The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-05-07 00:00:00

THE DISASTER AT MAJUBA HILL.

Tuesday night's London Gazette contains the official
despatches concerning the engagement at Majuba-hill
on February 27. Sir Evelyn Wood, in transmitting
the account written by Major Fraser, R.E., the senior
effective officer remaining from those engaged, pays a
high compliment to that officer and to Captain
M'Gregor, 92nd Highlanders. He adds :
" From independent sources I have heard much of the
conspictious gallantry displayed by Lieutenant Lucy, 58th
Regiment, by Lieutenant Hamilton, and Second•Lieutenaut
M'Donald, 92nd Highlanders, by Corporal Farmer, Army
Hospital Corps, and by No. 1,865, Private John Murray,
92nd Highlanders. I recommend Corporal Farmer to
favourable consideration for the Victoria Cross, and Private
Murray for Distinguished Service MedaL

"Corporal Farmer showed a spirit of self-abnegation and
an example of cool bravery which cannot be too highly com-
mended. While the Boers closed with our troops near the
wells, Corporal Farmer held a white flag over the wounded,
and when the arm holding the flag was shot through, he
called out that he had 'another.' He then raised the flag
with the other arm and continued to do so until that also
was pierce'd with a bullet."
Major Fraser's report is illustrated by sketches of
the Majuba height, showing the route and positions
taken by the column which he led. We ,make the
following extracts from the report :
"The men, heavily weighted as they were, had made
extraordinary efforts to reach the top, and were extremely
exhausted. On our return they were extended all round the
brow, showing on the sky line. The Boers were en irely
ignorant of our movements. General Colley forbade firing
on some of them below us, but some shots were tired with-
out orders at about 545 a.m. Sixteen men were posted at
' and a few at (5). The General now organised the defense
as follows :

"To the 92nd was assigned .the whole brow from (6) by (5)
round to between (4) and (3). One company extended, the
other in reserve in rear of the ridge, (7) (9). One company
of the 58th was ordered to hold the brow from (3) by (2) to
(1), the other company in reserve with the 92nd. The sailors
extended from (1) to (10), keeping a small reserve with the
others. The General thought the troops were too exhausted
for any systematic entrenchment, but the extended men
made cover of stones and turf, ct c., and two wells were dug
where shown.

"We looked down upon the whole position of Laing's
Nek, and saw three large Boer waggon laagers in rear of it
at 2,0 ,0 to 3,000 yards to north-west, and a fourth about
1,500 yards to west of us. ,hortly after 6 a.m. the Boers
Legan a desultory lire. I hey inspanned their oxen in
laagers and stood ready to go. At the same time rein-
forcements, mounted and on foot, kept coming up. We
counted 160 men in one party alone. These all worked up
skilfully under cover till wialin 600 yards from the brow,
and then kept up a rapid fire on is. Our men fired very
slowly and steadily to save ammunition. About 10 16
a.m., Colonel Stewart and I went with the General to (11)
where Commander Rotnilly stood to arrange to start the
sailors on an entrenchment at (1). Commander Romilly was
shot between us by men from below firing from the south-
west. Finding the ground so exposed, the General did not
give the order to entrench. The fire somewhat slackened
till 11.30 a.m. By this time the Boers had advanced up the
steep slopes, which were unseen from our shooting line. They
were massed under cover, and then moved up rapidly.
Some 15 or 20 of our men were now sent up the rocky peak
(6) on our extreme left, and a few sailors were sent to (1) to
guard our rear there. Colonel Stewart and my-
self and others took the rest of the reserves and
reinforced the shooting line about 12 noon but not finding
room for these supports whence they could shoot down the
brow, we withdrew, and posted them on a second ridge (7, 4)
about 12.15 to 12.30 p.m., The sailors at (1) now came run-
ning down, saying they were attacked from the east. We
sent them back to do the best they could. As the Boers
closed, General Colley was at (9), Colonel Stewart next him,
and I was on the left, towards (7); all in the shooting line.
We had succeeded in getting the men to fix bayonets. The
attack advanced, firing so rapidly we could only see their
rifles through the smoke as they crept up. Ours fired re
peatedly and fell fast. They began to retreat and make
for the last ridge (12) about 12.45 p.m. Colonel Stewart
ran back to rally them, and, failing to do so, was returning
to General Colley when t,e latter fell. As the Boers came
up the rocky ridge the remainder of our men fell back after
the others.

