TOPIC:

1899 - Kimberley siege day 73 (58%). Ladysmith siege day 55 (46%). Mafeking siege day 75 (34%). Unsuccessful attack by Baden-Powell on Game Tree Fort.
1900 - Action at South Rand Mine, near Greylingstad.
1902 - Mr. Chamberlain arrives at Durban.

In Kimberley:

At about 5 am Artillery fire was seen and heard in direction of Scholtz’s Nek.

Major Fraser reports that there is a very good light this morning and that he was able to count at least 100 men on the Alexandersfontein works.

Shells seen falling about every 10 minutes on the Spyfontein ridge from 5.20 am to 8 am. About 50 shells were fired during the morning from the Susanna ridge at the Premier. A few of them fell in the fort. There was some rifle firing at long range between Major Fraser and his men at Davis beak and enemy in rifle pits near Alexandersfontein.

I am issuing Bayonets to the Cape Mounted Police; the Kimberley Light Horse have already found them most useful.

I am sorry to say there is an outbreak of Typhoid fever in the mounted camp; 11 men have been admitted lately to hospital with it. Although very inconvenient for many reasons I have thought it necessary to move the camp to near the Buffs redoubt Belgravia. The doctors think that this outbreak may be due to the men having drunk rain water out of old iron tanks at the workshop. Every [recaution has been taken to avoid anything of the kind occurring, but its most difficult with irregular troops to get orders of this kind strictly carried out.

I sent the following messages to-night by search light signal:

“From Kekewich, To General Metheun. December 26th 7 pm No 46. In reply your Dec 25th No H 162 for reasons too lengthy to explain consider it inadvisable use key word in Rhodes message 23rd inst. Quite possible Boers possess cipher code book issued agents. Would suggest that code name officer SLI on your staff be used as Key. Using same please answer following give code name for Rimington whilst on special service and his present employment.”

“From Int K B to Int M D. Dec 26th 7 pm No 47. No written despatch received here from South since Dec 11th. Enemy shelled Premier Mine redoubt for two hours to-day, no casualties. After battle of Magersfontein enemy moved his camps nearer Kimberley. Enemy’s main camp now reported to be north of Spyfontein station. There are other camps at Carter’s Milk Farm, Coetzie’s Homestead and Spyfontein and near Scholtz’s Nek. Natives cannot give even approximate numbers. Mafeking reported safe, Dec 16th our wounded well.”

I sent the following message this evening by runner to Mafeking.

“From Kekewich. To Baden Powell. Dec 26th. Though late Kimberley garrison wishes Mafeking garrison a very successful New Year. Yours of Dec 5th to OC Relief column reached me Dec 24th and was signaled by searchlight to Modder River same evening. Last evening I received following reply. Begins. Please explain to Baden Powell Lord Metheun’s position and say he must expect no help from us ends.”

Situation has not been explained to me; so far as I can gather it from stray newspapers it appears to be as follows. Lord Metheun engaged enemy North of Modder River Dec 11th and lost about 800 killed and wounded we could see shells bursting in Boer position and distinctly heard canononade. Wauchope was killed and Highland Brigade suffered very severely according to reports. Enemy has moved his camps nearer to Kimberley but appears to have superior numbers to Metheun and is strongly entrenched. On Dec 15th Gatacre appears to have been led into an ambush at Stormberg losing some 100 killed and wounded and 600 prisoners. On Dec 16th Buller engaged enemy near Colenso guns appear to have advanced without escort teams were shot down and ten guns are reported lost. I know no more yet.

French is at Arundel North of Naancofort Junction; so far then British advances temporarily checked, and I am ordered to arrange my food supplies to last till middle of February. We are still invested by enemy.”

During the night I received following messages: One from Major Coleridge giving me information as to killed and wounded in my battalion. The officers serving with it, and the reservists arrived at Cape Town.

One from CSO as to searching MICHAUS house, etc.

“From Int M D to Int K B Dec 26 No 29. Your out of 20 arrived – 2 natives arrived out of 100 sent Saturday. Two blue print sketches arrived. I do not want others as can get them reproduced at Cape Town.”

“From Chief Paymaster, To Kekewich. Your No P 5 18th instant distribution of cash to troops accounting office defence will be informed of amount advances K L I and mounted troops Major Scott Turner. What sum, can bank now advance you pay troops. Will get manager to wire you credit when this is known bank will arrange for supplying Kimberley with coin and noted detailed in previous wire as soon as Military authorities can get through.”

There were several private messages received in addition.

