| Vandeleur | Cecil Foster Seymour | | Lieutenant | VANDELEUR, CECIL FOSTER SEYMOUR, Lieutenant, was born 11 July 1859, and was gazetted to the Scots Guards as Second Lieutenant 6 February 1889, becoming Lieutenant 23 May 1892. He was employed in the Uganda Protectorate 11 August 1894 to 26 August 1896, and served in the Unyoro Expedition, 1895 (Despatches and Medal). For the Nandi Expedition, 1895-96, he was mentioned in Despatches and created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette, 3 November 1896]: "Cecil Foster Seymour Vandeleur, Lieutenant, Scots Guards. In recognition of services during the recent operations against slave-trading Arabs in the Uganda Protectorate". He was personally decorated by the Queen at Windsor 24 November 1896. He was on Special Extra Regimental Employment 28 November 1896 to 5 April 1897, and took part in the operations on the Niger in 1897; in the Expeditions to Egbon, Bida and Ilorin. He was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 11 June 1897]; was given the Brevet of Major 25 June 1899, and received the Medal with clasp. He was employed with the Egyptian Army 24 December 1897 to 8 December 1899; served in the Nile Expedition of 1898, and was present at the battles of the Atbara and Khartoum (slightly wounded). He was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 30 September 1898]; received the 4th Class Medjidie, and two clasps to the Egyptian Medal. He became Captain 24 June 1899, and was on Special Service, South Africa, from 17 October 1899. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and was killed 31 August 1901. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle says, in his 'Great Boer War' (page 467), when describing train-wreckings by the Boers: "Another train disaster of an even more tragic character occurred near Waterval, fifteen miles north of Pretoria, upon the last day of August. The explosion of a mine wrecked the train, and a hundred Boers who lined the banks of the cutting opened fire upon the derailed carriages. Colonel Vandeleur, an officer of great promise, was killed, and twenty men, chiefly of the West Riding Regiment, were shot. Nurse Page was also among the wounded. It was after this fatal affair that the regulation of carrying Boer hostages upon the trains was at last carried out". Lieutenant General Sir Ivor Maxse wrote a biography, "Seymour Vandeleur", in the concluding pages of which he says: "Men of Seymour Vandeleur's stamp do not die in their beds, and it is in accordance with the lie they have chosen that they should meet death in the discharge of duty and in the service of their country. But in Vandoleur's case it is bitter to think that when the end came he did not fall in the fair field of battle, where his life had been risked on so many occasions. To be the victim of a pitiful highway robbery, murdered in cold blood without the chance of reprisal by a dastardly scoundrel who wrecked trains for loot—such is not the kind of death which his friends can contemplate without a feeling of vengeance in their hearts. Yet, after all, it is a man's life not his death that matters, and the memory of Seymour Vandeleur as he was—a bright, ambitious, happy companion—still lingers with those who follow his calling and sympathize with his spirit. To them he will ever remain an example of straight, young manhood, and of a life spent in the pursuit of that which is best and highest in the profession he loved, heedless of any notoriety it might happen to bring him. To those who have read this memoir of his short career it will be obvious that he possessed a tenacious purpose through life, that he was rapidly developing along the natural lines of his character, and that he had emerged, a distinct personality, from the junior ranks of the Army. But by those who worked with him for years in different places and had the best opportunities of judging his strength, Vandeleur's death is recognized as a distinct loss to his country. Viewed in this light it was a public calamity, though this was known to few outside his profession... . One purpose of this book is to afford to Vandeleur's countrymen a glimpse of what is being done by hundreds of picked officers, who are the real builders of the Dependencies and Crown Colonies of our Empire. They long ago laid the foundations upon which our Indian Dominion was reared: they are now toiling ceaselessly and successfully in such places as Somaliland, Uganda, East Africa, Nigeria, the Egyptian Sudan—in fact wherever the Union Jack flies. Sometimes recognized but more often snubbed by official England, their names are unknown to the British public, and rightly so, because men should not acquire notoriety for merely doing their duty well. Their reward is in the knowledge that they are sowing seed which will ripen into an abundant harvest whose true value will be appreciated by future generations of Britons. When, however, one of their number is cut off in the prune of his manhood and with his promise unfulfilled, it is meet that the story of his life should he recorded, as an instance of the toll exacted by Empire and a reminder to us who sit at home that there still are men whose pride it is to render service to the State".
Source: DSO recipients (VC and DSO Book) | Scots Guards |
| Vandeleur | Cecil Foster Seymour | | Lieutenant Colonel | He was killed in a train which was wrecked between Isaterval and Hamman's Kraal, about fifteen miles north of Pretoria, August 31st, 1901. The enemy, who lined the banks of the cutting, opened fire on the derailed carriages, and Lieutenant Colonel Vandeleur was shot down. He was the eldest son of Hector Stewart Vandeleur of Kilrush, was born in July 1869, and educated at Eton. He entered the Scots Guards in February 1889, being promoted Lieutenant May 1892, Captain and brevet Major in June 1899, transferred to the Irish Guards, May 1900, became Major in the following October and brevet Lieutenant Colonel a month later. He served with the Unyoro Expedition in 1895, being mentioned in despatches and receiving the medal. He took part in the Nandi Expedition, 1895-96, being again mentioned in despatches and receiving the DSO. He served in the Niger-Soudan Campaign under Major Arnold in 1897, including the expeditions to Egbon, Bida, and Ilorin, was mentioned in despatches, and received the brevet of Major and the medal with clasp. Lieutenant Colonel Vandeleur served in the Soudan Campaign under Lord (then Sir Herbert) Kitchener in 1898, and was present at the battles of the Atbara and Khartoum, being slightly wounded, was mentioned in despatches, and received the British medal and Khedive's medal with two clasps and the Fourth Class of the Order of the Medjidie. He was on special service in South Africa from December 1899, to January 1900, and was employed with transport from January 20th, 1900, and was DAAG. Lieutenant Colonel Vandeleur was buried in Pretoria. He was mentioned in despatches, LG, February 8th, 1901, and promoted brevet Lieutenant Colonel.
Source: Donner | Scots Guards |
