Who's Who in the Zulu War, 1879: The British by Adrian Greaves Ian Knight

Author:Adrian Greaves, Ian Knight [Adrian Greaves, Ian Knight]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Modern, 19th Century, Military, Wars & Conflicts (Other)
ISBN: 9781781597293
Google: ubTNDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Published: 2007-03-28T03:17:46+00:00

After the war he continued to serve in B Company which was posted to Gibraltar and India. He returned to England in November 1881 and passed onto the Army Reserve. He was recalled for service briefly in 1882 and finally discharged from Army service in January 1888. He married Elizabeth Hopkins on 7 January 1885 and they subsequently had five children. They settled in Peterchurch, Herefordshire, where Jones secured work as a groundsman for a retired officer, Major de la Hay. In later years he suffered recurring headaches, apparently the result of an injury he suffered ‘near the eye’. The cause of this injury remains obscure and if it was inflicted at Rorke’s Drift it is not mentioned on Jones’ medical report. On 6 September 1898, while at work, he borrowed his employer’s gun and said he was going to shoot crows. Shortly afterwards a shot was heard and Jones was found lying dead. He had shot himself through the mouth. An inquest declared that he had committed suicide while of an unsound mind. His headaches seem to have been the immediate cause of his depression but it is highly probable he was still suffering from post-traumatic stress dating to his experiences at Rorke’s Drift. He was forty-one years old; he was buried in Peterchurch.

Jones, William VC

William Jones was born in Evesham, Worcestershire, in 1839 – although there is a family tradition he was born in Bristol – the son of James Jones, a builder’s labourer. He worked as a boot closer before enlisting in the Army on 21 December 1858. He was enrolled in the 2/24th Regiment and served in Mauritius, Burma and India.

In May 1875 he married Elizabeth Goddard. He became a member of B Company, 2/24th Regiment and both he and his wife accompanied the battalion when it was sent to the Cape in February 1878 to take part in the closing stages of the 9th Cape Frontier War. B Company was present in the skirmishes around Intaba-ka-Ndoda and in the Perie Bush. At the end of 1878 the battalion was ordered to Natal to join the No. 3 (Centre) Column for the invasion of Zululand.

On its way through Pietermaritzburg Elizabeth Jones apparently became ill and died. Jones had rejoined his company by the time the Column crossed the Mzinyathi River into Zululand on 11 January 1879. B Company was left to guard the Drift and supply depot which had been established at the mission station at Rorke’s Drift. Shortly after noon on the 22nd the camp of the Centre Column at Isandlwana was attacked and overrun by the Zulus; at about 4.30 p.m. the post at Rorke’s Drift came under attack from elements of the Zulu reserve, who had crossed the Mzinyathi River. Jones and five other able-bodied men were posted in the hospital building to defend the patients. He took an active part in the battle, evacuating the patients room by room under intense pressure from the Zulus. Jones was recommended for the Victoria Cross by Lieutenant Bromhead, and the award was gazetted on 2 May 1879.

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