TOPIC:

John Somerset Brabant

Wounded in Action, Mashamgombi’s – 24 July 1897

Trooper, British South Africa Police, Pioneer Column 1890
Lieutenant, Victoria Column, Matabele Rebellion 1893
Captain of Scouts, Belingwe Column Corps, Matabele Rebellion 1896
Trooper, Border Horse
Captain, Driscoll’s Scouts
Ranger, Corps of Cattle Rangers
Sergeant, Johannesburg Mounted Rifles – Anglo Boer War[/size]

- British South Africa Company Medal (Matabeleland 1893 reverse) to LIEUT. J.S. BRABANT. VICTORIA COLUMN.
- Queens South Africa Medal (CC/TVL/WITTEBERGEN) to PTE J.S. BRABANT. BORDER HORSE.
- Kings South Africa Medal (South Africa 1901 & 1902) to 2163 SERJT. J.S. BRABANT. JOHANNESBURG M.R.

Jack Brabant was many things – an adventurous Rhodesian pioneer, a trusted confidant of Cecil Rhodes and Dr Jameson, a brave scout and leader of men and, to many, a ruthless cad, opportunist and bounder. How does one begin the process of writing about a man who saw and did so much and about whom so many opinions have been expressed and articles written wherein he looms large?

Born in King Williams Town, Cape Colony, South Africa on 2 February 1867 he was the son of an intrepid old Colonist and later Commandant General of the Colonial Division in the Anglo Boer War, General Sir Edward Yewd Brabant and his wife Mary Burnet Brabant. Growing up in the Eastern Cape he would have revelled in the stories his father was able to regale him with as a prominent officer tasked with quelling the many Frontier wars that were fought with the Gcaika and Galeka tribes from the Transkei.

Having finished his schooling he joined the ranks of the Cape Police but, at the beginning of 1890 he joined C Troop of the British South Africa Company Police and came up with the Pioneers into Mashonaland – an arduous trek that took from 5 July to 13 September 1890.

The Pioneer Column was made up of two distinct units which were both financed by the British South Africa Company:

1. The Pioneer Corps and attached civilians which was made up of a wide variety of men from differing trades and professions and nationalities that was planned would be disbanded upon arrival in Mashonaland and would then form the nucleus of a local community. This was recruited, equipped and lead by Frank Johnson.

2. The British South Africa Company Police (BSACP) under the command of Lieut-Colonel E.G. Pennefather, a regular soldier and also in overall command of the Pioneer Column. The British Government made it a requirement that a permanent para-military force be equipped and maintained to protect the lines of communication between Fort Tuli and Mashonaland and the community of prospectors, traders and professionals who had comprised the Pioneer Corps once they had dispersed.


The Pioneer Column's pathway into Rhodesia

The Column was surrounded by advance guards, rear guards and flanking patrols with picquets out each night and for the Fort Tuli to Fort Victoria section there were also early morning patrols. Generally the column marched from 3am to 6am when they would arrive at the spot the advance guard had spent the night. The oxen would then graze and the men rest during the heat of the day and the march would then be resumed from 5:30pm to 9pm. This routine kept the oxen in condition and they covered about ten miles (16 kms) per day.

After Fort Victoria the column comprised “A” “B” “C” and Transport Troops of the Pioneer Corps and accompanying civilians, the BSACP “A” and “B” Troops and headquarters staff and between 90 to 100 wagons each pulled by sixteen oxen with a driver, voorlooper or leader and a general servant to apply the brakes on the rear of the wagon when needed and to forage for water and firewood.

From the very first Brabant was singled out as one of the most useful men in the Column. C Troop was posted at Fort Victoria, four miles from the present town of Victoria, when the Column went on to Salisbury. Brabant, all the time, was always called upon when the Natives had to be approached for information, or for assistance in labour, or for supplies in Native grown food.

C Troop had not been posted many weeks at Fort Victoria when Brabant was selected to guide a Troop from the party who were to go across country to Macequece – a place close to Umtali and now in Portuguese territory (Mozambique). Brabant, with the information he was able to obtain from the Natives, piloted the party through the hitherto unknown country to Macequece, where they managed to effect a junction with Captain’s Heyman’s force from Salisbury.

The party went through all the hardships of travelling through new country not properly provisioned, and in the middle of the wet season, and lost several of their number from fever. Brabant afterwards, with some members of C Troop, came on to Salisbury and then on to Fort Charter where D Troop of the Police was just about to move off to the South of Victoria, to stop a Boer trek which was said to be coming into the country. Brabant went on with D Troop, and when the Boer scare had fizzled out he was back in Victoria again.


Brabant at Fort Victoria in 1893

In July 1893, when the incidents happened that led to the Matabele War, Brabant was almost dying in hospital at Victoria, and when the writer went out with Captain Lendy to remonstrate with one of the Matabele impis which had got within a few yards of where the hospital was on the edge of town, he well remembers poor Brabant’s face at the window. The excitement probably helped to pull him together again, for it was only a few days later that Doctor Jameson arrived from Salisbury and Brabant was sent to get in touch with some of the Matabele raiders , and tell them Dr. Jameson wished to see some of the Indunas.

