160-701: 1900 1901 1902 The Battle of Paardeberg or Perdeberg ("Horse Mountain", 18–27 February 1900) was a major battle during the Second Anglo-Boer War . It was fought near Paardeberg Drift on the banks of the Modder River in the Orange Free State near Kimberley (now in Letsemeng Local Municipality , Free State ). Lord Methuen advanced up the railway line in November 1899 with
320-677: A diamond rush and a massive influx of foreigners to the borders of the Orange Free State. Then, in June 1884, gold was discovered in the Witwatersrand area of the South African Republic by Jan Gerrit Bantjes . Gold made the Transvaal the richest nation in southern Africa; however, the country had neither the manpower nor the industrial base to develop the resource on its own. As a result,
480-778: A midshipman in the Royal Navy , before becoming a cavalry officer. He achieved rapid promotion and distinguished himself on the Gordon Relief Expedition . He became a national hero during the Second Boer War . He commanded I Corps at Aldershot , then served as Inspector-General of the Army, before becoming Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS, the professional head of the British Army) in 1912. He helped to prepare
640-631: A shanty town . Uitlanders (foreigners, white outsiders) poured in and settled around the mines. The influx was so rapid that uitlanders quickly outnumbered the Boers in Johannesburg and along the Rand, although they remained a minority in the Transvaal. The Boers, nervous and resentful of the uitlanders' growing presence, sought to contain their influence through requiring lengthy residential qualifying periods before voting rights could be obtained; by imposing taxes on
800-535: A Boer laager , French received orders to leave Ladysmith. French and Haig escaped under fire on the last train out as the Boer siege began; Boers tore up the track minutes after the train passed. Steaming from Durban on 3 November, he arrived at Cape Town on 8 November, meeting with Buller, whose Army Corps was then arriving. French was initially ordered to assemble the Cavalry Division at Maitland, near Cape Town. Now
960-548: A Boer and British ultimatum and subsequent Boer irregulars and militia attacks on British colonial settlements in Natal Colony . The Boers placed Ladysmith , Kimberley , and Mafeking under siege, and won victories at Colenso , Magersfontein and Stormberg . Increased numbers of British Army soldiers were brought to Southern Africa and mounted unsuccessful attacks against the Boers. However, British fortunes changed when their commanding officer, General Redvers Buller ,
1120-489: A Boer invasion of the Cape and tied down Boer forces which might have been used elsewhere. Leo Amery 's Times History , highly critical of British generalship during this period, later wrote of his "almost unbroken series of successes", showing grasp of tactics. Cavalry—often fighting dismounted—never made up more than half of his force, and were usually outnumbered three-to-one by Boer cavalry. There were some accusations that French
1280-619: A cautious attack by British infantry. The Official History called it "the most brilliant stroke of the war". He was also later praised by the cavalry writer Erskine Childers and by the German history of the campaign, which cited Klip Drift as evidence that cavalry could still charge infantry armed with magazine rifles. These claims were exaggerated. French had attacked a thinly-held part of the line, under cover of artillery fire and dust clouds, inflicting only 20 Boer casualties to sword and lance (as opposed to 60 at Elandslaagte). French himself saw it as
1440-708: A cavalry brigade under Lieutenant-General George White in Natal, White also had the equivalent of a division of infantry but Colonel Brocklehurst was appointed to this command, while French and Haig were ordered to proceed to Natal "for the present" after receiving a cable from the Nord Office, which they guessed correctly meant that they were to take charge of the Cavalry Division when Buller's Army Corps arrived. After steaming to Durban French and Haig arrived in Ladysmith at 5:40am on 20 October, just as hostilities were beginning. On
1600-425: A cease-fire to bury the dead. The British refused and Cronjé replied "If you are so uncharitable as to refuse me a truce as requested, then you may do as you please. I shall not surrender alive. Bombard as you will". The truce communications had taken up much of the day and there was no time for any more assaults. The following day Roberts and Kitchener again planned to launch more assaults, but were firmly resisted by
1760-545: A chance to leave home four or five years earlier than the Army. From August 1866 he trained on board the three-decker battleship HMS Britannia at Dartmouth. He obtained only an "average" certificate which required him to do a further six months of training on board the frigate HMS Bristol at Sheerness from January 1868 before qualifying as a midshipman. In 1869 he served as a midshipman on HMS Warrior commanded by Captain Boys, an old friend of French's father. She patrolled in
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#17328734287271920-485: A cut telegraph line, and there is no evidence that Roberts made further efforts to contact him, although French heliographed to request orders. Orders to pursue Cronje were hand-delivered to French at 10 pm on 16 February. French had only 1,500 mounted men and 12 guns fit for duty, but, setting out at 3 am on 17 February, he and Broadwood led an advanced guard on a forced march, twice as fast as Cronje's force, to intercept them at 10 am as they tried to cross
2080-506: A dressing-down in front of his brigadiers, for consuming too many supplies. This was probably a turning point in their relationship. French led his men out of camp at 3 am on 7 March, amid confusion as Kelly-Kenny's Division, which was supposed to follow his, had started an hour earlier owing to unclear orders. The moon had set and French had to halt between 5 am and 5.45 am to await daybreak. By 7 am he had reached Kalkfontein Dam,
2240-524: A five-mile wide front, halting between 12.30 and 1 pm at the well at Blauuwboschpan, where he left a garrison to hold until the infantry arrived. He brushed aside a small Boer force (perhaps 300 men) which attempted to block his path to the Modder River, but concerned that he might be attacked from the east by de Wet's main force, moved quickly at 2 pm to seize the crossings at Rondeval and Klip Drift (he aimed to at least threaten two crossings to avoid
2400-620: A frenzy of jingoism, lionised him and treated him as a hero. Although sentenced to 15 months imprisonment (which he served in Holloway ), Jameson was later rewarded by being named Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (1904–1908) and was ultimately anointed as one of the founders of the Union of South Africa. For conspiring with Jameson, the uitlander members of the Reform Committee (Transvaal) were tried in
2560-497: A further two years, the Boers conducted a hard-fought guerrilla war, attacking British troop columns, telegraph sites, railways, and storage depots. To deny supplies to the Boer guerrillas, the British, now under the leadership of Lord Kitchener , adopted a scorched earth policy. They cleared vast areas, destroying Boer farms and moving the civilians into concentration camps. Some parts of
2720-436: A great strategist at the head of affairs". With Roberts' main army immobilised by disease at Bloemfontein, de Wet was still active making raids around the British periphery. Roberts eventually (20 March) sent French with a single cavalry brigade and some guns and Mounted Infantry in a vain attempt to intercept Olivier's column (numbering 6,000–7,000 men) at Thabanchu. French made another raid to Karee Siding (29 March)—but until
2880-453: A guerrilla campaign, becoming known as bittereinders . Led by generals such as Louis Botha , Jan Smuts , Christiaan de Wet , and Koos de la Rey , Boer guerrillas used hit-and-run attacks and ambushes against the British for two years. The guerrilla campaign proved difficult for the British to defeat, due to unfamiliarity with guerrilla tactics and extensive support for the guerrillas among civilians. In response to failures to defeat
3040-431: A large ridge some 69 km (43 mi) south of the Boer capital at Pretoria. The ridge was known locally as the "Witwatersrand" (white water ridge, a watershed). A gold rush to the Transvaal brought thousands of British and other prospectors and settlers from around the globe and over the border from the Cape Colony, which had been under British control since 1806. The city of Johannesburg sprang up nearly overnight as
3200-475: A local lieutenant-general like Buller's other four division commanders, he was then ordered to take command of forces covering the Colesberg area, filling the gap between Methuen 's division (operating at Orange River Station, with a view to relieving Kimberley and Mafeking ) and Gatacre 's Division at Stormberg. On 18 November he went up to De Aar, nearer the front, to confer with Maj-Gen Wauchope , in charge of
