This question arose following the memorial service for David Rattray at Southwark Cathedral when, during his address to the congregation, Brigadier Aitken stated that many of the names in the regiment today such as Evans, Jones and Williams reflected those from Wales who fought at Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana – as portrayed in the film Zulu. However, at the time of the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879, the 24th Regiment was the 2nd Warwickshire Regiment and retained that name until 1881, when it became the South Wales Borderers.
The regiment's depot was established in Brecon in 1873, although few recruits were drawn from that area. The 24th Regimental depot certainly recruited in the counties of Brecknock, Cardigan and Radnor, but for the six years immediately prior to the Anglo-Zulu War it had to look further to neighbouring English counties, especially Monmouth (then an English county), with most of the recruits going to the local 2nd Battalion. The 1st Battalion had seen continuous service in various Mediterranean garrisons for the eight years prior to arriving in South Africa on 4 February 1875. At that point, the 1st Battalion's link with Wales was, at the very best, tenuous; indeed, its Regimental March was The Warwickshire Lads, composed for Shakespeare's bicentenary celebrations at Stratford-on-Avon in 1769.
Private Robert Jones VC, 2/24th, born in Monmouthshire, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his part in the defence of Rorke's Drift. To ponder whether he was English or Welsh probably never occurred to him, but he wrote about his experiences:
On the 22nd January 1879, the Zulus attacked us, we being only a small band of English soldiers. My thought was only to fight as an English soldier ought to for his most gracious Sovereign, Queen Victoria, and for the benefit of old England.
The 2/24th certainly had a handful of Welshmen (born or living in Wales when recruited) serving in its ranks; for example, ‘B’ Company 2/24th who defend Rorke's Drift contained five Welshmen (see Chapter 1 for details). With regard to the 24th Regiment's Rorke's Drift VCs, Bromhead was born in France (to a Lincolnshire family), Hook was from Gloucestershire, Allen was born in Northumberland (and considered himself a ‘Scotchman’ by birth), Hitch was a Londoner, William Jones was from Worcestershire, Robert Jones and John Fielding (alias Williams) were from Monmouthshire (then an English county) and Fielding was Irish, although hailing from Abergavenny! Jones, defined by the Oxford Names Dictionary as ‘son of John’ is, of course, a famously English name too – hence its use for the corporal in Dad's Army!
This neatly brings us to the question of Welsh names, or names commonly associated with Wales, and a count of soldiers with these names within the two battalions make interesting reading. Of course, there are numerous problems in using such a rough and completely unscientific method; having a Welsh-sounding name has absolutely nothing necessarily to do with one's origins, for example Private Griffiths VC (killed at Isandlwana) had a Welsh name but was born in Ireland, was attested in Warwick and joined the Regiment at Tamworth. With regard to the 1st Battalion, and to a lesser extent the 2nd, after Isandlwana they were reconstructed with recruits (mainly) from thirteen other regiments, which makes any analysis meaningless.
Medal records are equally ambiguous; many of the 24th recipients of medals, reinforcements after the battle, were posted back to their original units after Isandlwana. They have the South Africa Medal for serving with the 24th, but this would not have been their original unit. Many have no clasp, which appears to indicate that they did not cross into Zululand. Rorke's Drift defenders were a curious exception, since they were all given the clasp yet many did not cross into Zululand. This raises another interesting question: as the 2nd Battalion did not arrive in South Africa until 1878, why did they have 1877-8-9 on their medal bar? So the answer to the original question remains elusive and complex.
Nevertheless, if one considers the Welsh or Welsh-sounding names of casualties at Isandlwana, then a rough indication can be found. I offer the following casualties with Welsh names at Isandlwana (I accept there may well be other Welsh names that I am unaware of):
Davis 4, Edwards 4, Evans 2, Griffiths 1, Hughes 5, Jenkins 3, Jones 6, Lewis 2, Lloyd 1, Morgan 2, Parry 2, Thomas 2, Watkins 1, Williams 10.
The film Zulu has much to answer for.