Brabant’s task was not an easy one, with a lot of wild Matabele warriors on all sides fresh from some fray, but the message was delivered and the Indunas responded. They were seen approaching the Fort with a good following the next day, and Brabant was sent out again to meet them, and he scored what was a very masterful point in making them lay down their arms outside the town. It brought them to their senses and paved the way for the dressing down which Dr. Jameson had to give them.

What happened is well known. Dr. Jameson told the Indunas that they and their hordes must make a start for the border at once. A small party of Volunteers was sent out about an hour afterwards and found them still lingering not far from Victoria, and there was a short conflict resulting in about 30 of the raiders being killed. This was the beginning of the 1893 war. For the advance in Matabeleland Brabant was able to get together about 1200 Native levies, and though not much good for fighting they were invaluable for bringing in supplies of grain and helping to get each laager quickly into a good state of defence.

The above sketched scenario became known as the “Victoria Incident” or “Who fired the first shot?” – widely believed to be the incident that led to the war. In a Commission of Enquiry, held in 1894, Brabant, among others, was called upon to make a statement. By then the Native Commissioner for the Victoria District, he did so in his capacity as a Sergeant in the Victoria Rangers. It read as follows: -

“Nineteenth Witness: - John Somerset Brabant, Native Commissioner for Victoria District.

Was in Victoria last July. Was then Sergeant in the Victoria Rangers. On Sunday, 9th July, I heard the Matabele were near, and in the afternoon I saw them coming into the town. I know that during that week they raided the Mashonas all-round the town (in Zimundu’s district). They took the Mashonas’ cattle. They took between 50 and 60 of Forrestall’s cattle. They took Bezuidenhout's post cattle, and Brook’s cattle, and some of the Civil Commissioner’s cattle.

On Monday, the 17th, Dr. Jameson arrived. Everybody was there in laager in the fort. Dr. Jameson sent me to warn the Chiefs, Manyow and Umgandan, that he wanted to see them the next morning. I warned the Chiefs through some of their men. The next day they came in with 200 or 300 men. The doctor then sent me to tell them he only wanted the Chiefs, not all the men. The Chiefs were rather obstinate. They eventually came in themselves. The doctor interviewed them. I was present. I was not interpreter. Napier was interpreter. I heard all that passed. I understand the language perfectly. The doctor asked Manyow who had sent him? Manyow said the King had sent him. The doctor asked him if the King had sent him to raid white men’s cattle, and stab people, Manyow said, yes. The doctor said he was a liar. Umgandan tried to speak. The doctor told him to keep quiet as he was not head Chief, but was mumbling and laughing the whole time. The doctor asked Manyow, “ Can you keep your young men in control ” Manyow said, “No.” The Doctor said, Well, then, leave them behind, and I will manage them.” Meaning that Manyow himself was to go on, and if the young men would not go, the doctor would see after them. He then told Manyow he would give him an hour to make a move over the border; and Manyow asked him what he meant by the border; and the doctor said he knew quite well where the border was. He was to be on the move towards the border, not to be over the border. The border is about 15 or 20 miles from here where they crossed. Mr Napier interpreted to him that he must get his men on the move within an hour. The Matabele have not got hours. Napier pointed to the sun, and when it would be an hour. Manyow understood that. It was simply impossible, and out of the question, that Manyow and his impi should be across the border in an hour. It was not taken that way by Manyow, or any of the others present. None of the Europeans put that construction on it. There were only three of us there who thoroughly understood the language— Mr. Napier, Mr. Bead, and myself. Manyow went away, I am sure, clearly understanding that he and his men had to be moving in an hour.

We waited about an hour and forty minutes, and then we went out along the road. We rode about three miles out. I was riding in the third section, of which I had charge. When the advance guard went out, my section became the second. I was riding outside the line on the right. I had been flanking and just joined the main body again when we sighted some Matabele. I saw them myself. We all saw them about the same time. We could see the advance guard moving on slowly, and the natives moving on ahead of them. When we first saw the Matabele, they were taking their time; some of them had been raiding, and were carrying grain, just coming from a kraal. Umgandan was there too. I did not see any cattle with that lot. I heard a shot fired from the Matabele. I saw it fired. It was on our right front. It was just about the time the advance guard sent the message back. I think it was Umgandan who fired the shot, because a rifle was picked up by the Makalakas afterwards, which looked very much like Umgandan’s, which I had seen before. He was the only man I saw with a rifle that afternoon. It was a Martini. There were Matabele with rifles on the right because I heard heavy firing from there. The shot was fired just as Captain Lendy’s message to the advance guard was leaving. That was the first shot I heard or saw fired. After that we advanced in skirmishing order. We found the Matabele.

