This fine corps is the regular military force of Cape Colony. They
were at one time in the pay of the Imperial Government, but since 1870 the
Colony has borne the expense. The men engage for five years, and are
regular soldiers. General Sir E Y Brabant, in an article in the
'Monthly Review’, sketched the history of the Cape Mounted Rifles. In
another article in the 'Nineteenth Century' he used the expression, "They
are grandly trained soldiers". On 13th October 1899 the corps numbered
924, all ranks, with a full supply of horses and eight guns; they saw
service in many districts, but it was perhaps in the Queenstown-Dordrecht
country, in December 1899 and January 1900, that their services to the
Empire were of greatest, nay, inestimable value.
Major Pollock, in his 'With Seven Generals in the Boer War’, mentions
that on his arrival at Queenstown, about 6th November 1899, the garrison was
a Naval Brigade with two 12-pounders, four companies of the Berkshire
Regiment and their mounted infantry company, sundry detachments of Cape
Mounted Rifles, Cape Police, and Volunteers. The CMR had also their
battery of six 7-pounder muzzle-loading screw guns as well as a battery of
maxims. "A couple of days after my arrival it was my good fortune to
witness the detraining of a detachment of the CMR, who formed a most
valuable addition to our little force. I never saw a more workmanlike
body of men. Smart, active fellows, in the prime of life and evidently
in a most satisfactory military condition. The discipline seemed to be
excellent, and the men the most willing workers that it is possible to
imagine ... The Cape Mounted Rifleman is a first-rate fighting man and
a downright good soldier all round. The corps has but one fault, so
far as I could judge, and this is that the officers are in many cases far
too old". The history of the corps throughout the war proved that
Major Pollock's praise was well bestowed. The British regular officer
has a weakness for young officers, but in a campaign with an enemy so wily
as the South African Dutchman it was fortunate that a corps should have a
large proportion of officers who had lived long enough to acquire a little
of the serpent's wisdom. More than one British officer has remarked to
the writer that for all the qualities which make for the most perfect
efficiency in a fighting unit, discipline, intelligence, endurance, pluck,
and skill in all the tasks of a soldier, they had never seen anything to
beat the CMR.
Early in November the corps watched the passes about Barkly East.
On 22nd November the CMR and their guns and maxims went to Putter's Kraal.
In a few days General Gatacre sent some of the CMR and Brabant's Horse to
Penhoek, east of the Queenstown-Stormberg railway. Neither of these
corps was in the actual engagement at Stormberg on 10th December. It
will be remembered that in General Gatacre's despatch of 19th January 1900,
regarding his defeat, he said: "160 Brabant's Horse and 235 CMR with four
2.5-inch guns should have started from Penhoek, but did not arrive at
Molteno owing to the failure of the telegraph clerk to transmit the message
handed to him at midnight on the 8th". The presence of the Penhoek
force would have been very valuable, particularly if they had attacked from
the east or Boer rear. Brabant's Horse, 160, arrived near Molteno on
the afternoon of the 10th and scouted back some distance towards Stormberg
on the line of the British retreat. The CMR, having their guns, could
not travel so fast.
After Stormberg there was no big engagement in the eastern portion of Cape
Colony, but the mounted troops in that district had many skirmishes and some
hard-fought little actions. On 24th December the CMR occupied
Dordrecht, and there was frequently fighting in that neighbourhood, as on
the 30th when a party under Lieutenant Milford of the Frontier Mounted
Rifles were cut off and had their horses all shot. The detachment held
their ground splendidly, inflicting considerable loss on the enemy, until
they were rescued next morning by Captain de Montmorency, VC, with some of
his own scouts and Brabant's Horse and 115 men of the CMR On 31st December
Dordrecht was evacuated, the CMR falling back on a position at Bird River.
