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That is excellent, Neville,

It must have been quite a haul to drag the gun up that terrain.

Indeed, David

The two images below show the makeshift access road, cleared by the Royal Engineers.

In the first photograph, which was taken after the engagement, the route can be seen on the right flank of Zwart Kop, with four artillery teams descending the lower incline.

The second photograph shows the upper slopes and steeper incline, with one of the RFA 15-pdr guns visible on the horizon. The rope on the right, held by a line of twelve or fourteen men, suggests some form of pully system, with a team taking the strain as the gun ascends/descends the hill. The positioning of the crew suggests this photograph was taken just before the descent.








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Thank you David and Neville for sharing these photographs, close-ups and explanations. I find Boer War period photographs so interesting and am certainly enjoying seeing these. The images are such good quality and it seems like the book which they come from is an excellent source and contains images that I certainly haven't seen before. I see that copies of the book are quite rare and expensive. I see that there is a Kimberley edition too.

The book comes in at least three different editions: the standard 300 Engraving Edition; a Kimberley Edition and a 500 Engraving Edition. The first two were published in 1900 and the last one in 1902.
There is also a 1970's reprint, which is often sold as original.

It used to be a fairly easy book to come by ....... but no longer.



300 Engraving Edition (one of several cover designs)



Kimberley Edition (same cover as some of the standard 300 Engraving copies)



500 Engraving Edition


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Thank you for clarifying this Neville; much appreciated.

Ian

'Master Thomas' carrying stones to form breastworks