In Ladysmith:

Good news came through the heliograph about General Gatacre's force at Dordrecht. There were rumours about Lord Methuen, too, for which Dr. Jameson was quoted as authority. But the best evidence for hope was the unusual violence of the bombardment. It began early, and before the middle of the afternoon the Boers had thrown 178 shells at us. They were counted by a Gordon officer on Moriden's Castle, and the total must have reached nearly 200 before sunset. Such feverish activity is nearly always a sign of irritation on the part of the Dutch, and one can always hope the irritation is due to bad news for them.

I have not heard of any loss in town or camp. Our guns, with the exception of the howitzers and Major Wing's field guns, which can just reach the new howitzer on Surprise Hill, have hardly replied at all.

The milk question was the most serious of the day. I saw a herd of thirty-five cows which had only yielded sixteen pints at milking time. It is now debated whether we shall not have to feed the cows and starve the horses; or kill the thinnest horses and stew them down into broth for the others. The reports about the condition of Intombi Camp were particularly horrible to-day. But General Hunter will not allow any one to visit the camp, and it is no good repeating secondhand reports.

In Mafeking:

The myriads of locusts which had lately devastated our grazing grounds, already insufficient for the large number of cattle in and about the town, had rendered it imperative that some steps should be taken to raise our close investment sufficiently to obtain an extended field for grazing secure from attack or raid. This was sufficient reason for action in itself, but in addition, the approach of our forces to Gaberones in the north, made it advisable to prepare to open up the line and endeavour to join hands with them, and thus by extending our perimeter and line of forts to throw additional work on the investing force, and so prevent reinforcements being sent to the commandoes acting against our troops north and south; nay, we even hoped to draw reinforcement from these commandoes to assist in maintaining the strict investment which the Boers deemed it so necessary to retain around Mafeking. Accordingly, Colonel Baden-Powell decided to attack Game Tree fort, which commands the line to the north. And now, before going further with an account of the fight, let me say that in spite of great secrecy, as to the time or place of attack, the Boers, through treachery, were forewarned and forearmed as to our intentions. The garrison was doubled, and the fort from an open earthwork turned into a block-house with three tiers of fire, while the line was broken in the night between the fort and the town, preventing the efficient co-operation of the armoured train. On Christmas night, at about 11 o'clock, the chief of the staff, Lord Edward Cecil, collected the correspondents and told them of the intended attack, advising them to rendezvous at 3 o'clock, with the headquarters at Dummie fort. The plan of attack was as follows:—C squadron, Protectorate Regiment, were to take up a position during the night near the railway to the west of Game Tree fort, supported by D squadron, under Captain Fitzclarence, and the armoured train with a Hotchkiss and Maxim, under Captain Williams, B. S. A. P. The right flank being protected by the Bechuanaland Rifles, under Captain Cowan. The whole of the right attack under Major Godley. The left attack being composed of three seven-pounder guns, one cavalry Maxim, and one troop, Lord Charles Bentinck's A squadron, Protectorate Regiment, under Major Panzera, with the other two troops in support, the whole left attack being under Colonel Hore. The Dummie fort lay midway between the two attacks. The wait from 3 o'clock seemed interminable, but at 4.28 the first gun fired, and then our seven-pounder shells burst merrily over the fort. The infantry commenced volleys and the Maxim joined in. The armoured train was stopped by the broken line some half mile from where it could have efficiently cooperated, and the squadrons commenced their attack from the railway line, D being escheloned some three hundred yards in the rear of C. From the Dummie fort the attack could be perfectly seen, as it advanced rapidly across our front. The rushes were well made, and the charge in perfect order, the leaders racing in front of their men right up to the fort, where the firing for a while ceased, and then broke out again with renewed vigour.