In Lord Roberts' first despatch, that of 6th February 1900, he said: "A
subject which from the first attracted my special attention was the
development and organisation of the Colonial forces, of which I was inclined
to think that sufficient use had not been made. I, therefore, arranged
for one mounted corps to be raised by Colonel Brabant, to whom, with the
approval of the High Commissioner, the rank of Brigadier General has been
given. Inclusive of this corps it is intended to place a body of
Colonial mounted troops, about 3000 strong, under Brigadier General
Brabant's command, on Lieutenant General Gatacre's right flank for the
purpose of guarding the eastern portion of the colony and pushing back the
enemy from the neighbourhood of Stormberg. The headquarters of this
Colonial force will be at Dordrecht, where it will be in readiness to
operate northward towards Jamestown".
On 7th February there was some fighting in which Brabant's Horse drove
back the Boers, suffering a few casualties. In the despatch of 28th
February 1900 Lord Roberts said: "On the eastern frontier Brigadier General
Brabant moved forward on the evening of the 16th February, and after
continuous fighting on the 17th stormed the Boer position near Dordrecht".
Brabant's force included the 79th Battery RFA, Cape Mounted Rifles,
Brabant's Horse, Kaffrarian Rifles, Queenstown Volunteers, and a portion of
the 1st Royal Scots. Brabant lost little time and kept the enemy
moving, and while Lord Roberts was driving the force in front of him across
the Orange Free State, Brabant pushed his opponents northwards through
Labuschagne's Nek to Jamestown, and thereafter cleared them out of all the
positions in the Aliwal North district of the Colony, but not without some
determined fighting, as on 5th March when the CMR had 7 killed and 9
wounded, and on the 11th when 2 men were killed and Lieutenant Taplin and 9
men were wounded. On 2nd April Colonel Dalgety left that town to
occupy Wepener and to command Jammersberg Drift and bridge over the Caledon
River. Colonel Dalgety arrived at Wepener on the night of the 4th, and
on the 5th the troops under his command were one company Royal Scots Mounted
Infantry; CMR, 427; 1st and 2nd Brabant's Horse, 804; the Kaffrarian Rifles,
393; Driscoll's Scouts, 58; with a few Royal Engineers and the Artillery
Detachment — 93 — of the CMR, with two 15-pounders, two naval guns, two 2'5
guns, and one Hotchkiss. A position, about six miles in circumference,
was taken up. On the 6th it was seen Wepener was to be isolated, and
defensive works were pushed on. On the morning of the 9th the enemy
opened with artillery. In his report Colonel Dalgety said: "The
weakest part of the position was on the extreme left rear, which was held by
the Cape Mounted Rifles, and it was here that the heaviest casualties took
place, the CMR losing 21 killed and 75 wounded, out of a total of 33 killed
and 133 wounded". Colonel Dalgety gives an account in his report of
the fierce attacks made by the enemy, especially on the position occupied by
the CMR. He said that "it was found to be impossible to contract our
lines or to give up any-portion of the position held, so that I had no
reserve available for relief, and consequently for sixteen days and nights
the whole force was constantly in the trenches, and in the case of the Royal
Scots, CMR, and Scouts, they had nothing but cold food and water during the
whole sixteen days, while for three days the trenches were flooded by rain.
I cannot speak too highly of the behaviour of the whole force during all
this time; all did their work cheerfully and well, although the continued
strain was telling on all ranks". He brought forward the names of a
number of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of this corps [Report
of Colonel Dalgety, dated 20th April 1900]. Wepener was relieved on
the 24th April. During the siege Major Springer, Lieutenant Taplin,
and Sergeant Major Court, and about 20 non-commissioned officers and men
were killed; 7 officers and about 70 non-commissioned officers and men
wounded.
There are few more gallant pieces of work recorded in the history of the war
than the splendid defence of Wepener, and the Cape Colony soldiers and
volunteers will always be able to point to these as gold-letter days in
their records.
Brabant's Colonial Division moved north from the Wepener district in May
and operated at first on the extreme right flank of the British advance,
being out on the right of General Rundle after Thabanchu was passed.
