Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Chard, John Rouse Merriott
CHARD, JOHN ROUSE MERRIOTT (1847–1897), colonel, royal engineers, the hero of Rorke's Drift, second son of William Wheaton Chard (d. 1874) of Pathe, Somerset, and Mount Tamar, near Plymouth, Devonshire, and of his wife Jane (d. 1885), daughter of John Hart Brimacombe of Stoke Climsland, Cornwall, was born at Boxhill, near Plymouth, on 21 Dec. 1847. Educated at Plymouth new grammar school, he passed through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and obtained a commission as lieutenant in the royal engineers on 15 July 1868. His further commissions were dated: captain and brevet major 23 Jan. 1879, regimental major 17 July 1886, lieutenant-colonel 8 Jan. 1893, colonel 8 Jan. 1897.
After the usual course of professional instruction at Chatham, Chard embarked in October 1870 for the Bermudas, whence, in February 1874, he went to Malta, and returned home in April 1875. On 2 Dec. 1878 he left England with the 5th company, royal engineers, for active service in the Zulu war. On arrival at Durban, on 4 Jan. 1879, the 5th company was attached to Brigadier-general Glyn's column and marched to Helpmakaar (150 miles), Chard being sent on in advance with a few men. When Lord Chelmsford entered Zululand with Glyn's column he crossed the Buffalo river at Rorke's Drift, where Chard was stationed. On 22 Jan. Chard was left in command of this post by Major Spalding, who went to Helpmakaar to hurry forward a company of the 24th regiment.
Rorke's Drift post consisted of a kraal, a commissariat store, and a small hospital building. Chard received especial orders to protect the ponts or flying bridges on the river, and was watching them about three o'clock on the afternoon of 22 Jan. when Lieutenant Adendorff and a carabineer galloped up and crossed by the ponts from the disastrous field of Isandhlwana. Chard at once made arrangements to defend the post to the last. Energetically assisted by Lieutenant Bromhead of the 24th foot, Mr. Dalton of the commissariat, Surgeon Reynolds, and other officers, he loopholed and barricaded the store and hospital buildings, connected them by walls constructed with mealie bags and a couple of wagons, brought up the guard from the ponts, and saw that every man knew his post. An hour later, sounds of firing were heard, the native horse and infantry, seized with a panic, went off to Helpmakaar, and the garrison was thus reduced to a company of the 24th foot about eighty strong, under Lieutenant Bromhead, and some details, amounting in all to eight officers and 131 non-commissioned officers and men, of whom thirty-five were sick in hospital. Considering his line of defence to be too extended for the diminished garrison, Chard constructed an inner entrenchment of biscuit tins, and had just completed a wall two boxes high when the enemy were seen advancing at a run.
The Zulus were met with a well-sustained fire, but, taking advantage of the cover afforded by the cookhouse and accessories outside the defence, replied with heavy musketry volleys, while a large number ran round the hospital and made a rush upon the mealie-bag breastwork. After a short but desperate struggle they were driven off with heavy loss. In the meantime the main body, over two thousand strong, had come up, lined the rocks, occupied the caves over-looking the post, and kept up a constant fire, while another body of Zulus concealed themselves in the hollow of the road and in the surrounding bush, and were able to advance close to the post. They soon held one whole side of wall, while a series of assaults on the other were repelled at the point of the bayonet. They set the hospital on fire. It was defended room by room, and as many of the sick as possible removed before the garrison retired. The fire from the rocks had grown so severe that Chard was forced to withdraw his men within the entrenchment of biscuit tins. The blaze of the hospital in the darkness of the night enabled the defenders to see the enemy, and also to convert two mealie-bag heaps into a sort of redoubt to give a second line of fire.
The little garrison was eventually forced to retire to the inner wall of the kraal. Until past midnight assaults continued to be made and to be repulsed with vigour, and the desultory fire did not cease until four o'clock in the morning. When day broke the Zulus were passing out of sight. Chard patrolled the ground, collected the arms of the dead Zulus, and strengthened the position as much as possible. About seven o'clock the enemy again advanced from the south-west, but fell back on the appearance of the British third column. The number of Zulus killed was 350 out of about three thousand—the wounded were carried off. The British force had fifteen killed and twelve wounded.
Chard's despatch, which was published in a complimentary general order by Lord Chelmsford, is remarkable for its simplicity and modesty. It was observed at the time: 'He has spoken of every one but himself.' The successful defence of Rorke's Drift saved Natal from a Zulu invasion, and did much to allay the despondency caused by the Isandhlwana disaster. On the arrival of reinforcements in Natal in April the force was reorganised. Chard's company was placed in the flying column under Brigadier-general (Sir) Evelyn Wood, and was engaged in all its operations, ending with a share in the victorious battle of Ulundi on 4 July 1879. On the occasion of the inspection of Wood's flying column on 16 July by the new commander of the forces, Sir Garnet (now Viscount) Wolseley, Chard was decorated in the presence of the troops with the Victoria Cross for his gallant defence of Rorke's Drift on 22 and 23 Jan. He was also promoted to be captain and brevet major from the date of the defence, and received the South African war medal.
On his return to England, on 2 Oct., he met with a very enthusiastic reception, and, after a visit to the queen at Balmoral, was the recipient of numerous addresses and presentations from public bodies, among which may be mentioned Chatham, Taunton, and Plymouth where the inhabitants presented him with a sword of honour.
After serving for two years at Devonport, six years at Cyprus, and five years in the north-western military district, Chard sailed for Singapore on 14 Dec. 1892, where he was commanding royal engineer for three years. On his return home, in January 1896, he was appointed commanding royal engineer of the Perth sub-district; but he was attacked by cancer in the tongue, and died unmarried at his brother's rectory of Hatch-Beauchamp, near Taunton, on 1 Nov. 1897; he was buried in the churchyard there on 6 Nov. The queen, who in the previous July had presented him with the Jubilee medal, sent a laurel wreath with the inscription 'A mark of admiration and regard for a brave soldier from his sovereign.' A memorial window has been placed in Hatch-Beauchamp church, and his brother officers have placed a memorial of him in Rochester Cathedral. A bronze bust of Chard, the replica of a marble bust by G. Papworth in possession of his brother-in-law. Major Barrett, was unveiled in the shire hall, Taunton, on 2 Nov. 1898, by Lord Wolseley, who observed on the occasion that it was fitting that a bust of Chard should be placed alongside those of Blake and Speke, as representatives of the county. Chard's figure is a prominent feature in the oil paintings of the defence of Rorke's Drift by A. de Neuville and by Lady Butler.
[War Office Records; Royal Engineers' Records; Despatches; Times, 3 and 6 Nov. 1897; Royal Engineers Journal, 1879 and 1897; Celebrities of the Century, 1890; Official Narrative of the Field Operations connected with the Zulu War of 1879; Standard, 3 Nov. 1898; private sources.]