They were running between 200 or 300 yards, dodging in the long grass. We advanced on the main body walking. We got within about 200 yards of them. The only shot I saw fired by the Matabele was the one abovementioned. I heard some of the Matabele say, “ Stand, why are we running?” They continued to retreat. On the right they stood and Captain Fitzgerald was nearly shot by one of them. The “assembly” then sounded, and we were coming back when we saw Makoombi’s kraal besieged by them (the Matabele). We fired a couple of shots at 800 or 900 yards to the right of the kraal. The Matabele rushed out of the kraal. We fired a couple more at 600 or 700 yards, but none of them were hit. They ran off to the right. We went straight to Makoombi’s kraal. After we fired the first two shots the Matabele left. The Matabele had been besieging that kraal for some time, and had had several fights there. They had taken all the cattle. We then came back to camp. I myself fully expected an attack on the Victoria laager that night, as Umgandan had said, as he was walking away from the doctor in the morning, “We must collect all our men and drive the white men out of this.” I heard him say that. I do not think Napier or Reed heard him. I was mounted, standing behind him. When we first came upon the Matabele, I do not consider they were retiring as Dr. Jameson had instructed them. From what Umgandan had said that day, and on previous occasions when I had to interpret, I think that he never meant to move at all. When I saw them, they were coming from the left side, the south, where they had been raiding; and were moving north towards the main body. There were about five or six at first, and then there were more—between 30 and 40. It is hard to say how many there were killed: I only saw two; I do not think there were as many as 30 killed that afternoon. I am quite clear on the point that I saw a Matabele fire a shot before Captain Lendy’s order to commence firing reached the advance guard. I never saw anything like buck-shooting (extract from A. Read), I do not believe it occurred. I saw one man, Umgandan, himself with two bullets in him. He was shot at about 300 yards. Sergeant Stead shot him. As he fired, he said : “I’ve hit him.” — That is untrue; all the shots I saw fired by any of our men were over 200 yards away. I never saw any potting at men 5 or 6 yards off. I know nothing whatever about that. It is not a likely thing. A Zulu, especially a Matabele, will die fighting. Will never ask for quarter. I never heard of a Matabele asking for quarter. The attitude described is not natural. A Kaffir would throw his arms away in token of submission. That is my experience of what a native would do, and has done in such a case. I have known that happen in this last expedition. I have seen several throw their arms away in token of submission. I did not see it on this occasion. Had the doctor not taken the step he did on that day, the Company might as well have withdrawn. Had he not done anything, the general public would have taken it up. I consider all the acts of the patrol on that day were entirely justifiable. They could not have been more lenient. Besides driving away the Matabele as described, the patrol also relieved Makoombi’s kraal, and saved the grain from being burnt. The Matabele were not retiring at all when we went after them. They were simply dawdling about, waiting to see what would happen next. Umgandan, I am certain, wanted to fight and was hanging back.

(Signed) J. S. BRABANT, Native Commissioner

The Whitstable Times & Herne Bay Herald of Saturday, January 27th, 1894 carried what it called “An Interesting Letter” in connection with the Matabele War. It read as follows: -

“The Northern Chronicle (of Inverness) prints a couple of letters from Buluwayo, Matabeleland. One is from a nephew of Mrs Robertson, of The Precincts, Canterbury – Mr J.S. Brabant, the Head of the Intelligence Department in the Matabele War.

Buluwayo, 27th November 1893 - My dear mother, as I have not had the chance of writing on the road to this place, I will do so now. When we left Victoria I was to have the Natives, in fact had 500 of them, under me. Our columns had already left ahead of me. I caught them up and passed them to do the scouting. I had been ahead for about four days when I heard that there were a lot of Matabele cattle ahead of me, so I travelled night and day for two days, and on the morning of the third I captured 250 head and killed between thirty and forty of the enemy. The following day I joined the Salisbury column, and I was again sent on ahead with my natives, who were now seven hundred strong, and we had another skirmish with the Matabeles, killing seven of them and capturing some cattle, and so it went on each day until we got to a river called the Shangani, where I was sent out to get cattle and grain for both columns. I got 546 head of cattle and about four waggon-loads of mealies without firing a shot.

The next morning at about three o'clock seven thousand Matabeles came on us in laagers and after three and a half hours hard fighting we drove them off with a loss on their side of about 500. We then went on for some time, having skirmishes with them nearly every day, until we got within eighteen miles of this place, when we met four of the Kings own regiments, who made a determined rush on our laager, but our machine guns proved too much for them, they retiring with a loss of 1500 to 2000 on their side. They tried us again when we had come about six more miles nearer, with the same result; the following day we came in here without a shot being fired. We have been to the north capturing cattle. I bought 1500 head yesterday, and I wanted to go out today, but Dr Jameson said I would have to go to Victoria with a lot of cattle, so probably I leave this in a few days’ time. I must close now with love to all.

Your affectionate son

J.S. Brabant”

Brabant was at this time serving as a Lieutenant with the Victoria Column and was, given his reference to the Shangani River, one of the fortunate ones who were not with Allan Willson at his famous stand where he and his party were massacred to a man.


