{{short description|Recipient of the Victoria Cross}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox military person |name=Christian Ferdinand Schiess |birth_date= 7 April 1856 |death_date= 14 December 1884 (aged 28) |birth_place=Burgdorf, Switzerland |death_place=South Atlantic |burial_place=Buried at sea |image= Alphonse de Neuville - The defence of Rorke's Drift 1879 - Google Art Project (cropped).jpg |caption=Detail from Alphonse de Neuville's 1880 "The Defense of Roarke's Drift" reputedly depicting Ferdinand Schiess. |nickname= |allegiance={{flag|France}}<br />{{flag|United Kingdom}} *25px Colony of Natal |branch=French Army<br />British Army |service_years= 1870–1875/1876 (France)<br />1877–1879 (United Kingdom) |rank=Corporal |commands= |unit=Armée de l'Est<br />2nd/3rd Natal Native Contingent |battles=Franco-Prussian War<br />9th Xhosa War<br />Anglo-Zulu War *Battle of Rorke's Drift |awards= Victoria Cross |relations= |other_work= }}

'''Christian Ferdinand Schiess''' VC (7 April 1856 – 14 December 1884) was a Swiss recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He died in poverty at just 28.

==Biography==

Schiess was born in Burgdorf, Switzerland on 7 April 1856, and spent time in an orphanage after his parents died. In 1870 he joined the French Army and fought in the Franco-Prussian War. Schiess later served in the Armée de l'Est and thus was interned in his home country when it surrendered there. He went to South Africa in 1877 and volunteered for the last Xhosa War. When the Anglo-Zulu War began the 22-year-old veteran was made a corporal in the Natal Native Contingent of the British Army in South Africa.<ref name=SAM>{{cite web|last1=Ernst|first1=F.|last2=Scheurer|first2=K.|title=HISTORY OF THE SWISS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA – SCHIESS, Christian Ferdinand|url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol093fe.html|website=The South African Military History Society|accessdate=29 January 2018}}</ref>

On 22 January 1879, at Rorke's Drift, Natal, Corporal Schiess, in spite of suffering from bad blisters on his foot caused by ill fitting boots, displayed great gallantry when the garrison had retired to the inner line of defence and the Zulus had occupied the wall of mealie bags which had been abandoned. He crept along the wall in order to dislodge a Zulu warrior and succeeded in killing him and two others before returning to the inner defences.<ref name=VC>{{London Gazette|issue=24788|page=7148|date=2 December 1879 }}</ref><ref name=Steward>{{cite book|last=Stewart|first=Rupert|title=The book of the Victoria cross|year=1916|publisher=H. Rees|location=London|url=https://archive.org/stream/bookofvictoriacr00stewuoft#page/418/mode/2up|page=419}}</ref> thumb|left|Memorial plaque to ''Friederich'' Schiess at the Rorke's Drift Museum, Natal. thumb|upright=1.4|right|Lady Butler's version of the Battle of Rorke's Drift. In 1880<ref name="VC"/> he was awarded the Victoria Cross by General Sir Garnet Wolseley for his services at Rorke's Drift. Schiess was the first man serving with a locally raised native unit to receive the Victoria Cross, the "British-only" rule being broken under political pressure, also being the first Swiss national to do so.<ref name="SAM"/>

After the volunteer forces were disbanded he failed to find work, even from British authorities. He briefly went to India but eventually returned to South Africa. In 1884, he was found on the streets of Cape Town suffering from exposure and malnutrition. The Royal Navy found him, gave him food, and offered him a passage to England on board the ''Serapis''. He accepted, but became ill during the voyage and died. His remains were buried at sea at approximately {{coord|13|00|S|07|24|W|region:XZ_type:landmark|name=Christian Ferdinand Schiess (burial at sea)}}.

It is unknown if there was a portrait of Corporal Schiess. According to some, in Lady Butler's painting ''The Defence of Rorke's Drift'' he is shown lying at left against the mealie bags.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

==Victoria Cross== The citation for Schiess's Victoria Cross was given as:

{{quote|For conspicuous gallantry in the defence of Rorke's Drift Post on the night of the 22nd January, 1879, when, in spite of his having been wounded in the foot a few days previously, he greatly distinguished himself when the Garrison were repulsing, with the bayonet, a series of desperate assaults made by the Zulus, and displayed great activity and devoted gallantry throughout the defence. On one occasion when the Garrison had retired to the inner line of defence, and the Zulus occupied the wall of mealie bags which had been abandoned, he crept along the wall, without any order, to dislodge a Zulu who was shooting better than usual and succeeded in killing him, and two others, before he, the Corporal, returned to the inner defence.<ref name="VC"/>}}

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the National Army Museum in Chelsea.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nam.ac.uk/online-collection/image-zoom.php?img_ref=78088 |title=VC awarded to Corporal Christian Ferdinand Schiess, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Natal Native Contingent, for gallantry during the defence of Rorke's Drift, 22-23 January 1879 |accessdate=2013-04-12 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140614201100/http://www.nam.ac.uk/online-collection/image-zoom.php?img_ref=78088 |archivedate=14 June 2014 }}</ref>

==Recognition in Switzerland== For many years, Schiess's story was almost unknown in his home country. However, in recent years he has been remembered by the Museum of the Swiss Abroad at the Château de Penthes in Geneva<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/geneva-to-honour-swiss-victoria-cross-hero/6771648|title=Geneva to honour Swiss Victoria Cross hero|date=2 July 2008 }}</ref> and by the Swiss branch of the Royal British Legion.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/africa-travel/south-africa/cape-town/royal-british-legion-to-honour-rorkes-drift-hero-friedrich-schiess-klj8zhm2zjs|title=Royal British Legion to honour Rorke's Drift hero Friedrich Schiess}}</ref>

==Film portrayal== In the 1964 film ''Zulu'', Dickie Owen portrays Schiess as a much older soldier than he was during the Battle of Rorke's Drift.

==References== {{reflist}}

*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999) *The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

==External links== *{{cite web|title=Cpl. Christian Ferdinand Schiess|url=https://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/vc/schiess.htm|website=Rorke's Drift VC}} *[http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=780&highlight=schiess Discussion] that Schiess is depicted in Lady Elizabeth Butler's 1879 painting [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190516/http://homepage.mac.com/dmhart/WarArt/StudyGuides/Butler.html "The Defence of Rorke's Drift"]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiess, Christian Ferdinand}} Category:1856 births Category:1884 deaths Category:Anglo-Zulu War recipients of the Victoria Cross Category:British colonial army soldiers Category:British military personnel of the 9th Cape Frontier War Category:British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War Category:Burials at sea Category:French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War Category:People from Burgdorf, Switzerland Category:People who died at sea