Private. 25B/1065, B Company
Savage, Edward. Private. 25B/1185, B Company
Saxty, Alfred. Corporal. 25B/849, B Company
Scanlon, John. Private. 25B/1051 A Company, killed in action 22 January 1879
Sears, Arthur. Private. 2-24/2404, A Company
Shearman, George. Private. 2-24/1618, B Company
Shergold, John. Private. 2-24/914, B Company
Smith, George. Sergeant. 2-24/1387, B Company
Smith, John. Private. 25B/1005, B Company
Stevens ,Thomas. Private. 25B/777, B Company
Tasker, William. Private. 2-24/1812, B Company
Taylor, Frederick. Private. 25B/973, B Company
Taylor, James. Lance-Sgt. 25B/82, E Company
Taylor, Thomas Edward. Private. 25B/889, B Company
Thomas, John. Private. 25B/1280, B Company, alias Peter Sawyer
Thompson, John. Private. 25B/1394, B Company
Tobin, Michael. Private. 25B/879, B Company
Tobin, Patrick. Private. 25B/641, B Company
Todd, William John. Private. 25B/1281, B Company
Tongue, Robert. Private. 25B/1315, B Company
Wall, John. Private. 25B/1497, B Company
Whetton, Alfred. Private. 2-24/977, B Company
Wilcox, William. Private. 25B/1187, B Company

Williams, John. Private. 25B/1395, B Company, awarded Victoria Cross, alias John Fielding http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news/wales/audio/147000/bb/147857_au_bb.asx

Williams, John. Private. 25B/934, E Company
Williams, Joseph. Private. 25B/1398 B Company, killed in action 22 January 1879
Williams, Thomas. Lance-Sergeant. 25B/1328, died of wounds 23 January 1879
Windridge, Joseph. Sergeant. 2-24/735, B Company
Wood, Caleb. Private. 25B/1316, B Company


90th Light Infantry

Graham, James. Corporal. 1123, alias Daniel Sheehan


Army Service Corps

Attwood, Francis. Second Corporal. 24692, awarded Distinguished Conduct Medal


Army Commissariat and Transport Department

Byrne, Louis Alexander. Acting Storekeeper, (civilian attachment), killed in action 22 January 1879
Dalton, James Langley. Acting Assistant Commissary, awarded Victoria Cross
Dunne, Walter Alphonsus. Assistant. Commissary

Army Medical Department and Army Hospital Corps

Reynolds, James Henry. Surgeon. BA MB ChB, awarded Victoria Cross
Pearse, Mr., Surg. Reynolds’s servant
Luddington, Thomas. Private.
McMahon, Michael. Private. 3359, awarded Distinguished Conduct Medal
Miller, Robert. Corporal.


1st Battalion 3rd Regiment Natal Native Contingent

Adendorff, Gert Wilhelm
Mayer, Jessy H. Corporal.
A native of Mkungo’s tribe, killed in action 22 January 1879


2nd Battalion 3rd Regiment Natal Native Contingent

Anderson, Michael. Corporal. , killed whilst deserting 22 January 1879
Doughty, William. Corporal.
Scammell, Carl. Corporal.
Schiess, Ferdnand Christian. Corporal., awarded Victoria Cross
Wilson, John. Corporal


Natal Mounted Police

Green, Robert S. Trooper.
Hunter, Sydney H. Trooper., killed in action 22 January 1879
Lugg, Henry. Trooper.


Acting Chaplain to the Volunteers

Smith, George. The Reverend
The Rev Smith’s native servant
Mr Daniels


Those that did not remain to assist in the defence viz. Stevenson's Natal Native
Contingent detachment, Henderson’s fugitive Natal Native Horse from Isandhlwana, Otto Witt and his native companion,
Lieutenant Thomas Purvis 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, Natal Native Contingent - a hospital patient - who accompanied
Witt to safety, Chard’s native voodooper, Chard’s native waggon driver who hid In a cave on the Oscarberg throughout
the attack, and all those fugitives from Isandhlwana who stopped to give a warning and rode on. Of all the latter only Adendorff
remained to assist in the defence and is thus the only man to have fought in both the Isandhlwana and Rorke’s Drift actions.

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JOHN ROUSE MERRIOTT CHARD
Lieutenant, Corps of Royal Engineers

Born: 21 December 1847, Pathe, Bridgewater, Somerset
Died: 1 November 1897, The Rectory, Hatch Beauchamp, Somerset

GONVILLE BROMHEAD
Lieutenant, 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment

Born: 29 August 1845, Versailles, France
Died: 9 February 1891, Allahabad, India

Joint Citation: For their gallant conduct at the defence of Rorke's Drift, on the occasion of the attack by the Zulus on the 22nd and 23rd January, 1879.
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 excercised the Chief Command on the occasion in question.

(London Gazette issue 24717 dated 2 May 1879, published 2 May 1879.)

