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Seasons Greetings Iain,
Hope all is is well with you and yours down there?
Alfred Taylor, was dangerously over confident, he was rather careless and failed to watch his own back with the result that he got caught.
The gentleman that replaced him at the special request of Lord Kitchener was everything that Taylor was not and needless to say he did not get caught out, despite the fact that the war had entered a new and far more brutal phase.
Have a bloody superb Christmas!
Kind regards Frank

Hi Frank,

very best wishes to you and your family for Christmas and the New Year and all is well down here as I hope it is in the Mother country.

Our man Captain Alfred James "Bulala" Taylor actually became Kitchener's Intelligence / Commissioner for Native affairs controlled by him directly; he knew too much to be convicted.

I'm having lunch with the in laws today I hope you have a great day.....

kind regards, Iain

Hello Iain,
Alfred Taylor's duties during his tenure in the Spelonken district included some of those associated with a commissioner, but, he was, until his court martial, an intelligence officer.
The Commissioner for Native Affairs in the Northern Transvaal was actually Sir Godfrey Lagden, he was part of the High Commissioner, Lord Milner's Transvaal Government and he also had to answer to Lord Kitchener, he worked just down the road from you, in fact, at "Hohenheim" in Parktown, Johannesburg.
Captain Afred Taylor was replaced by the honourable Charles Murray at the special request of Lord Kitchener or "that man again" as you like to call him.
Murray was everything that Taylor was not and aways covered his tracks well.
But, you know Iain, times had moved on, this was now a real media war and a war which Great Britain could no longer afford to wage, Henry Morant and Peter Handcock were not British officers and I think if they had been, the result would have been rather differant.
Bad things happen in wartime and they are often driven by politics.

Hope lunch goes well, the order of the day here is champagne and lots of it, this included breakfast!

Anyway Iain I wish you bon chance, have a super week.
Frank

Hi Frank,

Tu est tres jolie!

I cant argue with you on the Native affairs Commissioner, you must have some excellent reference books.

Hohenheim was Sir Percy Fitzpatrick’s home.

Seemingly, the court martial took 3 months before it started and magically in that time Captain Taylor resigned and became a civilian although he was in a semi Military capacity, thus the court decreed he couldn’t be prosecuted by a military court marshall.
I believe you are right in that had Handcock & Morant been British not Australian Officers the outcome may have been different.They could easily have had the charges dropped for the defence of the Pietersburg fort but obviously a guilty verdict was needed!
We’ve discussed how Taylor wriggled out of it, (he was British,) If I recall it was Lenahan who was posted to India out of the way.

Kitchener previously had blood on his hands from the Sudan where wounded Dervishes were slaughtered and Churchill pointed the finger directly at Kitchener for this. Score 12,000 Dervishes, 48 British.

Interestingly, Charlie Ross of the Canadian Scouts was also Australian.

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas and your champagne
Kind regards, Iain

Hello Iain,
Yes, Hohenheim was used as a seat of government and Sir Godfrey worked from there, Charles Murray was his private secretary until his appointment at the special request of Lord Kitchener, as Military Intelligence Officer Northern Transvaal he was also Assistant District Commissioner, his military rank was Intelligence Agent, Field Intelligence Department, but, he was given all the trappings of an officer of field rank, he did not use Fort Edward, but, instead used a small farm about a mile away, he ran a very tight ship and used "his" own native scouts rather than the SAMIF he had available, though, he did have a squadron of the Pietersburg Light Horse under his personal command and at his disposal until they were disbanded, the other two squadrons were attached to Colonel Colenbrander for anti commando duties.
Charles Murray was a very close friend of both Percy Fitzpatrick and Lionel Philips and like Randolph Nesbit and Lord Milner himself, a fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute.
Iain, it was from memory not a wretched book!
Kind regards Frank

Hi Everyone......

Since this has been a subject that has been brought up am bumping this to the top,,,,,,,

Mike