by Allan Gordon | Oct 22, 2020 | Anniversaries, Birthday, South African War 1899 - 1902
Jacobus Hercules de la Rey was born on 22 October 1847 on a farm in Winburg, a town in the then Free State Republic. After the Battle of Boomplaats (August 1848), the family farm was confiscated by the British and the family trekked into the Transvaal and settled in...
by Allan Gordon | Oct 21, 2020 | Anniversaries, Battles, South African War 1899 - 1902
Whilst the Boers were attacking the British garrison at Dundee (Battle of Talana), a Boer force under General Johannes Kock occupied the railway station at Elandslaagte cutting the communications between the main British force at Ladysmith and Dundee. Elandslaagte was...
by Allan Gordon | Oct 20, 2020 | Anniversaries, Battles, South African War 1899 - 1902
The Battle of Talana, which was the first set piece battle of the South African War (1899-1902) was fought just outside Dundee in Natal on 20 October 1899. At dawn Boer Commandos had occupied the hills of Talana and Impati north of Dundee. The British infantry, on...
by Allan Gordon | Oct 20, 2020 | Anniversaries, Deaths, South African War 1899 - 1902
Pieter Hendrik Kritzinger died on 20 October 1930 aged 60. At the outbreak of the South African War (1899-1902) he was a burgher in the Rouxville Commando and saw action at the Battles of Stormberg and Sanna’s Post. When the guerrilla phase of the war commenced...
by Allan Gordon | Oct 19, 2020 | Anniversaries, Deaths, South African War 1899 - 1902
Denys Reitz died on 19 October 1944 in London, aged 62. At the outbreak of the South African War (1899-1902) Reitz was 17 and considered too young to take up arms against the British. President Paul Kruger intervened and he joined General Piet Joubert’s forces in...
by Allan Gordon | Oct 17, 2020 | Anniversaries, Deaths, South African War 1899 - 1902
Lieutenant-Colonel Stanley Brenton von Donop died on 17 October 1941 aged 81. He attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Royal Garrison Artillery in January 1880. During the South African War (1899-1902) he commanded the...
by Allan Gordon | Oct 16, 2020 | Battles, South African War 1899 - 1902
Jagersfontein was a small mining town just over 100 km south west of Bloemfontein. In mid October 1900 it was garrisoned by a small detachment of British soldiers under the command of Major King-Hall. During the night of 15 October a small party of Boers ‘crept’ into...
by Allan Gordon | Oct 12, 2020 | Anniversaries, Deaths, South African War 1899 - 1902
Lieutenant-General Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton died on 12 October 1947 aged 94. During the First Boer War he was present at the Battle of Majuba, where he was wounded and taken prisoner by the Boers. He was present at the battle of Elandslaagte at the outset of the...
by Allan Gordon | Oct 12, 2020 | Anniversaries, South African War 1899 - 1902
Commandant Johannes Cornelius Jacobus ‘Hans’ Lötter was a Boer commander in the South African War (1899-1902). Lotter was one of the Boer commanders who entered the Cape Colony during the Guerrilla Phase of the War. He and his commando were captured in the...
by Allan Gordon | Oct 12, 2020 | Battles, South African War 1899 - 1902
The engagement at Kraaipan, on a British armoured train, was the first engagement of the South African War (1899-1902). Kraaipan was a postal station on the railway line between Vryburg and Mafeking. The armoured train, named Mosquito, was carrying heavy artillery,...
