| Langley | Edgar John Flynn | | Lieutenant | LANGLEY, EDGAR JOHN FLYNN, Lieutenant, was born 4 March 1878, son of P R Langley. He served in the South African War, 1900-2, taking part in operations in the Transvaal in May and June 1900, including actions near Johannesburg, Pretoria and Diamond Hill; operations in Orange River Colony; operations in. Cape Colony, south of Orange River, 1900, including action at Colesberg. He was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 2 July 1901]; received the Queen's Medal with five clasps, the King's Medal with two clasps, and was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette, 2 July 1901]: "Edgar John Flynn Langley, South Australian Mounted Infantry. For gallantry during the action with Major Sladen's force". In the same Gazette [2 July 1901] it was announced that the Brevet of Lieutenant Colonel has been given to Major J R F Sladen, the East Yorkshire Regiment, for seizing a large convoy with 200 men and gallantly defending the same, though attacked by superior numbers of the enemy for two hours". Sir A Conan Doyle, in 'The Great Boer War' (page 469), says that "Elliot's column had trekked during the month of May from Kroonstad to Harrismith, and then turning north, found itself upon that date near the hamlet of Reitz. Major Sladen, with 200 Mounted Infantry, when detached from the main body, came upon the track of a Boer convoy and ran it down. Over a hundred vehicles with forty-five prisoners were the fruits of their enterprise. Well satisfied with his morning's work, the British leader despatched a party of his men to convey the news to De Lisle, who was behind, while he established himself with his loot and his prisoners in a convenient kraal. Thence they had an excellent view of a large body of horsemen approaching them with scouts, flankers, and all military precautions. One warm-hearted officer seems actually to have sallied out to meet his comrades, and it was not till his greeting of them took the extreme form of handing over his rifle that the suspicion of danger entered the heads of his companions. But if there was some lack of wit, there was none of heart in Sladen and his men. With forty-five Boers to hold down, and 500 under Fourie, De Wet, and Delarey around them, the little band made rapid preparation for a desperate resistance; the prisoners were laid upon their faces, the men knocked loopholes in the mud walls of the kraal, and a blunt soldierly answer was returned to the demand for surrender. But it was a desperate business. The attackers were five to one, and the five were soldiers of De Wet, the hard-bitten veterans of a hundred encounters. The captured wagons in a long double row stretched out over the plain, and under this cover the Dutchmen swarmed up to the kraal. But the men who faced them were veterans also, and the defence made up for the disparity of numbers. With fine courage the Boers made their way up to the village and established themselves in the outlying huts; but the Mounted Infantry clung desperately to their position. Out of the few officers present Findlay was shot through the head, Moir and Cameron through the heart, and Strong through the stomach. It was a Waggon Hill upon a small scale, two dour lines of skirmishers emptying their rifles into each other at point-blank range. Once more, as at Bothaville, the British Mounted Infantry proved that when it came to a dogged pelting match they could stand punishment longer than their enemy. They suffered terribly. Fifty-one out of the little force were on the ground, and the survivors were not much more numerous than their prisoners. To the 1st Gordons, the 2nd Bedfords, the South Australians, and the New South Welshmen belongs the honour of this magnificent defence. For four hours the fierce battle raged, until at last the parched and powder-stained survivors breathed a prayer of thanks as they saw on the southern horizon the vanguard of De Lisle riding furiously to the rescue. For the last hour, since they had despaired of carrying the kraal, the Boers had busied themselves in removing their convoy; but now, for the second time in one day, the drivers found British rifles pointed at their heads, and the oxen were turned once more and brought back to those who had fought so hard to hold them. Twenty-eight killed and twenty-six wounded were the losses in this desperate affair. Of the Boers seventeen were left dead in front of the kraal, and the forty-five had not escaped from the bulldog grip which held them. There seems for some reason to have been no effective pursuit of the Boers, and the British column held on its way to Kroonstad". Major E J F Langley became Second-in-Command, 13th Regiment Australian (Victoria) Cavalry. He served in the European War, 1914-17.
DSO, QSA (5) CC OFS Joh D-H Belf (S Aus MR), KSA (2) (Lt DSO S Aus IB), 1914-15 Star (Maj 13/LH Regt AIF), BWM, Victory Medal, Croix de Guerre (France) with 2 palms and one star. Sotheby's 1981 est £1,000-1,200.
Source: DSO recipients (VC and DSO Book) | South Australia contingent |
