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Officers of the
4th Battalion |
2nd Battalion
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The 2nd Battalion sailed on the Briton on 5th December 1899, and arrived
at the Cape on the 20th after a very quick passage; was sent round to Durban
on the Orcana, and joined the 10th Brigade under Major General Talbot Coke,
two of whose battalions had been landed in Cape Colony, the two remaining
with the general being the 2nd Dorsets and 2nd Middlesex. The 10th
Brigade formed part of the Vth Division under General Warren, and went with
him to Springfield and Venter's Spruit. The work of the brigade has
been sketched under the 2nd Dorsets, and that
of the Natal Army generally has been dealt with under the
2nd Queen's Royal West Surrey.
Like the Dorsets, the Somersets saw the heavy fighting between 20th and
24th January 1900 at Venter's Spruit and Spion Kop, but were not themselves
seriously engaged. The Middlesex were on the summit all the afternoon
of the 24th and lost heavily (see 2nd Royal
Lancaster for account of Spion Kop).
On 21st February, during the last and successful attempt to relieve
Ladysmith, the Somersets had their first heavy fighting among the hills
north of Colenso. The country was very difficult, and the battalion
seems to have got into a place where they were subjected to fire from three
sides.
During the fourteen days' fighting the battalion's casualties were
approximately 3 officers and 11 men killed, 1 officer and 80 men wounded.
Five officers and 6 non-commissioned officers and men were mentioned in
despatches by General Buller, 2 of the latter being recommended for the
distinguished conduct medal.
After the relief of Ladysmith the Somersets left Coke's brigade and
joined that of Major General Hart, which consisted of the Somersets, 1st
Border Regiment, 1st Connaught Rangers, and 2nd Dublin Fusiliers, the
first-named having taken the place of the Inniskilling Fusiliers, who were
left in Natal. Hart's brigade was brought round to Cape Colony, and
along with Barton's Fusilier Brigade was put under Sir Archibald Hunter as
general of division. Hart's Brigade was ordered to Aliwal North to
co-operate with Brabant in the relief of Wepener. The relief was
accomplished on 24th April, and the brigade then followed Barton's to the
western border. Having defeated the enemy at Rooidam on 5th May with
the Fusilier Brigade, Sir Archibald Hunter proceeded to march through the
Western Transvaal. One wing of the Somersets was left to garrison
Vryburg, the other was taken east of Pretoria, and along with the 2nd
Dublins formed the garrison of Heidelberg under Hart. On 26th July
Major General Cooper with the 3rd King's Royal Rifles and 1st Rifle Brigade
relieved Hart, who with the 2nd Dublins and half-battalion of the Somersets
was ordered to Rhenoster, on the Bloemfontein-Pretoria Railway. He
arrived there on the 30th, and marching to Kopje Alleen, joined Major
General C E Knox and Major General Broadwood, who were endeavouring to
surround De Wet. The Boer general with about 2000 men was then
occupying the hills south of Reitzburg, near the Vaal. De Wet crossed
the Vaal on the night of 6th August, and was at once pursued by several
columns under the direction of Lord Kitchener, including that of Lord
Methuen (see 1st Northumberland Fusiliers).
De Wet escaped north of the Megaliesberg after some of his waggons, guns,
etc, had been captured, and some prisoners he had with him had been
released. In this pursuit Hart's men did 123 miles in the first seven
days. After they were "whipped off" at Oliphant's Nek they went to
help Hore at Elands River. Hart then moved into Krugersdorp about the
middle of August. His column was shortly strengthened by the 2nd South
Wales Borderers, 400 Imperial Yeomanry, and a 4'7 gun, and early in
September he proceeded to Potchefstroom, having some fighting and extremely
hard marching on the way. He then returned, reaching Krugersdorp on
30th September. During the march his column had disposed of a fair
number of Boers, and had captured 96 prisoners, many cattle, waggons, etc.
After this the battalion was again taken to the Heidelberg district, and
remained there a long time doing good work. In Lord Kitchener's
despatch of 8th March 1901 Colonel Gallwey and two other officers were
mentioned. On 25th May 1901 a convoy returning from Bethel to
Standerton, the escort of which was a mixed force, under Colonel Gallwey of
the Somersets, and including a portion of the battalion, was heavily
attacked. "The escort fought with great gallantry and completely
foiled the enemy's repeated attempts to press into close quarters".
The Somersets lost 1 man killed and 3 wounded. Three officers and 6
non-commissioned officers and men of the battalion were mentioned in
despatches for exceptional services that day, and the cause of mention after
the name of Lieutenant and Quartermaster Moran is worth quoting: "Seeing
party of enemy creeping up under cover of a donga, headed the cooks and
invalids and drove them off". One can scarcely help associating cooks
with kettles and invalids with crutches, but doubtless the gallant party
left their impedimenta behind.
During 1901 a portion of the battalion did column work under Colonel E C
Knox and other commanders in the north-east of Orange River Colony and the
south of the Transvaal.
In Lord Roberts' final despatch 9 officers and 14 non-commissioned
officers and men gained mention for good work up to the time the
field-marshal left South Africa; and in Lord Kitchener's final despatch 3
officers and 3 non-commissioned officers were mentioned.