Brabant and Spreckley at Fort Victoria in 1894

Colonel Hickman in his “Men Who Made Rhodesia”, states that, “The year after the war the native Administration was begun, and Brabant was appointed Chief Native Commissioner in Salisbury, but he did not like the work and soon resigned. Like a good many pioneers and men of action he could never accommodate himself to the new order of things and red tape.”

This promotion came about at the instigation of Cecil John Rhodes himself. The Manchester Evening News of October 15, 1894 reporting that: -

“Mr Cecil Rhodes has appointed Mr John S. Brabant Commissioner of Mashonaland. He is the second son of Colonel Brabant, C.M.G.”

Now that Brabant was, at the age of 27, in a position of some authority and influence one has to ask how well he fared in that role. Here the opinions vary, depending on which source one consults. A publication entitled Rhodesia before 1920 provided the background to his responsibilities: -

“In 1894 hut tax was introduced; in order to pay this tax the tribesmen would have to work at least part of the year. Initially the collection of taxes was left to the mining and civil commissioners, but it was a more difficult task than was expected and by September 1894 it was necessary to appoint officers whose basic job it was to collect tax and who were at first known as Tax Collectors.

John S. Brabant, with a wide knowledge of African languages and customs, was put in charge of this department on the recommendation of Rhodes. Apart from recording monthly tax returns, his men had to compile quarterly population reports, sort out tribal disputes and prevent fighting and encourage tribesmen to work on the farms and mines.

In December 1894 Brabant was known as Chief Native Commissioner; he had 11 Native Commissioners under him. Salisbury was his headquarters.”

That he was a contentious Native Commissioner is undeniable. He was also a divisive personality. In his thesis “The African Immigrant Factor in Southern Rhodesia. 1890-1930: The Origin and Influence of External Elements in a Colonial Setting; Elioth Petros Makambe sketches in some detail how he was regarded by the native population: -

“But whatever repercussions the above incidents might have produced on black/white relations in the Shona country, they could not, however, in any way exceed in dimensions the Brabant raid on the Budja Chief Gurupira in the Mtoko district in February 1895. John S. Brabant alias Makuvire, who was the head of the Native Department in Mashonaland formed in 1894, was particularly liked by his fellow settlers for the generally rough treatment he meted onto his African proteges. On this particular occasion, Brabant requested Gurupira to fill a whole valley with stock for sequestration allegedly in payment of hut-tax. In addition 500 Budja men were at the same time conscripted for labour on the mines. This Brabant raid was undoubtedly the highest watermark of the Company's economic policy of free-booting. Similar raids, but on a smaller scale, were repeated throughout the length and breadth of the territory from the Mrewa district in the north to the Victoria Circle in the South and from the Lomangudi in the West to the Melsetter in the East.

……When the Native Departments were formed in both Mashonaland and Matabeleland, an essential feature of their composition was the role of African the police and messengers. Both branches of this instrument of civil administration had no hard and fast regulations regarding the recruitment of African police and messengers, but appeared to rely on both local and foreign material for these services. In Mashonaland, where the Native Department was headed by Brabant, an illiterate young man from the Cape colony with a strong partiality for African beer and women but who was all the same very much admired for his rough qualities by the BSACo. Officials and white settlers, a general idea on the manner in which this department operated has been given by 'Wiri' Edwards, the former Native Commissioner for the district of Mrewa to the north-east of Salisbury. In his reminiscences, 'Wiri' Edwards describes his boss, Brabant as a '••• rough diamond, but. •• -(a)- first class N/C ••• " who had no room for rules and regulations governing the Department's etiquette except: Get to know your district, and your people. Keep an eye on them, collect tax if possible, but for God’s sake don't worry headquarters if you can avoid it••••

….. Despite these isolated misgivings, Lord Grey and the Cape Town Office of the BSACo. were all the same prepared to accept the services of a Sotho contingent in Matabeleland on whatever terms and reiterated once more the land promises they had made for the benefit of the recruits as a reward for their services. Jack Brabant, who had been ignominiously dismissed by the Company from the Mashonaland Native Department at the end of 1895 and was then living in East London in the Cape Colony, was put in charge of these Sotho recruits. Brabant was instructed to lead the Sotho contingent to the Matopo Hills in Matabeleland where Ndebele insurgent forces had gathered, but no further promises were apparently made regarding his permanent placement with this force. In fact the command of the force had already been promised to Griffiths of Basutoland at Lagden's suggestion.”


I896 Map of operations

T.O. Ranger in his “Revolt in Southern Rhodesia” continued the narrative in respect of Brabant, albeit from a different perspective: -

“The new department, consisting of Chief Native Commissioner Brabant, eleven young Native Commissioners, and their locally recruited messengers and police, undoubtedly succeeded in raising large amounts of hut tax and dealing discreetly with local disorders. Brabant was able to claim rather smugly in February 1895 that a much greater amount of tax had been collected with far less trouble than had been the case in 1894. But it may be doubted whether its operations resulted in much of an improvement as far as the Shona were concerned.

