Reynolds, James Henry (1844–1932), army surgeon and VC, was born 3 February 1844 in Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin, second son of Laurence Reynolds, JP and owner of a tavern, hotel, and livery stables at 7 Queen St., Dublin, moving later (c.1868) to Dalyston House, Granard, Co. Longford. His elder brother, Laurence Patrick, inherited the family property in Granard on the father's death (1877). His sister Rose married Dr F. J. Davys of Swords, Co. Dublin. Educated at St Vincent's College, Castleknock, Co. Dublin (1855–60), James Henry Reynolds studied medicine at TCD, taking the MB in 1867. He joined the army medical department in the following year and was posted to India, where he was commended for his management of a cholera epidemic.
Posted next to South Africa he served in the Griqualand expedition (1875) and the Kaffir war of 1877–8. He advanced into Zululand with the 24th Regiment in January 1879. The Buffalo River was crossed at Rorke's Drift, and Reynolds was ordered to remain there with a small detachment of about 100 fit men and thirty-six patients, using a ramshackle house as a field hospital. The main party went ahead to be massacred at Isandhlwana (22 January 1879), after which some 4,000 Zulu warriors set off to deal with those at Rorke's Drift.
The attack was not long delayed. A party of horsemen in scarlet headed the advance, and were mistaken initially for British cavalry till Reynolds pointed out that the riders were not rising in their saddles, but sat the horses the way natives did. Approaching, the Zulu impi drew up and took snuff ceremoniously, indicating a charge to the death. Some had rifles but their main weapon was the assegai, a short spear deadly at close quarters. They met a stubborn, well-planned defence from infantry equipped with Martini-Henry rifles, and shielded by improvised breastworks. Reynolds, using the storehouse veranda as a surgery, has been described as ‘calmly busying himself with organizing and attending to his casualties and seemingly unconcerned with the violence going on all around’ (Bancroft, 61). The Zulus set fire to the hospital's thatched roof, and seven patients were killed during the struggle to escape from the building. Unexpectedly, the blaze provided illumination to target the attackers when darkness fell. The siege continued through the night, but just before dawn there was silence. First light revealed the Zulus retiring towards the hills from which they had so suddenly debouched. Eleven VCs were awarded to the defenders of Rorke's Drift. Reynolds (who was immediately promoted to the rank of surgeon-major) was one of the recipients in June 1879, after a delay that evoked a protest from the medical profession, conscious that members of the medical department were decorated less promptly than combatant officers. He was elected an honorary fellow of the K&QCP(I) in May 1879, and an LLD of TCD. The British Medical Association awarded him its gold medal.
Reynolds married (1880) Elizabeth, daughter of Dr M'Cormick. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel (1887) and brigade-surgeon (1892). On his retirement (1896) he was appointed senior medical officer at the RAMC clothing factory in Pimlico. He consulted W. G. Spencer of the Westminister Hospital in 1929 and was successfully treated with radium for a malignant growth. This enabled him to walk at the head of the procession of VCs who on 9 November 1929 attended a dinner in their honour over which the prince of Wales presided at the royal gallery of the house of lords. He died 4 March 1932 and was buried at St Mary's cemetery, north London.