What happened to Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne Rorkes Drift

i recently made a video about the victoria cross heroes from the battle of rorke's drift during the anglo-zulu war back in 1879 and several people asked why i hadn't mentioned coloured sergeant frank born the short answer is that he wasn't awarded a victory across but due to popular demand i thought i would do some research and share his story with you nevertheless after the initial press coverage of the battle of rorke's drift in 1879 like a lot of other battles it quickly faded from popular memory until in 1964 the film zulu suddenly a whole new generation or indeed generations became fascinated by the anglo-zulu war and indeed the battle of rorke's drift and the courage of those defenders there you might be one of them i certainly am while zulu gave starring roles to stanley baker and a young michael kane as lieutenants charred and bromhead for many of us the real hero of the film was colour sergeant born played by nigel green as the tension mounts in the film with that incredible appearance of the zulu army on the skyline born the senior non-commissioned officer at rockstrift is a model of a victorian soldier at his very best with his huge frame and a rugged face that's seen countless actions and that mutton chop moustache bourne strikes as the very model of a british soldier serving queen victoria in the 19th century there's a moment where a young soldier asks why their tiny garrison are facing the might of the zulus and bourne replies because we're here lad nobody else just us stoic professional courageous the hallmarks of a common tommy adkins of the british army rather like the men i've described in my recent crimean war videos too his comments litter the film and if you're a bit of a fan you will probably have your favorites and i bet you can quote them uh line for line so god write your favorite color sergeant ball quote in the comments below love to see them and i bet a fair few of you will have recalled his response to lieutenant charred near the end of the film when he tells the commanding officer that their survival was a miracle and charred responds if it was a miracle color sergeant then it's a short chamber boxer henry .45 caliber miracle and the grizzled nco says and obeying it sir with some guts behind speaking of those bayonets there's also a brilliant scene where he faces down a zulu warrior with his bayonet i mean what zulu warrior would want to face this steely six foot four british red coat with his mutton shot moustache if anyone is the backbone of the defense of rorke's drift then it's him or at least so you might think if you've seen the film zulu and are based upon that film i can understand why so many people are baffled as to why when 11 victoria crosses were handed out colour sergeant bourne wasn't one of the recipients frank bourne was born in balkan sussex in 1854 the fifth son and youngest of eight children of james and harriet born despite his father being a mere laborer and having to feed eight children frank was had enough schooling to become a non-commissioned officer in his army career and then to be able to help illiterate troops under his command with a life as an agricultural labor in rural sussex beckoning frank chose to enlist in the army instead when he was 18 in 1872 joining the second battalion of the 24th regiment of foot his pay was six pennies a day from which three and a half pennies were deducted for mess and washing bills in a radio interview in 1936 he recalled that upon enlisting his colour sergeant placed him in a company which was reserved for the tallest recruits which if you have the vision of his character from the film zulu makes obvious sense but whilst actor nigel green was a broad strapping six foot four and a brief previously starred actually as hercules in the film jason and the argonauts the real life frank born was just five foot three as he said in his interview his color sergeant obviously had a sense of humor promotion came rapidly for young frank bourne within three years he was a corporal and within another three years he'd been promoted to sergeant in 1878 the second battalion 24 foot had arrived in south africa to take part in what was known as the kaffir wars against the quasar tribes in the east of the country after the campaign had been successfully concluded or successfully for the british that is i doubt the causes saw it in the same light the second battalion joined the first battalion of their regiment in natal as part of lord chelmsford's planned invasion of zululand in the meantime born had once more been promoted this time to colour sergeant of b company the 2nd battalion 24 foot responsible for roughly 100 men he was just 24 the youngest color sergeant in the british army age 24 and standing at just 5 foot 3 born swiftly earned the nickname the kid ball recalled being nervous sensitive and afraid of his new responsibilities but there was no need to be a popular non-commissioned officer he recalls being becoming something like a private unpaid secretary to the men in b company who could not read and write as he conveyed messages from loved ones back home and wrote out the responses from his charges in south africa fast forward to january 1879 and both battalions of the 24th provided the backbone for chelmsford's ill-fated invasion of zululand as the 24th crossed the buffalo river bee company were left behind to guard the supply depot rorke's drift on the british side of the river born recalled his bitter disappointment as an infantryman to see his comrades heading off towards the battle whilst they were stuck on guard duty but all of that was to swiftly change on the 22nd of january 1879 just 11 days after the invasion began the british camp at issanguana was overrun by a highly disciplined zulu attack despite gallant resistance and inflicting significant casualties of their own the british couldn't hold back the huge zulu army of twenty thousand men and the british force of one thousand three hundred men was wiped out part of the zulu army who had been held in reserve now headed for the supply depot at rorke's drift now i've produced a video all about the battle so i don't want to repeat the story here for you so this is a real top-line summary the old mission station at rooks drift had been converted into both a supply depot and a hospital and even with the the hospital patients there were less than 150 british soldiers garrisoned at rorke's drift when a force of 4 000 zulus attacked them late on the afternoon of the 22nd of january 1879. for nearly 12 hours through that long african night the british defenders fought a desperate battle which included many acts of bravery not least from some of the soldiers who had been placed in the hospital to protect the patients as the zulus burst into the building these soldiers dug their way through the walls moving from room to room whilst holding the zulus at bay and