Obviously a greater efficiency in collecting tax was in itself going to be resented; but this resentment was magnified by the way in which the department was run under Brabant. Brabant, says Edwards, was ‘in a way a rough diamond’. ‘The Chief of the Department’, writes Weale, ‘was a rough and ready illiterate young man, with an aptitude to learn to speak primitive African languages. He was a great believer in corporal punishment and was as brave as a lion, a good rider and rifle shot, intensely loyal to the B.S.A. Company, quite honest, and with an 'unquenchable thirst for kaffir beer.’

The atmosphere of the Department under Brabant comes out clearly in a story which Weale tells, in no spirit of criticism, of an expedition led by the Chief Native Commissioner early in 1895 to the Mtoko area, where the Budja chiefs had resisted the collection of hut tax, recaptured cattle seized for its payment, and fired on the Native Commissioner’s messengers. The expedition was a formidable affair, consisting of a patrol of white police, under Brabant’s orders, the messengers of the Marendellas and Salisbury districts, and some 450 Zezuru ‘friendlies’; nothing less than a small army of invasion. As it approached the Native Commissioner’s camp at Mtoko it was greeted by four of his messengers, ‘dressed in cricket blazers, wearing second hand boots’. ‘Now, if there was one thing about a native more than another that annoyed Brabant’, Weale tells us, ‘it was to see a raw native wearing boots.’ So he had the men seized and stripped. Once he reached the Native Commissioner’s camp, Brabant had these four men and all the rest of the messengers and native police flogged for their failure to collect tax and keep the district in order. He then sent out some of Weale’s men to bring in chief Guripira and his headmen.

Next day Guripira arrived. ‘Brabant then went up to Guripira and started interrogating him and asked, what is the reason for this military display, now that he had come himself he found the country all armed, pointing to the surrounding hills. One of the counsellors said something to which Brabant evidently took exception and on continuing to be insolent Brabant took a sjambok out of a police boy’s hand and struck him with it. Immediately Guripira and his counsellors made a dash for liberty but most of them were stopped. MaGuripira then opened a box he had brought with him and displayed a helmet and breast-plate of brass together with a sword, belt, and sabretache; this he offered to Brabant as a peace-offering, but Brabant spurned it with his foot and called upon everybody to go raiding the country. . . . He explained to Guripira that he could either go in person or send his counsellors to tell his people that we were going to burn and shoot and destroy everything we saw until he sent to stop us and ask for mercy, but that before we would cease he would have to fill the valley with cattle for us to pick from for hut tax and that he was also to furnish us with 200 of his picked men to go and work in the mines.’ ‘We then proceeded down the valley in search of something to destroy,’ continues Weale. ‘The police boys and messengers and camp followers scattered over the hills and burnt down all the kraals they came across until the whole atmosphere was dense with smoke of burning rapoko and other corn and grass.’ The whites amused themselves meanwhile with a pig-sticking match on foot and horse-back. Guripira then sent to say that he had met Brabant’s conditions. ‘We returned to camp to find the valley literally full of cattle, all lowing and bellowing.’ Next day the hut tax was collected in cattle and goats; Guripira was fined more cattle; and 500 of his men were recruited for work in the mines.

After this account of Brabant’s dashing but arbitrary conduct in Mtoko it will come as little surprise that he was the particular protege of Rhodes and Jameson. When Brabant was appointed head of the new Department it was noted that ‘Mr Rhodes has received such excellent reports of Brabant’s work that he wishes to give him this appointment and salary’; and Weale tells us that ‘Jameson . . . had great confidence in Brabant’s ability to deal with natives’. No doubt Jameson regarded the Mtoko patrol as a proof of the utility of the new Department, since it had been better directed, more profitable in tax and labour and less publicised than the old police patrols. But like them it was in essence a raid and bore little relation to the establishment of regular administration.

….. In November 1895 Brabant was dismissed from his post by a decision of the Executive Council. The Council records give no reason for this decision but there is little doubt that ‘Curio’ Brown was right when he wrote of Brabant; ‘This gentleman had given the tribes under him an opportunity to learn of the white man’s power to rule. His regime became eventually the subject of so much criticism on account of its severity that he was dismissed from the employ of the Chartered Company. The new Native Department was a very different place from its predecessor in the days of Colenbrander and Brabant. Brabant himself, conspicuously a figure from another age, having been officially cleared of allegations of cruelty to African prisoners during the rebellion, was now planning a filibustering raid on the cattle of Barotseland; detected by Milton he was quietly sent packing with a small gratuity as a remembrance of the old days.”


Brabant relieving Fort Charter

It was previously stated that Brabant had tired of the work of Native Commissioner and resigned as a result. Makambe takes a different view – “Brabant, whose Shona nickname, 'MAKUVIRE', signifies someone who likes beer (a Shona Bacchus), was however dismissed at the end of 1895, for obtaining the daughter of a certain Shona Chief for carnal purposes by threatening violence to her father.”

