Winston Churchill wrote about Hugh McCorquodale and his death on Spion Kop, as related in 'London to Ladysmith', pp. 150-1:
'I will only relate one other incident - a miserable one. The day before the attack on Spion Kop I had chanced to ride across the pontoon bridge. I heard my name called, and saw the cheery face of a boy I had known at Harrow - a smart, clean-looking young gentleman - quite the rough material for Irregular Horse. He had just arrived and pushed his way to the front; hoped, so he said, "to get a job". This morning they told me that an unauthorised Press correspondent had been found among the killed on the summit. At least they thought at first it was a Press correspondent, for no one seemed to know him. A man had been found leaning forward on his rifle, dead. A broken pair of field glasses, shattered by the same shell that had killed their owner, bore the name "M'Corquodale". The name and the face flew together in my mind. It was the last joined subaltern of Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry - joined in the evening, shot at dawn.
Poor gallant young Englishman! He had soon "got his job". The great sacrifice had been required of the Queen's latest recruit."
Justin