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Private, 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment

Born: 24 May 1857, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
Died: 25 November 1932, Cwmbran, Monmouthshire

Citation: Private John Williams was posted with Private Joseph Williams, and Private William Horrigan, 1st Battalion 24th Regiment, in a distant room of the hospital, which they held for more than an hour, so long as they had a round of ammunition left: as communication was for the time cut off, the Zulus were enabled to advance and burst open the door; they dragged out Private Joseph Williams and two of the patients, and assegaied them. Whilst the Zulus were occupied with the slaughter of these men a lull took place, during which Private John Williams, who, with two patients, were the only men now left alive in this ward, succeeded in knocking a hole in the partition, and in taking the two patients into the next ward, where he found Private Hook.

(London Gazette issue 24717 dated 2 May 1879, published 2 May 1879.)

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Private, 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment

Born: 6 August 1850, St Andrew's Church Yard, Churcham, Gloucestershire
Died: 12 March 1905, Osborne Villas, Roseberry Ave, Gloucester

Citation: These two men together, one man working whilst the other fought and held the enemy at bay with his bayonet, broke through three more partitions, and were thus enabled to bring eight patients through a small window into the inner line of defence.

(London Gazette issue 24717 dated 2 May 1879, published 2 May 1879.)

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Private, 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment

Born: 1840, Evesham, Worcestershire
Died: 15 April 1913, Ardwick, Lancashire

ROBERT JONES

Private, 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment

Born: 19 August 1857, Raglan, Monmouthshire
Died: 6 September 1898, Madley, Herefordshire

Joint Citation: In another ward, facing the hill, Private William Jones and Private Robert Jones defended the post to the last, until six out of the seven patients it contained had been removed. The seventh, Sergeant Maxfield, 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment, was delirious from fever. Although they had previously dressed him, they were unable to induce him to move. When Private Robert Jones returned to endeavour to carry him away, he found him being stabbed by the Zulus as he lay on his bed.

(London Gazette issue 24717 dated 2 May 1879, published 2 May

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Corporal, 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment

Born: ca 1844, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland
Died: 12 March 1890, Monmouth, Monmouthshire

FREDERICK HITCH

Private, 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment

Born: 28 November 1856, Edmonton, London
Died: 7 January 1913, Ealing, London

Joint Citation: It was chiefly due to the courageous conduct of these men that communication with the hospital was kept up at all. Holding together at all costs a most dangerous post, raked in reverse by the enemy's fire from the hill, they were both severely wounded, but their determined conduct enabled the patients to be withdrawn from the hospital, and when incapacitated by their wounds from fighting, they continued, as soon as their wounds had been dressed, to serve out ammunition to their comrades during the night.

(London Gazette issue 24717 dated 2 May 1879, published 2 May 1879.)

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Surgeon-Major, Army Medical Department

Born: 3 February 1844, Kingsdown, Dublin
Died: 4 March 1932, London

Citation: For the conspicuous bravery, during the attack at Rorke's Drift on the 22nd and 23rd January, 1879, which he exhibited in his constant attention to the wounded under fire, and in his voluntarily conveying ammunition from the store to the defenders of the Hospital, whereby he exposed himself to a cross-fire from the enemy both in going and returning.

(London Gazette issue 24734 dated 17 Jun 1879, published 17 Jun 1879.)

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Acting Assistant Commissary, Commissariat and Transport Department

Born: December 1832, London
Died: 8 January 1887, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Citation: For his conspicuous gallantry during the attack on Rorke's Drift Post by the Zulus on the night of the 22nd January, 1879, when he actively superintended the work of defence, and was amongst the foremost of those who received the first attack at the corner of the hospital, where the deadliness of his fire did great execution, and the mad rush of the Zulus met its first check, and where by his cool courage he saved the life of a man of the Army Hospital Corps by shooting the Zulu, who, having seized the muzzle of the man's rifle, was in the act of assegaing him.
This Officer, to whose energy much of the defence of the place was due, was severely wounded during the contest, but still continued to give the same example of cool courage.

(London Gazette issue 24784 dated 18 Nov 1879, published 18 Nov 1879.)

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Corporal, Natal Native Contingent, South African Forces

Born: 7 April 1856, Bergedorf, Berne, Switzerland
Died: 14th December 1884, on board HMS Serapis off the coast of Angola

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry in the defence of Rorke's Drift Post on the night of the 22nd January, 1879, when, in spite of his having been wounded in the foot a few days previously, he greatly distinguished himself when the Garrison were repulsing, with the bayonet, a series of desperate assaults made by the Zulus, and displayed great activity and devoted gallantry throughout the defence. On one occasion when the Garrison had retired to the inner line of defence, and the Zulus occupied the wall of mealie bags which had been abandoned, he crept along the wall, without any order, to dislodge a Zulu who was shooting better than usual and succeeded in killing him, and two others, before he, the Corporal, returned to the inner defence.

(London Gazette Issue 24788 dated 2 Dec 1879, published 2 Dec 1879.)

Old Historian2

Army Medical Department and Army Hospital Corps

Someone has pointed out 1 mistake.