Gone for the moment Brabant was far from forgotten by his friends in high places and they didn’t come any higher than Cecil John Rhodes and Leander Starr Jameson. He was soon back in a saddle of a different sort. The 1893 rebellion, ineffectively dealt with, gave rise to one on a far larger scale - the 1896 Matabele outbreak.

“The Matabele Rebellion 1896: With the Belingwe Field Force2 by Major D. Tyrie Laing contains numerous references to Brabant. Some are included below: -

“About an hour after our arrival Lieutenant Yonge, accompanied by Captain Brabant, rode in and reported themselves. Lieutenant Yonge was in charge of the column. Captain Brabant had just ridden from Buluwayo via Mangwe, Semokwe, and Tuli, with despatches from Earl Grey, the Administrator. The despatches simply gave me the entire command of the column with instructions to use it to the best advantage in quelling the rebellion. Captain Brabant was to remain with me and help to organise any native levies I might wish to have employed. I was delighted to have Brabant with me, because, I believe, without exception, he is one of the best leaders of native troops in South Africa. He had proved himself such on many occasions, and during the 1893 war was invaluable. Away from despatches, his narrative of what had been done and was being done was most interesting information, eagerly sought after, and very acceptable to us who had been caged up so long in Belingwe.

Captain Brabant was very tired, having ridden 270 miles in less than nine days, picking up fresh horses and rations wherever available along his route, which was anything but a convenient one.”

Describing the attack on Belingwe Mountain on 10 June 1896 Laing wrote:-

“Captain Brabant, with the pluckiest lot of M'Kati's boys, about one hundred, were to ascend the spur to the right of the rebel position, and, if possible, get into the works made by the enemy.

…..While the men were resting, the officers met and held a council of war, at which it was decided that no signals were to be made until Captain Brabant had got into position. His party having furthest to go, it was reasonable to expect that the other divisions would be in their appointed places before him. As soon as he was ready he was to cause the " Alert " to be sounded, and then wait for my bugler to sound the "Advance" and "Commence firing."

…… The darkness was already showing signs of giving way to the first glimmer of daybreak, and Brabant's bugle might be expected to sound within the next half hour… All that was wanting now was Brabant's signal to establish absolute confidence. The men were ordered to lie down but to keep on the alert. They were all very tired, some of them almost knocked up….. I was now beginning to grow anxious about Brabant. It was high time he sounded, to let us know his whereabouts. Daylight was coming in rapidly, and objects at a distance of fifty yards were becoming quite distinct…..

….. I was pleasantly, and perhaps I may be pardoned for saying proudly, contemplating the scene, when, welcome sound, from far up the mountain on the other side of the gorge came the first note of the bugle from Brabant. The bugler must have been a little nervous, because his first attempt at sounding a call ended in a most discordant wail, but, evidently recovering himself, the next blast brought the "Alert" ringing clearly across the gorge….

….. Brabant's men now opened fire from the krantzes opposite, and M'Tipi's main body emerged from a large patch of bush, and advanced rapidly over an open space of about two hundred yards and halted when they got in line with our right. M'Kati and " May " shouted out, " What are we going to do now ? Are the white men afraid to advance ? " This caused a laugh along the white line. One of the white men answered that we were not afraid to advance, but would not like to go in before the Basutos were ready…..

…. At the end of an hour resistance was practically finished. The white men were kept in their position, and Brabant's men moved off to the right, and getting on top of the mountain, advanced along the zigzag- on to the breastworks. As they approached some very exciting hand-to-hand encounters took place on the cliff, in which assegais, battle axes, and shields played a prominent part. The attack virtually ended in a proper Kaffir fashion, the white men and Cape boys having been drawn back and not allowed to enter the enclosure. By nine o'clock the position was taken and the Impi which had contributed to organise the bands that committed so many cruel murders amongst the white people in the Lower Inseza and Filabusi districts was practically disbanded.

….. Our loss was trifling, considering the work undertaken. Paul Zandvogle, a Cape boy, was killed. Captain Brabant and a few others slightly wounded. A few of M'Kati's boys were killed, several wounded, one severely.”

The newspapers of the day were full of Brabant’s exploits - the Edinburgh Evening News of 4 July 1896 carried an insert under the heading “Rhodesia Revolt – Relief of Fort Charter” that: -

“A Reuters telegram, dated Buluwayo, Thursday, says: The ammunition escort under Captain Brabant has arrived at Fort Charter safely. The force successfully withstood an attack by the enemy in the neighbourhood of the Fort, and killed several rebels.

The Press Association states that the following telegram from General Goodenough at the Colonial Office last night from Carrington. “July 2nd – Brabant reached Charter last night at 7 p.m. with ammunition. Had skirmish with Matabele led by ex-policemen. Found range store between Victoria and Charter burnt. Wagon burnt and driver murdered.”


