Rorke's Drift

Bancroft, James W.

History

Hippocrene Books

This text is a graphic account of gallant British soldiers struggling for survival and brave Zulu natives fighting to overpower them in the defence of the storehouse and field hospital at Rorke's Drift, Natal, at the beginning of the Zulu War. The author has drawn from eye-witness accounts and letters, offical reports, contemporary journals and newspapers, allowing the reader to share in the uncertainty and horror of this epic battle.

Rorkes Drift the Zulu War 1879

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Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead and Lieutenant John Chard had fame thrust upon them, as did the place known as Rorke’s Drift, which before 1879 was an unknown homestead situated in the middle of the South African veld.\nAlthough both men came from families whose various members were highly distinguished for their military service and for their service to the church, they became reluctant heroes after being awarded Britain’s highest decoration for valor, the Victoria Cross.\nDuring the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879, a British invasion force was massacred at iSandlwana, after which a wing of the Zulu army about 3,000 strong attacked the outpost at Rorke’s Drift. Lieutenants Bromhead and Chard commanded the post, and after supervising the construction of barricades they led their men in defensive actions throughout the night until the Zulus lost heart and returned to their kraals. For their gallantry ‘under most trying circumstances’, both Bromhead and Chard, along with nine of their comrades, were subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross.\nIn 1964 the defense of Rorke’s Drift was brought back to public attention with the producing of the epic motion picture Zulu! In this film, Chard was portrayed by Sir Stanley Baker, while Bromhead provided Sir Michael Caine with his first starring role.\nBromhead and Chard epitomized the way of life of Victorian officers, with the exception that fate put them at Rorke’s Drift. They became major players in a battle which continues to excite interest and cause debate, and is unlikely ever to be forgotten.

The Rorke's Drift Commanders: Gonville Bromhead and John Chard

It was on Wednesday, 10 April 1912, that the imposing bulk of the RMS Titanic slipped her berth, and, to great fanfare, headed out into the Solent at the start of her maiden voyage.\nBy all accounts, the liner was at the time the largest man-made object ever to move on water. The space her decks created allowed her designers to introduce previously unseen levels of luxury. In first class, for example, there were many new features such as squash courts, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium, a barber shop and even the first swimming pool built on board a ship. There was also the bold claim by its builders that Titanic was ‘practically unsinkable’. Sadly, just four days later, this assertion was found wanting. At 23.40 hours on the evening of 14 April, Titanic struck an iceberg. In less than three hours she had slipped beneath the waves.\nWhile the liner’s loss has been the subject of numerous films, documentaries and publications in the years that followed, in this book the author James W. Bancroft asks if the RMS Titanic had been doomed to a watery grave even before it sailed? Certainly, many people experienced feelings of foreboding about the ship, and there were many strange omens and unexplained events surrounding its construction and maiden voyage.\nA novel written many years before Titanic was built mirrored almost exactly the details of the disaster, and the well-known spiritualist, W.T. Stead, wrote a story of a similar nature. As a passenger on the ship, he seemed to have accepted his fate and did not try to save himself. Even animals seem to have sensed danger, such as the dog which tried to stop its owner from traveling to board the vessel, and Titanic’s cat had kittens and was seen taking them all off the liner before it sailed. The voyage was fatefully delayed for three weeks, and at least fifty travelers had forebodings about the ‘Ghost Ship’, some of whom missed the sailing or refused to board.\nFollowing years of research, James has uncovered some 100 fascinating stories concerning omens and premonitions of people who sailed – or in fact decided not to – on the ill-fated liner. This is the first time that all of these incidents have been brought together. Together they provide an unusual insight into the Titanic disaster.

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World

On 18 June 1855, the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, British assault troops moved out of their trenches before Sebastopol in the Crimea, and attacked the formidable Russian bastion known as the Great Redan. They came under such a murderous fire from the Russian defenders that the attack faltered, and the British were eventually forced to fall back. As they did so, they left over 1,000 comrades dead and dying out in the open and at the mercy of enemy snipers.The Siege of Sebastopol saw the development of trench warfare for the first time. Using eyewitness accounts and unpublished letters, the author tells the story of how the men coped with the terrible conditions as they prepared for the assault - as well as the events during and after the fighting. Among the anecdotes is an officer who had the ingenious idea of warming up cannon balls in the camp fires and taking them into the tents at night to keep warm; and he went on to live for over a hundred years!Well-known for his depth of research, the author questions a number of points regarding the Great Redan that are commonly believed to be historical fact. Quoting the father of Alexander the Great, it was the Russians who, soon after the assault on the Great Redan, first referred to the British as, 'An army of lions led on by donkeys'. For over 100 years it was stated in many publications that the most Victoria Crosses awarded for a single action was the eleven presented for actions during the defense of Rorke's Drift during the Zulu War in 1879. However, as the author reveals, twenty of the lions who fought at the Great Redan received Britain's highest gallantry award, in whole, or in part, for their actions on 18 June 1855.The book includes biographical tributes to many of the men who were killed in action, gives details of the places where they are commemorated, and provides biographies with all the up-to-date information concerning the twenty Victoria Cross recipients.

