MENTIONED IN DESPATCHES
by Graham "Sapper" Mason

In the latest edition of the DAILY Mail (UK) the journalist Max Hastings really tears apart the man in charge at Rorke's Drift, Lt Chard RE VC. No doubt this will generate much annoyance at the character assassination of this oft-written-about man whose role has been ravaged once again. Being an Ex Royal Engineer myself I will hold back in my reply and tell the story of a man who only a few years ago had his unmarked grave at long last recognised with a marker by The 1879 Group www.1879Group.com for his part in the defence of Rorke's Drift.

He did not win a medal as did Chard, Bourne and the others but was mentioned in despatches yet he did his bit just as much as the others and was a volunteer for a duty which, had it been taken up, would have resulted in his certain death. The person in question was one Sgt Frederick Augustus MILLNE of the Buffs (2/3rd East Kent Regt). He was the only man of this regiment at Rorke's Drift and many a pint has been sunk in heated debate as to even the spelling of his surname, which some so- called experts have as MILNE but the enlightened know it as MILLNE - the correct spelling.

Even the circumstances surrounding his birth details raise questions, just what researchers revel in! According to his service papers he was born in Shoreditch London and was age 18 years and 2 months when he joined the army in 1872. A search was made for a registered birth in 1854 but to date the nearest found was a birth in 1853 (Aug 23rd) near Boston Lincolnshire. At this time further research is being undertaken to see if indeed this is the same man who is shown as FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MILNE on his birth certificate.

Frederick was assigned to assist with the ferries (ponts) at Rorke's Drift and worked alongside Ferryman Daniels who gets even less mention than Millne in the oft-repeated stories of this engagement. Millne had been under the command of Lt MacDowell Royal Engineeers who was killed at Isandlwana. Millne had volunteered with six men to tie off the ponts in mid-stream and defend them against the imminent attack of the approaching impi. Chard, who was now in charge, declined this offer as he had but few rifles to defend the mission station against attack. Chard had ordered the senior Sgt at Rorke's Drift (Windridge) to put a guard on the casks of rum held at the station. Was it because of his fondness of a drop or two that Windridge, who had risen to Quartermaster, was reduced to private and finished his career as a Sgt, delegated this task to Millne?

Chard mentioned the actions of Sgt Millne to Queen Victoria in his report to her. At the ripe old age of 29 Millne, who had been promoted after the engagement on Jan 2 1879 to C/ Sgt, purchased his discharge for the princely sum of £3 and gave his intended address as Hong Kong. He left the army on the 13th Dec 1883. Below is an account published in the Manchester Evening Chronicle of Dec 2nd 1905 of the life and times of Millne:

'Ex Colour Sgt Millne who is now caretaker of Princess Road school has seen not only the fortune of war but also the war of fortune. One day when in the Far East a Shanghai policeman rushed up to him excitedly with the story that he had drawn the winning number in a lottery and had won 40,000 dollars. It was true, and also he had read his own obituary as a result of a shipwreck! As a lad of 18 he had joined the 2nd Battalion of the Buffs (East Kent Regt) at Dover in 1872. He went to Ireland with his regiment and later gained a certificate as an instructor in field works at Chatham. On his way to South Africa in 1879 he was wrecked in the St Lawrence on Paternoster Reefs, everyone on board was saved and the regiment was stationed at Durban and then at Pietermaritzburg. With hostilities on the horizon, Millne who was a Sgt now (Number 2260) was sent with the pontoon stores and equipment of the 3rd column to Rorke's Drift He arrived there about a week before any other troops and finished his task by the 12th of Jan 1879. The rest of the column was now at Isandlwana. Firing was heard at Rorke's Drift at about 11am from the direction of the column and at 11o'clock a number of old native men, women and children came to the river bank and asked to be taken across saying that Cetewayo had killed all the white men.

