What happened to the Rorke’s Drift Victoria Cross heroes after the battle?
Chris Green (The History Chap) explores thier stories.
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Since the Victoria Cross was instituted in 1856, Britain’s highest medal for gallantry has been awarded just over 1,300 times.
11 of them were awarded to the defenders of Rorke’s Drift in 1879 fought during the Anglo-Zulu war, when a small force of under 150 British soldiers hold off a 10 hour attack by over 4,000 Zulus.
But what happened to those Victoria Cross winners after the event?
So, I have gone on a journey of discovery find out their stories.
My journey took me to the Royal Welsh Regimental Museum in Brecon and to some of the Rorke’s Drift VC graves.
Rorke’s Drift Victoria Cross Winners
1) Lt. John Chard (Royal Engineers)
He remained in the army for the rest of his career.
He died of cancer of the tongue in 1897 whilst staying with his brother, in Hatch Beachaup, Somerset.
He was buried in the churchyard.
2) Lt. Gonville Bromhead.
Bromhead, served out the rest of his days in the army rising to the rank of Major.
He died of Typhoid whilst stationed in India and is buried in a military cemetery at Allahabad.
3) Corporal William Allen.
After the war, Allen returned to south Wales where he married, had 7 children
He died of Influenza in 1890 (aged 45) and is buried in Monmouth.
4) Private Frederick Hitch
Frederick Hitch was invalided out of the army after Rorke’s Drift on a pension of £10pa.
Hitch eventually became a London cab driver and when he died in 1913, over 1,000 London taxis joined his funeral procession to churchyard in Chiswick, west London.
5) James Langley Dalton
Acting Assistant Commissary, Dalton became at the age of 46 the oldest defender at Rorke’s Drift to be awarded the VC.
After the war, he bought shares in a South African goldmine and died in Port Elizabeth in 1887.
6) Surgeon James Henry Reynolds
After the battle of Rorke’s Drift, this army medical officer, remained in the army for the next 17 years.
He finally died in 1932 and is buried in the Roman Catholic section of Kensall Green Rise Cemetery in London.
7) John Williams Fielding
Returned to south Wales where he married and had 5 children.
He volunteered in WW1 (at the age of 55) and spent the war serving on the depot staff at Brecon.
The last surviving VC winner, he died in 1932 and is buried at Cwmbran in south Wales.
8) Private Henry Hook
Upon leaving the army in 1880, he became a janitor at the British Museum.
He retired to his native Gloucestershire, where he died of Tuberculosis and was laid to rest in the village of Churcham, where he had been born.
9) Corporal Christian Ferdinand Scheiss
As a member of the Natal Native Contingent he became the first person, serving with a South African military unit to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
5 years after the war he was found in Cape Town begging in the street and suffering from malnutrition and exposure.
10) Private William Jones
He ended up in Manchester where in later life, he had recurring nightmares about the fight.
By 1910 he was reduced entering the workhouse in Manchester and had to pawn his Victoria Cross.
When he died in 1913, he was buried in a paupers grave.
11) Private Robert Jones
Became a labourer in Herefordshire but was plagued by recurring nightmares of that desperate fight against the Zulus in the hospital.
On the 6th September 1898 he was found dead from a gunshot wound to his head.
His headstone was turned to face in the opposite direction of all the other gravestones in the churchyard at Peterchurch, to show the stigma of suicide at that time.
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Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Chris Green Communication Ltd t/a The History Chap. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Chris Green Communication Ltd does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.