all the time the roof of the hospital was on fire shortly after dawn on the 23rd of january the zulus withdrew back across the buffalo river over 500 of their comrades had been killed or wounded the british defenders had lost just 17 men killed as i said i've done a video all about that battle and there's a link at the end of this video and in the descriptions below if you want to hear more about that 11 victoria crosses were awarded to the defenders of rorke's drift color sergeant born was not one of the recipients this submission often raises a few eyebrows and indeed a few hackles too now just remember that the victoria cross is awarded for conspicuous bravery valor or self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty there was no doubting the role he played was a backbone to be company but that was effectively his job description as a colour sergeant but just doing your job well was not in itself grounds to be awarded a victoria cross now i think we can all have a debate about the awarding system and exactly why some people got victoria crosses and not others but now is not the moment maybe we are all coloured by nigel green's brilliant performance in zulu and we base our opinions uh on the film depiction of frank bourne rather than the reality it seems that actually bourne was actually offered a victoria cross or alternatively a commission unlike hector mcdonald who's featured in another one of my videos he decided that as the eighth son of a labourer the family exchequer was as he recalled later on empty so he refused the offer of a commission in 1879. he was actually one of the four defenders at rorke's drift to be awarded britain's second highest military medal at the time the distinguished conduct medal and alongside that medal interestingly he was awarded an annuity or pension of 10 pounds a year which was actually the same amount that the holder of the victoria cross received color sergeant frank bourne stayed in the army after the zulu wars two years later the 24th changed their name to the south wales borderers and they traveled to india and it was in saint thomas cathedral in bombay modern-day mumbai that he married eliza mary fincham in 1882 their first child the son percy was born in india the following year and then another son sydney was born in 1885. the boys were to be joined by three sisters over the coming years by then frank bourne was on active service participating in the third anglo-burmese war the south wales borders were part of a 9 000 strong army of british and indian troops who were ferried up the iriwadi river to attack the burmese capital and this old flotilla of boats was made famous by rudyard kipling in his poem mandalay now a quartermaster sergeant born followed his regiment back to britain and in 1890 he finally took that commission that he'd been offered 11 years before in 1893 lieutenant born was appointed adjutant or main administrative coordinator to the commanding officer at the school of musketry in highth in kent close to his home county of sussex the role of the school of muscatry was almost like a almost like a train the trainers sort of place where you uh you were training other ncos to instruct uh common soldiers and new recruits in musket skills in in the british army captain frank bourne finally retired from the army after 35 years service in 1907. moving to beckenham in kent he became assistant secretary of the national miniature or small bore rifle club this nationwide club had been established by field martial lord roberts after the boer war to produce a reserve of skilled marksmen who could be called upon in times of need and a time of need was fast approaching in 1914 the first world war broke out 60 year old frank bourne tried to re-enlist but he was deemed too old for active service his skills and experience were however seen as such an asset that he was once more appointed as an adjutant at the school of musketry this time in dublin he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and during the course of the four year war bourne was responsible for the training of something like 10 000 british and irish marksmen when peace was finally restored born retired for a second time having now been awarded the order of the british empire the obe to go with his distinguished conduct medal frank bourne the last surviving defender from the battle of rorke's drift died aged 91 on the 9th of may 1945 one day after ve day the end of the world war ii in europe in 1936 bourne was interviewed for bbc radio and he recorded the events at rorke's drift 57 years beforehand incredibly someone at the bbc years later binned the interview because they thought it had no historic value can you imagine however the transcript published in the weekly bbc magazine at the time the listener does survive and it's really well worth the read in the interview bourne expressed surprise that the zulus didn't simply use their asset guys to slit the mealy bags that have fallen the barricades and effectively collapsed them so they could almost as he said he could almost walk over them he shared his admiration for the zulus and he commented that if the enemy had known how to actually use their rifles better british casualties at rocks drift would have been a heck of a lot higher and finally bourne reflected on his men from b company this is what he said in the interview now just one word for the men who fought that tonight i was moving amongst them all the time and not for one moment they flinch their courage and bravery cannot be expressed in words for me they were an example of my soldiering days what a humble soldier and yet another example of the heroes that served in the british army in victorian times color sergeant later lieutenant colonel frank bourne obe dcm senior non-commissioned officer at rorke's drift just 24 years of age five foot three the kid well thanks for watching and i hope you enjoyed it i hope you enjoyed the uh the shots of pershore abbey here in worcestershire as well so what stories would you like to hear about from british or british military history drop me a line below in the comments and i'll see if i can add them to my ever growing list and if you haven't already please subscribe to my channel or maybe even consider becoming a patron but in the meantime keep well and i'll see you very soon you

Channel: The History Chap

Views: 712,446

Keywords: british history, the history chap, military history, colour sergeant bourne, colour sergeant frank bourne, what happened to colour sergeant frank bourne rorkes drift, what happened to colour sergeant frank bourne zulu war, colour sergeant frank bourne rorke's drift, colour sergeant frank bourne zulu war, colour sergeant frank bourne zulu, zulu, nigel green zulu, battle of rorke's drift, the battle of rorke's drift 1879, distinguished conduct medal, british army, zulu war

Id: DOQJK5hUo9U

Length: 14min 33sec (873 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 20 2022