SERGEANTS AT THE DRIFT
by Graham "Sapper" Mason

My pearls of wisdom this time round concern two main elements: who was the Senior Sergeant at Kwajimu and who was the actual Senior NCO on 22 Jan 1879? I will debate these elements a little later. Firstly, something that only occurred to me a little while ago. Having written for a number of publications and now a subscriber to a South African website, I set a competition concerning a photograph of a scene from the film 'Zulu' in which the three principal characters portrayed were C/Sgt Bourne (Nigel Green) Cpl Allan (Glynn Edwards) and Pte Hitch (David Kernan); forget for a moment that the chevrons worn by the two NCOs were on the 'other arm', I did not notice that the three stripes worn by Nigel Green were white. That was one 'fault' I missed, as the eventual winner of the competition (Paul Summers) pointed out that this was indicative of a Lance Sgt of the 24th whilst a substantive Sgt wore three gold coloured chevrons which of course is quite correct and I missed it! The winner won research time given by South African researcher, Rosemary Dixon-Smith. Thanks to that person for putting me right on that vital element.

The Sgts at Rorke's Drift under the command of C/Sgt Bourne were as follows:

Sgt Henry GALLAGHER, Sgt Edward WILSON, Sgt Joseph WINDRIDGE, Sgt George SMITH, Sgt Robert Maxfield (24th Foot)

L/Sgt James TAYLOR, L/Sgt Thomas WILLIAMS (24th Foot)

Sgt Frederick Augustus MILLNE (3rd Regiment of Foot - The Buffs)

C/Sgt George William MABIN (Chief Clerk of the General Staff, Army)

It is often said (as it was in my day) that the officers 'think' they run the show while the Sgts actually do! Sadly, as in the case of so many who died or were killed, service papers were destroyed upon orders of the day. The 1st/24th were actually 'guilty' of taking these service papers into battle and as a certain incident occurred at a well known mountain on 22 Jan 1879, the best part of 1500 sets of papers are lost forever to a researcher like myself. It is an interesting point that the group has no Lance Sgts in the uniform section at this time. Most likely now, readers, you will have noticed that in my list there are two indicated Colour Sgts, these being Bourne and Mabin. As you know I have just penned an article on the man known as 'The Kid', a Colour Sgt at the tender age of just 23. In the magazine Medal News they kindly printed an article on Mabin by myself.

Records at Brecon indicate that Bourne was promoted to C/Sgt in April1878 whilst Mabin received his rank May of 1875 some three years before Frank did, ironically these were the last to pass away with Mabin in 1938 and Frank in 1945. All the history books show Mabin as a Sgt when clearly he was a rank above this. Why this has never been corrected remains a mystery to me to this day. Frank was the senior in regard to his men but in rank it was Mabin who went on to become a Sgt Major with 30 years unblemished service. At the tender age of 23 he could be forgiven for not recording all of the men under his command when you think his Senior Cpl was 10 years older than Frank (Cpl Allan). Having spoken to Cpl Allan's grandson he corrected me in the spelling of his name which again I had spelt incorrectly as Allen.

With regard to the Sgts this too has been the subject of heated debate but upon close examination of the records there is no doubt who was the Senior Sgt on 22 Jan 1879. In no particular order I start with Sgt Gallagher.

Henry Gallagher was born in Eire in 1855 and joined the army on 13 March 1874 and on 9 October 1877 had gained promotion to Sgt. He went on to become Garrison Sgt Major or as was commonly known later, RSM, the highest rank an NCO could reach. Although he commanded a section of men at the defence nothing further is really known with regard to Gallagher on that day.

We next come to Sgt Edward Wilson, a diminutive man who was born in India and joined the army at the end of Jan 1874, having served in the 3rd East Surrey Militia. On 12 Jan 1878 he was promoted to Sgt and there was a later promotion to C/Sgt but then problems set in and he went up and down the ranks as did Windridge. In 1889 he was permitted to revert to Sgt to avoid a court martial - as his papers are missing at the National Archives I can only speculate as to the reason why. Wilson died on 19 Feb 1891 of heart trouble and is buried in Aldershot Military Cemetery and his headstone is in dire need of repair or replacement.

The next on our list is Sgt George Smith. Born in Islington London, George joined the army after a short spell in the militia. He joined on 29 May 1860 and on 1 Feb 1878 had reached the rank of Sgt. Again, another small man, being only 5 feet 4 inches tall.

Our next man up is Sgt Robert Maxfield. Maxfield was the most noticeable man (patient) in the makeshift hospital (see 'Zulu'). Born in Monmouth he too was promoted Sgt on 1 Feb 1878 and met his end in the blazing hospital and certainly was not ill-treated by Hook as the film shows. For the purposes of this article I will ignore the two Lance Sgts as it is the Sgts and when they got promoted which is the topic of this piece.

Next up is Sgt Frederick Augustus Millne. He was in the 3rd Foot or as this regiment is better known, The Buffs. He was sent to the drift to assist Mr Daniels with the ponts (ferries) and bravely offered to tie these off in midstream to defend them, an offer refused by Chard. Millne is the subject of yet another debate as regards the spelling of his name; as his service papers and marriage lines indicate it being spelt as Millne, that is what I will stick with. Millne was promoted to Sgt on 16 July 1876 and when WWI was declared, he re-enlisted at the age of 60 and became a drill instructor reaching the rank of RSM before ill-health forced him to retire in 1919.

My next (and last) Sgt, is one Sgt Joseph Lenford Windridge. Although he had a long association with Birmingham he in fact was born in Southwark (Surrey) London on 14 May 1842 and not, as 'The Noble 24th' indicates, Birmingham. Joseph joined the army on 26 Jan 1859 and by 3 March 1862 was promoted to Sgt (not for the last time!). Promotions followed and he reached the dizzy height of Quarter Master but an over-fondness for the liquid amber got the best of him and he went as low as a private at some stages of his career. Self-requested demotions followed and on 27 April 1877, supported by a signed testament (I have a copy) he reverted to Sgt once again. The life of Windridge (army) was linked with intemperance; demotions and promotions followed with regularity. At the end of his career he reached once again the rank of Sgt and tragically the last of his marriages resulted in a large number of his children (he had 13 with his last wife) dying within a few weeks of each other - little wonder when you read of the crowding and conditions of Victoria's reign. The astute amongst you will have realized now that as Windridge was a Sgt in April 1877 and Gallagher promoted in October 1877, Windridge who was promoted some 15 years to this rank of Sgt was by this very definition the 'Senior Sgt' at Rorke's Drift because he had reverted to Sgt in April 1877. Windridge died aged 60 in 1902 and is buried in an unmarked grave in Whitton cemetery in Birmingham having died at the home of his sister.

In the film 'Zulu' Stanley Baker turns to Michael Caine and says 'Who is the Sgt with the muscles'? Joe Powell who played Windridge in 'Zulu' was the actor in question. I ask the question: 'How did Baker know he was a Sgt as he did not have his tunic on'?

I take this chance to nominate for 2006 the grave of the Senior Sergeant at Rorke's Drift, Sgt Joseph Lenford Windridge, who lies in an unmarked grave in Whitton Cemetery Birmingham, as the 1879 Group's grave dedication for next season.

Thank you one and all,
"Sapper"

Graham Mason - Anglo-Zulu War Researcher.

[This article appeared in the September/October 2005 issue of 'Assegai', newsletter of the 1879 Group, and is reproduced here by kind permission of the editor, Roger Morgan and the author, Graham Mason.]