From where I was, I thought the attacking squadron had secured the position, and, from the slowness and deliberation with which the men retired, that the supporting squadron was falling back to its lines, as, with the smokeless powder, we could not see our men firing, and the sound was drowned in the rattle of Boer musketry. This, alas, was not the case. Captain Vernon, who had been wounded in the advance, led his men most gallantly up to the work, to find it with three tiers of loopholes and an iron roof, the bushes in front concealing this until right on to the fort. Here he and Lieutenant Paton and fifteen men fell, and his sergeant-major mortally wounded. Captain Sandford had been shot twice just short of the wrork, but called on his men to charge. These were the last words he spoke, and only four of the men of his troop were not placed hors de combat. Captain Fitzclarence had also fallen wounded, before reaching the work, but I am glad to say is doing well. With this spirit shown by the officers and responded to by the men, small wonder that we may be proud of the attack, even though unsuccessful in obtaining possession of the work, and that the Boers afterwards seemed more depressed than ourselves. They knew the men they had to deal with. Corporal Cooke got on the roof of the work, and had four bullets through his tunic, but was untouched. Mr. Paton and Sergeant-Major Paget were shot whilst firing with their revolvers through the loop-holes (the Boers still speak of Paton's courage), and so were many men. After the retirement, the stretcher parties went out, and the Boers assisted in succouring our wounded, and behaved on the whole very well, though some young roughs got out of hand and plundered the dead and wounded. Their leaders behaved exceedingly well, and did their best to restrain them. I went up there and a more ghastly collection of wounds could not be imagined, mostly shot at the muzzles of the rifles in the head, and in some cases with large Boer bullets. Death must have been instantaneous. The field cornets told me they had been expecting the attack, and the rapidity with which reinforcements arrived— the presence of General Snyman, and several leaders, and the destruction of the line, together with the increase of the garrison, tend to endorse their statements. Our wounded were all wounded in front, some of the men retiring backwards so as not to be shot in the back. Sergeant Barry, mortally wounded, sent word to his mother that he had three wounds all in front. Our force was under one hundred actually attacking. The Boers when reinforced about four hundred. Our losses killed or since dead: Captain Vernon, Captain Sandford, Lieutenant Paton, twenty-one rank and file; wounded: Captain Fitzclarence, twenty-two rank and file; four prisoners. The men retiring were quite cool and willing to have another go—smoking and laughing in some cases, but in the majority bitter and angry at not having got in. British troops have certainly performed as fine feats of arms, but no more determined attack with inferior numbers against an enemy armed with modern rifles in a strong position has ever been pushed home, or a more deliberate and gallant retirement under heavy fire been made. The enemy were much impressed, and said they had never seen such brave men, and though we failed in taking the fort, the action has resulted in the enemy daily strengthening every work, and upset them greatly, as they hourly anticipate a fresh attack, and gusts of musketry break out from their lines at night, for no apparent reason. Indeed, the rapidity with which their white flags were hoisted on the arrival of our ambulances make me, in my own mind, absolutely certain that they were prepared to contemplate surrender, and in any case they will certainly not be able to spare men from this place to assist their retiring commandoes. Altogether their rash and insolent advance into British territory has placed them here, as elsewhere, in about as unpleasant a position for irregular troops as can well be imagined. In the evening we buried our dead.

The Protectorate Regiment, after a life of four months, and a strength of four hundred, has now suffered one hundred and ten casualties. It has accordingly had to be reorganized from four squadrons into three. On no occasion has it been engaged without distinguishing itself, and I think in its last action, though repulsed, it has, if possible, distinguished itself most.

What I have said about the contemplated surrender of the Boers has since been confirmed by what I heard on my journey south towards Vryburg. Keely, now Resident Magistrate in these parts, had been taken into camp about this time to swear neutrality; and the Boers made no secret of their intention to surrender the fort; but they were kept up to the mark by one determined man, who, lying behind an ammunition box, swore he would blow out the brains of the first man who offered to surrender. It was at this man that Paton was firing through a loophole with a pistol when he was shot. Nobody else on our side seems to have spotted the individual in question, hence the Boers, on our retiring, continued the fight.

From the diary of William Watson, Ladysmith, November 1899:

December 26th - The same old game, and Buller still far away. — Last night, the children, and my two daughters, and all the women and children left in the town, went to a Christmas tree party, given by Colonel Dartnell and Major Karri Davis, and they enjoyed it vastly, and were loaded with sweet-meats and toys. Colonel Rhodes was at the party, also generals White and Hunter. — Today, I had a piece of dry bread, and a cup of black coffee for dinner, not very luxurious feeding, but enough is as good as a feast. — The three gun battery, which the Natal volunteers took on the 8th of December, was on tittle Umbulwan. There are still rebel guns on the larger mount of the same name, and they continue to play havoc in the town. — A very dry, hot, season, and all the gardens completely ruined.

Ladysmith is again very hot and dry this year, and it is the el Nino weather phenomenon that is causing the discomfort. At least there are no Boer guns adding to the town's trials and tribulations!
Brett

Good gracious, Bayonets for the Cape Police, a most interesting belated Christmas present, certainly useful, but, I suppose being policemen, first and foremost, they would not have had much use for them before the outbreak of actual war.

djb wrote: 1899 - Kimberley siege day 73 (58%). Ladysmith siege day 55 (46%). Mafeking siege day 75 (34%). Unsuccessful attack by Baden-Powell on Game Tree Fort.
1900 - Action at South Rand Mine, near Greylingstad.
1902 - Mr. Chamberlain arrives at Durban.

