Rorke's Drift
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Attested on 2/3/77. Posted to 2/24th on 21/3/77. Served in South Africa and India. Served in B Company at the defence of Rorke’s Drift. Returned to England from India on 26/4/83. Date of discharge not recorded. Medal for South Africa with clasp ‘1877–8–9’. (Ref. ‘C’ and ‘B’ rolls, the latter gives his initials incorrectly as W.G., also on ‘D’ list.)
1315 Private TONGUE Robert
Born at Ruddington, Nottingham; trade – frame knitter. Attested at Nottingham on 26/2/77, aged 19 years. Previously served in Nottinghamshire Militia. Description: 5ft 7in tall, fresh complexion, grey eyes, brown hair. Religion: Wesleyan. Served in South Africa, Gibraltar and India. Served in B Company at the defence of Rorke’s Drift. Served in South Wales Borderers but did not transfer to regiment. Transferred to army reserve on 21/6/83. Married Mary Wright at Ruddington on 27/6/84. Discharged from army reserve on 28/2/89. Medal for South Africa with clasp ‘1877–8–9’. (Ref. ‘C’ and ‘B’ rolls, also on ‘D’ list.)
1497 Private WALL John
Born at St James’s, Deptford, Kent; trade – labourer. Attested at Chatham on 1/12/77, aged 18 years. Previously served in West Kent Light Infantry (8100). Description: 5ft 5½in tall, fresh complexion, blue eyes, brown hair. Served in South Africa and India. Confined on 17/10/78, tried on 19/10/78 and sentenced to 21 days imprisonment with hard labour. Released on 8/11/78. Served in B Company at the defence of Rorke’s Drift. Embarked at Bombay for England in HM Troopship Malabar on 28/11/81. Following a medical examination at Netley on 27/12/81 he was found to be insane ‘as a result of intemperance’. He was declared insane and discharged from the service on 27/12/81. Intended residence: Lunatic Asylum, Barming Heath, Maidstone, Kent. Medal for South Africa with clasp ‘1877–8–9’. (The medal roll gives his initial incorrectly as ‘F’.) Medal returned to the Mint on 7/11/82. (Ref. ‘C’ and ‘B’ rolls, also on ‘D’ list.)
977 Private WHETTON Alfred
Born at St Luke’s, London; trade – labourer. Attested at Westminster, on 24/3/59, aged 17 years 10 months. Description: 5ft 5½in tall, fresh complexion, hazel eyes, brown hair. Served in Mauritius, East Indies, South Africa and Gibraltar. Re-engaged at Secunderabad, India, on 15/4/69. Served in B Company at the defence of Rorke’s Drift. (Confirmed by an entry in his service documents, ‘Present at the defence of Rorke’s Drift’.) Awarded LSGC Medal with gratuity of £5. Discharged at Gibraltar on 27/5/80 on completion of his service. Intended residence: 5 Tower Hamlets Road, London, later amended to Shoreditch, London. Medal for South Africa with clasp ‘1877–8–9’. Medal sent to depot under 60/2-24/129. (Ref. ‘C’ roll incorrectly shown as ‘Whatton’, ‘B’ roll shown as ‘Whitton’, which, according to his own signature, was his correct name; also on ‘D’ list as ‘Whetton’.)
1187 Private WILCOX William
Attested on 14/2/77. Posted to 2/24th on 23/2/77. Served in B Company at the defence of Rorke’s Drift. Convicted of disgraceful conduct and confined to prison at Pinetown in January 1880. He was still in prison when the battalion was posted to Gibraltar. Medal for South Africa with clasp ‘1877–8–9’. Medal forfeited. (Ref. ‘C’ and ‘B’ rolls, also on ‘D’ list.)
1395 Private WILLIAMS John VC (Real name John Williams Fielding)
Born at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, on 24/5/57 to Irish parents who had fled to Wales to escape poverty. Attested at Monmouth on 22/5/77; trade – labourer. (He ran away from home to enlist and used his second Christian name as a surname to avoid being traced.) Posted to 2/24th on 3/8/77. Served in South Africa and India. Served in B Company and assisted in the defence of the hospital at Rorke’s Drift. Mentioned in Lieutenant Chard’s report on the action, and also in his letter to Queen Victoria. Mentioned in Private Hook’s accounts of the battle. Private Williams was awarded the Victoria Cross and received his decoration from Major General Anderson at Gibraltar on 1/3/80. After serving in India, he returned to England in October 1883. Transferred to army reserve (date of transfer not recorded). Discharged from army reserve on 22/5/93. He was married and had three sons (the eldest was killed during the retreat from Mons in the First World War) and two daughters. For many years he was attached to the civilian staff at the regimental depot at Brecon, and retired from this post on 26/5/20. In 1932 he was taken ill whilst living at the home of his daughter in Cwmbran, his wife having died some years previously. He died at Cwmbran on 25/11/32 and was buried at St Michael’s Churchyard, Llantarnam. Medal for South Africa with clasp ‘1877–8–9’. (Ref. ‘C’ and ‘B’ rolls, also on ‘D’ list.)
