by Allan Gordon | Feb 6, 2020 | Events, On This Day, South African War 1899 - 1902
On this day in 1902 the hunt for the Boer General, Christiaan de Wet, who had become a thorn in the side of the British, began in earnest. De Wet had evaded the pursuing forces in the Cape.
by Allan Gordon | Feb 6, 2020 | Anniversaries, On This Day, South African War 1899 - 1902
Major-General Arthur Singleton Wynne died on 6 February 1936 at the age of 89. After the Battle of Spioen Kop, where General Woodgate was killed, Wynne was given command of the 11 Infantry Brigade. This Brigade was heavily involved in the Battle of Tugela...
by Patrick Armstrong | Feb 5, 2020 | Battles, On This Day, South African War 1899 - 1902
General Buller was soundly defeated in his first two attempts to relieve the Ladysmith siege; first at Colenso on 15 December 1899 and then at Spioen Kop on 24 January 1900. He incurred over 3 000 casualties and the Boers only a few hundred. Buller’s third...
by Patrick Armstrong | Feb 5, 2020 | Activities, On This Day, South African War 1899 - 1902
Guided by National Scouts, part of Colonels Kekewich and Hickie’s force, consisting of 634 men with a pom-pom, under Major H.P. Leader, surprised a laager of Commandant Sarel Alberts at Gruisfontein, 24 km east of Lichtenburg. The Boers’ losses were eight men...
by Allan Gordon | Feb 2, 2020 | On This Day, South African War 1899 - 1902
Late in 1900 the British Major-General moved his headquarters in the Central Cape District from De Aar to Beaufort West due to the Boer activity in the area. In January 1902 the town of Fraserburg became the objective of the Boer Generals Smuts and Malan. To combat...
by Allan Gordon | Jan 25, 2020 | Anglo Zulu War, Birthday, On This Day
Lieutenant Neville Josiah Aylmer Coghill was born in Dublin on 25 January 1852. On 22 January 1879, after the disaster of the Battle of Isandhlwana, Lieutenant Coghill joined another officer, Lietenant T. Melvill in trying to savethe Queen’s Colour of the...