In Kimberley:

At about 5 am Artillery fire was seen and heard in direction of Scholtz’s Nek.

Major Fraser reports that there is a very good light this morning and that he was able to count at least 100 men on the Alexandersfontein works.

Shells seen falling about every 10 minutes on the Spyfontein ridge from 5.20 am to 8 am. About 50 shells were fired during the morning from the Susanna ridge at the Premier. A few of them fell in the fort. There was some rifle firing at long range between Major Fraser and his men at Davis beak and enemy in rifle pits near Alexandersfontein.

I am issuing Bayonets to the Cape Mounted Police; the Kimberley Light Horse have already found them most useful.

I am sorry to say there is an outbreak of Typhoid fever in the mounted camp; 11 men have been admitted lately to hospital with it. Although very inconvenient for many reasons I have thought it necessary to move the camp to near the Buffs redoubt Belgravia. The doctors think that this outbreak may be due to the men having drunk rain water out of old iron tanks at the workshop. Every [recaution has been taken to avoid anything of the kind occurring, but its most difficult with irregular troops to get orders of this kind strictly carried out.

I sent the following messages to-night by search light signal:

“From Kekewich, To General Metheun. December 26th 7 pm No 46. In reply your Dec 25th No H 162 for reasons too lengthy to explain consider it inadvisable use key word in Rhodes message 23rd inst. Quite possible Boers possess cipher code book issued agents. Would suggest that code name officer SLI on your staff be used as Key. Using same please answer following give code name for Rimington whilst on special service and his present employment.”

“From Int K B to Int M D. Dec 26th 7 pm No 47. No written despatch received here from South since Dec 11th. Enemy shelled Premier Mine redoubt for two hours to-day, no casualties. After battle of Magersfontein enemy moved his camps nearer Kimberley. Enemy’s main camp now reported to be north of Spyfontein station. There are other camps at Carter’s Milk Farm, Coetzie’s Homestead and Spyfontein and near Scholtz’s Nek. Natives cannot give even approximate numbers. Mafeking reported safe, Dec 16th our wounded well.”

I sent the following message this evening by runner to Mafeking.

“From Kekewich. To Baden Powell. Dec 26th. Though late Kimberley garrison wishes Mafeking garrison a very successful New Year. Yours of Dec 5th to OC Relief column reached me Dec 24th and was signaled by searchlight to Modder River same evening. Last evening I received following reply. Begins. Please explain to Baden Powell Lord Metheun’s position and say he must expect no help from us ends.”

Situation has not been explained to me; so far as I can gather it from stray newspapers it appears to be as follows. Lord Metheun engaged enemy North of Modder River Dec 11th and lost about 800 killed and wounded we could see shells bursting in Boer position and distinctly heard canononade. Wauchope was killed and Highland Brigade suffered very severely according to reports. Enemy has moved his camps nearer to Kimberley but appears to have superior numbers to Metheun and is strongly entrenched. On Dec 15th Gatacre appears to have been led into an ambush at Stormberg losing some 100 killed and wounded and 600 prisoners. On Dec 16th Buller engaged enemy near Colenso guns appear to have advanced without escort teams were shot down and ten guns are reported lost. I know no more yet.

French is at Arundel North of Naancofort Junction; so far then British advances temporarily checked, and I am ordered to arrange my food supplies to last till middle of February. We are still invested by enemy.”

During the night I received following messages: One from Major Coleridge giving me information as to killed and wounded in my battalion. The officers serving with it, and the reservists arrived at Cape Town.

One from CSO as to searching MICHAUS house, etc.

“From Int M D to Int K B Dec 26 No 29. Your out of 20 arrived – 2 natives arrived out of 100 sent Saturday. Two blue print sketches arrived. I do not want others as can get them reproduced at Cape Town.”

“From Chief Paymaster, To Kekewich. Your No P 5 18th instant distribution of cash to troops accounting office defence will be informed of amount advances K L I and mounted troops Major Scott Turner. What sum, can bank now advance you pay troops. Will get manager to wire you credit when this is known bank will arrange for supplying Kimberley with coin and noted detailed in previous wire as soon as Military authorities can get through.”

There were several private messages received in addition.

