Rorke's Drift By Those Who Were There: Volume I

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In 1879, there was no provision for the posthumous granting of the Victoria Cross, and so it could not be awarded to anyone who had died in performing an act of bravery. Private Joseph Williams, B Coy, 2nd/24th Foot, was killed during the fight in the hospital and was mentioned in despatches that "had he lived he would have been recommended for the Victoria Cross." [53]

Porter 1889, p. 33, "17 killed and 10 wounded" (including one killed by 'friendly fire' while fleeing the garrison at start of the battle) It was the thought of that implacable church and its obvious disgust for me … I had learnt this day that God was…a cut above the class to which we belonged. That day, I think, the painter was loosed from its mooring and my faith began a slow drift into non-belief (Prebble 1993: 96). It never ceases to amaze me how some people have become totally fixated by the number of Welshmen at Rorke’s Drift.At about 4:00p.m., Surgeon James Reynolds, Otto Witt – the Swedish missionary who ran the mission at Rorke's Drift – and army chaplain Reverend George Smith came down from the Oscarberg hillside with the news that a body of Zulus was fording the river to the southeast and was "no more than five minutes away". At this point, Witt decided to depart the station, as his family lived in an isolated farmhouse about 30 kilometres (19mi) away, and he wanted to be with them. Witt's native servant, Umkwelnantaba, left with him; so too did one of the hospital patients, Lieutenant Thomas Purvis of the 1st/3rd NNC. This high number of awards for bravery has been interpreted as a reaction to the earlier defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana – the extolling of the victory at Rorke's Drift drawing the public's attention away from the great defeat at Isandlwana and the fact that Lord Chelmsford and Henry Bartle Frere had instigated the war without the approval of Her Majesty's Government. [48] I've read a few books about Rorke's Drift and this is one I will be keeping in my library. The book covers aspects of the battle not previously covered in anything else I've read, such as the defence and the withdrawal from the hospital and who was where and when during this time. It isn't 'just' their stories, it's Dispatches, newspaper articles, obituaries, casualty lists, honours and awards, court circulars, photos, drawings, letters and don't think the Zulus are left out, oh no they have included statements from some of the Zulu too.

The British victory that ensued, therefore, would go down as one of the most heroic actions of all time, and has enraptured military history enthusiasts for decades. Featuring a wide range of first-hand accounts and testimonies from those present during the Battle of Rorke's Drift, Rorke's Drift By Those Who Were There is a remarkable work of Anglo-Zulu military history by those who know the topic best, Lee Stevenson and Ian Knight. This updated edition of the classic work of the same name includes even more first-person accounts from the combatants on both the British and Zulu sides. Morris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879. Da Capo Press, 1998, ISBN 0-306-80866-8. Let us just take a look at just one of a multitude of online biographies that anyone can find just by googling "robert jones vc." This book is extensive and it makes it difficult to think that there is a second volume, which I'm going to buy once this is posted. This is sheer class bias written about a man who'd recently organised the greatest defence of a place by the British army there's ever been. Chard was very modest, almost shy, and unassuming. His actions did the talking and his men admired him.By the time the Undi Corps reached Rorke's Drift at 4:30p.m., they had fast-marched some 20 miles (32km) from the morning encampment they had left at around 8 a.m., then to spend some 11.5 hours continuously storming the British fortifications at Rorke's Drift. Remember that until very recently, the Encyclopedia Britannica entry for "Wales" read "see England."