The following information, in chronological order (even if no date is given), from 'The King's Own, Volume 2,' by Colonel L. I. Cowper.
After training at Lichfield, the 4th Battalion sailed for Cape Town on the S.S, Nile, on 11th January 1900, arriving 1st February.
Captain Freke Evans' company covered the reconstruction of the bridge at Norval's Pont.
July 1900 - Colonel Kemmis, commanding the 4th, was ordered to take 200 of the battalion, with some mounted troops from Naauwpoort, to the Hanover district, with instructions to 'check any tendency to rebellion amongst the disloyal inhabitants of that district and to furnish a demonstration of the presence of H.M.'s forces.'
The battalion was the last unit to wear red on active service.
At the end of 1900 Captain Worsley-Taylor's company escorted a convoy to Philippolis, crossing the Orange River into the Free State.
On the last day of 1900 Captain Freke Evans took two companies from Naauwpoort to clear the line at a place known as 'The Gates of Hell,' where the previous day a train had been attacked and burnt, but he only arrived in time to exchange a few flying shots with the enemy.
In the middle of February the 4th was holding the Naauwpoort - Norval's Pont railway line.
Captain Worsley-Taylor's company held the line at Colesberg.
23rd February 1901 - About 250 Cape rebels attacked a small detachment of the 4th, under Lieutenant Hunt, which was guarding the bridge at Fish River Station. For 4½ hours the struggle went on, until just as the men were using their last box of ammunition an armoured train arrived and saved the situation. Lord Kitchener telegraphed his congratulations. Lieutenant Frederick Eckstein Hunt was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (London Gazette, 10th September 1901). 3128 Sergeant J. Pearson, who was three times called upon to surrender after his officer was wounded, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (London Gazette, 31st October 1902), and the affair, like that of the Zand River, was mentioned as an example of the efficiency and usefulness of the militia, when that force was being discussed in the House of Lords in 1907.
First week of March, 1901 - Captain Worsley-Taylor was sent with his company across the Orange River, to repair the Colesberg-Philippolis telegraph line, which had been cut. He, 38 men, and 2 N.C.O.'s set out on 8th March, at dusk, to march 20 miles. The company was joined by c.60 Lancers and Dragoons, and crossed the river, then marched another 8 miles. Worsley-Taylor then sent the Dragoons on to check if a pass through the hills was clear. At the sound of firing, the Company and the Lancers advanced, and were then fired on from surrounding kopjes. They held out all day (9th March), and, as night drew in, the 17 Lancers tried to reach the river for assistance; only five survived, but they succeeded. The following morning a relief force arrived from Colesberg. James Worsley-Taylor was mentioned in dispatches (London Gazette 10th September 1901)
Relieved by a militia battalion, the 4th sailed from Cape Town on 1th July 1901, arriving in Lancaster on 2nd August, and were disembodied on the 3rd.
Other awards for officers of the 4th were: - Major Fisher Henry Freke Evans was mentioned in dispatches (London Gazette, 29th July 1902); Colonel William Kemmis was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, and mentioned in dispatches (London Gazette, 31st October 1902).
Only one casualty was recorded for the 4th Battalion, which must have been for an officer at Fish River.
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Edit: - SIR JAMES WORSLEY-TAYLOR
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir James Worsley-Taylor, Bt., died suddenly in London yesterday from pneumonia, after an operation, at the age of 60. He was the elder son of Sir Henry Wilson Worsley-Taylor, K.C., formerly Recorder of Preston and M.P. for Blackpool, who was created baronet in 1917. His mother was the only daughter of the late Sir Edward Watkin, Bt., the railway chairman.
He served in the South African War, 1900-1, and was mentioned in dispatches, and in the Great War, and was lieutenant-colonel, late 3rd Battalion, The King's Own Royal Regiment. He succeeded his father in 1924 and was a large landowner in Lancashire and the West Riding. He was a Conservative and Churchman. He married, in 1914, Audrey, of the late Sir Frederic Philipson-Stow, Bt., and is succeeded by his only son, John Godfrey, born in 1915, who is now at Eton.
(The Times, Friday, 28th April, 1933)