You had put ( Ludding)

It is infact (Luddington Thomas. Private.)
__________________________________

Woods, Caleb. Private. 25B/1316, B Company ( It's Wood )
______________________________________________
Regards

Pete
Admin

Pete
Thanks for that. I have made the necessary adjustments to the roll of honour.
If you find anymore let me know.


Cheers

Old Historian2

Victoria Cross (jointly with 804 Private William Jones) London Gazette 2 May, 1879: ‘Robert Jones, Private, 2nd Battn. 24th Regt. At the hospital, in a ward facing the hill, Private William Jones and Private Robert Jones defended the post to the last, until six out of the seven patients it contained had been removed. The seventh, Sergt. Maxfield, was delirious through fever. Although they had previously dressed him, they were unable to induce him to move. When Private Robert Jones returned to endeavour to carry him away, he found him being stabbed by Zulus as he lay in his bed.’

The news of the epic defence, in early 1879, of the remote outpost at Rorke’s Drift against some 4,000 Zulu warriors, flushed with victory following the annihilation of the 1st Battalion, 24th Foot at Isandhlwana, thrilled Victorian Britain and has been hallowed ever since as one of the most heroic stands in military history. The backbone of the Rorke’s Drift garrison consisted of ninety-five men belonging to ‘B’ Company of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Foot. Acts of gallantry performed during the defence resulted in the awards of eleven Victoria Crosses - the highest number ever conferred for a single action - with seven of them going to members of ‘B’ Company. Of those seven, only Robert Jones’s Cross has failed down the years to find its way into the Regimental museum of the South Wales Borderers. The action has inspired numerous artists and, as a recipient of the Victoria Cross, Robert Jones’s heroism has been celebrated in every major work from Lady Elizabeth Butler’s painting The Defence of Rorke’s Drift, January 22nd 1879, to the 1964 cinema classic Zulu, in which Jones’s part was played by actor Denys Graham. It has been said that Robert Jones never really escaped from the traumatic events at Rorke’s Drift and continued to be haunted by visions of the lethal contest between thrusting bayonet and the vicious stab and slash of the assegai until he met his tragic end at the age of forty-one. However, at the time, the performance of Jones and his kind did much to restore public morale after the Isandhlwana disaster, and has been seen ever since as epitomising the stalwart and disciplined fighting qualities of the British infantryman.

Robert Jones, a farm worker’s son, was born into the agricultural community of Tynewydd, Clytha, near Raglan, Monmouthshire, on 19 August, 1857. Described as ‘a typical Welsh country boy’, he worked alongside his father on the land until he was eighteen when, against his family’s wishes, he went off to Monmouth to enlist into the 24th Regiment of Foot on 10 January, 1876. On the 28th of that month, 716 Jones, as he was now known among the proliferation of other Joneses in the regiment, was posted to the 2nd Battalion at Dover. Recorded on enlistment as being five feet seven and a half inches tall, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair, he embarked for South Africa in February 1878 for service in the Cape Frontier War. In early January 1879 he marched up through Natal with the strongest of the five British columns intent on the invasion of Zululand. The column, comprising 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 24th Foot; a squadron of Mounted Infantry; about 200 Natal volunteers; 150 Natal Police; two battalions of the Native Contingent; some native Pioneers and six Royal Artillery guns, was accompanied by the Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant-General Lord Chelmsford and his staff.

On the Natal side of the Buffalo River, the Reverend Otto Witt’s lonely Swedish mission station was commandeered as the column’s most forward post on the line of communication and adapted for use as a commissariat store and hospital for sick N.C.O’s and men. On the 11th Chelmsford’s column crossed the Buffalo River by the ford, or drift, a quarter of a mile away leaving the 2/24th’s ‘B’ Company under Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead to garrison the mission with the help of a company of the Natal Native Contingent, some half dozen other details and three commissariat officers. Surgeon Reynolds was in charge of the hospital and the Reverend George Smith, a missionary, acted as chaplain to the troops. Major Spalding of the 104th Regiment was left in overall command.

At dawn on the 22nd, a young officer rode into the station with a message from Lord Chelmsford, concerning a native column coming up under Colonel Durnford, and excitedly announced that the main column had gone into camp nine miles away at Isandhlwana and that “a big fight was expected.” At about half past six that morning, Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard, R.E., who had been left in charge of the ponts, or ferry boats, at the drift, obtained permission from Spalding to ride out to Isandhlwana and ascertain if there were any new orders which would effect the service of the ponts under his command. Chard returned at noon and reported that large bodies of Zulus had been reported working round the left of the camp at Isandhlwana, and said he thought that they might try to make a dash for the mission. This caused some excitement but everyone felt certain that Lord Chelmsford and his column, some 4,000-strong, would never permit the Zulus to move against the mission unmolested. The Rev. Witt, Rev. Smith and Surgeon Reynolds took themselves off to the summit of a neighbouring hill ‘to watch the fun’ through field glasses. About an hour later, however, Major Spalding decided that it might be advisable to bring up the company of the 1/24th left ten miles further down the road at Helpmakaar and, leaving Chard in command, set off on his self-imposed task. John Chard returned to his ponts.