" I now went after our retreating men, walking from the
hollow towards the poißt (11), feeling too exhausted to
catch up the men; as I was near the hollow I saw General
Colley, with a few men moving back near the wells. He
turned round to face the enemy, and fell shot through the
head by fire from the rocky ridge which we had just left.
When I got between (11 and 1) our men were passing over
the ridge (1 and 2)

"Fresh 'firing parties now opened on me from below (0,
and in seeking shelter I went down the precipitous hillside
200 ft. or 3001 t.

"About midnight of the 26th-27th, a 3rd company of the
60th, with a small ammunition column, destined by General
Colley to come up to us on the Afternoon of the 27th, joined
the company at 'Y.' There they intrenched. An order was
sent from camp about 2 p.m. on the 27th for these companies
to retire. After leaving their iutrenchments, about 3 p.m.,
they were attacked by the Boers advancing from Alajuba,
but were in part covered by two companies of the 60th,
under Inguela, and by a troop of dismounted Hussars (15th)
sent up from camp. All these troops retreated without
much loss.

" About 1.30 to two p.m., when our retreat was ascer-
tained, two guns, and two companies of the 92nd were sent
out about a mile north of the camp, so as to clieck pursuit.
By these means the retreat was partly covered."

"Throughout the movement, and during the whole of the
action, Colonel Stewart seconded the General with great
activity and coolness. Commander Romilly, RN.; Major
Hay, 9•2nd Regiment, and Captain Morris, 58th Regiment,
all gave him unremitting support.
"The following were conspicuous for gallant conduct,
viz. :

"Lieutenant Hamilton, 92nd Regiment, and Lieutenant
Lucy, 58th Regiment; both were exposed to severe fire
during seven hours. Lieutenant Wright and McDonald,
92nd Regiment, behaved with the greatest coolness
and courage, and to the last made every effort to turn
the course of events. Captain McGregor, 92nd Regiment,
exposed himself constantly with the men of his regiment, in.
addition to performing his duties as Aide-de-Camp. Cor-
poral Farmer, of the Army Hospital Corps, held a white
flag over the wounded as the Boers closed near the wells,
when he was shot through the arm; he called out he had
"another," and held up the flag with his other arm till
shot through that also.

"Nothing could exceed the devotion of Drs. Landon and
Cornish, both of whom lost their lives in the discharge of
their duties.

'The conduct of the 92nd was excellent throughout, many
whose names I cannot recall, or did not know, behaved with
coolness, and their shooting was uniformly steady.

" I venture to submit that the causes that led to our
failure were the following, as regards the fight ;—(l) The
slopes below the brow of the plateau were too steep to be
searched by our fire, and cover existed up to the brow; (2)
the rocky ridge we occupied in second line, though the best
we had time to hold, did not cover more than fifty yards to
its front, as the plateau rolled continuously to the brow;
(2a) the men were too exhausted to entrench and hardly fit
to fight; (3) when the Boers gained the last ridge ours had to
descend almost impassable slopes and many were shot in
doing so. . _

" It is only right I should mention that, owing, I presume,
to its being constantly patrolled by Boer scouts, the Majuba
had not been reconnoitred beforehand. I must also add
that, although I saw a few men very short of ammunition,
my belief is that many had 20 to 40 rounds remaining before
the final attack."

