Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Whitelaw Thorneycroft died on 4 November 1931, aged 72.
He is buried in Reading, UK.
He served in the Royal Scotch Fusiliers, and saw action in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the First Boer War (1881) where he took part in the Defence of Pretoria.
He was in South Africa when the South African War (1899-1902) broke out and he raised a corps of troopers known as the Thorneycroft′s Mounted Infantry.
He gained fame at the Battle of Spioen Kop when he took charge of British forces on the summit, refusing to surrender when some of the troops raised the white flag.