Brabant in the Mashonaland Field Force of 1896

Hickman in his Men Who Made Rhodesia provides a detailed summary of Brabant’s role: -

“In 1896 Rebellion brought Brabant to the front again, and he was very active, first in the Belingwe District in Matabeleland and afterwards in Mashonaland. When the Rebellion started in Mashonaland Brabant was selected to take charge of a picked party of 10 men at Victoria, and attempt to relieve Fort Charter. It was a splendid performance. They had to disperse a strong force of rebels on their way, but they inflicted heavy losses on them and reached Charter with the ammunition. The little garrison there was strengthened sufficiently to effect some smart surprises on the rebels round Charter, directed by Brabant, and they inflicted more punishment on the rebels than any of the big Columns which subsequently operated in the same district.

Brabant continued to do good work throughout the Rebellion, notably at Mashamgombi’s where he was Wounded in Action – slight graze – on 24 July 1897. After the Rebellion, the rough life of a Pioneer began to tell on Brabant and he suffered much from fever”

Brabant, with the troubles in Rhodesia over and suffering from the effects of a dissolute life style and the fever that accompanied it, returned to his father’s farm outside East London. It wasn’t long, however, before he was back in action – the Anglo Boer War between the might of the British Empire and the two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State erupted on 11 October 1899 and Brabant, never one to shy away from a good fight, enlisted for service with the Border Horse, one of the units raised in the Eastern Cape to assist the Imperial effort, on 7 March 1900. He was with this outfit until transferring to Driscoll’s Scouts , having been commissioned to Captain’s rank, on 25 May 1900.

That he was soon in the thick of things in typical Brabant fashion is evidenced by an article which appeared in The Examiner (Launceton, Tasmania) on 22 August 1900. It read, under the banner “The Heroes of Wepener” as follows: -

“Today in the scouts soiled khaki is in most instances testimony to men’s ability, and patches a true index to valour and worth. These men are the heroes of Wepener, the plucky comrades of the gallant C.M.R., one of the best fighting units of the British Army in South Africa. Driscoll’s Scouts went through the siege of Jammersberg, that terrible seventeen days of confinement in trench and exposure to shells and bullets, plus heavens pitiless torrents, and cheerfully paid the dear tribute exacted on 20 percent of their small force.

Captain Driscoll appears and, in a few moments the troop move around a hill and sight of the camp is lost. We have a lot of ground to cover in the eighteen hours before our return, and there is much work to do. There are farms to be visited and searched, suspect natives to be arrested and examined, kopjes to be explored and a commando to be found.

So the scouts move rapidly. Flanking parties are thrown out. Lieutenant Jack Brabant takes the right screen (Brabant the undemonstrative and intrepid, the Rhodesian pioneer, fighter in two Matabele campaigns, son of the brave old General, the Brigadier of the Colonial Division.) Lieutenant Tempest of the Scots Guards, recently attached, a smart officer, goes on the left. The commander canters ahead of the main body, oftentimes far beyond his men scout of scouts.”

A bit of poetic licence is used in this article as Brabant was not, to my knowledge, in the siege of Wepener but in the relief, for which no medal clasp was issued.

The Molong Argus (New South Wales) dated 5 July 1901carried an interesting if not exaggerated story under the heading “A Yeomanry Story” wherein Brabant loomed large: -

“The correspondent of the “Daily News” in the Orange River Colony tells a curious story about Lieutenant Jack Brabant, the son of the General, and the Yeomanry. Young Brabant had been out all day since the very break of dawn, with a couple of scouts, searching the kopjes for a notorious Boer spy, whose cleverness and audacity had made him a thorn in our side. If there was a man in the British lines capable of running the slim Boer to earth that man was Lieutenant Jack Brabant.

It had been a grim hunt, for the spy was worthy of his reputation, and the pursuers had to move with their fingers on the triggers, and a rash move would have meant death. All the forenoon he dodged them, in and out of the kopjes, along the sluits, up and down the dongas; sometime they pelted him at long range with flying bullets, sometime he sent them a reminder of the same sort. And so the day wore on, but at last, towards evening, they fixed him so that he had to make a dash out across the veldt.

He was splendidly mounted. Brabant and his two men galloped at full speed after the fleety, flying figure, and when they saw that a broad and deep donga ran right across his track, cutting him off from the long line of kopjes for which he was making, they counted him as theirs. He had only one chance, to gallop into the donga, jump out of the saddle and fire at them as they closed in on him. But the Gods had decided otherwise, for the whip-like crack of rifles cut the air, and the bullets fell as thick around the pursuers that the three men could almost breathe lead.

Half a mile away on the far side of the donga appeared a squad of Yeomanry blazing away at Brabant and his men, whilst they let the flying Boer go free. Brabant whipped out his handkerchief and waved it frantically but the lead only whistled the faster, and he had only one chance for his life, and that was to wheel and ride at full speed for the nearest cover where he and his men hid until the Yeomanry rode up. Then Brabant hailed them, and asked them what the devil they meant by trying to blow him and his men out of the saddle. There was a pause in the ranks of the Yeomen, then a voice lisped through the gathering gloom, “Are you fellahs British?” “Yes, damn you. Did you think we were springbok?” “No, by Jove, but we thought you were beastly Boers. Awfully sorry if we’ve caused you any inconvenience. What were you chasing the other fellah for, eh? By Jove you fellahs are awfully sporting, don’t you know?” “Yes,” snarled the South African, “and the next time you Johnnies mistake me for a Boer, and plug at me, I’ll just take cover and send you back a bit of lead to teach you to look before you tighten your finger on a trigger.”