934 Private WILLIAMS John
Born at Barristown; trade – collier. Attested at Pontypool on 28/11/76. Previously served in Glamorgan Artillery. Posted to 2/24th on 15/12/76. Served in E Company at the defence of Rorke’s Drift. Died of disease at Rorke’s Drift on 5/2/79, leaving the sum of £8 4s. 6d. Medal for South Africa with clasp ‘1877–8–9’ issued on 29/3/81, AGL 82. (Ref. ‘C’ and ‘B’ rolls, also on ‘D’ list.)
1398 Private WILLIAMS Joseph
Attested at Monmouth on 23/5/77. Posted to 2/24th on 3/8/77. Served in B Company and assisted in the defence of the hospital at Rorke’s Drift. Killed in action. Effects claimed by his father. Mentioned in Lieutenant Chard’s report on the action. Mentioned in the citations for the award of the Victoria Cross to Privates Hook and John Williams. (It is thought, and not without reason, that had Joseph Williams survived he also would have received the Victoria Cross for his exceptional gallantry.) He is buried in the cemetery at Rorke’s Drift and his name appears on the monument. Medal for South Africa with clasp ‘1877–8–9’ issued under 68/2-24/260. (Ref. ‘C’ and ‘B’ rolls.)
1316 Private WOOD Caleb
Attested on 6/3/77. Posted to 2/24th on 26/1/78. Served in South Africa and India. Served in B Company at the defence of Rorke’s Drift. Transferred from B to G Company on 29/1/79. Appointed drummer on 1/2/81. Returned to England from India on 1/5/83. Served in South Wales Borderers but did not transfer to regiment. Date of discharge not recorded. Medal for South Africa with clasp ‘1877–8–9’. (Ref. ‘C’ and ‘Ba’ rolls, also on ‘D’ list.)
Others attached to B Company 2/24th
Royal Artillery
Bombardier Lewis T.
Gunner Cantwell J
1643 Gunner Evans A.
Gunner Howard A.
3rd Buffs
Sergeant Milne F.
Royal Engineers
Driver (RE) Robson E.
General Staff
Colour Sergeant Mabin G.
90th Light Infantry
Corporal Graham J.
Commissariat and Transport department
Assistant Commissary Dunne W.A.
Acting Assistant Commissary Dalton J.L.
Acting (volunteer) Storeman Byrne L.A.
Army Service Corps
Second Corporal Attwood F.
Army Medical Department
Mr Pearce
Surgeon James Henry Reynolds (see p.318)
Army Hospital Corps
Corporal Miller R.
Second Corporal McMahon M.
Private Luddington T.
Natal Mounted Police
Trooper Green R. S.
Trooper Hunter S.
Trooper Lugg H.
Civilian
Mr Daniells
Natal Native Contingent
Lieutenant Adendorff
Of all the participants at Rorke’s Drift, it is Lieutenant Adendorff and his activities that are the most difficult to unravel. Adendorff brought news to the garrison of the defeat earlier that day, but whether he stayed on and participated in the defence of Rorke’s Drift is still open to debate. If he did remain, why has he gone unrecognized? After all, he would have been the only man on the British side to be present at both Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. Yet the suspicion lingers that he did not remain, and thus an air of disapproval continues to hang round his name, as if he ‘let the side down’, in a way that other survivors of Isandlwana somehow did not
.
Any attempt to rehabilitate Adendorff is hampered by the fact that very little is known about him. Even his name is in some doubt – he appears variously as Adendorf – one ‘f’ – and Adendorff – two ‘f’s – and his initial is variously given as ‘J’ and ‘T’, though the former somehow seems more likely (‘T’ could in any case be a misprint for ‘J’ – though the reverse could equally be true). There is nothing unusual about Adendorff in this; most of the Volunteers and Irregulars who served with the Imperial forces in Zululand remain shadowy figures, who merit occasional mentions in official records for as long as their service lasted, and then they return to obscurity. This is particularly true of the officers and NCOs of the Natal Native Contingent, among whom Adendorff served, whose records are notoriously incomplete or lost.