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The 150th anniversary of the first FA Cup competition, the earliest knockout tournament in the history of football, will be celebrated during the 2021-2022 season. The first set of matches was played on 11 November 1871, with the Engineers reaching the final played at Kennington Oval on 16 March 1872.During the first decade of the competition three teams associated with the military, Royal Engineers, 1st Surrey Rifles and 105th Regiment, were involved in 74 matches. They won more than half of them and scored 154 goals. The Army also produced one of the most respected administrators in the history of football, in the form of Major Francis Marindin, who was involved in the founding of the FA Cup, played in two finals, and refereed a further nine.Military men and units provided a number of 'firsts' in the early years of football. The Royal Engineers played in the first ever FA Cup final; Lieutenant James Prinsep of the Essex Regiment was the youngest footballer to appear in an FA Cup final until 2004, although he remains the youngest to complete a full match; Lieutenant William Maynard of the 1st Surrey Rifles played for England in the first ever official international match against Scotland; Captain William Kenyon-Slaney of the Grenadier Guards scored the first ever goal in an official international match, while playing for England; and Lieutenant Henry Renny-Tailyour of the Royal Engineers scored the first ever goal for Scotland in the same match.At a time when there has been talk of a financially-motivated breakaway European Super League, James gives the reader the opportunity to look back at a time when football was played for the game itself. Using his vast knowledge concerning Victorian football and military history, The Early Years of the FA Cup explores the fascinating history of the Army's involvement in the early years of the world's most popular sport. With detailed descriptions of the finals and other matches involving the military teams during football's heyday, this book, for the first time, then follows the men as they went on campaigns to build roads and bridges in hostile territory, provide maps for commanders in famous conflicts such as The Zulu War, Afghanistan, the Sudan, and the Boer Wars, and saw active service on the Western Front during the First World War. In some cases they never returned.Often great footballers are referred to as 'heroes' - in the case of the men who played for the Army teams in the early FA Cup competitions, such an epithet is genuinely true.

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Sports & Outdoors

Miscellaneous

The Crimean War saw the introduction of the Victoria Cross, which was awarded to 111 men. Whilst the history of the Crimean War has been related many times, never before have the stories of those individuals who were awarded the VC been told. In this, the result of four decades of accumulated research, renowned historian James Bancroft describes who the men were, how they gained the Victoria Cross, and what happened to them afterwards. Great attention has been given to checking the correct spelling of the names of people and locations, burial places and new memorials, and dates of awards and promotions. The author has made every effort to contact museums and other establishments to get up-to-date information on the whereabouts of medals and their accessibility. The men recorded here displayed valor and determination resulting in many deeds of exceptional courage which became a regular occurrence in the illustrious annals of the British Army. Among them are heroes who had the guts to put themselves in mortal danger by picking up live shells that could have exploded and blown them apart at any moment, gallant troopers who took part in a cavalry charge that they knew was doomed before it began and they were about to be cut to pieces, and valiant individuals who had the audacity to sneak into unknown territory to take the conflict into the enemy’s back yard and risk capture and ill-treatment. This account of the fascinating lives of these heroes is accompanied with forty-five portraits.

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Europe

The Indian Rebellion of 1857-58 was the most ferocious explosion of violence in the history of the British Empire. It tested Britain's colonial resources to the limit, and nearly brought about the downfall of its rule in India.As the rebellion spread the strategic garrison at Cawnpore came under siege from rebels. The British inhabitants, including many noncombatant males and women and children, were caught up in the terrible events and spent nearly two months under profound threat which put them in fear for their lives and the likelihood of a brutal death; but they could not have imagined how dreadful that death would be. They suffered from thirst and starvation, and heat-stroke from the relentless scorching sun, holed up in a makeshift entrenchment, riddled with disease caused by the lack of sanitary provisions, and their numbers being seriously depleted from continuous bombardment by cannon balls and bullets from rebel snipers.On being promised safe passage out of the city by boats, most of the men were treacherously massacred at the Sati Chaura Ghat, a landing-stage on the banks of the River Ganges, and the surviving women and children were imprisoned in a house known as the Bibighar to await their fate. That came on 15 July 1857, when they were slaughtered with cleavers in a murderous frenzy. On the following morning their naked remains were unceremoniously thrown down a well. At least six of them were still clinging on to life, including three children.Much has been written about the siege of Cawnpore and the political events which caused it, but there less known about the people who suffered the ordeal. Who were they, and where did they come from? James Bancroft is well-known for the depth of research he carries out, and during this project he has followed the lives of many of the victims. For instance, one had worked with the engineer Brunel; a member of a family of one of the victims later became a well-known cricketer and footballer, and another was a descendant of an Anglo-Norman West Country family.The author has tried to redress this by consulting official documentation and establishments, studying primary sources and contacting descendants, then cross-referencing and checking the information as much as possible. To try to understand opinions on both sides, he also studied documents and contacted individuals who believe the events at Cawnpore were India's first steps in the freedom struggle towards eventual independence, and they have no misgivings concerning what happened.On a visit to the Sati Chaura Ghat, Sir Frederick Treves, the prominent Victorian surgeon who witnessed the hurtful sufferings of the Elephant Man, referred to is as: 'This Devil's Trap!'

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