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 COLONEL M. JACSON

London: HUTCHINSON & CO.

Paternoster Row 1908

CONTENTS

I. EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH

II. SIEGE OF LADYSMITH

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

IV. LYDENBURG

V. TREKKING IN THE NORTH-EAST TRANSVAAL

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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

EN ROUTE TO LADYSMITH

IN THE TRENCHES, LADYSMITH

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

AFTER A WET NIGHT IN THE TRAVERSES, LADYSMITH

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

LIEUT.-COLONEL C.W. PARK

NAVAL BATTERY HILL, LADYSMITH

A PEACEFUL SUNDAY

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

BRIGADIER-GENERAL WALTER KITCHENER

RAILWAY BRIDGE DESTROYED BY BOERS, INGAGANE

MAKING BARBED-WIRE ENTANGLEMENT, INGAGANE

THE BAGGAGE OF GENERAL BULLER'S ARMY CROSSING BEGINDERLYN BRIDGE

TREKKING WITH GENERAL BULLER

DEVONS CROSSING THE SABI RIVER

COLONEL C.W. PARK, MISSION CAMP, LYDENBURG

WIRE BRIDGE, LYDENBURG

MISSION CAMP FORT, LYDENBURG (INTERIOR)

REMAINS OF BOER BIG GUN, WATERVAL

CROSSING THE STEELPORT RIVER

DAWN—AFTER A NIGHT MARCH, TRICHARDTSFONTEIN

DEVONS EN ROUTE TO DURBAN

MONUMENT ERECTED IN LADYSMITH CEMETERY

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.

The "Work of the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment" is portrayed in these pages. It therefore only remains for me to add, for the benefit of