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VC372 Ferdnand Christian Schiess
BORN 7 April 1856
DIED 14 December 1884 AGE 28
VC Won 22-23 January 1879 AGE 22
Place VC Won Rorke’s Drift, Natal
War/Campaign The Zulu War
Name Ferdnand Christian Schiess No.
VC Issue No. 372 Awards VC
Regiment South African Forces, Natal Native Contingent
Later
Now
Rank VC Won Corporal
Rank End Of Career Corporal
Place Of Birth Burgdorf, Bern Canton, Switzerland
Place Of Death At sea on board transport ship ‘Serapis’ near Angola
Buried/Location Ashes At sea, latitude south 1300, longitude west 7024, 1,376 km north-east of St Helena off the coast of Angola, South Atlantic
Cremated
Date Buried/Cremated
Headstone Plot/Grave no.
Gazetted 29 November 1879
VC Presented 3 February 1880 by General Sir Garnet Wolseley at Pietermaritzburg market square, Natal, South Africa
Memorials
P Bronze plaque at the Rorke's Drift Memorial Museum, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
By The Way…
The only Swiss national and first man serving with South African Forces under British command to be awarded the VC
Also known as Christian Ferdnand
VC Held By
National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London, England
Thank you to Nick & Lorna Martin for photos Rorke’s Drift