The division was afterwards split up, and a portion came to the west or
Senekal part of Rundle's line. They frequently had most onerous work
and stiff fighting, but the despatches barely do justice either to their
operations or to those of the VIIIth
Division. All through June and July there was constant skirmishing and
some very severe marching, with the view of containing the Boers until Sir
Archibald Hunter got Prinsloo and about 4000 of his men surrounded in the
Brandwater Basin, where they surrendered on 30th July. When Sir
Archibald Hunter entered Fouriesburg on 26th July he found to his surprise
that Driscoll's Scouts of the Colonial Division were there before him "after
a forced march from Commando Nek of 25 miles".
On 16th July De Wet with about 1600 men broke out of the Brandwater
Basin, and Broadwood with the 2nd Cavalry Brigade went in pursuit.
Other troops joined him, and De Wet then made for the Reitzburg Hills, south
of the Vaal, where he remained for about three weeks. On the 27th July
the Colonial Division was taken from Rundle's district and marched via
Kroonstad to the Rhenoster River to watch the drifts there. On the
night of the 6th August De Wet with his force crossed the Vaal, and the
Colonial Division followed, and joining Lord Methuen, who had been posted on
the north of the river, they accompanied that General in the chase to the
Megaliesberg, where De Wet escaped through Olifant's Nek, from which, by
some mistake, the blocking force had just been removed. The Colonial
Division now accompanied Lord Methuen to Zeerust, in the north-west of the
Transvaal [Lord Robert's despatch of 10th October 1900, para 28]. On
the 25th August the division along with the 3rd Cavalry Brigade started on
their return journey to the Orange River Colony, Colonel Dalgety of the CMR
being in command of the force. They met with much opposition between
Zeerust and Krugersdorp. The losses of the division on this march were
10 men killed and 5 officers and 20 men wounded. About the middle of
September the division was concentrated at Rhenoster, in the Orange River
Colony.
In October part of the Cape Police and Cape Mounted Rifles were in a
column under Major General Settle operating about Hoopstad, and on the 7th
Lieutenant Orley Humphry and one man were wounded at Rhenoster. On the
19th the CMR had Sergeant Majors Pearce and Kennedy wounded. On the
23rd Settle was closely engaged by a Boer force of about 650 strong.
"The Cape Police and Cape Mounted Rifles bore the brunt of the fighting,
covering the baggage of the column, 73 waggons, and were heavily engaged for
two hours before the Boers were driven off. The Cape Police were
forced to abandon their two maxims, having first rendered them useless,
owing to the horses being shot and darkness setting in. Our casualties
were 7 men killed, 12 wounded, and 17 missing". Of these the Police
had 4 killed and 8 wounded, and the CMR 3 killed. Lieutenant W Rolfe
of the Rifles died at Kimberley on 13th November of wounds received.
Settle's column arrived at Boshof on 30th October, then moved south and
crossed the Orange River Colony to the Bloemfontein Railway in November.
On the way his mounted men assisted Sir C Parsons to relieve Koflyfontein,
which had been invested.
A portion of the Cape Police and Cape Mounted Rifles were taken to Cape
Colony to pursue Kritzinger and other leaders who had managed to cross the
river.
Stories of ammunition about to be landed at Lambert's Bay, and the very
apparent resolution of commandos to push into the extreme south-west of Cape
Colony, caused Lord Kitchener to send various columns to that district,
among whom went the CMR. Some fighting was seen, and on 1st March 1901
Captain J F Purcell of the CMR, and Lieutenant Grant of Brabant's Horse,
were mentioned for coolness and skill displayed in handling their men in
action near Lambert's Bay. In April a portion of the CMR were engaged
near Philippolis, when Lieutenant D A H Bowers gained mention for presence
of mind and boldness in carrying out the relief of some troops who were
hardly pressed.