3360-479: A man whose career had so recently nearly ended, relied too much on powerful patrons. Early in 1899, at his own request, French borrowed £2,500, in a formal contract with interest, from Haig. He was within 24 hours of bankruptcy—which would have required him to resign his commission—after unwise investments in South African mining shares (Transvaal Golds), which crashed in value as war loomed. Richard Holmes believed
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#17328734287273520-411: A march of 12 miles, and spent 45 minutes watering his horses. By 7.30 am the Boers began to retreat from their position. Roberts later blamed French for failing to cut them off (and missing a chance to capture President Kruger ). French argued that his horses were too weak to do more than trot, and that he was not strong enough as Kelly-Kenny's men had not yet arrived. He concentrated his Division for
3680-738: A plan to take Johannesburg and end the control of the Transvaal government was hatched with the connivance of the Cape Prime Minister Rhodes and Johannesburg gold magnate Alfred Beit . A column of 600 armed men was led over the border from Bechuanaland towards Johannesburg by Jameson, the Administrator in Rhodesia of the British South Africa Company , of which Cecil Rhodes was the chairman. The column, mainly made up of Rhodesian and Bechuanaland British South Africa Policemen ,
3840-489: A pretext for war and a justification for a big military build-up in Cape Colony. The case for war was developed and espoused as far away as the Australian colonies. Cape Colony Governor Sir Alfred Milner ; Rhodes; Chamberlain; and mining syndicate owners such as Beit, Barney Barnato , and Lionel Phillips , favoured annexation of the Boer republics. Confident that the Boers would be quickly defeated, they planned and organised
4000-446: A pursuit, but even then was beaten off by the Boer rearguard. The Official History supported French's decision, although some felt that French was giving less than wholehearted co-operation after his unjustified public rebuke over the fodder issue. Holmes suggests that French carried out a plan in which he had no confidence because of Roberts' reputation for ruthlessness with unsatisfactory officers. French and Haig were sceptical about
4160-436: A regular commission. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars on 28 February 1874, but there is no evidence that he ever served with them. He transferred to the 19th Hussars on 11 March 1874 possibly as it was less expensive—following the sale of the family home at Ripple Valley French's private income of £1,000 per annum was enough to cover the £500–£600 required by his new regiment. He
4320-411: A roughly equal British force. Cronjé's remaining forces were weakened by lack of grazing for their horses. Many of the Boer fighters' families joined Cronjé's main encampment at Jacobsdal . The inclusion with Cronje’s forces of large numbers of non-combatants with their slow-moving ox-drawn wagons would later prove to be a significant handicap to him. Field Marshal Roberts had been appointed to command
4480-521: A series of uncoordinated frontal assaults against the Boer laager. This was despite the fact that the cost of frontal assaults against entrenched Boers had been demonstrated time and again the preceding months. It was no different this time. The British were shot down in droves. It is thought that not a single British soldier got within 200 yards (180 m) of the Boer lines. By nightfall on 18 February, some 24 officers and 279 men were killed and 59 officers and 847 men wounded. Judged by British casualties it
4640-526: A short war, citing the uitlanders' grievances as the motivation for the conflict. In contrast, the influence of the war party within the British government was limited. UK Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury , despised jingoism and jingoists. He was also uncertain of the abilities of the British Army. Despite both his moral and practical reservations, Salisbury led the United Kingdom to war in order to preserve
4800-509: A triumph of the cavalry spirit rather than a charge with cold steel per se . French entered Kimberley at 6 pm on 15 February, and was entertained at the Sanatorium by Cecil Rhodes , who soon persuaded him to relieve Kekewich , the military commander of the town. Holmes cites this as an evidence of French's tendency to take against people based only on superficial evidence. French was congratulated by Roberts, and Queen Victoria praised
4960-558: Is officially called the South African War . In fact, according to a 2011 BBC report, "most scholars prefer to call the war of 1899–1902 the South African War, thereby acknowledging that all South Africans, white and black, were affected by the war and that many were participants". The origins of the war were complex and stemmed from more than a century of conflict between the Boers and Britain. Of immediate importance, however,
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5120-798: The Sydney Morning Herald , "embedded" with the New South Wales Lancers. Paterson states that Cronjé had decided on the previous night to surrender at 6am on 27 February as his supplies were exhausted, but when the Canadians attacked at 4 am – The Maritimes of Companies G and H were led by Lieutenant Otter – he refused to be hurried and fought for two hours at a cost to the Canadians of "15 or 20 shot and many more wounded", then surrendered at 6 am as planned, and with some considerable degree of dignity. This account differs slightly in detail from that above and deserves to be noted, describing as it does
5280-681: The Boer War , Transvaal War , Anglo–Boer War , or South African War , was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and Orange Free State ) over the Empire's influence in Southern Africa . The Witwatersrand Gold Rush caused a large influx of " foreigners " ( Uitlanders ) to the South African Republic (SAR), mostly British from
5440-545: The British Prime Minister , demanded his resignation. French was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces for 1916–1918. He then became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1918, a position he held through much of the Irish War of Independence (1919–1922), in which his own sister was involved on the republican side. During this time he published 1914 , an inaccurate and much criticised volume of memoirs. French's family
5600-604: The Cape Colony . As they, for fear of a hostile takeover of the SAR, were permitted to vote only after fourteen years of residence, they protested to the British authorities in the Cape. Negotiations failed at the botched Bloemfontein Conference in June 1899. The conflict broke out in October after the British government decided to send 10,000 troops to South Africa. With a delay, this provoked
5760-633: The Enfield . Indeed, when the ammunition for the Mausers ran out, the Boers relied primarily on the captured Lee-Metfords. Regardless of the rifle, few of the Boers used bayonets. The Boers also purchased the best modern European German Krupp artillery. By October 1899, the Transvaal State Artillery had 73 heavy guns, including four 155 mm Creusot fortress guns and 25 of the 37 mm Maxim Nordenfeldt guns . The Boers' Maxim, larger than
5920-638: The English Channel and off Spain and Portugal. During his service he witnessed the accidental sinking of HMS Captain . He resigned from the Royal Navy in November 1870 as he was discovered to be acrophobic and to suffer from seasickness. French joined the Suffolk Artillery Militia in November 1870 where he was expected to put in about two months a year with the regiment. He initially failed his exams (mathematics and foreign languages) for
6080-773: The First Boer War (December 1880 to March 1881) was a much smaller conflict. Boer (meaning "farmer") is the common name for Afrikaans -speaking white South Africans descended from the Dutch East India Company 's original settlers at the Cape of Good Hope . Among some South Africans, it is known as the (Second) Anglo–Boer War. In Afrikaans , it may be called (in order of frequency) the ' Tweede Vryheidsoorlog ("Second Freedom War"), ' Tweede Boereoorlog ("Second Boer War"), Anglo–Boereoorlog ("Anglo–Boer War") or Engelse oorlog ("English War"). In South Africa , it
6240-530: The Great Trek . Around 15,000 trekking Boers departed the Cape Colony and followed the eastern coast towards Natal . After Britain annexed Natal in 1843, they journeyed farther northwards into South Africa's vast eastern interior. There, they established two independent Boer republics: the South African Republic (1852; also known as the Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State (1854). Britain recognised
6400-517: The Martini-Henry Mark III, because thousands of these had been purchased. Unfortunately, the large puff of white smoke after firing gave away the shooter's position. Roughly 7,000 Guedes 1885 rifles had also been purchased a few years earlier, and these were also used during the hostilities. As the war went on, some commandos relied on captured British rifles, such as the Lee-Metford and
