Gonville Bromhead

He held the barricades through a long night at Rorke’s Drift

Gonville Bromhead was born at Versailles on 29 August 1845 into a British military family and grew up in Lincolnshire. He purchased a commission in the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment, in 1867 and became a lieutenant in 1871. Before his best-known battle he had served in India and Britain and gained qualifications at the School of Musketry at Hythe.

His battalion sailed to southern Africa in 1878 and took part in the Cape frontier fighting. When the British invasion of Zululand began, Bromhead commanded B Company at the Rorke's Drift mission station, which had been converted into a hospital and supply post. The main column's defeat at Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 suddenly left the small garrison facing a serious attack.

Lieutenant John Chard, the senior officer present, and Bromhead organised the defence with the help of experienced soldiers and commissariat staff. Retreat with the sick and wounded offered little prospect of safety. They linked the buildings with barricades of mealie bags and biscuit boxes and prepared a smaller inner position.

Through the afternoon and night of 22-23 January the defenders resisted repeated Zulu assaults, while fire destroyed the hospital and forced further withdrawals within the perimeter. Bromhead helped direct the infantry, maintain disciplined firing and hold threatened parts of the line. His Victoria Cross citation recognised the intelligence, tenacity and leadership shown by the two officers under extreme pressure.

He received promotion to captain with the brevet of major, and subsequently became a substantive major in 1883. After returning to Britain he continued with his regiment, serving in Gibraltar, India and Upper Burma. The Burmese campaigns brought further medal clasps, extending his active service well beyond Rorke's Drift.

Bromhead died of enteric fever at Camp Dabhaura near Allahabad on 9 February 1891 and was buried in the New Cantonment Cemetery. His family preserved his Victoria Cross, later displayed with regimental collections at Brecon.

Official Victoria Cross citation: For their gallant conduct at the defence of Rorke's Drift, on the occasion of the attack by the Zulus on the 22nd and 23rd January, 1879. Royal Engineers Lieutenant (now Captain and Brevet Major) J. R. M. Chard 2nd Battalion 24th Regiment Lieutenant (now Captain and Brevet Major) G. Bromhead. The Lieutenant-General commanding the troops reports 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 characterised it. The Lieutenant-General adds, 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.