The next notice of the work of the corps to be found in despatches is in
the despatch of 8th July 1901, where it is stated that on 20th May
Lieutenant Colonel Scobell, whose column consisted of one squadron 9th
Lancers, 200 men of the CMR, and 3 guns belonging to the corps, surprised
Malan's commando west of Cradock, killing 4 men and capturing 40 horses and
many saddles and rifles. Scobell and other leaders now went in pursuit
of some commandos in the Zuurberg, but although some losses were inflicted
the main bodies generally escaped, sometimes to do damage, as when on 2nd
June they captured Jamestown after a defence by the Town Guard which was the
reverse of heroic. Colonel Scobell was more successful than any other
leader in Cape Colony, but few officers have the gifts of resourcefulness
and lightning-like decision which he proved himself to have while still a
Major in the Scots Greys. "On the 6th of June Colonel Scobell's column
caught a commando asleep at 3 AM. Lieutenant Colonel Lukin with a
squadron of CMR rushed the laager in the dark, killing 6 Boers and capturing
25 prisoners and all the saddles of the commando". Lieutenant Colonel
Lukin was mentioned for his gallant leading.
The despatch of 8th August detailed another success by Scobell. The
columns had been driving the enemy north of Richmond, and his force
surprised Lategan's laager, taking 10 prisoners and 105 horses and saddles.
On the 22nd July at Tweefontein the Rifles had about 6 wounded, and on 8th
August Captain J F Purcell was wounded. In his next despatch of 8th
September Lord Kitchener again expressed himself as greatly pleased with the
column. "On 5th September Lieutenant Colonel Scobell was able to
achieve a brilliant success near Petersburg, 40 miles west of Cradock, where
he surrounded and captured the whole of Letter's commando and a party of
Boers under Breedt. 14 of the enemy were killed and 105 captured (46
of whom were wounded). The prisoners included Commandant Letter and
Field-Cornets J Kruger, W Kruger, and Schoeman, and amongst the dead were
two notorious rebels named Voster. 200 horses and 29,000 rounds of
ammunition and all the vehicles and supplies of the enemy fell into our
hands. Colonel Scobell, who deserves the greatest credit in connection
with this affair, had brought to my notice the exceptional gallantry
displayed during the engagement by Captain Lord Douglas Compton, 2nd
Lieutenants Wynn and Neilson, all of the 9th Lancers, and Captain Purcell
and Lieutenant Bowers, Cape Mounted Rifles. Our casualties were ten
men killed and 8 wounded, the latter including Lieutenant Burgess, Cape
Mounted Rifles". The Rifles had 2 men killed and 3 wounded. In
September and ensuing months the pursuit of small bodies of the enemy was
carried on with untiring energy, and Lord Kitchener praised Colonel
Scobell's column along with three others for responding cheerfully to every
call. In the despatch of 8th November it is stated that Lieutenant
Colonel Lukin surprised a laager six miles south-west of New Bethesda at
dawn on 21st October, killing 1 and taking 14 prisoners.
Down to the close of the campaign the CMR continued to operate in Cape
Colony, for a time in the extreme west, always doing conscientious work of
the highest order. No corps, whether regular or volunteer, could point
to a better record. The number of Mentions gained was not very large,
because the commanders had an extremely high standard of what was needed to
get that honour.
The following extract from General Colvile's work of the IXth Division is
given, not so much to show what Sergeant Bettington did, but as an example
of the dangerous work constantly undertaken by men of the Colonial corps.
At the time he speaks of General Colvile was fighting his way from Lindley
to Heilbron, and was cut off from the main army. "As we had been less
pressed on our left flank than on any other side, I thought the best chance
of getting this through was to send it to the railway, and told Gleichen to
give it to one of his men; but the natives all said that we were too closely
surrounded, and were afraid to go alone. Sergeant Bettington, however,
of the Cape Mounted Rifles, who was attached to the Intelligence Department,
volunteered to take it, and started off with a Kaffir who pretended to know
the road. We learnt afterwards that, having passed safely through the
Boer lines, he bolted with his escort's horse and rifles, and left Sergeant
Bettington to make his way for twenty-eight miles on foot as best he might.