At about 3:15 pm he saw two men riding ‘hell for leather’ towards the drift. A pont was sent across the river to bring them across. Lieutenant Adendorff of the N.N.C. had a terrible tale to relate. Lord Chelmsford had gone out that morning with half his force to make reconnaissance and select a new camping ground. Some 1,800 officers and men had been left at Isandhlwana. At noon the Zulu force, whose presence had been observed for some hours, had audaciously rushed the unprepared camp in overwhelming numbers and slaughtered the force, almost to a man. Meanwhile, nothing had been heard of Lord Chelmsford or his half of the column, and now another Zulu force was advancing rapidly towards Rorke’s Drift. Stunned by Adendorff’s news, Chard then received an urgent message from Bromhead who likewise had just been informed of the disaster by a Mounted Infantryman carrying a note which said the post was to be strengthened and held at all costs.

After a hurried consultation between Chard, Bromhead and Assistant Commissary Dalton, it was decided to abandon the ford and concentrate all efforts in holding the mission. By 3:30 pm the guard at the drift had been recalled and the preparations for the defence were begun. At about the same time what seemed to be a welcome reinforcement arrived in the form of an officer and one hundred troopers from Durnford’s force. The officer reported to Chard for orders and was asked to post vedettes in the direction of the advancing horde and hold it up as much as possible. When forced to retire on the post, the troopers were to help in its defence. Meanwhile the work of strengthening the mission was being carried on apace. A wall constructed of mealie (maize) bags was raised to a height of four feet and continued in the form of a rectangle of which the bottom, or south east and south west, corners were filled respectively by the walls of the thatched hospital and storehouse which stood about forty yards apart.

It was decided to leave those patients unable to bear arms inside the hospital, as it was generally considered by Surgeon Reynolds and others that neither ‘building would be taken unless with the fall of the whole place.’ The defence of the hospital, which measured sixty by eighteen feet and was divided into a number of rooms, some with interconnecting doors and others accessible only via outside doors, was left in the charge of Reynolds. Lieutenant Bromhead detailed Private Robert Jones and five other ‘B’ Company men, namely Privates Harry Hook, 593 William Jones, 1395 John Williams, 1398 Joseph Williams, and Thomas Cole, to assist. The hospital walls were loopholed, and the windows and outside doors barricaded with tables and mattresses.

When word was received that the Zulus had been sighted, Witt, having returned from the hill top with Reynolds and Smith, exercised his right to depart. Every man now took up his assigned post. At 4:15 pm firing was heard beyond the hills to the south and shortly afterwards the officer of Durnford’s force rode in reporting that the enemy were at hand and that his men would not stand and were making off towards Helpmakaar. The sight of the fleeing troopers proved too much for the N.N.C. who likewise departed, reducing the total number of men under Chard’s command to about 152 of whom thirty-three, hospital patients. Chard now realised that the line of defence was too extended for the men who remained, but he proved equal to the crisis. The eighty by twenty foot storehouse, formerly used by Witt as a church, contained biscuit boxes besides mealie bags and ammunition. The biscuit boxes were feverishly placed across the rectangle connecting the parallel northern and southern mealie bag walls, so forming an inner work at the storehouse end, into which the defenders at the hospital end might withdraw. When the wall was only two boxes high the cry went up: “Here they come!”

Private Robert Jones was stationed at a loophole in a room occupied by patient Corporal Jessy Maher of the N.N.C. at the rear of the hospital. The room contained a barricaded external door and a window, and adjoined the kitchen which extended out from the main line of the hospital rear wall. His view south towards the Oscarberg Hill, would have allowed him to see the approach of the iNdluyengwe Regiment, as it advance at the run, screened by a line of skirmishers which was constantly fed by the main body, over the right shoulder of the hill. Making straight for the southern mealie bag wall, the Zulu impi was met by a steady well-sustained fire from the defenders .577 Martini-Henry rifles, but progressed with rare courage to within fifty yards of the wall. Here, however, they were caught in a withering cross fire from the mealie bags and the loopholed storehouse, and the main Zulu effort swept to the left and, skirting the hospital, fell upon the men holding the north west corner of the mealie bag wall. This assault was beaten off and the iNdluyengwe, reinforced by the uDhloko and uThulwana Regiments moved eastwards finding cover below the rocky terrace upon which the northern mealie bag wall had been raised. Meanwhile, large numbers of Zulu snipers kept up a heavy fire from positions on the slopes of Oscarberg Hill.

Next, the Zulus rose up from the terrace and with a wild rush made a determined and ferocious attack on the northern mealie bag wall. The defenders holding that breastwork had to contend not only with the savages at their front but also with the uncomfortable thought of being shot in the back. Inevitably as the Zulu fire from Oscarberg became less erratic and after a number of men had been killed by the sniper fire, Lieutenant Chard was forced to give the order for the men holding the mealie bag walls to retire behind the biscuit box wall at the eastern end of the enclosure. This left Robert Jones and his comrades in the hospital completely cut off.

