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Good afternoon David,
Whilst I do not have a copy of Davitt, I see I was quite right in my assumption with regards to Lepeltakkeeft, it does seem very harsh by todays standards, if indeed true, however, that was the way war was conducted back in those days, the two squadrons concerned, one of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers and the the other, of the 5th Dragoon Guards, were simply putting training into pactice, moreover, each and every one of them were following Major Gore's orders, just as, he himself, was following orders.
Kind regards Frank

djb wrote: Frank,

I'm not sure if this list of Boer casualties

GOVERNMENT NOTICE

Hereby published for general information the following list of casualties, wounded and missing compiled by
the Information Bureau of the Red Cross.

Government Office F W Reitz
Pretoria, 17 Nov 1899 Secretary of State

HOLLANDER CORPS

With approval of the Government Prof Molengraaff carried out an investigation in connection with members
of the Hollander Corps who took part in the Battle of Elandslaagte. The results of the investigation are as
follows:

Killed on the Battlefield

Dr H J Coster
J Moora
C G de Jonge
H van Cittert
P van den Broek
M Schaink

These persons were identified on the battlefield by Dr Visser of the Ambulance of the Johannesburg
Commando by means of name tags, letters etc. found by him in the pockets of the fallen and wounded, or by
means of names on their clothing.

EXTRAORDINARY GOVERNMENT GAZETTE OF THE SA REPUBLIC, SATURDAY 18 NOV 1899.

Missing:

JH Breyer (on the list of prisoners the name Dreyer appears)
S Kaper (on the list of prisoners the name Raper appears)
Nienhuis (one particular J Nieuwenhuis, the first prisoner published, has escaped and returned to our main
lager; more than likely the same person as Nienhuis)
J de Graaf W Kool

Wounded, recovering or already recovered and returned to Pretoria

Dr Kakebeeke Minninga D Wicherlink C Willemse
P W Nijenes A J Rutgens Kuijpers G J Otto

The remaining members of the Hollander Corps who took part in the Battle of Elandslaagte together with
Commandant Lombaard, escaped unscathed from the Battle. Their names are:

H A Groskamp Engelberts Hofs I I v d Koppel
D B Stenerwald v d Loos Steyling C Singlé
P Jorissen F van Kruiselbergen I Schuurman J C Klasing
Van Marle H G IJsenbrand C Dubbelman J J Nijenes
Adelaar Franken Millerie Schapers
L Kerkhoff K Goldman I Drop C J Swierstra
C Besaans C Hagen A I Paul Van Dreumel
N Hahn Budding F H Bottelier J K Holtz
C Plokhooij H H Bonnema C Van der Linden P v d Bergh
P A Jans Reijnders G E Ter Haar Van der Ruit
I G Geurise Prins Wieland

Some of these have returned to Pretoria. Those still in possession of horse tackle have joined various other commandos.

Of the field service division of the Hollander Corps, the following did not take part in the Battle.

J Olie H Ruygrok
F Olie Van Wijk
Olie Jr de Wilde H Groeneveld Brouwer
K Van Rijsse Volker Wagner Scheepens
W Lagerweij Kenzenkamp B Venemans J Hasie
J de Bruijn Relker J J Kesting J J Barlage
L De Haas De Jongh Van Hoepen Snr Van Hoepen Jr
Ros Schultz Wollendorp G J J Bielen
Pfennig Brenkman Duijkers Molenaar
J Wijnbergen De Bruin W A Swaters Hennes
J B Weijers Van der Goorberg A Van der Meulen Peskens
I W Thesijssen Wan Zijl H Siemerink Lesturgeon
W Wijshek J L de Rijke Faassen F ten Burg
H Hollenbach J Hollenbach Parré Juijn
Ormel F J Huijsse

Frank,

I agree and it made me re-read Gore's account of the charge which is very understated in may ways.

Kind regards
David

Not the best picture but this is Gore's QSA:

Hello David,
I have no doubt that Major Gore was a superb cavalry officer, his own account is very interesting, with regards to the 5th Dragoon Guards, it was a rather large squadron too, many officers "rejoined" and in the case of one paticular officer "just in time" too, I have always felt that a medal/pair to the 5th DG is often cheaper than the same to the 5th RI Lancers, moreover, I feel it is a better choice, given that two squadrons of 5th Lancers received the Elandslaagte clasp, but only one squadron actually took part in the pursuit of the fleeing enemy.
I was very amused when I read the latest City Coins catalogue, to see the charge referred to as a "DASTARDLY ACTION" okay, so its not nice, but then, war, is not nice either.
Both squadrons concerned were regular British cavalry, what did the enemy expect?
If the "enemy" were Zulu or Sudanese, would it be looked upon in a differant way? I suspect, yes, it would, but the enemy were the Boer Republics.
Kind regards Frank

Frank,

The Boers were aghast at the charge against them after the battle and it is partly this reaction that made Elandslaagte so memorable. Much larger charges in the north of Africa seem not to have attracted the same level of attention.

You are correct about the 5th Lancers and that only a single squadron took part in the charge. Other than a few named individuals, I have not been able to split the recipients between the two. There is probably the information somewhere but I have not found it. A list of men by squadron is what I need but it has eluded me to date.

Best wishes
David

Hello David,
The point I was trying to make, was that there was only the one squadron of 5th Dragoon Guards present and that single squadron took part in the pursuit of the enemy and got the clasp, so my thoughts here would be, just buy a 5th DG Major Gore's group would be nice!
I suspect that the Boers who were aghast were the lucky ones!
Kind regards Frank