| Lieutenant John Rouse
Merriott Chard Royal Engineers
(Zulu War 1879)
This officer was in command of the Rorke's Drift
Post on January 22, 1879, when, with about a hundred men, mostly
of the 24th Regiment, the position was attacked by 4,000 Zulus.
Throughout the entire defence, which lasted from 4 p.m. till
daybreak next morning, Colonel Chard directed the operations
with the most heroic bravery. The Lieut.-General in command of
the troops reported 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 characterized it " ; also " that
its success must, in a great degree, be attributable to the two
young officers who exercised the chief command on the occasion
in question."
The Defence of Rorke's Drift will go down to posterity as one of
the finest examples of British heroism, and the names of Chard
and Bromhead will hold a prominent position in the annals of the
British Army. The late Queen Victoria caused their names to be
inscribed on the colour pole of the 24th Regiment, together with
those of Lieutenants Melvin and Coghill, who fell so heroically
on the banks of the Buffalo River on the same day, while
endeavouring to save the colours of the regiment from the enemy
after the Massacre of Isandlwana.
Colonel Chard, son of Mr. W. W. Chard, of Pathe, Somerset,
and Mount Tamar, Devon, was born in 1847. Educated at Plymouth.
New Grammar School, Cheltenham, and Woolwich, he entered the
Royal Engineers in 1868. He was stationed at Bermuda for some
time, ultimately going to South Africa on the outbreak of the
Zulu War. After the Defence of the Drift, for which, in addition
to the Victoria Cross, he was promoted Captain and Brevet-Major,
he became ill of fever, and went to Ladysmith to recruit his
health, but recovered sufficiently to take part in the battle of
Ulundi. Towards the end of 1879 he was ordered home, and on his
arrival at Plymouth was met by a telegram from the late Queen
and received by her at Balmoral. He retired from the service in
August, 1897, and died at Hatch Beauchamp Rectory, near Taunton,
Somerset, on November 1, 1897.
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