James Rorke

For the Irish politician, see James Halpin Rorke.

James "Jem" Alfred Rorke (c. 1827 – 24 October 1875) was a settler and trader of Irish descent in Southern Africa. He served as a civilian in the British Army commissariat in 1846 during the Seventh Xhosa War. In 1849, Rorke purchased a farmstead in the Colony of Natal, on the border with Zululand near a river crossing that became known as Rorke's Drift and established a trading post. After his death the site of his home played a key role in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War and was the location of the Battle of Rorke's Drift.

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