TOPIC:

Hello Frank,
Thank you for showing this fine example.
I am also envious of the display of badges, tell me would the white metal ones be worn on the slouch hat or am I completely wrong

Paul

Frank Kelley wrote: Hello Brett,
The best thing I can offer to this particular post is my very first QSA, bought as a boy, to Trooper Anderson, one of your "Ten"
Regards Frank

Brett Hendey wrote: The Composite Regiment, Mounted Brigade, during the Relief of Ladysmith


During General Sir Redvers Buller’s operations to relieve the Siege of Ladysmith in late 1899 and early 1900, the Mounted Brigade of the relief force was commanded by the Earl of Dundonald. This Brigade was made up of Imperial cavalry regiments (1st Royal Dragoons, 13 Hussars and 14 Hussars [2 squadrons during early 1900]), and irregular Colonial mounted regiments (South African Light Horse, Bethune’s Mounted Infantry [moved to the Zululand border during February 1900] and Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry).

The Mounted Brigade also included the “Composite Regiment” under the command of Major (later General Sir) Hubert Gough. The main elements of the Composite Regiment were detachments of units that were besieged in Ladysmith. They were:
Imperial Light Horse (“A” Squadron)
Natal Carbineers (Estcourt/Weenen Squadron [on their home turf])
Natal Police Field Force (Detachment of about 40 men)
2nd King’s Royal Rifle Corps Mounted Infantry (One company)

Smaller numbers of men came from the following units:
Natal Mounted Rifles (26 men)
Border Mounted Rifles (10 men)
Natal Police – Estcourt District Police (Number not known)

A company of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Mounted Infantry was decimated during the Battle of Talana (20/10/1899), most men being captured by the Boers. This unit was in the process of being re-formed during the relief operations and it is possible that some men from it were part of the Composite Regiment at this time. The RDF MI were certainly active after the relief.

The army units in the Composite Regiment (i.e. excluding the Natal Police) all represented regiments the greater parts of which were besieged in Ladysmith. The besieged men were awarded the Defence of Ladysmith clasp on their QSA’s. The Relief of Ladysmith and Tugela Heights clasps of their Composite Regiment counterparts are therefore comparative rarities.

Since the Composite Regiment included many men who spoke Dutch and Zulu, and were familiar with the area of operations, it performed an invaluable role in intelligence-gathering patrols, guiding and the carrying of messages. For example, early in the Siege a Natal Police trooper safely escorted a 5th Lancers officer through Boer lines into Ladysmith. Later, on 28/11/1899, Estcourt District Police led an in-strength patrol of the Composite Regiment as far as Colenso, where it came under fire from the Boers. Also, apart from providing the Bodyguard for General Buller, the Natal Police provided orderlies for Major-General H J T Hildyard and the Earl of Dundonald.

The Composite Regiment took an active part in the Battle of Colenso (15/12/1899). It was part of the force that assaulted Hlangwane, the hill on the British right that was the Boers main stronghold south of the Tugela River. The assault failed for want of infantry support, although it was the disasters that befell the Irish Brigade and guns of the Royal Artillery that sealed the British defeat during this battle.

After General Buller shifted his attention to the Boer right flank in the vicinity of Spioenkop, it was the Composite Regiment that provided him with an early, but limited and short-lived success by crossing the Tugela, outflanking Spioenkop and ambushing a Boer patrol near Acton Homes. Had this success been exploited, it might have provided a ‘side-door’ access to Ladysmith from the west and so averted the costly assaults across the Tugela from the south that were to follow.

These assaults mainly involved the infantry, although the Composite Regiment was again actively involved in February at the start of the Tugela Heights campaign, when it repeated the attack on Hlangwane and other Boer-held hills south of the Tugela and, this time with infantry support, captured them.