The Zulus swarmed around the building trying to break in at various points and fire the thatch. Having expended all his ammunition, Robert Jones helped Maher into the adjoining kitchen, where 593 Private William Jones was posted with six more patients. Returning to his original room with his namesake, they crossed bayonets and took post at the doorway, which was being smashed in by several warriors. Trooper Lugg firing from a loophole in the kitchen extension wall managed to get a good shot at a number of them but at length they burst through the makeshift barricade. Those Zulus who managed to dodge Lugg’s fire were then taken on by the two Joneses who together bayonetted every warrior as he approached. During the struggle in the doorway, Robert Jones received three assegai wounds from the attackers as they leapt forward in their eagerness to enter the room, one of the injuries being ‘a spear scrape on the abdomen - a particularly close shave’. When their duties at the doorway permitted, the Joneses went into the kitchen and helped the patients through the high window which provided the only means of escape into the area between the north and south mealie bag walls from which Chard had withdrawn his men.

While the Joneses were holding the enemy at bay in the doorway and attempting to get their last patient, Sergeant Maxfield, dressed, a pick axe smashed through the wall behind them. This was 1395 Private John Williams making an escape route for Private Harry Hook and their surviving charges who had been quartered in the western end of the building. While Hook and Williams heaved their eight surviving patients through the hole and fought off the pursuing Zulus, the Joneses succeeded in dressing Maxfield who was delirious with fever, but he refused to move and their efforts to get him to do so were interrupted when they had to take over at the escape hole from Hook and 1395 Williams who had to assist their patients out of the window. As Robert and William Jones retreated to join Hook and Williams, the Zulus began to scramble through the escape hole. The hospital roof was now a smouldering mass, and Hook, 1395 Williams, 593 Jones and Robert Jones, decided to make their exit. When the other three had climbed out of the window, Robert Jones, having passed out his Martini-Henry, decided to make a final attempt to save Maxfield. Groping his way through the smoke filled room he made his way towards the stricken Sergeant lying on his bed. But it was too late, for Maxfield was being repeatedly stabbed by the Zulus.

Robert Jones clambered out of the window and, just as he dropped down into the dangerous no man’s land of the bullet swept enclosure, part of the hospital roof fell in behind him. A hair raising dash across the enclosure brought a total of fourteen patients and their four gallant rescuers into the biscuit box retrenchment. Privates Cole and 1398 Joseph Williams had both been killed defending the hospital patients, the latter being dragged outside, repeatedly stabbed and, in accordance with Zulu ritual, his stomach ripped open.

The struggle to hold the retrenchment now commenced. Chard ordered the construction of a lofty mealie bag redoubt at its centre, in which the wounded were placed for safety and from which an elevated field of fire was maintained as long as daylight lasted. When darkness fell, the Zulus used its cloak to mount several attacks, but again each onslaught was beaten off. Then the hospital roof flared up illuminating the surrounding area for hundreds of yards and allowing the defenders to resume their well aimed fire. By 10 pm, however, the hospital thatch had burnt itself out and the men of ‘B’ Company resorted to the use of the bayonet as the Zulus again attempted to force their way over the ramparts. At about midnight the attacks began to slacken after eight hours of ceaseless fighting, but there was still little rest for the defenders as the Zulus continued to maintain a desultory fire until 4 am. The first streak of dawn revealed the extent of the slaughter around the post, and the welcome sight of the Zulus retiring around Oscarberg Hill. Seemingly it was all over. Chard issued orders to remove the thatch from the storehouse roof, to strengthen the defences and send out patrols. When the latter had returned, the Zulus suddenly reappeared lining the heights to the south west. All work was instantly stopped and every man returned to his post. The garrison steeled itself for another desperate struggle, but then the advance of the Zulus wavered, and without any obvious explanation they retired behind the hill from whence they had come.

Meanwhile, Lord Chelmsford’s force had marched back into camp at Isandhlwana during the night and had stumbled upon the mutilated corpses of the 1/24th. In the early hours of the morning of the 23rd, Chelmsford dejectedly set out for Rorke’s Drift expecting to find a similar scene of carnage. He found instead ‘the survivors of as gallant a defence as the annals of the British Army have ever known’.

Robert Jones was immediately acknowledged for his services during the defence being mentioned in Lieutenant Chard’s report dated 25 January, 1879. He was also mentioned in the account which Chard was asked to write for the Queen. His Victoria Cross was gazetted on 2 May, 1879, and he received the decoration from Lord Wolseley at Utrecht, Transvaal, on 11 September, 1879. Robert Jones left South Africa bearing the scars of one bullet and a total of four assegai wounds. Following service at Gibraltar and in India, he returned to Britain on 25 November, 1881, and was transferred to the Army Reserve. He was recalled for service on 2 August, 1882 and was again transferred to the Army Reserve on 7 February, 1883. His final discharge from Army service came about on 26 January, 1888. In 1885 he married Elizabeth Hopkins and settled at Peterchurch in Herefordshire where he found work as a labourer on the estate of Major de la Hay. He was by all accounts a good father to his five children and ‘a talented amateur poet’.