A transport rider soon rode into the camp with the news of the disaster at Isandlwana. Under the supervision of Lt Chard RE and Lt Bromhead (24th) a breastwork of sacks of Indian corn was raised between the hospital and the stone kraals. Wagons were pulled in on the other side. The native contingent and some Basuto left for safety. "While this was going on" said the Sgt, "Daniels and I were getting things in order on our pontoons. We wanted to moor them in midstream and if need be, hold them back". Behind that modest statement lurks the heroic. A leading authority of the time interpreted the incident thus: The pont guards Daniels and Sgt Millne of the 3rd Buffs along with five or six men volunteered to moor the ponts in mid-stream and keep the ford against the Zulu vanguard. They volunteered for more than a forlorn hope, for there was not a chance that one of them would survive the encounter. Lt Chard did not accept the offer. He had other uses for them!

"We joined the remainder of the force", continued the sole representative of the Buffs "and the firing was pretty heavy as we scrambled over into the enclosure. Just after we got into the laager the enemy advanced in force. Silently they came, taking advantage of every drop of cover that presented itself. Their men dropped fast under our fire. A stalwart Induna yelled out an order, it was his last. On came the mass with a rush, shouting Usutu, Usutu! They hurled themselves on our feeble defence, to be repulsed by our concentrated fire and by bayonets, again and again they came on, assegais clashing with rifles. They shouted their war cries and we our British cheers. At first I felt nervous but the savage instinct, the blood thirst came on quickly. So close was the conflict that one soldier felled two Zulus with his fists. All the afternoon the fight was waged and in the evening the hospital was fired by Zulus fixing burning bunches of grass tied on their spears and aiming at the thatch. Six times did the Zulus try to rush the place, and in my opinion would have wiped us out had they not provided the light which enabled us to perceive their movements, a desultory fire was kept up, till dawn."

Next morning the little garrison saw more natives and thought they were to have another days fighting. But Russell's mounted men were also observed coming from the same direction, and the Undi Corps fell back. Sgt Millne served afterwards three years with his regiment in Singapore and took his discharge in Hong Kong in 1883, being appointed instructor to the Shanghai municipal police force. When his engagement was nearly completed he drew half of the winning ticket in a Manilla lottery, getting £8000 for his six dollars. "Had I put it in the bank I should not be in Manchester now." He came home to England and started a big grocery business with a partner. "It's like this," quoth the ex-soldier, "You've read Mark Twain. In the first instance I have the money and you have the experience; in the second I have the experience." Married life, however, toned down his disappointment. He was afterwards assistant labour master at Crumpsall Workhouse, and in 1895 took up his present duties. It was in the regimental paper of the Buffs for AUGUST 1890 that Sgt Millne was reported as having died on his way home to enjoy his fortune. Sgt Millne has a little daughter born on the anniversary of Rorke's drift, she was christened Ada Rorke. The Sgt figures in the Sixth Standard readers in use at Princess Road, and with such a history is it any wonder that his name is underlined or that the boys occasionally gather round him and say, "Oh! Mr Millne, we've been reading about you." '

When Sgt Millne came back to the UK he went at first to London and on the 2nd of April 1899 he married Catherine Mary Louise Millne at the parish church Edmonton London, they were both living in Sebastopol Road Edmonton London at this time. By the time first of their two children were born they were living in Manchester, a son called George Frederick Millne was born on the 15th of August 1893 and on the 22nd of Jan 1902 his daughter Ada Rorke Millne was born and the family was living at 5 Lofas St Manchester. At the outbreak of WW1 aged 60 he enlisted into the army reserve and rose to the rank of RSM (Regimental Sgt Major) and was in various training units until ill health forced him to finally retire on the 7th Nov 1919. Frederick Augustus Millne died of acute pneumonia aged 70 on the 5th of June 1924, he was buried in the Non-Conformist section (although he was of the Church of England) in the Southern cemetery Manchester in an unmarked grave, until recently when the 1879 group put a cross at his grave to mark the final resting place. And so ends the story of Sgt Frederick Augustus Millne, defender of Rorke's Drift .

Thank you,
"Sapper"

Graham Mason - Anglo-Zulu War Researcher.