6560-698: The Matabele and Mashona peoples' rising against the British South Africa Company. The rebellion, known as the Second Matabele War , was suppressed only at a great cost. A few days after the raid, the German Kaiser sent a telegram—known to history as "the Kruger telegram "—congratulating President Kruger and the government of the South African Republic on their success. When the text of this telegram
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6720-590: The New Zealand Mounted Rifles fix bayonets to their carbines to use as lances, and were sceptical about the Colonial "Skallywag" units which Roberts was raising. Roberts also appointed the Earl of Erroll as Assistant Adjutant-General (AAG) of the Cavalry Division, with Haig, to whom Buller had promised the job, as his deputy—French did his best to bypass Erroll and work through Haig. On 31 January French returned to
6880-607: The Northumberland Hussars on 1 April 1881. While in Northumberland he missed out on active service: the 19th Hussars took part in the occupation of Egypt and Battle of Tel el-Kebir (13 September 1882) but French's applications to rejoin his regiment were rejected by the War Office. An increase in the number of majors in the 19th Hussars brought French promotion to that rank on 3 April 1883. These promotions (captain at
7040-491: The Portuguese Civil War . His mother was Margaret Eccles, from Glasgow , who after suffering a breakdown following her husband's death was eventually institutionalised. She died in 1867 leaving French to be brought up by his sisters. He was educated at a Harrow preparatory school and Eastman's Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth before joining the Royal Navy in 1866. He joined the Royal Navy because it gave him
7200-568: The Riet River Crossings, then about 25 miles (roughly north-north-east) to Klip Drift on the Modder, then another 20 miles north-west to Kimberley. This was to be accomplished across arid land in five days, with much of the travel by moonlight as it was the middle of summer. French carried only six days' rations for the men and five days' forage for the horses. The force left Ramdam at 2 am on 12 February, with only 4,000 horsemen rather than
7360-587: The Uitlanders —non-Boer settlers—which would break the Boer stronghold on political power. It had the opposite effect, as the Boers issued their own ultimatum on 9 October, while the British troops were still at sea, in the hope of provoking an anti-British rising by the Boers of the British-ruled Cape Colony. He was appointed both a major-general on the staff and a local major-general. French arrived at Cape Town on 11 October. He had expected to command
7520-541: The " Missionaries Road " passed through it towards territory farther north. After the Germans annexed Damaraland and Namaqualand (modern Namibia ) in 1884, Britain annexed Bechuanaland in 1885. In the First Boer War of 1880–1881 the Boers of the Transvaal Republic proved skilful fighters in resisting Britain's attempt at annexation, causing a series of British defeats. The British government of William Ewart Gladstone
7680-585: The 8,000 he had expected to have, but French felt he had to push on rather than wait for straggling units to catch up (the brigades' staffs were all new, and brigadiers only joined their units in the course of the march). De Kiel's Drift on the Riet was seized by mid afternoon—French ordered his cavalry to gallop for it as soon as he saw the way was clear—but the crossing was soon in what Haig called "an indescribable state of confusion" as Roberts had neglected to order priority for Cavalry Division baggage. Kitchener, arriving in
7840-714: The African continent was dominated in the 19th century by a set of struggles to create within it a single unified state. In 1868, Britain annexed Basutoland in the Drakensberg Mountains, following an appeal from Moshoeshoe I , the king of the Sotho people , who sought British protection against the Boers. While the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 sought to draw boundaries between the European powers' African possessions, it also set
8000-564: The Boer cause attracted thousands of volunteers from neutral countries , including the German Empire, United States, Russia and even some parts of the British Empire such as Australia and Ireland. Some consider the war the beginning of questioning the British Empire's veneer of impenetrable global dominance, due to the war's surprising duration and the unforeseen losses suffered by the British. A trial for British war crimes committed during
8160-428: The Boer entrenchments at Magersfontein and the Highland Brigade under Major General Hector MacDonald marched 20 miles (32 km) westward to Koedoesberg and fixed the Boers' attention to their right flank, Roberts's large force began marching east in secret, late on 11 February. By the evening of 12 February, his leading horsemen had secured fords across the first obstacle, the Riet River . The next day, 13 February,
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#17328734287278320-454: The Boer left and pass his cavalry around them to relieve Kimberley, while his infantry secured vital fords behind them. Roberts had two infantry divisions (the 6th and the 7th) each of two infantry brigades, and a mounted division of three brigades under Major General John French . Another infantry division (the 9th, under Lieutenant General Henry Edward Colville ) was formed during the campaign. While Methuen's 1st Division demonstrated against
8480-428: The Boers had failed to prevent the British crossing the Modder River on 28 November, they had fought them to a standstill at the Battle of Magersfontein thirteen days later, inflicting heavy casualties. Over the next two months, the front south of Kimberley stagnated. A substantial Boer detachment under De la Rey was sent to Colesberg where, in contrast to the situation elsewhere, the Boers were being driven back by
8640-462: The Boers' entire army were now prisoners. 27 February 1900 marked the nineteenth anniversary of the British defeat at Majuba and the surrender at Paardeberg constituted the first major British victory in the war. In historian Thomas Pakenham 's words: "Cronjé's blunders had outmatched Kitchener's and Roberts's after all." South African government historian J. H. Breytenbach disagreed: (Translation) That general Piet Cronjé surrendered on Majuba Day
8800-417: The Boers, these wagons carried all their worldly possessions. The loss of their horses was even worse, for the horse was almost as important to the fighting ability of a Boer as his Mauser rifle. The morale in Cronjé's laager was desperate. As the sun came up on the morning of Monday, 19 February, General Roberts arrived on the scene. He initially urged a resumption of the frontal assaults, but Cronjé requested
8960-406: The Boers; 20,000 died. British mounted infantry were deployed to track down guerrillas, leading to small-scale skirmishes . Few combatants on either side were killed in action , with most casualties dying from disease. Kitchener offered generous terms of surrender to remaining Boer leaders to end the conflict. Eager to ensure fellow Boers were released from the camps, most Boer commanders accepted
9120-453: The British 6th Division, had a sound plan to lay siege to Cronjé and bombard his force into surrender. This would almost certainly have proved successful and cost the British very few casualties. Roberts was ill however, and his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herbert Kitchener , was now in overall command of the British force. He had different plans, and overruled Kelly-Kenny. Kitchener proceeded to order his infantry and mounted troops into
9280-432: The British Army for a possible European war, and was among those who insisted that cavalry still be trained to charge with sabre and lance. During the Curragh incident he had to resign as CIGS after promising Hubert Gough in writing that the Army would not be used to coerce Ulster Protestants into a Home Rule Ireland . French's most important role was as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) for
9440-422: The British Empire's prestige and feeling a sense of obligation to British South Africans. Salisbury also detested the Boers treatment of native Africans, referring to the London Convention of 1884 , (following Britain's defeat in the first war), as an agreement "really in the interest of slavery". Salisbury was not alone in this concern. Roger Casement , already well on the way to becoming an Irish Nationalist,
9600-413: The British Maxims, was a large calibre, belt-fed, water-cooled "auto cannon" that fired explosive rounds (smokeless ammunition) at 450 rounds per minute. It became known as the "Pom Pom". Aside from weaponry, the tactics used by the Boers were significant. As one modern source states, "Boer soldiers ... were adept at guerrilla warfare—something the British had difficulty countering". The Transvaal army
