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30-495: The Amajuba District is marketed as a battlefields tourism destination. Amajuba is an isiZulu name meaning “a place of doves”. The impis of King Shaka named the area Amajuba in 1825. The area is also the site of a battle in which the Boers defeated the British in 1881. Amajuba is surrounded by: The district contains the following local municipalities : The following statistics are from

60-536: A smattering of older soldiers proved to be a major blow to Britain's prestige and negotiating position in the treaty that ended the war. Although small in numbers, the battle is historically significant for three reasons: Some British historians have argued that the defeat marked the beginning of the decline of the British Empire . The First Boer War was the first time since the Revolutionary War that Britain

90-426: A waterproof sheet, and a greatcoat. Two companies of the 60th Rifles (King's Royal Rifle Corps) who had accompanied the column stayed on the slopes as pickets and to guard the lines of communication. General Colley had brought no artillery up to the summit and did not order his men to dig in, against the advice of several of his subordinates, (and each company bringing four picks and six shovels), since he expected that

120-470: A wide perimeter of the summit, and a handful occupied Gordon's Knoll on the right side of the summit. Oblivious to the presence of the British troops until the 92nd Gordon Highlanders began to yell and to shake their fists, the Boers began to panic for fear of an artillery attack. Three Boer storming groups of 100–200 men each began a slow advance up the hill, led by Field Cornet Stephanus Roos, Commandant D.J.K. Malan and Commandant Joachim Ferreira . The Boers,

150-436: Is considered by some to have been one of the "most humiliating" defeats suffered by the British in their military history. The bulk of the 405 British soldiers occupying the hill were 171 men of the 58th Regiment (two companies) with 141 men (three companies) of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders , and a small naval brigade from HMS  Dido . Each man carried 70 rounds of ammunition, a full water bottle, three days' rations,

180-760: The Battle of Alkmaar in October 1799 during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland . The regiment was reconstituted as a hussar regiment in 1807 as the 15th (The King's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars) . It landed at Corunna in November 1808 for service in the Peninsular War and defeated two regiments of French cavalry at the Battle of Sahagún in December 1808. At the battle two French lieutenant colonels were captured and

210-748: The Battle of Morales in June 1813 and the Battle of Vitoria later in the month. It then pursued the French Army into France and supported the infantry at the Battle of Orthez in February 1814 and at the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. It returned to England in July 1814. The regiment was recalled for the Hundred Days and landed at Ostend in May 1815: it took part in a charge at

240-626: The Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 and returned to England in May 1816. The regiment played a pivotal role in the notorious Peterloo Massacre in August 1819, when a 60,000 strong crowd calling for democratic reform were charged by the Yeomanry. Panic from the crowd was interpreted as an attack on the Yeomanry and the Hussars (led by Lieutenant Colonel Guy L'Estrange) were ordered in. The charge resulted in 15 fatalities and as many as 600 injured. The title of

270-577: The First Boer War . The regiment, which was stationed at Longmoor at the start of the First World War , landed at Rouen in France on 18 August 1914: the squadrons were attached to different infantry divisions to form the divisional reconnaissance element: A Squadron was attached to 3rd Division , B Squadron was attached to 2nd Division and C Squadron was attached to 1st Division . On 14 April 1915,

300-633: The Second Boer War (1899–1902). 15th The King%27s Hussars The 15th The King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army . First raised in 1759, it saw service over two centuries, including the First World War , before being amalgamated with the 19th Royal Hussars into the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars in 1922. The regiment was raised in the London area by George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield as Elliots Light Horse as

330-583: The 1st Cavalry Division would lead the advance of the Second Army into Germany, by 6 December 1918, having passed through Namur , the division secured the Rhine bridgehead at Cologne . After service in the First World War, the regiment, retitled as the 15th The King's Hussars in 1921 was amalgamated with the 19th Royal Hussars into the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars in 1922. The regimental collection

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360-676: The 2001 census . Election results for Amajuba in the South African general election, 2004 . Battle of Majuba Hill The Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881 was the final and decisive battle of the First Boer War that was a resounding victory for the Boers . The British Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley occupied the summit of the hill on the night of 26–27 February 1881. Colley's motive for occupying Majuba Hill, near Volksrust , now in South Africa , may have been anxiety that

390-452: The Boers would retreat when they saw their position on the Nek was untenable. They also brought a heliograph , which they used to send some signals to the camp. However, the Boers quickly formed a group of storming parties, led by Nicolaas Smit , from an assortment of volunteers from various commandos, totaling at least 450 men to attack the hill. By daybreak at 4:30, the 92nd Highlanders covered

420-465: The Boers would soon occupy it themselves, since he had witnessed their trenches being dug in the direction of the hill. The Boers believed that he might have been attempting to outflank their positions at Laing's Nek . The hill was not considered to be scalable by the Boers for military purposes and so it may have been Colley's attempt to emphasise British power and strike fear into the Boer camp. The battle

450-426: The British line collapsed, and many ran pell-mell from the hill. The Gordons held their ground the longest, but once they were broken, the battle was over. The Boers were able to launch an attack, which shattered the-already crumbling British line. Amid great confusion and increasing slaughter among his men, Colley attempted a fighting retreat, but he was killed by Boer marksmen. The rest of the British force fled down