In Ladysmith:

Good news came through the heliograph about General Gatacre's force at Dordrecht. There were rumours about Lord Methuen, too, for which Dr. Jameson was quoted as authority. But the best evidence for hope was the unusual violence of the bombardment. It began early, and before the middle of the afternoon the Boers had thrown 178 shells at us. They were counted by a Gordon officer on Moriden's Castle, and the total must have reached nearly 200 before sunset. Such feverish activity is nearly always a sign of irritation on the part of the Dutch, and one can always hope the irritation is due to bad news for them.

I have not heard of any loss in town or camp. Our guns, with the exception of the howitzers and Major Wing's field guns, which can just reach the new howitzer on Surprise Hill, have hardly replied at all.

The milk question was the most serious of the day. I saw a herd of thirty-five cows which had only yielded sixteen pints at milking time. It is now debated whether we shall not have to feed the cows and starve the horses; or kill the thinnest horses and stew them down into broth for the others. The reports about the condition of Intombi Camp were particularly horrible to-day. But General Hunter will not allow any one to visit the camp, and it is no good repeating secondhand reports.

In Mafeking:

The myriads of locusts which had lately devastated our grazing grounds, already insufficient for the large number of cattle in and about the town, had rendered it imperative that some steps should be taken to raise our close investment sufficiently to obtain an extended field for grazing secure from attack or raid. This was sufficient reason for action in itself, but in addition, the approach of our forces to Gaberones in the north, made it advisable to prepare to open up the line and endeavour to join hands with them, and thus by extending our perimeter and line of forts to throw additional work on the investing force, and so prevent reinforcements being sent to the commandoes acting against our troops north and south; nay, we even hoped to draw reinforcement from these commandoes to assist in maintaining the strict investment which the Boers deemed it so necessary to retain around Mafeking. Accordingly, Colonel Baden-Powell decided to attack Game Tree fort, which commands the line to the north. And now, before going further with an account of the fight, let me say that in spite of great secrecy, as to the time or place of attack, the Boers, through treachery, were forewarned and forearmed as to our intentions. The garrison was doubled, and the fort from an open earthwork turned into a block-house with three tiers of fire, while the line was broken in the night between the fort and the town, preventing the efficient co-operation of the armoured train. On Christmas night, at about 11 o'clock, the chief of the staff, Lord Edward Cecil, collected the correspondents and told them of the intended attack, advising them to rendezvous at 3 o'clock, with the headquarters at Dummie fort. The plan of attack was as follows:—C squadron, Protectorate Regiment, were to take up a position during the night near the railway to the west of Game Tree fort, supported by D squadron, under Captain Fitzclarence, and the armoured train with a Hotchkiss and Maxim, under Captain Williams, B. S. A. P. The right flank being protected by the Bechuanaland Rifles, under Captain Cowan. The whole of the right attack under Major Godley. The left attack being composed of three seven-pounder guns, one cavalry Maxim, and one troop, Lord Charles Bentinck's A squadron, Protectorate Regiment, under Major Panzera, with the other two troops in support, the whole left attack being under Colonel Hore. The Dummie fort lay midway between the two attacks. The wait from 3 o'clock seemed interminable, but at 4.28 the first gun fired, and then our seven-pounder shells burst merrily over the fort. The infantry commenced volleys and the Maxim joined in. The armoured train was stopped by the broken line some half mile from where it could have efficiently cooperated, and the squadrons commenced their attack from the railway line, D being escheloned some three hundred yards in the rear of C. From the Dummie fort the attack could be perfectly seen, as it advanced rapidly across our front. The rushes were well made, and the charge in perfect order, the leaders racing in front of their men right up to the fort, where the firing for a while ceased, and then broke out again with renewed vigour.