9760-464: The British encirclement line by a completely unfordable river. The Boer War marked the first overseas deployment of the Canadian Army . The Toronto company of the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry had joined the Queensland Mounted Infantry in dispersing a Boer commando at Sunnyside and Belmont in the Western Cape in January. The account of this battle and of Cronjé's surrender is given in much greater depth by Banjo Paterson , war correspondent for
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#17328734287279920-515: The British forces in South Africa in December 1899, succeeding General Buller . Roberts had just learned that his son Freddy had been mortally wounded at the Battle of Colenso . Like Buller, Roberts at first intended to make a direct thrust on the Boer capitals of Bloemfontein and Pretoria , using the central railway line from Cape Town to these two capital cities as his line of communication. Also like Buller, he found on arrival in South Africa that public opinion both in Britain and South Africa
10080-419: The British mounted force made a gruelling march of 30 miles (48 km) under a blazing sun to capture fords across the Modder. The effect of the heat was made worse when the dry grass of the veld caught fire from a carelessly discarded match. French's division had to wait at the fords (at Klip Drift) during the next day until the leading infantry reached them, after making an equally exhausting march. Luckily for
10240-403: The British press and British government expected the campaign to be over within months, and the protracted war gradually became less popular, especially after revelations about the conditions in the concentration camps (where as many as 26,000 Afrikaner women and children died of disease and malnutrition). The Boer forces finally surrendered on Saturday, 31 May 1902, with 54 of the 60 delegates from
10400-415: The British terms in the Treaty of Vereeniging , surrendering in May 1902. The former republics were transformed into the British colonies of the Transvaal and Orange River , and in 1910 were merged with the Natal and Cape Colonies to form the Union of South Africa , a self-governing dominion within the British Empire. British expeditionary efforts were aided significantly by colonial forces from
10560-506: The British, the move had taken the Boers by surprise and they did not move in strength to defend the fords or the hills nearby. Early on 15 February, French's division began the final march to relieve Kimberley. Only scattered and disorganised Boers opposed them, and the enormous mass of British horsemen broke through their thin line, concealed in the dust cloud they created. Late that evening they reached Kimberley, where they were greeted with cheering crowds. French should by rights have gone to
10720-405: The Cape Colony, the Natal, Rhodesia , and many volunteers from the British Empire worldwide, particularly Australia , Canada , India and New Zealand . Black African recruits contributed increasingly to the British war effort. International public opinion was sympathetic to the Boers and hostile to the British . Even within the UK, there existed significant opposition to the war . As a result,
10880-784: The Cape during the late 17th and early 18th centuries; however, close to one-fourth of this demographic was of German origin and one-sixth of French Huguenot descent. Cleavages were likelier to occur along socio-economic rather than ethnic lines. Broadly speaking, the colonists included a number of distinct subgroups, including the Boers . The Boers were itinerant farmers who lived on the colony's frontiers, seeking better pastures for their livestock. Many were dissatisfied with aspects of British administration, in particular with Britain's abolition of slavery on 1 December 1834. Boers who used forced labor would have been unable to collect compensation for their slaves. Between 1836 and 1852, many elected to migrate away from British rule in what became known as
11040-411: The Cape inquiry and the London parliamentary inquiry and was forced to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape and as Chairman of the British South Africa Company, for having sponsored the failed coup d'état . The Boer government handed their prisoners over to the British for trial. Jameson was tried in England, where the British press and London society, inflamed by anti-Boer and anti-German feeling and in
11200-510: The Colesberg front to break up his old command, leaving Maj-Gen R. A. P. Clemens to cover the Colesberg area with a mixed force. Kitchener ordered French (10 February) "The cavalry must relieve Kimberley at all costs". French promised Roberts that if he were still alive he would be in Kimberley, where the civilian population was urging Colonel Robert Kekewich to surrender, in five days. French's Cavalry Division consisted of three cavalry brigades and two brigades of mounted infantry, although
11360-408: The Modder Crossings, during which time Piet Cronje , believing French's advance to be a feint, missed an opportunity to reinforce the area. Equipped with three days' supplies, French resumed his advance at 9.30 am on 15 February. At Abon's Dam, five miles north of the Modder, French sent his cavalry, supported by the fire of 56 guns, charging up a valley between two Boer held ridges. The charge
11520-490: The Modder at Vendutie Drift (around 30 miles from Kimberley). Outnumbered three to one, and with another 2,000 Boers close by, French held his position long enough for the British infantry to catch up with Cronje's army at Paardeberg. French was too far away to interfere in the Battle of Paardeberg , although he sent a message urging caution—Kitchener ignored this and launched a disastrous frontal assault on 18 February. French spent
11680-484: The Nile the horses had not been watered for between 56 and 72 hours. During the retreat back across the desert via Jakdul (the expedition had reached Khartoum too late to save Gordon) French led a rearguard of thirteen men, warding off Dervish attacks and impressing Redvers Buller and Sir Garnet Wolseley . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 7 February 1885. Once again, this was an unusually early promotion, and he
11840-463: The Orange Free State to join him and mobilising their forces, Kruger issued an ultimatum giving Britain 48 hours to withdraw all their troops from the border of Transvaal (despite the fact that the only regular British army troops anywhere near the border of either republic were 4 companies of the Loyal North Lancs , who had been deployed to defend Kimberley. ) Otherwise, the Transvaal, allied with
12000-499: The Orange Free State, would declare war. John French, 1st Earl of Ypres Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres , KP , GCB , OM , GCVO , KCMG , PC (28 September 1852 – 22 May 1925), known as Sir John French from 1901 to 1916, and as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a senior British Army officer. Born in Kent , he saw brief service as
12160-637: The Second Boer War was the longest, the most expensive (£211 million, £19.9 billion at 2022 prices), and the bloodiest conflict between 1815 and 1914, lasting three months longer and resulting in more British combat casualties than the Crimean War (1853–1856). Disease took a greater toll in the Crimean War, claiming 17,580 British. The conflict is commonly referred to simply as "the Boer War" because
12320-541: The South African Republic Paul Kruger , either fled or went into hiding; the British Empire officially annexed the two republics in 1900. In Britain, the Conservative ministry led by Lord Salisbury attempted to capitalise on British military successes by calling an early general election , dubbed by contemporary observers as a " khaki election ". However, Boer fighters took to the hills and launched
12480-614: The Transvaal Boers behind President Kruger and his government. It also had the effect of drawing the Transvaal and the Orange Free State (led by President Martinus Theunis Steyn ) together in opposition to British imperialism. In 1897, the two republics concluded a military pact. In earlier conflicts, the Boers' most common weapon was the British Westley Richards falling-block breech-loader. In his book The First Boer War , Joseph Lehmann offers this comment: "Employing chiefly
12640-538: The Transvaal and Orange Free State voting to accept the terms of the peace treaty. This was known as the Treaty of Vereeniging , and under its provisions, the two republics were absorbed into the British Empire, with the promise of self-government in the future. This promise was fulfilled with the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The war had a lasting effect on the region and on British domestic politics. For Britain,
12800-478: The Transvaal courts and found guilty of high treason. The four leaders were sentenced to death by hanging, but the next day this sentence was commuted to 15 years' imprisonment. In June 1896, the other members of the committee were released on payment of £2,000 each in fines, all of which were paid by Cecil Rhodes. One Reform Committee member, Frederick Gray, committed suicide while in Pretoria gaol , on 16 May. His death