480-404: The British soldiers one by one. The Boers could take advantage of the scrub and high grass that covered the hill, which the British were not trained to do. It was at that stage that British discipline began to break: the troops could not see their opponents and received very little direction from their officers, and they panicked and began to flee. When more Boers were seen encircling the mountain,

510-609: The French 1st Provisional Chasseurs à cheval , who lost many men captured, ceased to exist as a viable regiment. However, the commanding officer of the 15th Hussars, Colonel Colquhoun Grant , was wounded in the battle. The regiment embarked at Corunna for their journey home in January 1809. The regiment were ordered to support Sir Arthur Wellesley 's Army on the Iberian Peninsula and landed at Lisbon in February 1813. It took part in

540-566: The Transvaal, which was declared a self-governing, not an independent entity, under British suzerainty. Although that was never more than a legal fiction, soon abrogated by the 1884 London Convention , Britain could still formally deny its defeat. Prior to the discovery of gold in the Transvaal in 1886, it was widely presumed that the Transvaal Republic would not survive economically in the long term anyway. Furthermore, emerging powers, such as

570-560: The United States, were already acting in open defiance of British hegemony at the time, and there is little evidence Britain's defeat in the brief low-intensity conflict had any significant effect on the foreign relations of the British Empire. The First Anglo-Boer War can at best be called a temporary setback for the British Empire, which would continue to expand for several decades and eventually recover all territory lost in 1881 during

600-425: The battle. During the battle the French commander, Major-General Christian-Sigismund von Glaubitz, was taken prisoner. The regiment charged the French rear guard twice at the Battle of Wilhelmsthal in June 1762 and then returned home in July 1763. In 1766 it was renamed for King George III as the 1st (or The King's Royal) Regiment of Light Dragoons , the number being an attempt to create a new numbering system for

630-400: The better marksmen, kept their enemy on the slopes at bay while groups crossed the open ground to attack Gordon's Knoll, where, at 12:45, Ferreira's men opened up a tremendous fire on the exposed knoll and captured it. The Boer general Piet Joubert later noted that the British rifles were sighted at 400–600 yards while the battle raged at about 50–100 yards, as the British officers had not told

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660-453: The covering force at the Siege of Dunkirk in August 1793 and at the Siege of Landrecies in April 1794. It undertook successful charges at the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies in April 1794 and at the Battle of Willems in May 1794 and was present, but not actively engaged, at the Battle of Tournay later in May 1794. The regiment returned to England in December 1795 and was next in action at

690-588: The first of the new regiments of light dragoons in 1759. It was renamed the 15th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in 1760. The regiment landed in Bremen in June 1760 for service in the Seven Years' War . The regiment were largely responsible for the victory, suffering 125 of the 186 allied casualties at the Battle of Emsdorf in July 1760. Lieutenant Colonel William Erskine , commanding the regiment, presented King George III with 16 colours captured by his regiment after

720-472: The light dragoon regiments. However, the old system was quickly re-established, with the regiment returning as the 15th (The King's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in 1769. The regiment landed at Ostend in May 1793 for service in the Flanders Campaign and fought at the Battle of Famars in May 1793. It formed part of the besieging force at the Siege of Valenciennes in June 1793 and formed part of

750-758: The rear slopes of Majuba, where more were hit by the Boer marksmen firing from the summit. An abortive rearguard action was staged by the 15th Hussars and 60th Rifles , who had marched from a support base at Mount Prospect, but that made little impact on the Boer forces. A total of 285 British were killed, captured or wounded, including Captain Cornwallis Maude, son of government minister Cornwallis Maude, 1st Earl de Montalt . Several wounded soldiers who soon found themselves surrounded by Boer soldiers gave their accounts later of that day. Many Boers were young farm boys armed with rifles. The revelation that professionally trained soldiers were defeated by young farmboys led by

780-590: The regiment was simplified in 1861 to the 15th (The King's) Hussars . It was stationed in Ireland between July 1824 and May 1827 and between April 1834 and May 1837. It was then stationed in India between spring 1840 and 1854. The regiment returned to India in 1867 and moved on to Afghanistan in 1878 for service in the Second Anglo-Afghan War before being deployed to South Africa in January 1881 for service in

810-492: The squadrons returned to regimental control and the regiment was placed under the command of the 9th Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Cavalry Division . The regiment remained on the Western Front throughout the war. It participated in most of the major actions where cavalry were used as a mounted mobile force. They were also used as dismounted troops and served effectively as infantry. On 11 November 1918, orders were received that

840-448: The troops to alter their weapons. Thus, they shot downhill over the heads of the exposed Boer attackers. Colley was in his tent when he was informed of the advancing Boers but took no immediate action until after he had been warned by several subordinates of the seriousness of the attack. Over the next hour, the Boers poured over the top of the British line and engaged the British at long range. Refusing close-combat action, they picked off

870-424: Was forced into either acknowledging the independence of a prewar possession or signing a treaty on unfavorable terms that yielded a significant amount of territory. In preceding conflicts, even if they suffered initial defeats, instances of the British not ultimately obtaining a decisive victory were very rare. Since British foreign policy discouraged negotiating from anything other than a position of strength, Majuba

900-556: Was the first time that Britain was defeated in the final engagements of a war. That position neglects that the First Boer War, while arguably Britain's first unambiguous defeat since the American Revolution, was largely unnoticed by the general public. Britain was spared much of the embarrassment of defeat through the original terms ending the war. Under the 1881 Pretoria Convention , the British monarch became Head of state in

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