One of Jones’s wounds left him with a legacy of head pains and, in August 1898, he collapsed. Although he recovered, his wife noticed a change in his personality and he started to drink more than before. A few weeks later on the morning of 6 September, Elizabeth Jones noticed her husband acting strangely before leaving for work. On reaching Major de la Hay’s home at Crossways House, he asked for a shotgun and two cartridges, saying that he was going out to shoot vermin. Shortly afterwards the gun was fired in the Major’s garden and a few minutes later Robert Jones was found dead with the back of his head blown away. An inquest returned the verdict of suicide while of unsound mind.

Refs: The Silver Wreath; The Zulu War VC’s (Bancroft); Rorke’s Drift (Bancroft); The Victoria Cross (Creagh & Humphris); Zulu, Isandlwana & Rorke’s Drift 22-23 January 1879 (Knight); Nothing Remains but to Fight, The Defence of Rorke’s Drift (Knight); The Zulu War Now and Then (Knight & Castle); The Lummis Files; Rorke’s Drift (Whitton); The VC’s of Wales and The Welsh Regimemts (Williams).

http://www.mikehitch.com/hfn10.htm

Hi OH2,

There is no 'e' in Minihan, (see grave memorial)

cheers
Bookworm.

Observant as ever Bookworm The (E) as disappeared :)

Lieutenant John R.M. Chard, Royal Engineers – He joined the Royal Engineers in 1868, and had served in Bermuda and Malta prior to being sent to South Africa. After the battle of Rorke’s Drift, he was promoted to captain, then brevet major. He later commanded the R.E. detachment in Singapore from 1892 to 1896 at the rank of lieutenant colonel. Chard was promoted to colonel and sent back to Great Britain to take a posting in Perth, Scotland. However, he became ill with cancer of the tongue and died at his brother’s house on November 1, 1897, at the age of 49.

Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, Commanding Officer, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot – Bromhead came from a distinguished military family – his grandfather had fought the French at Waterloo. He was 33 years old at the time of Rorke’s Drift, although he had purchased his commission as a 2nd lieutenant in 1867. The reason for his slow promotion was likely the fact that he was profoundly deaf (which was not depicted in the movie Zulu). Bromhead was promoted to brevet major after the battle. He later served in India, also participating in the 3rd Anglo-Burmese War of 1885-1886. He died of typhoid fever on February 9, 1892 at the age of 46; he is buried in the north Indian city of Allahabad.

Corporal William Allen – Aged 35 at the time of the battle, Corporal Allen had recently been demoted from sergeant for being drunk on duty. During the fight, he and Private Hitch (more on him later) helped keep communications with the men defending the hospital open until it was evacuated and both men were wounded. After their wounds were dressed, they both then helped distribute ammunition to the defenders throughout the fight. Allen was eventually promoted back to sergeant. He later returned to England, and served as a training instructor at the regimental recruiting depot at Brecon, Wales. He died at nearby Monmouth, Wales in 1890 of influenza at the age of 46.

Corporal Christian Ferdinand Schiess, 2nd Battalion, Natal Native Contingent – Corporal Shiess was 23 years old at Rorke’s drift, a native of Switzerland and a veteran of the French Army and the 9th Cape Frontier War (1877-1879) in South Africa. He was only at Rorke’s Drift due to the fact that he was in the hospital suffering the effects of poorly-fitting boots. During the defense, Schiess at one point dislodged some Zulus who were threatening the inner defense line, despite being wounded. After the war, he was unable to find employment of any kind, either military or civilian. He was found wandering the streets of Cape Town in late 1884, suffering from malnutrition and exposure – essentially homeless! He was taken in by members of the Royal Navy, after he told them of his exploits at Rorke’s Drift and showed them his VC, his only possession. Taking pity on the man, the Navy gave him food and offered him passage back to England, which he accepted. However, during the voyage Schiess succumbed to the ravages of his unfortunate circumstances, dying on December 14, 1884, at the age of 28. He was buried at sea off the coast of Angola.

Private Frederick Hitch – Fred was 22 years of age at the defense, having enlisted in the army less than 2 years previously. [Fred was illiterate, and he signed his enlistment papers with an “X”.] He was severely wounded in the right shoulder by a Zulu-cast musket ball, which left him permanently disabled. After his discharge from the army, he moved from job to job, unable to find permanent employment. Hitch was also married and raising a family (he eventually had eight children) and found it difficult to get by on his military pension of 10 pounds a year (in 2008 value, that’s about $1185). In 1901, he fell from a ladder; when he awoke in the hospital, his VC was missing, stolen. Hitch managed to secure a replacement, but had to pay for it himself. It later turned up at an auction after his death. Later, Hitch became a London cab driver. He died of pleuro-pneumonia on January 6, 1913, living alone, age 56.

