John Chard

Colonel John Rouse Merriott Chard (21 December 1847 – 1 November 1897) was a British Army officer who received the Victoria Cross (the highest military decoration for valour "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British armed forces) for his role in the defence of Rorke's Drift in January 1879 where he assumed command of the outpost, with a small garrison of 139 soldiers, and successfully repulsed an assault by some 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors. Born near Plymouth, Chard attended the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in July 1868. He was involved with the construction of fortifications in the Bermuda Garrison (three years) and at Malta (two years) before he was deployed to southern Africa at the start of the Anglo-Zulu War. At the end of the war, he returned to a hero's welcome in the UK and was invited to an audience with Queen Victoria. After a series of overseas postings, he took up his final position in Perth, Scotland. He retired from the army as a colonel in 1897 after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died at his brother's home in Somerset later that year.