John Chard

 ( 1847 Births ) 

On 14 July 1868, Chard received a commission as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers and continued his training at Chatham for the next two years. He was posted to Bermuda, along with Lieutenant HP Knacker, in 1870 to construct fortifications at the Naval Dockyard near Hamilton. He returned to England four years later for his father's funeral.

He was assigned to Malta to assist with the improvement of the island's sea defences. He returned to England in 1876, where he was based at Aldershot and Chatham, and was assigned to the 5th Company Royal Engineers.

A short distance downstream was Rorke's Drift, an isolated mission station used as a staging post for the British invasion force. It consisted of two thatched bungalows about apart—the western building was used as a hospital, and the eastern building had been converted into a storehouse. Garrisoned at the Drift were Chelmsford's quartermaster general, Major Henry Spalding, a company of the 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment of Foot commanded by Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, and a large company of the 3rd Natal Native Contingent (NNC).

Chard's group arrived on 19 January and set up camp near the crossing. On the morning of 22 January, he received an order that his sappers were required at Isandlwana to the east, where Chelmsford had set up an advanced camp for his main invasion column, which had marched into Zulu territory two weeks before. However, when he arrived, Chard was informed that only his men were required and that he should return to Rorke's Drift. While at Isandlwana, Chard had witnessed a Zulu army approaching the camp in the distance and upon his return to the Drift at about 1 pm, he informed Spalding of the situation.

Spalding decided to depart the Drift to hurry British reinforcements en route from Helpmekaar, but before he left, he checked a copy of the Army List, which confirmed that Chard was senior to Bromhead. Therefore, Chard, a "notoriously relaxed" man with no combat experience, was unexpectedly placed in command of the small garrison.

Unconcerned by the presence of the Zulus nearby, Chard returned to his tent by the river crossing. He was soon after disturbed by two NNC officers on horseback who informed him that the camp at Isandlwana had been overwhelmed and annihilated by the Zulus.

Returning to the station, Chard found Bromhead and Assistant Commissary James Dalton had already instructed the troops to use mealie bags to construct a defensive perimeter between the storehouse and hospital. Chard consented and by 4 pm the hastily constructed perimeter was complete. Soon afterwards, the Zulu impi, which contained some 3,000–4,000 men, was sighted advancing on their position. This caused the NNC troops to panic and desert the station, reducing the number of defenders from around 350 to approximately 140 (including 30 sick and wounded). Chard immediately ordered an additional barricade of biscuit boxes to be built across the inner perimeter to provide a smaller fall-back area should the Zulus overwhelm a part of the thinly manned perimeter.

The first waves of Zulu assault were repulsed by British volley fire, but the attackers pushed on relentlessly, particularly along a vulnerable section of the British perimeter by the hospital, which became the centre of fierce hand-to-hand combat. With British casualties mounting, Chard ordered his troops to withdraw behind the biscuit boxes, which left the western half of the station in Zulu hands, including the hospital, which was subsequently set alight by the attackers. Once inside, Chard ordered the construction of a redoubt made from a tall pyramid of mealie bags to provide shelter to the wounded and form the last line of defence. The Zulus continued to attack in intermittent waves during the night, but they were illuminated by the burning thatch, which enabled the defenders to spot their advances. By 5 am, the exhausted Zulus had abandoned the attack. After British reinforcements arrived later that morning, Chard counted 351 dead Zulus scattered around the perimeter. The British suffered 17 killed and 10 wounded.