Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Zulu War medal awarded to Private James Dunbar, 2nd Battalion 24th Foot, a prominent Rorke’s Drift defender who accounted for ‘no fewer than nine Zulus, one of them being a Chief’

South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1877-8-9 (1421 Pte. J. Dunbar, 2-24th Foot) good very fine £30000-35000

James Dunbar was attested for 25 Brigade at Newport on 20 June 1877, and posted to the 2nd Battalion 24th Foot at Brecon on 13 December 1877. Promoted to Corporal in March 1878, he was reduced to Private and awarded 28 days hard labour on 22 July 1878. He served in the Kaffir War of 1878 and the Zulu War of 1879, and was present, as a Private in “B” Company, at the defence of Rorke’s Drift. He was afterwards posted to India and finally returned home on 11 April 1883, being discharged to the Army Reserve on 9 October following.

Private James Dunbar’s presence at Rorke’s Drift is confirmed on all accepted sources, including Chard’s roll; Bourne’s roll; Bourne’s amended roll; and Bt. Colonel and Major Dunbar’s roll. Furthermore, he is mentioned in the eye-witness accounts of Major Chard, V.C., and Private Hook, V.C. Written at the personal request of Queen Victoria and submitted to her at Windsor Castle on 21 February 1880, Chard’s account notes:

“We had not completed a wall two boxes high when, about 4.30 pm, Hitch cried out that the enemy was in sight, and he saw them, apparently 500 or 600 in number, come around the hill to our south (the Oscarberg) and advance at a run to our south wall. We opened fire on them, between five and six hundred yards, at first a little wild, but only for a short time, a chief on horseback was dropped by Private Dunbar, 24th.”

Private Hook, V.C., witnessed further successes of Dunbar’s marksmanship:

“The Zulus were swarming around us, and there was an extraordinary rattle as the bullets struck the biscuit boxes, and queer thuds as they plumped into the bags of mealies. Then there was the whizz and rip of the assegais, of which I had experience during the Kaffir Campaign of 1877-8. We had plenty of ammunition, but were told to save it and so we took careful aim at every shot, and hardly a cartridge was wasted. One of my comrades, Private Dunbar, shot no fewer than nine Zulus, one of them being a Chief.”

Additional details on this incident are contained within The Washing of the Spears, by Donald R. Morris:

“The men along the back wall ignored the struggle behind them and devoted their attention to keeping down the barrage from the terraces. During the initial rush Private Dunbar of “B” Company, firing over one of the wagons built into the wall, had dropped the corpulent inDuna on the white horse, and with careful successive shots he killed 8 more Zulus. Such expert marksmanship kept the Zulus in the ditch and behind the cooking shanty away from the wall.”