12960-527: The Transvaal reluctantly acquiesced to the immigration of uitlanders (foreigners), mainly English-speaking men from Britain, who came to the Boer region in search of fortune and employment. As a result, the number of uitlanders in the Transvaal threatened to exceed the number of Boers, precipitating confrontations between the Boer settlers and the newer, non-Boer arrivals. Britain's expansionist ideas (notably propagated by Cecil Rhodes ) as well as disputes over uitlander political and economic rights led to
13120-557: The age of 28, major at 30) were relatively rapid. French was initially expected to rejoin his regiment when they returned to Ireland, but the emergence of the Mahdi in the Sudan required them to fight Mahdist forces near Suakin . French rejoined the regiment when they returned to Cairo in October 1884. French took part in the Sudan expedition to relieve Major-General Charles Gordon in 1884. He
13280-561: The bicycle as he never mastered the art of mounting it. Two years on half pay would normally have meant compulsory retirement but in autumn 1894 he temporarily commanded a cavalry brigade under Lieutenant-General Sir James Keith-Fraser on the manoeuvres in the Vale of the White Horse in Berkshire. French commented that the role of modern cavalry was not to "cut and hack and thrust" but rather to herd
13440-472: The border. Four days later, the weary and dispirited column was surrounded near Krugersdorp , within sight of Johannesburg. After a brief skirmish in which the column lost 65 killed and wounded—while the Boers lost but one man—Jameson's men surrendered and were arrested by the Boers. The botched raid had repercussions throughout southern Africa and in Europe. In Rhodesia, the departure of so many policemen enabled
13600-544: The borders of both the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, failing which the Transvaal, allied to the Orange Free State, would declare war on the British government . (In fact, Kruger had ordered commandos to the Natal border in early September, and Britain had only troops in garrison towns far from the border.) The British government rejected the South African Republic's ultimatum, and the South African Republic and Orange Free State declared war on Britain. The southern part of
13760-411: The cavalry's "brilliant success". For his success with the relief, French was promoted for distinguished service in the field on 21 February 1900, from substantive colonel to supernumerary major-general , and to local lieutenant-general . Although French was later criticised for attacking the Boers around Kimberley on 16 February, Roberts' orders to pursue the retreating Cronje did not reach him owing to
13920-490: The centralisation of transport would lead to a collapse in supply arrangements. French disliked William Nicholson , under whose control Roberts had centralised all transport, and retained autonomy for Cavalry Division transport. Unlike Roberts, French and Haig believed that cavalry should still be trained to charge with steel as well as to fight dismounted with firearms. They appreciated the value of good colonial troops and trained Mounted Infantry, but had already insisted that
14080-530: The confidence of his subordinates and, after a Boer council of war, fell back on a strong position surrounded by hills at Colesberg (29 December) just as French had been preparing to outflank him. French instead (1 January 1900) pinned down the Boer forces and turned their right flank (the British left). The fighting went on until 25 January, with French several times attempting to turn the Boer flanks but pulling back as his forces ran into resistance. French did not succeed in capturing Colesberg, but he had prevented
14240-738: The daughter of an Anglo-Indian railway official and also, earlier in his career, with his commanding officer's wife. A later tale, that he had once been the lover of the Irish nationalist Maud Gonne , appeared in Mary Colum 's Life and the Dream (1947), although his biographer comments that it "lacks firm evidence". He was on half-pay in 1893–1895, possibly as a result of the Indian divorce scandal, and reduced to bicycling with his sons as he could not afford to keep horses. According to his son Gerald he would hop alongside
14400-423: The day holding off Boers who attempted to reinforce Cronje's force. French also prevented the main Boer field army from escaping across the Modder River after the battle. Cronje at last surrendered his field army to Roberts on 27 February. On the morning of Klip Drift French had had 5,027 horses, but by 28 February exhaustion had reduced this number to 3,553. As Roberts prepared to advance on Bloemfontein, French
14560-503: The deep affection for India common in officers who served there. French's wife did not accompany him to India (they seem to have lived apart for a while after his return from Egypt). When commanding the 19th Hussars in India, French was cited for adultery with the wife of a brother officer during his leave in the Indian hills; he was lucky this did not terminate his career. There were also unsubstantiated rumours that French had had affairs with
14720-462: The delay which had happened at De Kiel's Drift). By 5 pm he was able to send a galloper to Roberts with the message that he was across the Modder. He had lost only three men wounded, although 40 horses had died of exhaustion and over 500 were incapable of further work. French then had to wait a day while Thomas Kelly-Kenny 's 6th Infantry Division made a forced march from the Riet Crossings to
14880-685: The enemy within range of friendly artillery. His handling of the brigade was seen as one of the few successful parts of the manoeuvres, and Luck replaced Keith-Fraser as Inspector General. The introduction of cavalry brigades was also an innovation, supported by French. Buller got him a job as Assistant Adjutant-General at Army Headquarters on 24 August 1895, writing a new cavalry training manual (in practice extensively assisted by Captain Douglas Haig ). However, Buller had been Adjutant-General since 1890, and French's appointment coincided with Luck's arrival as Inspector-General, suggesting that Luck's influence
15040-432: The evening, ordered French to seize Waterval Drift, another crossing a few miles to the northwest where he had left a brigade masking a small Boer force under Christiaan de Wet . Although this was done, the advance could not be resumed until 10.30am on 13 February, and accompanied by five baggage wagons which had managed to get through the logjam at De Kiel's Drift. French's division moved in line of squadron columns across
15200-482: The failed Jameson Raid of 1895. Dr. Leander Starr Jameson , who led the raid, intended to encourage an uprising of the uitlanders in Johannesburg . However, the uitlanders did not take up arms in support, and Transvaal government forces surrounded the column and captured Jameson's men before they could reach Johannesburg. As tensions escalated, political manoeuvrings and negotiations attempted to reach compromise on
15360-754: The first year and a half of the First World War . After the British suffered heavy casualties at the battles of Mons and Le Cateau , French wanted to withdraw the BEF from the Allied line to refit and only agreed to take part in the First Battle of the Marne after a private meeting with the Secretary of State for War , Lord Kitchener , against whom he bore a grudge thereafter. In May 1915 he leaked information about shell shortages to
15520-494: The gold industry; and by introducing controls through licensing, tariffs and administrative requirements. Among the issues giving rise to tension between the Transvaal government on the one hand and the uitlanders and British interests on the other, were: British imperial interests were alarmed when in 1894–1895 Kruger proposed building a railway through Portuguese East Africa to Delagoa Bay , bypassing British-controlled ports in Natal and Cape Town and avoiding British tariffs. At
15680-527: The guerrillas, British high command ordered scorched earth policies as part of a large scale and multi-pronged counterinsurgency campaign; a network of nets , blockhouses , strongpoints and barbed wire fences was constructed, virtually partitioning the occupied republics. Over 100,000 Boer civilians, mostly women and children, were forcibly relocated into concentration camps , where 26,000 died, mostly by starvation and disease. Black Africans were interned in concentration camps to prevent them from supplying
15840-481: The height of the Captain Boycott disturbances. An Irishman hamstrung French's horse with a sickle while he was sitting on it. He became adjutant of his regiment on 1 June 1880. At that time the 19th Hussars had only one major but as three different men held that rank in three years (1877–1880) the resulting turnover of officers brought French his promotion to captain on 16 October 1880. He became adjutant of