The case against Adendorff largely rests on a comment by Donald R. Morris in his classic account of the war, The Washing of the Spears. Among the notes on his sources, Morris comments: ‘My suspicion that Adendorff did not stay to aid the defence is based on analysis of all the sources listed for both battles. Space precludes a review of the evidence, which I hope to publish separately.’ Morris never did publish that evidence, however, and it is probably fair to say that a good deal more evidence has been unearthed since the publication of his book, some of which suggests the opposite of his original conclusion.
There are two basic charges against Adendorff, which amount to a comprehensive accusation of cowardice. Since Chard was adamant that Adendorff appeared on the Zulu bank of Rorke’s Drift while he, Chard, was still at his tent by the ponts, it is argued that Adendorff must have left the camp at Isandlwana rather earlier than he should, because the Zulu right horn, sweeping down the Manzimyama valley behind Isandlwana, had cut the road to Rorke’s Drift long before the majority of the survivors got away. That being the case, those who did manage to escape did so by means of a hair-raising ride across country, crossing the Mzinyathi (Buffalo) several miles downstream from Rorke’s Drift, at a rocky crossing known as Sothondose’s Drift, subsequently known as Fugitives’ Drift. Secondly, it is argued that since there are no references to Adendorff staying at Rorke’s Drift, other than his name appearing on the ‘Chard Roll’, and since all the other fugitives from Isandlwana fled, Adendorff must have done the same. Quite why Adendorff should be singled out for disapproval in this regard is not explained; no one suggests that there was anything shameful in the conduct of, say, Captains Gardner and Essex, or Lieutenants Curling, Cochrane and Smith-Dorrien, all of whom thought it wiser to head straight for Helpmekaar. This despite the fact that these officers were all professional soldiers, while Adendorff, as a lieutenant in the Native Contingent, was a volunteer. Indeed, given that the survivors from Isandlwana were all exhausted, shocked – even traumatized – and in some cases almost hysterical, it seems absurd that anyone would have thought badly of them for avoiding another fight (which under the circumstances must have seemed pretty hopeless). Nor did anyone; except possibly in the case of Adendorff.
It is interesting to note that Chard was initially sceptical of Adendorff’s movements, but was clearly fully convinced by his explanations. This is only likely to have been the case if Adendorff were able to supply sufficient details of the fighting at Isandlwana to make his story credible. Moreover, Chard fixed the time of Adendorff’s arrival at the Drift at 3.15 p.m, which is consistent with him having left Isandlwana between 1 p.m. and 1.30 p.m., when the British front line collapsed. In his official report, Chard said simply but emphatically: ‘I was informed ... [by] Lieutenant Adendorff of Lonsdale’s regiment (who later remained to assist in the defence), of the disaster at Isandlwana camp.’ In his later, longer account, written at Queen Victoria’s request, he expanded on this point:
My attention was called to two horsemen galloping towards us from the direction of Isandlwana. From their gesticulations and their shouts, when they were near enough to be heard, we saw that something was the matter, and on taking them over the river, one of them, Lieut. Adendorff of Lonsdale’s Regiment, Natal Native Contingent, asking if I was an officer, jumped off his horse, took me on one side, and told me the camp was in the hands of the Zulus and the army destroyed; that scarcely a man had got away to tell the tell, and that probably Lord Chelmsford and the rest of the column had shared the same fate. His companion, a Carbineer, confirmed his story – He was naturally very excited and I am afraid I did not, at first, quite believe him, and intimated that he probably had not remained to see what did occur. I had the saddle put on my horse, and while I was talking to Lieut.Adendorff, a messenger arrived from Lieut. Bromhead, who was with his Company at his little camp near the Commissariat Stores, to ask me to come up at once.
This last comment is significant because, of course, Bromhead had just received the news from other survivors, who had reached the post via Fugitives’ Drift at about the same time that Adendorff reached Rorke’s Drift. Chard even went on to supply details of Adendorff’s role in the battle:
As far as I know, but one of the fugitives remained with us – Lieut. Adendorff, whom I have before mentioned. He remained to assist in the defence, and from a loophole in the store building, flanking the wall and Hospital, his rifle did good service.
The mystery of Chard’s misidentification is solved in the ‘Chard Report’ of the Rorke’s Drift survivors – presented to Queen Victoria. Corporal Francis Attwood of the Army Service Corps was one of five soldiers who received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery at Rorke’s Drift. In Chard’s report of the defenders, he describes certain actions of Adendorff, but these were well known by those present to have been performed by Attwood. It was a straightforward case of mistaken identity by Chard; Attwood was awarded his DCM at Pietermaritzburg on 15 November 1879. By then Adendorff had disappeared into obscurity, although weeks later news reached the garrison at Rorke’s Drift that Adendorff had been arrested at Pietermaritzburg for desertion. He was due to face a court martial but there is no evidence this ever took place. Chard’s report that Adendorff had ‘stayed to fight’ had already been submitted to higher authority and had the trial taken place, Chard would certainly have been called to give evidence, against his own report – and so the matter of Adendorff’s court martial appears to have been quietly dropped.
