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Brett, Justin,

Thank you for your swift answers and supplementary information on this query. That is fascinating information .

Best wishes
David

I dug out my references for Wools-Sampson and his C.B. He had also been recommended for the Victoria Cross for his gallantry at Elandslaagte.

General Sir Bindon Blood writing to General Sir Ian Hamilton 22nd October 1930, when Hamilton was writing 'Anti-Commando':

"...He never took any pay for himself and wanted to pay all his men himself! (his native scouts). And when he was given the C.B., he wanted to decline the honour, but I pointed out to him that to do so would be rude to His Majesty the King, etc., etc., so he gave in..."

Justin

Justin

According to Gibson, three ILH officers were recommended for the VC. He wrote as follows about the period prior to the final charge on the Boer line:

"Immediately prior to the final attack the I.L.H. were able to assist their Regular comrades [the Gordon Highlanders], whose casualties had been severe, particularly among the officers. Captain Charles Herbert Mullins, Lieutenant Robert Johnstone and Lieutenant A.E. Brabant, seeing for themselves the predicament in which some of the Regulars found themselves for lack of command, instantly rushed across to their aid, assumed their leadership, rallied them and reformed their line. For this singular act of leadership at a critical moment in the fight, all three of these officers were recommended for the Victoria Cross, which was awarded to two of them [Mullins and Johnstone]."

The decision to award two VC's to the ILH was taken months after the battle and the responsibility for deciding who would be decorated fell to the ILH Adjutant, Captain R Barnes. He was "told to make enquiries to find out to whom in general opinion they should be given. We no doubt selected the two right men ... [but the medals] were in fact given to the Regiment."

By the time the decision was taken, the third in the trio of officers originally recommended, Lieutenant Brabant, was dead, having been killed in action during Karri Davies' ill-fated Long Valley sortie on 3/11/1899. Only two VC's were on offer and it was clearly thought best to reward two living officers.

Interestingly, only four VC's were awarded for the Elandslaagte battle, two each for the Gordon Highlanders and ILH. There could well have been more - there were seven at Colenso and five at Wagon Hill - but I suspect it was an arbitrary allocation to regiments and an irregular Colonial regiment could not have had more than a regular Imperial one.

Regards
Brett

Brett,

Many thanks. Please see below the decision of the Commander in Chief, Lord Wolseley, that the recommendation that Wools-Sampson receive the Victoria Cross would not be approved.

Best wishes,

Justin

Justin

Thank you for that addition to, and clarification of my ILH records. I think it has been mentioned elsewhere on this forum that Woolls-Sampson excelled as a Guide later in the war, so he well-deserved his CB.

Regards
Brett