The Blackburn Times has come up trumps with a sketch of him.
WITH LORD ROBERTS AT BLOEMFONTEIN.
Captain Cecil W. M. Feilden, of the Scots Greys, and of Witton Park, Blackburn, now with Lord Roberts at Bloemfontein, comes of a military family. He is the second son of the late Lieutenant-General Feilden, and was born in March, 1863. His father held a commission in the 60th Rifles, and at the present time his younger brother, James H. G. Feilden, is a captain in his father's old regiment. Captain Feilden rose to his present rank in July, 1894. He has held the post of private secretary to Lord Wolseley, the Commander-in-Chief. This important position he resigned at the end of 1896, after having held it for about twelve months. This is the first time that Captain Feilden has seen active service. His father, Lieutenant-General Feilden, took part in the Red River Expedition, under the command of Lord Wolseley. Few cavalry regiments are better known than the Royal Scots Greys, whose proud motto, "Second to none," is being so worthily upheld in South Africa. Capt. Feilden was, we understand, among the first to enter Kimberley when the beleaguered garrison was relieved by General French. On March 13th he entered Bloemfontein, which date, by the way, was the gallant captain's birthday. Two days later he telegraphed to his relatives the gratifying intelligence, "All right." Captain Feilden is a well-known member of military circles in Dublin, for he has been on the personal staff of Earl Cadogan for a number of years. He is a fine rider, and an enthusiastic huntsman. He is also a good shot, and a skilled fencer. He is a Justice of the Peace for both Lancashire and Cheshire, in which counties he owns d deal of property inherited from his father.
Blackburn Times, Saturday 24th March 1900
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NEWS FROM CAPTAIN FEILDEN.
THE CAVALRY MARCH TO KIMBERLEY.
"ROUNDING UP" CRONJE.
We are indebted to Mr. R. J. Seward for the following extracts from a letter sent home from Bloemfontein on the 23rd of March by Captain Feilden, of the Scots Greys, and owner of Witton Park. The Captain says: -
"I left the Orange River on the 2nd February for Modder River Camp, where we stayed nine days awaiting the massing of the cavalry division. The Modder Camp was quite the worst I have seen in South Africa, very dusty, hot, and barren. My regiment was encamped on the site of the Modder River fight - a flat plain running down to the river, with no cover of any kind for about a mile and a half from the river bank. The Boers had their trenches on the south side of the river, about 200 yards into the plain, with no real means of retreat, tactics contrary to our ideas, but from results only too successful. On Sunday, the 11th February, at 2 a.m., the whole cavalry division started off for the relief of Kimberley by making a march 25 miles south to Ramdam. It was frightfully hot and dusty, and owing to our convoy being with us we did not reach our destination till 7 p.m., just in time to make ourselves as comfortable as we could till 2 a.m. the following morning, when the whole cavalry division started off again for the Reit River. I happened to be with the advanced squadron, so we had a capital view of the whole day's fighting. Our first view of the Boers was a long, straggling line of about 250 horsemen, just as it was becoming light, and they really had a certain amount of cavalry formation about them, so that at first in the dim light we thought that they were part of another brigade, but very soon a few bullets and a shell or two convinced us otherwise. We had a good view of the whole battle, and it really like an Aldershot field day. We finished the day by driving the Boers over the river, and encamping on the far side ourselves for the night. The next day we pushed on to Modder River, and crossed it at Klip Drift a point some 25 miles east of the original Modder River Camp that we had left. Here we surprised and took a Boer laager and a good deal of loot of sorts, but nothing really worth having, principally food, biscuits, &c., carts, and all kinds of clothing, generally old and shabby, but all very clean, and a good quantity of ammunition. We remained here one day doing a little scouting to clear up the situation and to find out what the strength of the Boers in front of us was. We heard all sorts of numbers given from two to ten thousand.
On Thursday, the 15th, we started off early for Kimberley, carrying our forage with us on our horses (they were getting only 6lbs. of oats per horse per diem.) Soon after starting I thought we were in for a hard day, as our brigade (the 1st) was in a "mass," two batteries being in action, one in front of us and one on our left, and the shells soon began falling pretty thickly into the guns and limbers. The Boers shot so well that nearly every shot fell amongst the guns and only odd ones came near us, we had only one man hit, but the gunners had thirty casualties in the first twenty minutes. However, after this our artillery got the range and very soon silenced the Boer guns. From here to Kimberley we got on very quickly, reaching it almost unopposed at 7 p.m., much to our satisfaction, and to the pleasure of the inhabitants, who, by the way, did not look nearly in such starved condition as we had expected. Just before arriving we shelled a small laager outside the town; but after a few shells at our line of scouts the whole laager beat a hurried retreat. We were all very tired, as the heat was dreadful. The horses had not had food or water all day. We carried what food we could on their backs, as our transport was left behind at Klip Drift to allow us to get on as quickly as possible. The following day we started again at 5 a.m., without either food or water for man or beast, to "round up" the Boers who had been besieging Kimberley, and about 9 30 we came up with them trekking north. From now to 4 30 p.m. we were fighting on and off all day, finishing up by shelling a laager (Dronfield) for two hours. We did not take it then, but the Boers trekked during the night, and the next day our men buried 48 of the enemy. My regiment had three officers wounded during the day, a few men killed and several wounded. After this we remained at Kimberley three days, and then started off in pursuit of Cronje to try and "head him off," with what success you will already know from the papers. I inspected Cronje's laager after the capture, and a more filthy place I have never seen - dead mules, horses and oxen lying about everywhere. The smell was awful. I don't wonder he gave in, but am surprised he could stand it so long. The trenches were beautifully made, very narrow, deep and short; room for about 3 to 5 men in each, and so constructed that they were almost safe from enfilade fire. The women and wounded were hidden in holes along the river bank. Six guns were taken, besides about a million and a half rounds of ammunition. their guns were badly placed, so that on being fired they drew all our artillery fire, which rendered them practically useless.
From here - Paardeberg - we started for Bloemfontein, three hard days' marching and fighting. At Poplar Grove we expected a big fight, as information said the Boers numbered some 8,000 in front of us, but as soon as they found their flanks threatened by our cavalry they ran; so the fighting that, such as it was, was done by the cavalry. We had one other fight at Dryfontein, where our casualties were over four hundred, and Buffs and Essex Regiments sharing the greater part. On the 13th March we marched into Bloemfontein, having a skirmish with the Boers on the night of the 12th, some six miles south of the town. We met them just after dusk, and both sides commenced shelling, which lasted till well after dark. We are now encamped at a farm about four miles from the town, and it is a treat to again have a roof over our heads, the first we have had in South Africa. We expect to remain here about three weeks to recruit and to get fresh horses, when we hope to start for Pretoria.
The Captain Feilden who was wounded is my Uncle John Feilden's son."
Blackburn Times, Saturday 21st April 1900