Private Henry Hook – If one soldier of the 24th was truly maligned by the movie Zulu, it was “Hooky.” Depicted in the film as a malingerer and a drunkard, he was neither. Characterized by his superiors and fellows as a model soldier, he had volunteered to help cook for the garrison prior to the Zulu attack. Oh, and he was also described as a teetotaler. Assigned to defend the hospital, he performed “above and beyond the call of duty.” He and Private Williams held out for an hour in one of the hospital rooms, literally digging their way through three walls and bringing 8 patients to safety before the hospital was overrun by the Zulus. In the aftermath of the defense, as the men of the 24th were being offered their rum ration, Hook took his for the first time, explaining that after the events of the previous days, he deserved it. After his retirement in 1880, he served for another 20 years as a member of the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Royal Fusilliers, attaining the rank of Sergeant-Instructor, finally retiring in 1904. Hook then worked as a janitor at the British Museum. He died of pulmonary tuberculosis on March 12, 1905, aged 54. [Hook’s two elderly daughters were invited to the London premiere of the film Zulu in 1964. However, when they saw the early scenes depicting their father in a less-than-bright light, they walked out of the theater.]

Private Robert Jones (716) – Another soldier who came to a poor end. He enlisted in the 24th Regiment at the age of 19, apparently wanting to be something more than a Welsh farm laborer. During the defense of the hospital, Jones and his comrade Private William Jones (#593) defended one of the wards until six of the seven patients were evacuated. He was stabbed in the stomach by a Zulu assegai. He saw service in India, and in 1882 transferred to the reserves. When he subsequently left the army altogether, he returned to Wales, became a farm laborer and married, producing five children. He complained of headaches later in life. In 1898, he borrowed a neighbor’s shotgun “to go rabbit hunting.” He was found shortly afterwards, dead of a head wound. His death was ruled a suicide; his body was carried into the graveyard over the wall – not through the gate – and his headstone faces away from the church, opposite all the other headstones. His family has tried for years to have the verdict of suicide reversed but to no avail. He was 41 years old.

Private William Jones (593) – William Jones is possibly the most pathetic of all the heroes of Rorke’s Drift. He was 39 years old on January 22-23, 1879. He also served in Mauritius, Burma and India, and was awarded a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. He was discharged from the army in February, 1880 due to chronic rheumatism which he claimed to have contracted from the cold, wet nights lying on the ground after the battle. Unable to find steady work, Jones did some acting and in 1887 toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. However, Jones’s mind never recovered from that battle. He was found wandering around Manchester, destitute and penniless, having pawned his VC in 1910 for £6. His family took him in but, convinced that Zulus were coming through the windows of his family home, he grabbed his grandchildren and ran them out of the house. He was declared mentally unstable and sent to an government workhouse where he died on April 15, 1913, age 74. No one claimed his body and he was buried as a pauper in an unmarked government grave.

Private John Williams (Fielding) – He enlisted in the army in 1877, at the age of 19, probably using a false name to avoid being traced after running away from home. Fielding and Hook saved eight patients – and themselves! – by digging their way through three walls of the hospital, sometimes using a pickaxe, more often digging with their bare hands. After Rorke’s Drift, Fielding served in India from 1880 to 1883. He then returned home to Wales, and served as a sergeant in the 3rd Battalion (basically the recruiting unit) for the South Wales Borderers (the renamed 24th Regiment) at it depot in Brecon, Wales. Though retired, he volunteered to serve on the SWB depot’s staff during World War I. He married and had six children, one of his sons being killed at Mons in 1914. He was the last Rorke’s Drift VC recipient to survive, dying of heart failure on November 25, 1932 at the age of 75.

Surgeon James Henry Reynolds, Army Medical Department – Surgeon Reynolds, born in Dublin, Ireland in 1844, joined the Army Medical Department in 1868, and served in India and several military actions in Africa prior to the Anglo-Zulu War. Besides attending to the Rorke’s Drift defenders while under heavy fire, he also helped distribute ammunition. After the battle, Reynolds attended to the sick and wounded, and was subsequently promoted to Surgeon-Major. He retired from the army in 1896, with the rank of Brigade Surgeon Lieutenant Colonel. He died March 4, 1932 at the Empire Nursing Home in London, age 88 years old.

James Langley Dalton, Acting Assistant Commissary, Commissariat & Transport Department – Dalton enlisted in the 85th Regiment in 1849, at the age of 17. He transferred to the Commissariat Corps in 1862, and was later promoted to Master-Sergeant. In 1870 he served as part of the British Army’s Red River Expedition to quell the Métis rebellion led by Louis Riel, one of the first challenges to the newly-created country of Canada. Dalton retired in 1871 after 22 years of service. Apparently unable to find civilian work – or feeling the call of the frontier – he moved to South Africa and volunteered for service in the Commissariat Department in 1877. After the battle, Dalton was given a permanent commission in the department. He left for England in early 1880, returning to Africa shortly after to take part shares in a gold mine. In 1886, he was in Port Elisabeth, South Africa visiting an old friend. Staying in a hotel, he died in his sleep from unknown causes on the night of January 7, 1887, age 55.