In the final analysis the evidence that Adendorff was present at the defence of Rorke’s Drift is inconclusive; even Chard was less confident when he presented his second report – concerning Adendorff he used the words ‘As far as I know…’ If he stayed then it is time he was rehabilitated, and his courage more widely accepted. To have endured the horror of Isandlwana, and voluntarily stayed to risk a repetition at Rorke’s Drift, when he might in all conscience have ridden off with the other survivors, shows remarkable strength of character. If evidence can be found that he stayed to fight, then Adendorff deserves to be remembered as one of the heroes of Rorke’s Drift.
Captain Stephenson and the NNC
The action at Rorke’s Drift on 22–23 January 1879 is certainly the most studied battle in the Anglo-Zulu War, and indeed arguably one of the most famous in British military history. Yet while the actions and identities of the regular British troops during the fight have been the subject of meticulous scrutiny, some mystery still surrounds the role of auxiliary troops, the Natal Native Contingent.
Several credible observers confirm that there were NNC troops present at Rorke’s Drift before the battle. Lieutenant Chard himself mentioned the fact in both his apparent official report of the action, and his longer account to Queen Victoria; so, too, did Colour Sergeant Bourne, Private Hook, Chaplain Smith and others. Only Chard gives us the name of their officer, Captain Stephenson. Nevertheless, few of these accounts display any real knowledge of who they were, or what they were doing. Estimates of their strength vary wildly: Bourne put their number at 100, Smith thought there were 350, and Harry Lugg of the Natal Mounted Police believed there were 2,000. This ignorance is in many ways surprising, since the NNC had been campe
d near the mission station since 11 January; not only must the men have been conspicuous to the regular troops nearby, but some interaction between their officers, at least, must surely have occurred. Nevertheless it is typical of the reaction of the regular troops to auxiliary forces, whose professional pride and experience distanced themselves from both Colonial-born irregular troops and, in particular, black auxiliaries. The attitude of the British officer towards the latter is perhaps best summed up by a remark by Captain Edward Essex, 75th Regiment, who said simply of the NNC at Isandlwana, ‘I did not notice the latter much, save that they blazed away at an absurd rate’.
The general order authorizing the raising of the Natal Native Contingent was published on 23 November 1878. Since the war began on 11 January 1879 just six weeks were allowed to raise, organize, officer, equip and train the Contingent. Yet the Contingent would be pitched into the war before the men had come to know, or learned to trust, their officers. Many, indeed, complained of being bullied by their NCOs, who issued incomprehensible orders, then used their fists to enforce them. They found European drill confusing, and only the most imaginative commanders made any attempt to harness their traditional military skills. So far from using African terms of respect when addressing their headmen, as they were urged to do, many officers and NCOs referred to them with utter contempt. Furthermore, early good intentions to encourage the morale of the corps by issuing uniforms and firearms were abandoned for reasons of economy. Only one in ten, usually the designated black NCOs, were issued with firearms, and the rest of the men carried their traditional weapons. Although some commandants attempted to procure old military uniforms from the government stores, most NNC were distinguished by nothing more than a red rag, worn around their heads. Under such circumstances, while the showing of the Contingent in the war was undoubtedly poor, it was perhaps better than the British deserved.
The 3rd Regiment, NNC, was appointed to the British Centre Column, which was to cross into Zululand at Rorke’s Drift. The Contingent assembled at Sand Spruit, behind the Helpmekaar range, not far from the modern village of Pomeroy, where the groups from the various chiefdoms came together, and were issued with their equipment. The 3rd Regiment consisted mostly of men from the abaThembu, amaChunu and amaBhele chiefdoms, with a contingent of iziGqoza, all of whom were from Weenen County, which lay along the headwaters of the Thukela river. The iziGqoza were Zulu, exiled followers of King Cetshwayo’s brothers who had opposed him in the civil war of 1856, and who had fled to Natal. One of Cetshwayo’s brothers, Sikhotha kaMpande, actually accompanied the iziGqoza into the field in 1879, and for these men support for the British invasion was less important than the chance to settle old grievances. Nevertheless, there were not enough men from Weenen County to fill the 3rd Regiment, and several hundred were raised from Klip River County, around Ladysmith. These men did not join the Contingent until the war was about to begin.