Brabant also came in for high praise from an Australian correspondent for the Port Augusta and Stirling Illustrated News who wrote, on 15 August 1901: -

“Lieutenant Brabant, as keen-witted, clear-limbed, dashing a Colonial as ever tamed a “brumby” or herded a steer.”

Having first served with the Border Horse as a Trooper, Brabant served for eighteen months with Driscoll’s Scouts before taking his discharge on 30 August 1901. He then moved to the Corps of Cattle Rangers, spending an ignominious three weeks with them before being discharged for Misconduct. Still with fight in him, he attested for service at Queenstown with the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles on 23 November 1901 and was assigned no. 2163 and the rank of Sergeant.

His attestation papers confirm two years service with what he called the “Rhodesian Horse” and eighteen months with Driscoll’s Scouts. No mention was made of the Border Horse or the Cattle Rangers. Physically he was 5 feet 9 inches in height, weighed 156 lbs. and had blue eyes and brown hair. He had the scar of a wound below his right knee – probably that which he got fighting the Matabele.

The Boer War ended on 31 May 1902 and, with it, the last time Brabant was to don a uniform. Perhaps it was the hard life he had led, but he wasn’t destined to live to a ripe old age. John Somerset Brabant passed away at the Johannesburg Hospital (his usual place of residence being Stand 1046, Spies Street, Burghersdorp, Johannesburg) on 23 March 1905. He had never married and was 38 years and 1 month old.

The causes of death were Gallstones, Ulceration of the Stomach and Exhaustion. He was recorded as being a Gold Miner at the time of his death although his official probate states that he was unemployed when he died. It was claimed that both his parents were dead when he passed away – this was untrue as General Brabant died in 1914. Perhaps the two were alienated from one another.

For his many years of service in an number of conflicts, Brabant was awarded the British South Africa Company Medal with Matabeleland 1893 reverse and the Queens and Kings South Africa Medals. As a Rhodesian Pioneer he could have taken advantage of the Rhodesia medal issued by the government in 1927 to recognise Pioneers. Sadly he was long dead before that was thought of.

Acknowledgements:

- Men Who Made Rhodesia – Colonel Hickman
- Revolt in Southern Rhodesia – T.O. Ranger
- Anglo Boer War Forum for Unit Nominal Rolls
- Ancestry for Medal Rolls
- Familysearch for Death Notices, Probate and Bequests
- The Lower Sunbury Lendy Memorial by Alan Doyle
- The African Immigrant Factor in Southern Rhodesia. 1890-1930: The Origin and Influence of External Elements in a Colonial Setting – a thesis by Elioth Petros Makambe
- Zimbabwe National Archives for various photos – Ian Johnstone
- Rhodesia Before 1920 – a publication
- The Pioneer Column’s march from Macloutsie to Mashonaland – a publication
- The Matabele Rebellion 1896. With the Belingwe Field Force by Major D. Tyrie Laing
- Various newspaper articles acknowledged above.

Rory, amazing post, great research. Thank you!

Thank you EFV - it's a long read but there is so much to this fellow.

Thank you Rory. That is really good write up.

I have some questions about the photo labelled: 356. 4 Mashonaland Field Force “1896” /1416. Where is the photo from? Does it include Lt RW Hare, 2 Norfolks? Is there a list of names to go with it? Do you have a more precise date? Is there a location to match against diary entries?

Lt RW Hare commanded the mounted infantry section of 2 Bn, Norfolk Regiment that was one of four MI sections in the Mashonaland Field Force. The Norfolks arrived at the Cape on 19 May and reached Fort Salisbury on or soon after 20 September 1896. They were on patrol in early to mid-October, but so far as I can tell saw no further action. They returned to the UK in the summer of 1897.

Understanding the difference in uniforms might tell me more, but I don’t know enough for that. Who’s a regular, who’s a colonial militiaman or volunteer, who's BSAP and so on? The puggarees especially confuse me. Are they unit specific or evidence of improvisation in the field among regulars? There are two other things. Firstly, since there were at least nine regular officers with the MI and because there were other regulars (non-MI) and colonials, the full complement of officers with the MFF probably exceeded the head count of in the photo. In that even the group may not include all the MFF officers but may include more than just the MI. Secondly, EAH Alderson embarked as a captain and CO of the MI before promotion once in Cape Town to Lt Col and command of the entire MFF. The figure in the center of the photo is wearing a medal unlike those in Alderson’s Wikipedia image. I don't think any of the MI officers had been decorated before this time. Is it possible to identify the medal?

I'd be thankful for any input that sets me straight.

Rob.

Hi Rob

This photo which was sourced in the Zimbabwe National Archives does not include a Hare, It is captioned which I append here.

Thank you. Rob.