The Bush Veldt Carbineers
were raised in Pretoria
in February 1901 and did useful work in the difficult country north of
Pietersburg in that year. They saw a lot of fighting, but it
gained an unfortunate notoriety by the conviction of Morant, Handcock
and Witton on charges that they had committed acts not in accordance
with the rules of civilised warfare.
Harry 'Breaker' Morant
was born in the United Kingdom between 1864 and 1865. He left
England in April 1883 bound for Queensland where he was quickly married
and divorced. He lived by droving and horse-breaking and thus
acquired the name 'Breaker'. He enlisted with the South Australian
Mounted Rifles to fight in the Boer War. Handcock, Morant and
Witton were court-martialled and all three found guilty of executing
several Boer prisoners and a German missionary. Handcock and
Morant were executed by firing squad on 27 February 1902.
Kitchener commuted Witton's sentence to a lifetime of penal servitude.
Witton was returned to England where he served only three
years of his sentence. Upon his release, he wrote a book entitled
'Scapegoats of the Empire'.
The story of the trial
and execution was told in the 1979 film 'Breaker Morant'.
2nd South Australian Mounted Rifles. Breaker Morant on the front row on
the right.
Undoubtedly a corps such as this, acting
beyond the immediate control of higher authorities and far from support,
was placed in a very unenviable position. The enemies they had to deal
with were not always members of regular commandos, but often leaderless
gangs of ruffians not unacquainted with nefarious practices and
incapable of appreciating anything but the most arbitrary justice.
Mr Green, who was chaplain to the Australian Bushmen, a corps
that operated much in the Pietersburg district, speaks in terms of
praise of the Bush Veldt Carbineers. He says that they were chiefly
English refugees of that district. They acted as scouts for
General Plumer, and did well. On one occasion they captured the
convoy of a train-wrecking gang and 11 prisoners. These latter would
not disclose where their mines were laid, so they were promptly put on a
trolley; an explosion did take place, but none were killed. The
corps had casualties on various occasions. Captain P F Hunt and
Sergeant F Elands were killed on 6th August 1901, and 1 man on the 10th.
The one Mention
gained by the corps was in the
Despatch of 8th August
1901: Sergean Forbes, on own initiative, on
hearing of presence of Boers marched 80 miles, surprised and captured
the party.
The Bush Veldt Carbineers were renamed to the Pietersburg Light Horse on
1 December 1901. The unit was
employed in the extreme north of the Transvaal — officially designated
as 'the wildest part' of that country. They had sharp fighting at
Spelonkin on 23 March 1902, when Sergeant-Major Evans was killed. The
Mentions gained were:
Lord kitchener's
despatches: 1st June 1902:
Captain S Midgley (awarded the DSO)
for good service in operations east of Pietersburg, 25th March to 21st
April 1902.
23
June 1902:
Sergeant J R Gray (awarded
the DCM), Corporal J Ballen.
With the change in unit name, some confusion arose as to how the medals
should be named. Medals can be found named top both units.
As many of the Bush Veldt Carbineers and Pietersburg Light Horse had
served in other units, medals to these two units are rare. Only 57
medals were issued named to the Bush Veldt Carbineers or Pietersburg
Light Horse.
QSA (5) CC OFS Tr SA01 SA02 (325 Tpr J Kleinschmidt, Piet'bg LH).
Spinks Oct 99 £3,000.
QSA (3) Tr SA01 SA02 (457 Tpr
C Bouchard Pietersburg
LH). He attested 28 Dec 1901 after Morant was arrested.
Kaplan Auction Mar 05. Ebay Apr 05 with reserve of £700.