16000-464: The help of Royal Engineers, advanced at night towards the Boer camp, then set about digging trenches on high ground 65 yards or 89 meter by another estimate away from the Boer lines. On Tuesday 27 February 1900, the Boers woke up staring into the muzzles of Canadian rifles and some Boer commanders flew white flags as a sign of surrender. Cronjé could not continue without the support of his army and surrendered with some 4,019 men and 50 women; around 10% of
16160-436: The issues of uitlanders' rights within the South African Republic, control of the gold mining industry, and Britain's desire to incorporate the Transvaal and the Orange Free State into a federation under British control. Given the British origins of the majority of uitlanders and the ongoing influx of new uitlanders into Johannesburg, the Boers recognised that granting full voting rights to the uitlanders would eventually result in
16320-418: The lance, cutting down fleeing Boers amid gory scenes described by one British officer as "most excellent pig-sticking ". This was portrayed as proving the continued relevance of cavalry charges, but in fact owed much to the success of Hamilton's preceding infantry attack and the fact that the charge was carried out at dusk. French celebrated the anniversary of this small battle for the rest of his life and it
16480-428: The latter did not accompany them when they broke camp at 3 am on 11 March—a separate provisional brigade of mounted infantry was provided instead. Roberts gave an inspirational speech to French's brigade and regimental commanders. Rather than cross the Modder River directly (Kimberley lay around 25 miles north-east), they made an envelopment move: first over 20 miles south to Ramdam, then about 15 miles east to seize
16640-432: The lines of communication. French arrived at Naawpoort on the afternoon of 20 November, and personally led a reconnaissance the following morning. The Boer force of General Schoeman had been reinforced by local Boers, and French, not strong enough to attack Arundel directly, conducted an active defence. At one stage, in late November and until 14 December, he was also required to extend his forces east to Rosmead to protect
16800-434: The loan was never repaid, but Haig's biographer Walter Reid believes that the loan was probably repaid in 1909. French embarked from Southampton for the Second Boer War on 23 September 1899, inviting Haig to share his cabin. War had not yet officially been declared when French put to sea. British troops were being sent in the hope of intimidating President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal into granting equal voting rights to
16960-613: The loss of ethnic Boer control in the South African Republic. The June 1899 negotiations in Bloemfontein failed, and in September 1899 British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain demanded full voting rights and representation for the uitlanders residing in the Transvaal. Paul Kruger , the President of the South African Republic, issued an ultimatum on 9 October 1899, giving the British government 48 hours to withdraw all their troops from
17120-429: The middle of April he devoted most of his energies to inspecting the horses, many of them Argentinian, with which his division was being remounted. French was summoned to see Roberts (5 April 1900), who told him (5 April 1900) that the fighting at Poplar Grove proved that the future lay with Mounted Infantry. French wrote to Colonel Lonsdale Hale, former professor at Staff College (12 April 1900), for speaking out for
17280-464: The military commander of the besieged garrison, Lieutenant Colonel Kekewich . Instead he called first on Cecil Rhodes , the former prime minister of Cape Colony and foremost Imperialist, at the town's chief hotel. The final day's ride had crippled most of French's division. Most of his British regular cavalry carried too much equipment and their unacclimatised horses (and those of the seven batteries of horse artillery) were exhausted. His effective force
17440-437: The morning of his arrival, French was ordered to investigate reports that the Boers had taken Elandslaagte . Taking with him the 5th Lancers , six squadrons of Natal Carbineers and Natal Mounted Rifles , a battery of field artillery and a brigade of infantry under Colonel Ian Hamilton , he made contact with the Boers at 13:00 that day. White was initially cautious but on 21 October, having learned of Symons' victory at Talana
17600-469: The next 25 years. French became Assistant Adjutant-General of Cavalry in 1893. In India serving initially at Secunderabad and Bangalore , French worked as a staff officer under Sir George Luck , a noted trainer of cavalry, albeit with perhaps an excessive emphasis on parade-ground drill. French commanded a brigade of Indian Cavalry on manoeuvres near Lahore in January 1893. He seems not to have acquired
17760-505: The next day, the Boer mounted rearguards prevented the British 6th Division (with only one understrength mounted infantry unit) overtaking them. On the 17th, the large convoy of Boer wagons reached the crossing of the Modder at Paardeberg Drift. They were starting to cross the river when a force of 1,500 British mounted troops, almost all of French's fit horses and men who had covered the 40 miles (64 km) from Kimberley in another desperately tiring march, opened fire on them unexpectedly from
17920-423: The north, causing confusion. Cronjé then inadvisedly decided to form a laager and dig in on the banks of the Modder river. His reasons for doing so are unclear because the British had insufficient cavalry and it would therefore have been an easy matter for Cronjé to brush them aside and link up with other Boers east of the Modder. Boers under noted commander Christiaan De Wet were only 30 miles (48 km) away to
18080-486: The objective of relieving the Siege of Kimberley (and the town of Mafeking , also under siege). Battles were fought on this front at Graspan , Belmont, Modder River before the advance was halted for two months after the British defeat at the Battle of Magersfontein . In February 1900, Field Marshal Lord Roberts assumed personal command of a significantly reinforced British offensive. The army of Boer General Piet Cronjé
18240-436: The other British senior officers. By 21 February, Roberts was intent on withdrawing, but to do so would have allowed Cronjé to escape. The Boers withdrew first – De Wet, faced with an entire British division who might be reinforced at any time, and fearing for his men's safety, withdrew his commandos from the south east. Naas Ferreira 's Boer forces, which might have supported De Wet, had been left without direction after Ferreira
18400-528: The press in the hope of engineering Kitchener's removal. By summer 1915 French's command was being increasingly criticised in London by Kitchener and other members of the government, and by Haig , Robertson and other senior generals in France. After the Battle of Loos , at which French's slow release of XI Corps from reserve was blamed for the failure to achieve a decisive breakthrough on the first day, H. H. Asquith ,
18560-401: The previous day, he permitted French to attack. Concerned at French's lack of experience at commanding infantry, White initially proposed that his chief of staff Maj-Gen Archibald Hunter take command, but Hunter advised that French should be left in command. White himself came merely to observe. French enjoyed numerical superiority of around 3:1. Elandslaagte saw British cavalry charge with
18720-573: The railway to Port Elizabeth. A Boer penetration here would have cut off Cape Colony from Natal. French was proud of having kept the initiative over the Boers despite his force of 2,000 men being outnumbered two to one. French's subordinate Colonel T. C. Porter won a small action near Vaal Kop on 13 December, but the Boers captured that place on 16 December, causing French to go forward and take personal command. Around this time he offered to cancel his plans to advance on Colesberg and lend his cavalry to Methuen, who had been defeated at Magersfontein , but this
18880-421: The regiment. He became Commanding Officer of the 19th Hussars on 27 September 1888. He impressed Evelyn Wood by his initiative in organising his regiment into squadrons. He was promoted brevet colonel (7 February 1889), and was posted to India in September 1891. There, at cavalry camp during an exercise in November 1891, he first met Captain Douglas Haig , with whose career his own was to be entwined for
19040-534: The region it would strike too aggressive a posture and possibly derail a negotiated settlement—or even encourage a Boer attack. Steyn of the Orange Free State invited Milner and Kruger to attend a conference in Bloemfontein . The conference started on 30 May 1899, but negotiations quickly broke down, as Kruger had no intention of granting meaningful concessions, and Milner had no intention of accepting his normal delaying tactics. On 9 October 1899, after convincing
19200-405: The riding abilities of Mounted Infantry, and felt that Roberts was wasting too many horses on them (Haig letter to his sister 16 March 1900) and that the cavalry had been "practically starving" since 11 February. Bloemfontein fell on 13 March, and soon suffered an outbreak of typhoid. In an implicit criticism of Roberts, French recorded (22 March 1900) that there "would be a grand opportunity for
