The Record of a Regiment of the Line Being a Regimental History of the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment during the Boer War 1899-1902   By: Mainwaring George Jacson

OF

A REGIMENT OF THE LINE

BEING

A REGIMENTAL HISTORY OF THE 1ST BATTALION DEVONSHIRE REGIMENT DURING THE BOER WAR 1899 1902

BY COLONEL M. JACSON

London: HUTCHINSON & CO. Paternoster Row 1908

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH 1

II. SIEGE OF LADYSMITH 30

III. EVENTS FOLLOWING THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH, AND THE ADVANCE NORTH UNDER. SIR REDVERS BULLER 104

IV. LYDENBURG 149

V. TREKKING IN THE NORTH EAST TRANSVAAL 176

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

MONUMENT ERECTED TO OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE DEVONSHIRE REGIMENT WHO FELL ON JANUARY 6TH ON WAGON HILL, SIEGE OF LADYSMITH. Frontispiece

FACE PAGE

EN ROUTE TO LADYSMITH 5

IN THE TRENCHES, LADYSMITH 36

TOWN HALL, LADYSMITH, CLOCK TOWER DAMAGED BY SHELL FIRE 44

AFTER A WET NIGHT IN THE TRAVERSES, LADYSMITH 56

THE RAILWAY BRIDGE, WITH CÆSAR'S CAMP IN DISTANCE, LADYSMITH 62

LIEUT. COLONEL C.W. PARK 66

NAVAL BATTERY HILL, LADYSMITH } } MONUMENT ERECTED TO DEVONS ON WAGON HILL, } 70 ON SPOT WHERE THE CHARGE TOOK PLACE, LADYSMITH }

A PEACEFUL SUNDAY 80

DEVON OFFICERS REMAINING FIT FOR DUTY AT THE END OF THE SIEGE 102

BRIGADIER GENERAL WALTER KITCHENER 104

RAILWAY BRIDGE DESTROYED BY BOERS, INGAGANE 108

MAKING BARBED WIRE ENTANGLEMENT, INGAGANE 110

THE BAGGAGE OF GENERAL BULLER'S ARMY CROSSING BEGINDERLYN BRIDGE 116

TREKKING WITH GENERAL BULLER 124

DEVONS CROSSING THE SABI RIVER 140

COLONEL C.W. PARK, MISSION CAMP, LYDENBURG 148

WIRE BRIDGE, LYDENBURG 160

MISSION CAMP FORT, LYDENBURG (INTERIOR) 170

REMAINS OF BOER BIG GUN, WATERVAL 180

CROSSING THE STEELPORT RIVER 182

DAWN AFTER A NIGHT MARCH, TRICHARDTSFONTEIN 200

DEVONS EN ROUTE TO DURBAN 208

MONUMENT ERECTED IN LADYSMITH CEMETERY 218

MAPS

SIEGE OF LADYSMITH

NATAL AND S.E. TRANSVAAL

PREFACE

BY LIEUT. GENERAL W. KITCHENER

Experience we all know to be a valuable asset, and experience in war is the most costly of its kind. To enable those coming after us to reconstruct the picture of war, Regimental Histories have proved of infinite value. That such a record fills a sentimental want hardly requires assertion.

My first feelings on being honoured with a request from the Devonshire Regiment to write a preface to the account of their "Work in South Africa, 1899 1902," were, I confess, How could I refuse so difficult a task gracefully? However, on further consideration it seemed to me that undoubtedly such a preface should be written by some one outside the corps itself. Onlookers, as the saying goes, often see most of the game, and, being free from personal bias, can often add something to what those engrossed in the meshes of life's details can only appreciate from a narrower point of view.

From this standpoint, and as I was the General under whom the 1st Devons served longest in South Africa, it seemed obviously my duty to attempt the task.