A FILM-MAKER is hoping to track down any living relatives of a soldier who fought at Rorke’s Drift in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, and believes there may be some descendants living in the Monmouth area.

This year, Peter Hall succeeded in having a new headstone laid at the grave of former soldier Private John Connolly, who died in 1906 and was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in a Swansea cemetery.

Private Connolly’s grave – and memory – were forgotten for decades, but were eventually restored following a chance conversation Mr Hall had, about the famous battle of Rorke’s Drift, with a friend from a re-enactment group.

“He told me he had an Anglo-Zulu War uniform, which reminded me there was a chap [who fought in that war] buried in Sketty, in Swansea, so I decided to see what other local connections to Rorke’s Drift I could find,” Mr Hall said.

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Mr Hall is an enthusiastic film-maker, using the skills he learned in previous work as a news cameraman for ITV.

He has made several videos about local history for Swansea Museum, and planned to make his next film about the city’s connection to the Anglo-Zulu War.

“I found out there was a soldier called Private John Connolly buried in Danygraig Cemetery [in Swansea], so I went along to produce a bit of video with my friend doing a re-enactment,” Mr Hall said. “I expected to find a gravestone there, but all I found was an unmarked pauper’s grave.

“That’s not right – this man had been through the war, he went all the way to South Africa, but was buried in a pauper’s grave because the poor man had died with nothing.”

Determined to right was he saw as an injustice, Mr Hall contacted local masons Nurse and Payne to find out how much a headstone for Private Connolly would cost – to his delight, they said they would do the job for free.

Mr Hall then researched the life of Private Connolly. Born in Ireland, the young man Mr Connolly travelled from Cork to South East Wales, where he enlisted with the Monmouth Militia, then the 24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot.

It was with that regiment that Private Connolly found himself in Natal in January 1879, defending the Rorke’s Drift mission station from attacks by several thousand Zulu warriors.

Private Connolly was injured in the battle and rescued from the station hospital by Henry Hook, who would win a Victoria Cross for his gallantry.

Private Connolly returned to Wales after the war, married, and had seven children.

He died in 1906, but there is scant information on what happened to his family afterwards.

Mr Hall would now like to find Private Connolly’s descendants and show them the newly restored grave, which was unveiled and re-dedicated in January on the 140th anniversary of the battle of Rorke’s Drift, with a representative of the Royal Welsh Regiment, and members of the Royal British Legion’s Swansea branch in attendance.

Mr Hall has made a short film about Private Connolly’s life, which is available online

here.