It fell to men of the Composite Regiment to finally break the Siege of Ladysmith on 28/2/1900, when an advance party, which was probing the Boer lines after the conclusion of the Tugela Heights battles, found an opening and galloped into the town, thus bringing to an end the 118-day siege. Although the role of the Composite Regiment in this epic event is not disputed, reports on the units and the numbers of men involved do differ. The units most often credited are the Imperial Light Horse and Natal Carbineers. However, men of the Natal Police were certainly present, while the Natal Mounted Rifles and Border Mounted Rifles have also been credited, but perhaps later overlooked because of the small numbers of men involved.

Amongst the lessons learnt by the British high command during the early months of the War was the need to counter the Boers with the use of mounted infantry, rather than regular cavalry, as well as to make greater use of the knowledge and skills of Colonial forces. In his autobiography, General Sir Hubert Gough wrote that he had “learnt more in one day with the Natal Carbineers than … in 10 years with the regular cavalry”.

The men and their medals who were the subjects of my posts yesterday all took part in the gallop into Ladysmith on the afternoon of 28 February 1900, perhaps the most exciting event in all the days of their lives. Of course, the names of most of the men who were there on that occasion are not recorded but, since their units were represented, they deserve to be included in this series of posts.

Frank's Trooper Anderson is one such man and I am adding two more today, Sergeant Fisher of the Natal Police (Estcourt District), and Trooper Mason of the Border Mounted Rifles.

Brett

Sergeant C G Fisher, Natal Police (Estcourt District Police)

Charles Gordon Fisher was born in about 1876 to a wealthy family in Haverfordwest, Wales.

Fisher joined the Natal Police in 1895. He served throughout the Anglo-Boer War as a 2nd Class Sergeant with the Estcourt District Police. He initially commanded the NP outpost at Gourton, but he and other men from outlying areas later retired to Estcourt. Although not formally part of the Composite Regiment, the Estcourt police evidently worked closely with the Natal Police Field Force (NP FF), which was part of the Regiment. Fisher’s service during the Ladysmith relief operations is better documented than most men of his rank and posting. This service consisted mainly of intelligence-gathering patrols in the Estcourt and adjacent districts.

One such patrol by the Composite Regiment on 28/11/1899 was led by the Estcourt police, including Fisher, and went as far as Colenso, where it came under fire from the Boers on the north side of the Tugela River. It was in this area that disaster befell the attacking British force during the Battle of Colenso on 15/12/1899. On another occasion, on 6/12/1899, a patrol, also including Fisher, went towards the Drakensberg to recover cattle looted by the Boers. This resulted in the recovery of the cattle, the arrest of the thieves, and a fire-fight with a Boer patrol.

Estcourt police were with the NP FF until Ladysmith was relieved and the men, including Fisher, were awarded the Tugela Heights clasp. Fisher may therefore have been with the patrol that entered Ladysmith on 28/2/1900.

After Ladysmith was relieved, Fisher took command of the NP post at Chieveley, the former headquarters of the Mounted Brigade. He was later stationed at Estcourt and Weenen.

Fisher’s NP ‘Record of Service’ includes the following entry:
“Recommended by Insp. Mardall for conduct in the field. Colenso. Boer War. 1899.”

Fisher served throughout the Natal Rebellion in 1906 and was awarded the Medal with clasp.

On 7/6/1907 after serving in the NP for 11 years and 11months, one month short of the 12-year milestone, Fisher was found “Drunk on duty while in charge of the Guard” and was reduced to the bottom of the list of 2nd Class Sergeants. A day later he purchased his discharge, an ignominious end to an otherwise faultless career in uniform.

Fisher farmed at Chieveley and, later, at Winterton, before retiring to live in Estcourt, where he died in 1953.

Trooper H R Mason, Border Mounted Rifles
(later Squadron Sergeant Major, Border Mounted Rifles)


Little is known of the life of Henry Robert Mason. His Death Notice records that he was born in about 1873 and that he died in Addington Hospital, Durban, on 13/10/1924. He was unmarried and was a farmer in the Port Shepstone district.

He served in the Border Mounted Rifles during both the Anglo-Boer War and the Natal Rebellion. His apparently unremarkable pair of medals, a combination that is very common to men who served in Natal’s volunteer regiments, is in fact notable.

