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nominal roll.
In the despatch of 8th March 1901 Lord Kitchener dealt with the entry of
De Wet into Cape Colony in the beginning of February, the pursuit by British
columns, and his subsequent expulsion. Lord Kitchener mentioned that
the 1st King's Dragoon Guards, newly arrived from England, the Prince of
Wales's Light Horse, then recently raised at Cape Town, and 'G' Battery RHA,
had been put under Colonel Bethune, and had assembled at Naauwpoort.
The Prince of Wales's Light Horse was engaged near Colesberg about 12th
February. The 3rd Dragoon Guards afterwards joined the column.
When De Wet moved west from the Colesberg district, Bethune's force also
crossed the De Aar line, and the pursuit was continued through Britstown,
and afterwards in a northerly direction to the Hopetown district. In
this pursuit all De Wet's waggons, his guns, and most of his ammunition were
taken. The hard riding involved a terrible strain on the pursuing
columns, horses falling daily by the score. The newly raised and newly
arrived troops naturally felt the strain very severely, but all stuck to
their work well.
The despatch of 8th May mentioned that Colonel Bethune's brigade "left
Orange River on 1st March, and two days later attacked and dispersed a body
of about 1000 Boers at Open Baar. The brigade moved north-east, and
reached the Modder River, near Abraham's Kraal, on the 8th. On this
date the Boers attacked an empty convoy returning from Colonel Bethune's
column to Bloemfontein. The escort held its own, and being reinforced
by a detachment of the Prince of Wales's Light Horse, drove off the enemy".
Colonel Bethune's Brigade now moved to the northeast of the Orange River
Colony, where, under the general direction of Major General Elliot, they and
numerous other columns took part in many operations (see despatches of 8th
July and subsequent dates). During March and April the corps suffered
casualties on several occasions. On 31st March Lieutenant C F Berry
was killed. The despatch of 8th July shows the Prince of Wales's Light
Horse to have been 500 strong shortly before that date. The corps was
afterwards taken to Cape Colony, where they had a good deal of skirmishing,
and on 14th November suffered casualties near Brande Kraal and Vogelfontein,
including Captain E T Chittinden wounded.
Captain F B Hughes was mentioned in the despatch of 8th December 1901 for
dash and gallantry.
