TOPIC:

No 2 remount depot, Port Elizabeth.

Founded 23 March 1900 when Major C E W Wood, North Staffordshire Regiment, and other officers arrived on the Assaye. The strength of the deport was 5 officers and 275 NCOs and men (reserves from the 7th and 11th Hussars). By the end of July 1900, 25,000 horses had passed through the depot.


Source: The Graphic, Volume 62

Certainly a very important place as far as the Army was concerned, there is often a tendency to forget about the absolutely vital work carried out by all ranks at these depots

Byron Farwell (p241) was not very complimentary about the Remount Department when discussing the appalling losses of horses and mules during the war. He said 'the mismanaged Remount Department, filled with officers who were overage or who had failed in the field or who were simply officers for whom no other place could be found, was not entirely to blame.'