Content note: Engraved portraits of British officers and a British-sourced account of the Isandlwana defeat; the Zulu side is described in the period's terms and is not heard. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Illustrated London News, 'The Zulu War: Defenders of Rorke's Drift', 1 March 1879
A full ILN page headed 'The Zulu War: Defenders of Rorke's Drift': engraved portraits of Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead and of Lord Chelmsford in uniform and decorations, with a biography and a telegraphed account of the disaster at Isandula (Isandlwana). Tell: the page opens the war news with named officers' portraits, so their rank and honours frame the report; no Zulu source is quoted.
- Date
- March 1, 1879
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- The Illustrated London News (London weekly)
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Newspaper pages
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Disraeli Government
- Leader
- Benjamin Disraeli
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Reassure
- Event
- Anglo Zulu War
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Internet Archive (The Illustrated London News March 1, 1879, Vol 74 Iss 2072, Serials in Microfilm), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain by publication date (London 1879); IA item states no rights
The Illustrated London News, 1 March 1879, p. 192. Internet Archive, item sim_illustrated-london-news_1879-03-01_74_2072. Scan: Internet Archive (Serials in Microfilm), whose item page states no rights.
Text on the object
THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS, MARCH 1, 1879.-192 THE ZULU WAR DEFENDERS OF RORKE'S DRIFT. LIEUTENANT JOHN ROUSE MERRIOTT CHARD, ROYAL ENGINEERS. LIEUTENANT GONVILLE BROMHEAD, 24TH REGIMENT. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL LORD CHELMSFORD, K.C.B., COMMANDER IN CHIEF IN SOUTH AFRICA. LIEUT.-GENERAL LORD CHELMSFORD. The General commanding the forces in South Africa, who is at present charged with the arduous and anxious task of conducting the war against Cetewayo, King of the Zulus, has held his post scarcely a twelvemonth, having succeeded General Sir Arthur Cunynghame on Feb. 25 last year. [...] THE ZULU WAR. We had received, by the middle of this week, to which the present account of recent news is made up, intelligence, partly conveyed by the Madeira telegraph, from Capetown to the 4th ult. The London Gazette has published Lord Chelmsford's despatches of Jan. 9 and Jan. 14, which dates were two days before, and three days after, the commencement of active hostilities. Some further particulars have been reported of the lamentable disaster which befell the rear-guard of Colonel Glyn's column on the 22nd, with the destruction of a whole battalion of the 24th Regiment, ten miles from Rorke's Drift, at Isandula; also the successful defence of the Rorke's Drift post, on the same day, by Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead [...] "The day before the action took place, Jan. 21, Colonel Glyn, in command of the third column [...]" [telegraphed account of Isandula continues to the foot of the column; not transcribed in full]
Headline, captions and opening lines of the two articles transcribed; ellipses [...] mark omitted passages. Small type in the columns is only partly legible at this scan resolution.