19360-917: The role of the Australians in the early part of the battle on 22 February. Two British soldiers were awarded posthumous Victoria Crosses : For two decades afterwards, Canadians would gather on 27 February (known in Canada as "Paardeberg Day") around memorials to the South African War to say prayers and honour veterans. This continued until the end of the First World War , when Armistice Day (later called Remembrance Day ) began to be observed on 11 November. Second Anglo-Boer War British victory [REDACTED] South African Republic [REDACTED] Orange Free State 1900 1901 1902 The Second Boer War ( Afrikaans : Tweede Vryheidsoorlog , lit. ' Second Freedom War ' , 11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902), also known as
19520-496: The second phase, after the number of British troops greatly increased under the command of Lord Roberts , the British launched another offensive in 1900 to relieve the sieges, this time achieving success. After Natal and the Cape Colony were secure, the British army was able to invade the Transvaal, and the republic's capital, Pretoria , was ultimately captured in June 1900. In the third and final phase, beginning in March 1900 and lasting
19680-437: The south-east and other forces under Chief Commandant Ignatius Ferreira were a similar distance to the north. In any event, Cronje’s pause allowed the British to assemble a force of 15,000 men that significantly outnumbered Cronje and that enjoyed overwhelming superiority in artillery. All the British then had to do was lay siege to the Boer position and bombard them at their leisure. Lieutenant General Kelly-Kenny, commanding
19840-402: The stage for further scrambles. Britain attempted to annex first the South African Republic in 1880, and then, in 1899, both the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. In the 1880s, Bechuanaland (modern Botswana ) became the object of a dispute between the Germans to the west, the Boers to the east, and Britain's Cape Colony to the south. Although Bechuanaland had no economic value,
20000-458: The stench and flies became unbearable. For three days, Cronjé's men had not taken advantage of the opportunity to escape provided by De Wet, who resisted the attacks by Roberts. On Wednesday 21 February 1900 De Wet finally abandoned the hill called Kitchener's Kopje, only two hours before Roberts had planned to give up and retire his troops to Klipkraal Drift west of Paardeberg. The British were mightily relieved by De Wet's unexpected move and there
20160-526: The surviving British trickled back into camp. Rescue for Cronjé now seemed the likely outcome. But seen from the Boer side, things were also bad. Cronjé and his men had been in headlong retreat for several days with the British snapping at their heels. While casualties from the bombardment had been reduced to around 100 dead and 250 wounded by the soft bank of the Modder, the horses, oxen and wagons had no trenches in which to shelter. Many wagons were destroyed. Ammunition exploded and stores were ruined. For many of
20320-465: The time, the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony was Cecil Rhodes, a man driven by a vision of a British-controlled Africa extending from the Cape to Cairo . Certain self-appointed uitlanders' representatives and British mine owners became increasingly frustrated and angered by their dealings with the Transvaal government. A Reform Committee (Transvaal) was formed to represent the uitlanders. In 1895,
20480-459: The two Boer republics in 1852 and 1854 but attempted British annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 led to the First Boer War in 1880–1881. After Britain suffered defeats, particularly at the Battle of Majuba Hill (1881), the independence of the two republics was restored, subject to certain conditions. However, relations remained uneasy. In 1866, diamonds were discovered at Kimberley , prompting
20640-418: The very fine breech-loading Westley Richards – calibre 45; paper cartridge; percussion-cap replaced on the nipple manually—they made it exceedingly dangerous for the British to expose themselves on the skyline". Kruger re-equipped the Transvaal army, importing 37,000 of the latest 7x57 mm Mauser Model 1895 rifles supplied by Germany, and some 40 to 50 million rounds of ammunition. Some commandos used
20800-424: The war, including the killings of civilians and prisoners, was opened in January 1901. The war had three phases. In the first phase, the Boers mounted preemptive strikes into British-held territory in Natal and the Cape Colony , besieging the British garrisons of Ladysmith , Mafeking , and Kimberley . The Boers then won a series of tactical victories at Stormberg , Magersfontein , Colenso and Spion Kop . In
20960-466: Was a factor in softening the Transvaal government's attitude to the surviving prisoners. Jan C. Smuts wrote, in 1906: The Jameson Raid was the real declaration of war ... And that is so in spite of the four years of truce that followed ... [the] aggressors consolidated their alliance ... the defenders on the other hand silently and grimly prepared for the inevitable". The Jameson Raid alienated many Cape Afrikaners from Britain and united
21120-414: Was a glory-hunter. French was one of the few senior officers to be retained by Roberts. Roberts summoned French to Cape Town on 29 January to inquire about expenditure of horses and ammunition around Colesberg. French came away with the impression that he had "only with difficulty persuaded (Roberts and Kitchener) on 29 January to send the Cavalry Division and himself in command of it". French's insecurity
21280-412: Was accidentally shot dead by one of his own sentries. Cronjé had inexplicably refused to abandon his laager. Now De Wet had to abandon Cronjé. Cronjé's encampment was subjected to an increasingly heavy artillery bombardment, as more guns (including a battery of 5-inch medium howitzers and another of 1-pounder "pom-poms" ) joined the besieging British forces. Almost every horse, mule and ox was killed, and
21440-456: Was appointed second-in-command of the 19th Hussars. His experience of handling cavalry with scarce water would stand him in good stead in South Africa. In January 1886 he briefly acted as Commanding Officer when Colonel Barrow died, but French was considered too young for the position, and Colonel Boyce Combe was transferred in. From June 1886 to April 1888 French was stationed at Norwich with
21600-449: Was clamouring for the relief of British forces besieged at Ladysmith , Kimberley and Mafeking and was forced to modify his plans. Leaving Buller in command of the attempt to relieve Ladysmith, Roberts collected large numbers of reinforcements which had recently arrived in South Africa along the railway line between the Orange and Modder rivers on 11 February 1900. He intended to outflank
21760-419: Was disclosed in the British press, it generated a storm of anti-German feeling. In the baggage of the raiding column, to the great embarrassment of Britain, the Boers found telegrams from Cecil Rhodes and the other plotters in Johannesburg. Chamberlain had approved Rhodes' plans to send armed assistance in the case of a Johannesburg uprising, but he quickly moved to condemn the raid. Rhodes was severely censured at
21920-530: Was equipped with Maxim machine guns and some artillery pieces. The plan was to make a three-day dash to Johannesburg and trigger an uprising by the primarily British expatriate uitlanders, organised by the Johannesburg Reform Committee , before the Boer commandos could mobilise. However, the Transvaal authorities had advance warning of the Jameson Raid and tracked it from the moment it crossed
22080-498: Was increased by this turn of events—not only did he belong to the wrong faction in the Army— the followers of Wolseley and Buller —now in eclipse, but he had up until now been denied command both of the cavalry brigade in Natal and the Cavalry Division (instead being given ad hoc forces to command in both cases). French was affectionate about "dear old Bobs" but sometimes took a dim view of his military abilities. He correctly predicted that
22240-422: Was led by the 9th and 16th Lancers . The Boer riflemen, perhaps 600 in number, were able to achieve little at ranges of 1,000 yards. Amery 's Times History later wrote "the charge at Klip Drift marks an epoch in the history of cavalry", arguing that French had "divined" that a cavalry charge made with "reckless, dare-devil confidence" could cut through a line of "unseen" enemy infantry who could have resisted
22400-558: Was more important. Ian Beckett agrees, adding that French was also a protege of the influential General Evelyn Wood . French went on to be Commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade at Canterbury on 1 May 1897 and Commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot Command on 12 January 1899. Haig, recently returned from the Sudan War, was French's brigade-major at Aldershot. French was promoted to temporary major-general early in 1899. There were some accusations that these promotions, for
