| Frank Bourne | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 27, 1854 Balcombe, England |
| Died | May 8, 1945 (aged 91) Beckenham, London, England |
| Buried at | Beckenham Crematorium and Cemetery |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1872 - 1907, 1914 - 1918 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Unit | 24th Regiment of Foot |
| Battles/wars | Anglo-Zulu War World War I |
| Awards | Distinguished Conduct Medal, OBE |
Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Edward Bourne OBE DCM (April 1854 – 8 May 1945) was a decorated British soldier who participated in the defence of Rorke's Drift during the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War. He was also the last known survivor of the battle.
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Born in Balcombe, Sussex, England in 1854, Bourne enlisted in the Army at Reigate on 18 December 1872, aged 18 years 8 months. Four years later he had been promoted to Colour Sergeant becoming the youngest NCO of his rank in the entire British Army. This earned him the nickname 'The Kid'.
On 22 and 23 January 1879, Bourne was part of the garrison at Rorke's Drift, Natal, South Africa, which held off a Zulu army. Bourne, who was now an NCO in B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot, helped organise the defence at the mission station and field hospital. Throughout the day and night of the battle, the Zulus made repeated attacks against the barricades, but the outnumbered defenders held out until relief arrived.
For his bravery, Bourne received the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for "outstanding coolness and courage" during the battle, with a £10 annual annuity. The DCM, until 1993, was the second highest military decoration (after the Victoria Cross) awarded to other ranks of the British Army. He was offered a commission, but "being an eighth son, and the family exchequer ... empty", he declined it.
After Rorke's Drift, Frank Bourne served in British India and Burma, being promoted to Quartermaster-Sergeant in 1884.[1] He was commissioned in 1890. He was appointed Adjutant of the School of Musketry at Hythe, Kent, and retired in 1907. At the outbreak of the First World War, he re-enlisted. By 1918, he had been given the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and made an OBE.[1]
Bourne lived in retirement at 16 King's Hall Road, Beckenham, Kent. He was the last surviving defender from Rorke's Drift, dying on VE Day (8 May 1945), at the age of 91. Bourne was buried in Beckenham Crematorium and Cemetery.
In the 1964 film Zulu, Bourne was played by Nigel Green. Green was considerably older (about 40 years old) and taller than Bourne, who was 24 and 5' 6" (1.68 m) at the time of the battle.
The military science fiction book Valor's Choice by Tanya Huff is (as stated in the author's afterward) loosely based on the superior firepower against superior numbers aspect of Rorke's Drift, with the hero, Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr, placed in the role of Frank Bourne as the highly regarded NCO on the scene. Kerr also refuses the commission offered by her superiors immediately after the battle.[2]