James W. Bancroft

Now recognised for the quality of his research, in the five decades James has been writing he has produced over a hundred books and articles, the subjects of which reflect his varied interests. They include military history and holders of gallantry medals; the history of sport, including the Olympic Games; the Titanic disaster; and American history, including the battle of the Alamo. He contributed several articles to the New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and his book Rorke’s Drift, The Zulu War 1879, has been re-printed seven times. When he is not working he likes to spend time with his growing family.

Lightoller: Titanic to Dunkirk

Charles Lightoller was one heck of a sailor, who grasped life with both hands and relished in challenging the fates; and that life was one of tragedy and perilous adventure. The son of an army captain, he was a member of a family who were prominent in the Lancashire cotton trade, and suffered several domestic tragedies in his life.

He was shipwrecked and faced near starvation on one of the remotest islands on Earth; he was caught up in a cyclone and nearly drowned, and he almost died of malaria; and he suffered a year of a harsh Canadian winter during the Klondike gold rush–and that was all before he was a senior officer on board RMS Titanic in 1912, when she hit an iceberg and sank with a dreadful loss of life.

For gallant service during the First World War he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and bar. In 1940 he took his own 18-metre boat Sundowner out to Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo, and under enemy fire he rescued over a hundred British servicemen of the stranded British Expeditionary Force; which Winston Churchill described as a miracle.

He lost two of his sons in action during the Second World War, and at the end of hostilities he and his surviving son established a boat building business which specialized in maintaining river launches for the police.

Commander Charles Lightoller’s life was one of the most eventful on record, and it is a wonder he ever reached old age after so many close-calls.

Tombstone Tragedy: Gunfight Near the OK Corral

Based on eyewitness accounts and reports in the two Tombstone newspapers of the day, this is a concise and informative unbiased account of the tragic incident which came to be known as the Gunfight near the OK Corral. The difficulty which ended in a deadly confrontation of firearms on the Wednesday afternoon of 26 October 1881, near the Old Kinderhook Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, left Frank and Tom McLaury and teenager Billy Clanton dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday wounded. But why did the situation get so out of hand?

Virgil was a United States Marshal, and Wyatt and Morgan were sworn in as deputies. They were no-nonsense men, and Doc Holliday, who could be hot-headed at times, was staunchly loyal to them. Together they protected the business interests of the town, particularly their own. However, acts of banditry were giving the region a reputation of lawlessness, and prominent citizens were feeling insecure and losing confidence in their peace officers.

The Clantons and McLaurys were believed to be ‘cowboys’, a term used to identify outlaws involved in criminal activity. The two factions had clashed in this capacity and threats had been made towards the Earp men. The gang were: ‘experts with firearms,’ so the Earps took the threats to their lives seriously, and they wanted to deal with the difficulty on equal ground. The lawmen were itching to teach the cowboys a lesson, at the same time enhancing their reputation, and therefore some kind of confrontation was inevitable.

The Defenders of Rorke’s Drift: The Zulu War, 1879

Who were the men who fought for their lives with such unwavering courage on the fateful night of 22 January 1879, against an army of Zulu warriors at Rorke’s Drift in South Africa; the battle during the Zulu War which was depicted in the 1964 motion picture Zulu! The defenders fought with such gallantry that 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to them; the total for a single action which has never been equalled since.

In carefully-presented biographical tributes to men who have been a part of his life since he was ten years old, ‘The Defenders of Rorke’s Drift’ from the respected historian James W. Bancroft tells the stories of who they were, what happened to them during their military careers, and what the future held for them.

The main source for the book is the JWB Historical Archive, compiled over five decades, and in addition to the comprehensive bibliography, James has included all reference numbers to items such as War Office papers, birth, marriage and death certificates, and other official documentation he consulted, and in many cases from where he acquired them.

The Defence of Rorke's Drift: A Graphic Account

As was the principle concerning James's first Rorke’s Drift book, which was published nearly 40 years ago and has been reprinted at least seven times, his intention with this narrative has been to try to capture the feelings of uncertainty suffered by the defenders and the dreadful situation they found themselves in; this time written after spending five additional decades reading about and researching the subject, particularly eye-witness accounts–learning all the while and accepting advice from some of his peers. Quotes by the defenders themselves carry the narrative along without bogging it down with analysis. It includes re-assessments of some of the incidents within the battle and an interesting statistics section, with a list of all the known resting places of the defenders and their year of death.

The Rorke's Drift Test: The Greatest Rugby Match Ever Played

The British Lions rugby tour of Australasia in 1914 was filled with drama and controversy. It pulsated with incidents, and produced arguably the greatest performance ever displayed in a sport arena. Despite losing several key players to injuries the Lions were forced to play a deciding Test match, during which four more players had to retire permanently or receive off-the-pitch treatment for injuries. However, faced with almost impossible odds and a terrific struggle, they played with such grit and determination that they were victorious. Their impressive performance inspired a reporter to compare the game with the defence of Rorke’s Drift.

The author re-examines several points that perhaps should not have previously been accepted as fact, and reveals why the Rorke’s Drift Test is still regarded as the greatest rugby match ever played. The work includes biographical tributes to the British participants, and a useful bibliography for further reading.