SPECIAL MENTION: Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne – If you have seen the movie Zulu, you still can see the tall, severe visage of Colour Sergeant Bourne, his muttonchop sideburns bristling, staring down at the malingering soldiers of the 24th shouting, “Nobody told you to stop working!” Well, the reality is a bit different. At the time of the battle of Rorke’s Drift, Frank Bourne was 24 years old, the youngest colour sergeant in the British Army, having enlisted only 6 years previously. His youth earned him the nickname “The Kid.” Also, Bourne was only about 5’ 6” tall. For some reason, his actions at Rorke’s Drift were recognized with a Distinguished Conduct Medal rather than a VC. Bourne was also offered an officer’s commission, but he declined. After the Anglo-Zulu War, he saw service in India and Burma. Bourne was later promoted to Quartermaster-Sergeant. In 1893 he was appointed Adjutant of the School of Musketry (now the Small Arms School Corps) in Hythe, Kent, retiring from the army in 1907. He volunteered for service during the First World War, at the end of which he was given the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1936 Bourne made a BBC radio broadcast discussing the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, a transcript of which still survives. He became a fixture at the funerals of the other VC recipients from Rorke’s Drift. Bourne outlived all the other defenders of the mission station, dying on May 8, 1945 – VE Day – at the age of 91.

Source: Legion

Mabin, George William - no 'y'
Adendorff, Gert Wilhelm - not James

Thanks. Sherman. Amended.

old historian2 wrote:

This was Emailed to me sometime ago let me know if there are any errors.!!!! Cheers. Old Historian2

Well, it's full of errors (erroneous inclusions and omissions) because you have just copied and pasted Norman Holme's old roll straight out of the Noble 24th.
What is the point in posting this?

How could one paste and copy from the Norman Holme's book  

Someone may have type it up, but I doub't OldH did. He would still be typing it.   

Scan it!   

kopie wrote:

old historian2 wrote:

This was Emailed to me sometime ago let me know if there are any errors.!!!! Cheers. Old Historian2

Well, it's full of errors (erroneous inclusions and omissions) because you have just copied and pasted Norman Holme's old roll straight out of the Noble 24th.
What is the point in posting this?

Kopie. You say "it's full of errors (erroneous inclusions and omissions" I have this book. Can you point out where all theses errors are!   

thank you oldh! your post was honest, prompted by
the emotion which was the 22nd! well meant..
kopies view is valid, tad hasty, maybe, then! the
trolls slither out, begone! back in your box..      

John wrote:

kopie wrote:

old historian2 wrote:

This was Emailed to me sometime ago let me know if there are any errors.!!!! Cheers. Old Historian2

Well, it's full of errors (erroneous inclusions and omissions) because you have just copied and pasted Norman Holme's old roll straight out of the Noble 24th.
What is the point in posting this?

Kopie. You say "it's full of errors (erroneous inclusions and omissions" I have this book. Can you point out where all theses errors are!   

No John, I am not going to point them out as I do not want to go back over the same old threads that have been discussed to death ad-infinitum on this forum. John, have you not visited this forum very much over the past month or two?

Kopie wrote:

No John, I am not going to point them out as I do not want to go back over the same old threads that have been discussed to death ad-infinitum on this forum. John, have you not visited this forum very much over the past month or two?

Not a nice reply.

We can do errors one by one. Let's start with Anderson of the NNC. His forename was William not Michael.

I worked quite closely with Norman Holme when he was preparing his text for 'The Noble 24th' over 20 years ago. He was living in North Wales and it was not easy for him to visit the PRO (now the National Archives) at Kew. Today we have access to the internet, more original documents are available on-line. Rolls of RD Defenders contained inconsistencies with medal rolls and accounts - Norman did his best to resolve them but some queries still remained. The lack of information available in those days did mean that he was unable to resolve the 2 x Jenkins queries to his own satisfaction.

Norman was essentially a medal collector adding personal service details and stories of the lives of soldier added interest to the campaign medal - and of course value. The RD Roll provided that extra special something - even if just the fact there were only 140 or men there on 22 January. Many of those using the forum mention the words 'Roll of Honour' - and the RD soldiers themselves mention in their letters home - that they might have got a special medal for the action. But the War Office probably took the view that the main 'players' were recognised by gallantry awards and this was sufficient. So the Army backed down on recognising all those who took part in the Defence of Rorke's Drift.

What has become more difficult over the years it that Rorke's Drift in 1879 was the Army's main crossing point into Zululand and many soldiers crossed the Buffalo at this point......and of course they mentioned the fact when writing home or musing over a pint in later years. Yet they were not there on 22 January 1879.