For the sake of those readers who do not know Sergeant Bettington, I may say
that the message was safely delivered; those who do know him will never have
had any doubt about it. He had first turned up at Modder River
Camp—how or why I do not know— and varied the monotony of those dull days by
his habit of appearing unexpectedly outside our outpost line after a stroll
through the Boer lines. After a time our sentries got accustomed to
him, and did not shoot at him any more. When the reports that 'a man
in the uniform of the Cape Mounted Rifles was discovered’, etc, ceased
to come in, I am ashamed to say that I forgot all about him till, on the
morning we attacked Cronje's laager at Paardeberg, a figure which I
recognised ran past me at early dawn. It happened that we were then in
doubt as to whether a certain trench on the river bank was held by the Boers
or not, and on seeing him I at once said, 'Why, here is the
very man to find out’, and calling him back asked if he would do so.
'All right, sir’, said Bettington, with the cheerful smile which any chance
of extra danger always brought on to his face, and started off at the
double. My Intelligence Officer was with me at the time, and said
nothing; but the next time I saw Sergeant Bettington he was in charge of 'Gleichen's
Horse'. The other messengers sent out by General Colvile failed to get
through. To carry out successfully tasks such as those Sergeant
Bettington undertook required a combination of qualities that one could
scarcely expect to find in the British regular. To the fearlessness,
coolness, and physical fitness which the regular generally has, there had to
be added a profound knowledge of the Boer and the Black, and of the country
they lived in; and, above all, the ever-ranging eye, a product of the veldt,
bred or educated up to distances at which the home-trained vision is
useless.
The Mentions gained by the CMR are as follows:—
Lieutenant Colonel Dalgety's Report as to Wepener, 29th April
1900.—Captain Lukin commanded artillery and did most excellent work, putting
one of enemy's guns out of action. Captain Cantwell, after
Major Sprenger was killed and Major Waring wounded, on the 9th and 11th
respectively, commanded in advanced schanzen. Captain and
Quartermaster Phillips, when 2 officers were killed and 5 wounded, took
command of 50 men, and held a most important position. Captain Grant,
Field-Adjutant, did the work of half a dozen men. Sergeant Roberts,
Privates Rawlings and Robarts, and Trumpeter Washington brought in wounded
comrades under heavy fire.
LORD ROBERTS' DESPATCHES: 2nd April 1901. — Lieutenant Colonel E H Dalgety; Major C F Sprenger (killed);
Captains Cantwell, C L J Goldsworthy,
Grant, Lukin; Lieutenant Roy; Sergeant Major Robson; Sergeant Roberts ;
Corporal Bettington; Privates Rawlings, Robarts, Washington.
4th September 1901.—Sergeant Major G P Roberts. Artillery Troop Gunner
Anderson.
LORD KITCHENER'S DESPATCHES: 8th May 1901.—Captain J F Purcell, coolness
and skill at Lambert's Bay.
8th July 1901.—Lieutenant D A H Bowers, boldness in relief of troops near
Philippolis; Lieutenant Colonel Lukin, gallant leading in night-attack on
laager; Private White, on 9th May, Molteno district, signaller with a patrol
engaged with superior numbers, caught and took back a horse to one man, and
took up another on his own—both acts under fire.
8th October 1901.—Captain J F Purcell; Lieutenant Bowers, marked gallantry,
capture of Letter's commando; Private Haines, conspicuous gallantry, same
occasion.
8th December 1901.—Sergeant A Alien; A C Archibald (Archdeacon); Corporal W
Eeder, coolness, courage, and gallantry while with Colonel Scobell.
23rd June 1902.—Major Hook; Sergeant Q H Randolph; Corporal R Stopford.
Colonel E H Dalgety
was awarded the CB; Surgeon Lieutenant Colonel Hartley, VC and
Lieutenant Colonel Lukin the CMG.
