STEINAECKER, BARON, FRANCIS
CHRISTIAN LUDWIG, Major, was born in Berlin 28 September 1854, son of
Francis L Baron von Steinaecker, Colonel, German Guards, and the Baroness
von Steinaecker, (nee Baroness von Thumen). He was educated in the Royal
Cadet Corps at Waklstatt and Berlin, and entered the German Army (Leib
Grenadiers) in the early seventies. He resigned his commission in 1879, and
went to Bulgaria with Prince Alexander of Battenberg. During the Bulgarian
Revolution of 1880 he had a command at Plevna, and he resigned about 1885.
He led the expedition into the interior of German South-West Africa;
returned in 1888, and came out to Pondoland in 1889. He settled in Natal in
1890; was President of the Political Association of this district; joined
the British Forces (Colonial Scouts) on the outbreak of the South African
War, 1899-1902, on 1 November 1899, as a Trooper. He left Maritzburg at the
beginning of March 1900 to break, with a small patrol, the enemy's
communication on the Delagoa Line; rode through Natal, Zululand, Tongaland
and Swaziland; lost all his horses; smashed Malalene Bridge on the Delagoa
Line on the 17th June 1900, and took the Commandant of that line—Van
Dam—prisoner. He recruited some British refugees from Portuguese territory,
and, by activity of movement, drew considerable numbers of the enemy from
the real theatre of war (Dalmanutha). In order to protect the railway
between Campmunden and the border, he raised Steinaecker's Horse, in the
enemy's country, without base to draw from, without transport or
provisions. He landed stores and men at Koxi Bay from HM Gunboat (Captain
Gurney); was given command by Lord Kitchener of the Border and adjacent
lowland country (Swaziland north to Letruba River). He received the Queen's
Medal with four claaps, and the King's Medal with two; was mentioned in
Despatches, and given the British decoration of the Distinguished Service
Order [London Gazette, 26 June 1902]: "Francis Christian Ludwig Steinaecker,
Major, Steinaecker's Horse. In recognition of services during the
operations in South Africa". The Insignia were presented publicly by
General Lyttelton. Baron von Steinaecker was sent to Netley in April 1902.
He attended the Coronation of King Edward at the head of a contingent of his
own regiment (Steinaecker's Horse) by direct orders from Lord Roberts, but
could never get the Coronation Medal (in spite of official document in
hand). He was pronounced medically unfit for further service by Medical
Board, London, in July 1902; "received honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel",
he remarks, "probably in lieu of pension. Now destitute after ...
years of the most ghastly climate South Africa can produce". Baron von
Steinaecker married, in 1881, the daughter of Geheimer Ober-Regierungs Rath
Kegler, of Berlin. Sir A Conan Doyle tells us in 'The Great Boer War', in
the chapter on 'The Advance to Komatipoort', how "Colonel Steinaecker, an
ex-officer of the German Imperial Army, with an irregular force of 600 men,
had been operating upon the Boer line of communications in the same way as
De Wet had on the British, though their operations were necessarily on a
smaller scale. The whole romantic adventures of this small force, which
passed through Zululand and Tongaland, and eventually made its way into
Swaziland, after several times cutting the Boer railway and blowing up
Malalene Bridge, are among the most curious and interesting incidents of the
campaign. They captured the Boer officer in charge of the line of
communication, and they gave work from first to last to a couple of thousand
of the enemy, who had to guard the line from their constant descents. Some
separate book will no doubt give a full account of the adventures of
Steinaecker's Horse". Elsewhere, in describing how a small body of the
South African Constabulary were outnumbered by the Boers, Sir A Conan Doyle
says: "Another small reverse occurred at a far distant point of the seat of
war, for the irregular corps known as Steinaecker's Horse was driven from
its position at Bremersdorp in Swaziland upon 24 July and had to fall back
sixteen miles, with a loss of ten casualties and thirty prisoners". Sir A
Conan Doyle also says: "After the conclusion of Blood's movement in July
several of his columns continued to clear the country, and to harass Viljeon
in the Lydenburg and Dulstroom districts. Park, Kitchener, Spens, Beatson
and Benson were all busy at this work, never succeeding in forcing more than
a skirmish, but continually whittling away wagons, horses and men from that
nucleus of resistance which the Boer leaders still held together. Though
much hampered by the want of forage for their horses, the Boers were ever
watchful for an opportunity to strike back, and the long list of minor
successes gained by the British was occasionally interrupted by a petty
reverse. Such a one befell the small body of South African Constabulary
stationed near Vereeniging, who encountered, upon July 13, a strong force of
Boers supposed to be the main commando of De Wet. The Constabulary behaved
with great gallantry, but were hopelessly outnumbered, and lost their seven-pounder
gun, four killed, six wounded and twenty-four prisoners ... Thus in the
heart of a native state the two great white races-of South Africa were to be
seen locked in a desperate conflict. However unavoidable, the sight was
certainly one to be deplored"