22560-436: Was nevertheless happy to gather intelligence for the British against the Boers because of their cruelty to Africans. The British government went against the advice of its generals (including Wolseley) and declined to send substantial reinforcements to South Africa before war broke out. Secretary of State for War Lansdowne did not believe the Boers were preparing for war and that if Britain were to send large numbers of troops to
22720-452: Was no longer relevant and they were in danger of being besieged in Jacobsdal by the British 7th Division under Lieutenant General Charles Tucker , which had turned west from Klip Drift. On the night of the 15th, the large convoy of Boer ox-wagons passed between the rear of French's division and the outposts of Lieutenant General Thomas Kelly-Kenny 's 6th Division at the Modder fords. Throughout
22880-473: Was no more talk of them retiring. On the last night of the battle, 26 February, the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry (now The Royal Canadian Regiment), having lost more than seventy soldiers in an earlier charge against sheltered Boer positions, were again called to take the lead in the routine daily battalion rotation. Instead of another charge the next morning as was expected, the Canadians, with
23040-414: Was not his fault, and the small group of women and children in his encampment had nothing to do with it. In order to understand his capitulation, it is essential to understand two things well: the first is that his approximately 4,000 infantry who had only 5 cannons, were trapped by a superior force of approximately 40,000 soldiers with 100 cannons, and that he was also cut off from De Wet's burghers outside
23200-547: Was now, on 6 March, ordered to take his division and two Mounted Infantry Brigades and swing seventeen miles around the left flank of the Boer position at Poplar Grove on the Modder River, while Roberts' main force prepared to attack them from the front. Although French now had 5,665 horses again, many of these were of poor quality and sick, and he was short of fodder. On the basis of incorrect information from Colonel Richardson, Director of Supplies, who had not realised that sick horses were also entitled to fodder, Roberts gave French
23360-488: Was posted to Aldershot Command . He became an expert hunter and steeplechaser, permanently damaging the little finger of his right hand in a fall. The 19th Hussars were posted to Ireland in June 1876. In September 1877 French was one of two lieutenants who persuaded 70 drunk and mutinous troopers, who had armed themselves with sticks and threatened "murder", to return to barracks. In 1880 the 19th were deployed to Ballinrobe and Lough Mask to protect labourers ricking hay at
23520-479: Was reduced to two regiments of New Zealand and Australian light horse, and two "brigades" (actually battalions) of mounted infantry. French was to further tire his men on 16 February by futile attempts to intercept one of the Boers' Creusot 40-pounder siege guns (nicknamed "Long Tom") which was withdrawing to the north. Also on 15 February, Cronjé's men, some 5,000 Transvaalers and Freestaters, finally evacuated their camp at Jacobsdal . Their position at Magersfontein
23680-409: Was rejected as there was insufficient water even for Methuen's own horses in the sector. Between Field Marshal Frederick Roberts ' appointment as Commander-in-Chief on 17 December 1899 (following the defeats of Black Week ) and arrival at Cape Town on 10 January, French was the only senior British commander to conduct active operations. Although Schoeman's force had grown further in size, he had lost
23840-538: Was related to the French/De Freyne family which had gone to present-day County Wexford in the fourteenth century and had substantial estates at Frenchpark, County Roscommon . French always regarded himself as "Irish", although his branch of the family had lived in England since the eighteenth century. His father was Royal Navy Commander John Tracey William French, who had fought at Navarino and under Napier in
24000-432: Was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener , who relieved the besieged cities and invaded the Boer republics in early 1900 at the head of a 180,000-strong expeditionary force. The Boers, aware they were unable to resist such a large force, refrained from fighting pitched battles , allowing the British to occupy both republics and their capitals, Pretoria and Bloemfontein . Boer politicians, including President of
24160-629: Was retreating from its entrenched position at Magersfontein towards Bloemfontein after its lines of communication were cut by Major General John French , whose cavalry had recently outflanked the Boer position to relieve Kimberley. Cronjé's slow-moving column was intercepted by French at Paardeberg, where the Boer general eventually surrendered after a prolonged siege, having fought off an attempted direct assault by Lieutenant General Herbert Kitchener . An earlier British attempt to relieve Kimberley, led by Lieutenant General Lord Methuen , had been opposed by Boers under Cronjé and Koos de la Rey . Although
24320-405: Was second-in-command to his friend Lieutenant Colonel Percy Barrow, with the cavalry which accompanied Brigadier-General Sir Herbert Stewart as he took the short route across 176 miles of desert. Most of the cavalry work was in reconnaissance and warding off Dervish raids, although they did—at a walk—pursue the retreating enemy after the Battle of Abu Klea in January 1885. By the time they reached
24480-453: Was seized on by the press in Britain. That night White ordered all British forces to fall back on Ladysmith, where it was soon clear that they were about to be besieged by the combined Transvaal and Orange Free State forces. French spent much of 26 and 27 October patrolling around the advancing Boer forces. On 30 October his cavalry fought dismounted at Lombard's Kop north-east of Ladysmith; this
24640-428: Was the most severe reverse of the war and became known as Bloody Sunday . Kelly-Kenny had warned Kitchener not to leave "Kitchener's Kopje" undefended. Possession of the kopje was essential to guard the south-east of the British position and prevent Cronjé's escape. But Kitchener, in his zeal for an all-out attack, had left the kopje defended by only a handful of "Kitchener's Horse" (volunteer British colonists). De Wet
24800-545: Was the question of who would control and benefit most from the very lucrative Witwatersrand gold mines discovered by Jan Gerrit Bantjes in June 1884. The first European settlement in South Africa was founded at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, and thereafter administered as part of the Dutch Cape Colony . The Cape was governed by the Dutch East India Company, until its bankruptcy in the late 18th century, and
24960-404: Was the right flank of three unsuccessful actions —the others being Nicholson's Nek and an infantry action at Long Hill in the centre which ended in near-rout—fought by White's troops on "Mournful Monday". Although French pointed out that cavalry were unlikely to be of much use in a besieged town, White refused him permission to break out. On 2 November, after he had spent the morning on a raid on
25120-656: Was thereafter governed directly by the Netherlands . As a result of political turmoil in the Netherlands, the British occupied the Cape three times during the Napoleonic Wars , and the occupation became permanent after British forces defeated the Dutch at the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806. At the time, the colony was home to about 26,000 colonists settled under Dutch rule. A relative majority represented old Dutch families brought to
25280-477: Was therefore able to take the kopje with little resistance. The strategic picture had now changed dramatically. De Wet could now make the British position on the south east bank of the Modder untenable, and the Boers now commanded a swathe of front stretching from the north east right through to the south east. As darkness fell, Kitchener ordered his troops to dig in where they were. Few received these orders and fewer still obeyed them. Desperately thirsty and exhausted,
25440-433: Was transformed: Approximately 25,000 men equipped with modern rifles and artillery could mobilise within two weeks. However, President Kruger's victory in the Jameson Raid incident did nothing to resolve the fundamental problem of finding a formula to conciliate the uitlanders, without surrendering the independence of the Transvaal. The failure to gain improved rights for uitlanders (notably the goldfields dynamite tax) became
25600-534: Was unwilling to become mired in a distant war, requiring substantial troop reinforcement and expense, for what was perceived at the time to be a minimal return. An armistice ended the war, and subsequently a peace treaty was signed with the Transvaal President Paul Kruger. In June 1884, British imperial interests were ignited in the discovery by Jan Gerrit Bantjes of what would prove to be the world's largest deposit of gold-bearing ore at an outcrop on
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