From where I was, I thought the attacking squadron had secured the position, and, from the slowness and deliberation with which the men retired, that the supporting squadron was falling back to its lines, as, with the smokeless powder, we could not see our men firing, and the sound was drowned in the rattle of Boer musketry. This, alas, was not the case. Captain Vernon, who had been wounded in the advance, led his men most gallantly up to the work, to find it with three tiers of loopholes and an iron roof, the bushes in front concealing this until right on to the fort. Here he and Lieutenant Paton and fifteen men fell, and his sergeant-major mortally wounded. Captain Sandford had been shot twice just short of the wrork, but called on his men to charge. These were the last words he spoke, and only four of the men of his troop were not placed hors de combat. Captain Fitzclarence had also fallen wounded, before reaching the work, but I am glad to say is doing well. With this spirit shown by the officers and responded to by the men, small wonder that we may be proud of the attack, even though unsuccessful in obtaining possession of the work, and that the Boers afterwards seemed more depressed than ourselves. They knew the men they had to deal with. Corporal Cooke got on the roof of the work, and had four bullets through his tunic, but was untouched. Mr. Paton and Sergeant-Major Paget were shot whilst firing with their revolvers through the loop-holes (the Boers still speak of Paton's courage), and so were many men. After the retirement, the stretcher parties went out, and the Boers assisted in succouring our wounded, and behaved on the whole very well, though some young roughs got out of hand and plundered the dead and wounded. Their leaders behaved exceedingly well, and did their best to restrain them. I went up there and a more ghastly collection of wounds could not be imagined, mostly shot at the muzzles of the rifles in the head, and in some cases with large Boer bullets. Death must have been instantaneous. The field cornets told me they had been expecting the attack, and the rapidity with which reinforcements arrived— the presence of General Snyman, and several leaders, and the destruction of the line, together with the increase of the garrison, tend to endorse their statements. Our wounded were all wounded in front, some of the men retiring backwards so as not to be shot in the back. Sergeant Barry, mortally wounded, sent word to his mother that he had three wounds all in front. Our force was under one hundred actually attacking. The Boers when reinforced about four hundred. Our losses killed or since dead: Captain Vernon, Captain Sandford, Lieutenant Paton, twenty-one rank and file; wounded: Captain Fitzclarence, twenty-two rank and file; four prisoners. The men retiring were quite cool and willing to have another go—smoking and laughing in some cases, but in the majority bitter and angry at not having got in. British troops have certainly performed as fine feats of arms, but no more determined attack with inferior numbers against an enemy armed with modern rifles in a strong position has ever been pushed home, or a more deliberate and gallant retirement under heavy fire been made. The enemy were much impressed, and said they had never seen such brave men, and though we failed in taking the fort, the action has resulted in the enemy daily strengthening every work, and upset them greatly, as they hourly anticipate a fresh attack, and gusts of musketry break out from their lines at night, for no apparent reason. Indeed, the rapidity with which their white flags were hoisted on the arrival of our ambulances make me, in my own mind, absolutely certain that they were prepared to contemplate surrender, and in any case they will certainly not be able to spare men from this place to assist their retiring commandoes. Altogether their rash and insolent advance into British territory has placed them here, as elsewhere, in about as unpleasant a position for irregular troops as can well be imagined. In the evening we buried our dead.

The Protectorate Regiment, after a life of four months, and a strength of four hundred, has now suffered one hundred and ten casualties. It has accordingly had to be reorganized from four squadrons into three. On no occasion has it been engaged without distinguishing itself, and I think in its last action, though repulsed, it has, if possible, distinguished itself most.

What I have said about the contemplated surrender of the Boers has since been confirmed by what I heard on my journey south towards Vryburg. Keely, now Resident Magistrate in these parts, had been taken into camp about this time to swear neutrality; and the Boers made no secret of their intention to surrender the fort; but they were kept up to the mark by one determined man, who, lying behind an ammunition box, swore he would blow out the brains of the first man who offered to surrender. It was at this man that Paton was firing through a loophole with a pistol when he was shot. Nobody else on our side seems to have spotted the individual in question, hence the Boers, on our retiring, continued the fight.

I really cannot imagine George White or, in particular, Frank Rhodes, actually hosting a children's Christmas party, or even just being present, what an interesting thought.

djb wrote: From the diary of William Watson, Ladysmith, November 1899:

December 26th - The same old game, and Buller still far away. — Last night, the children, and my two daughters, and all the women and children left in the town, went to a Christmas tree party, given by Colonel Dartnell and Major Karri Davis, and they enjoyed it vastly, and were loaded with sweet-meats and toys. Colonel Rhodes was at the party, also generals White and Hunter. — Today, I had a piece of dry bread, and a cup of black coffee for dinner, not very luxurious feeding, but enough is as good as a feast. — The three gun battery, which the Natal volunteers took on the 8th of December, was on tittle Umbulwan. There are still rebel guns on the larger mount of the same name, and they continue to play havoc in the town. — A very dry, hot, season, and all the gardens completely ruined.

1899 - From the diary of Trooper A J Crosby, Natal Carbineers

Up at 4. After a quarter of an hour’s mounted parade, dismissed for Stables, but before we had time to finish grooming horses, were ordered to take shelter, the Boers treating us to a vicious cross fire. Horse grazing. In the evening we had the usual dust storm followed by a terrific thunder storm, raining from 8.30.