The clasp combination on the QSA reveals that Mason was one of only nine other ranks of the Border Mounted Rifles who served with the Ladysmith relief force. There may have been one BMR officer who shared this distinction (Lieutenant R W Wilson, who is recorded as being wounded at Colenso). All other members of the regiment (about 350) were besieged in Ladysmith. BMR QSA’s with Relief of Ladysmith and Tugela Heights clasps are therefore rarities.

Three of the BMR troopers in the relief force (J W Howes, H Norden & C C Stuart) were separated from the regiment after being wounded at the Battle of Rietfontein (Tinta Nyoni) on 24/10/1899. They were probably evacuated to hospital in Estcourt or elsewhere and were unable to rejoin the regiment after the siege had begun. The reasons why Mason and the other men were separated from the regiment are unknown.

Mason’s Natal Rebellion Medal is also unusual, since it is without the 1906 clasp. This means that he was one of only 38 BMR men who were on actve service during the Rebellion for between 20 and 50 days, whereas most members of the regiment (213) served for more than 50 days. This is probably due to Mason having been a member of the Port Shepstone troop of the BMR, which apparently was not called up to serve in the Zululand phase of the Rebellion, but which was kept on standby in case of trouble in the far south of Natal.

Hello Brett,
Those are really superb Brett, I have often wondered if I would ever see another one of these, well now I have, I hope the others still exist somewhere and none have been scrapped!
Regards Frank

Brett Hendey wrote: Trooper H R Mason, Border Mounted Rifles
(later Squadron Sergeant Major, Border Mounted Rifles)


Little is known of the life of Henry Robert Mason. His Death Notice records that he was born in about 1873 and that he died in Addington Hospital, Durban, on 13/10/1924. He was unmarried and was a farmer in the Port Shepstone district.

He served in the Border Mounted Rifles during both the Anglo-Boer War and the Natal Rebellion. His apparently unremarkable pair of medals, a combination that is very common to men who served in Natal’s volunteer regiments, is in fact notable.

The clasp combination on the QSA reveals that Mason was one of only nine other ranks of the Border Mounted Rifles who served with the Ladysmith relief force. There may have been one BMR officer who shared this distinction (Lieutenant R W Wilson, who is recorded as being wounded at Colenso). All other members of the regiment (about 350) were besieged in Ladysmith. BMR QSA’s with Relief of Ladysmith and Tugela Heights clasps are therefore rarities.

Three of the BMR troopers in the relief force (J W Howes, H Norden & C C Stuart) were separated from the regiment after being wounded at the Battle of Rietfontein (Tinta Nyoni) on 24/10/1899. They were probably evacuated to hospital in Estcourt or elsewhere and were unable to rejoin the regiment after the siege had begun. The reasons why Mason and the other men were separated from the regiment are unknown.

Mason’s Natal Rebellion Medal is also unusual, since it is without the 1906 clasp. This means that he was one of only 38 BMR men who were on actve service during the Rebellion for between 20 and 50 days, whereas most members of the regiment (213) served for more than 50 days. This is probably due to Mason having been a member of the Port Shepstone troop of the BMR, which apparently was not called up to serve in the Zululand phase of the Rebellion, but which was kept on standby in case of trouble in the far south of Natal.

Hello Paul,
The Border Mounted Rifles were a small Natal corps that existed before the war, so their badges/buttons etc were made in Great Britain and were retailed through companies like Hobson's along with other Natal corps, like the Natal Carbineers etc.
However, during the Boer War, a number of badges were made in Natal and the three examples here fall into this catagory, yes, they are slouch hat badges and the two which you refer to, were made in silver by a silversmith in Pietermaritzburg, the top one was worn by a well known Major in the BMR during the war.
Kind regards Frank

coldstream wrote: Hello Frank,
Thank you for showing this fine example.
I am also envious of the display of badges, tell me would the white metal ones be worn on the slouch hat or am I completely wrong

Paul