Then follow in the Gazette despatches and enclosures
from Commodore Richards, describing the part taken
in the engagement of the Naval Brigade. Commodore
Richards mentions the conduct of Dr. Edward Mahon
as deserving of special approbation and reward. He
says there seems no doubt, from the report, that the
ball which passed through Captain Romilly's body
was an explosive bullet : - - -

"It is the first mention I have received of the employ-
ment of these barbarous missiles by the Boers, and was pro-
bably an exceptional case. The wounded men speak in high
terms of the kindness of the Boers towards them after the
conflict was over."
The descriptions of the engagement enclosed by
Commodore Richards are furnished by Sub-Lieutenant
A. L. Scott and Dr. Mahon. The latter, after
describing the mortal wound inflicted on Commander
Romilly, says:—
- - -

" The fire now became so hot, and the hospital being par
tially exposed to it, I had the Commander removed on a
stretcher by Bevis and Bone, L.S., to a sheltered spot on the
south-west front.

" I was returning to the hospital when I saw our force
beginning a retreat, which soon became a rout. The Boers
gained the rocks just above the hospital in great numbers,
and poured a tremendous fire indiscriminately on everybody
they saw. Dr. Landon and two of the A.H.C. were shot
down while attending to the wounded, the former being
mortally wounded.

"I then went back to the Commander, and fixed my hand-
kerchief on a stick, and held it up over him, but it was
almost immediately shot away, and a hot volley fired all
round us. Bevis then fixed a piece of lint on a bayonet, but
was immediately twice shot through the helmet. I ordered
him to lie down until the last of our men had passed us, and
did the same myself. When the Boers had driven our men
over the side of the hill, and had got within fifteen paces, I
got up with a piece of lint in my hand, and shouted to them
that I was a doctor, and had a wounded man with me: Two
or three of the younger Boers wanted to shoot us, but were
prevented by the elder men. The Boers then got All round
us, and opened fire on our men retreating down the side of
the hill.

"While they were thus engaged, Bevis and myself picked
up the stretcher and carried Commander nomWy back to
where the hospital was.

"When about half-way across we were surrounded by
Boers, who were with great difficulty prevented from -shoot-
ing the Commander as he lay, they being under the idea
that he was either Sir Garnet Wolseley or Sir Evelyn
Wood. Having assured them to the contrary, I asked to
see their Commander, who was pointed out to me (I think it
was Ferriora). I asked him protection for the wounded
which was immediately granted. In fact, after the heat of
the action, the Boers, especially the elder ones, were most
kind in their attention to the wounded, getting thenr water,
and some helping to bind up their wounds. I saw no Boers
killed or wounded.

It seems that Commander Romilly was being con-
veyed to the camp by four blue-jackets on a stretcher,
sut the party were stopped by the Boers, and three of
the men ordered back.

"lion-ever, they allowed one man to stay with him, and
there they remained all night under a bush. The Com-
mander was found by Dr. Ring, A.M.D., in the morning,
not much the worse, and was sent into camp, where he
arrived safely. (I did not know of this till afterwards.)
"At about six p.m. a thick mist began to come over the
hill, accompanied by a drizzling rain. Bevis and myself
searched as much of the hill as we could for wounded, and
found two or three, but were eventually compelled to desist
on account of the thickness of the mist. I had all the
wounded. 36 in number, placed on one spot near the well,
and luckily we found blankets und just enough waterproof
shgets to cover them all. All that we had to give them
WS,§ water and a little opium, the Boers having taken all
our brandy.
" It now commenced to rain heavily, and continued to do
so without intermission during the whole night, which much
aggravated the sufferings of the wounded. It also became
bitterly cold towards morning. The darkness was also so
Intense that it was almost impossible to attempt to alleviate
the sufferings of the wounded without stumbling over them.
We had neither lantern nor matches.

"Daylight returned at about five a.m., and with it also
the Boers. I found that four men had succumbed to the
inclemency of the weather during the night."

Dr. Mahon speaks most highly of the conduct of
William Bevis, sick-berth attendant, for his coolness
and courage during the action, and the invaluable
assistance he rendered afterwards. Commander
Bondlly died from mortification of the intestines at 2
p.m. on March 2.

The journeyman bakers of New York are striking
for more pay and shorter hours. On Tuesday four thousand
of them marched through the streets to Irving Hall. Out
of 1,200 employers 200 yielded to the strikers.

At the annual meeting of the Birmingham gun
trade on Tuesday it was reported that the number of barrels
proved during the year was 638,070, or 90,000 in excess of the
previous 4welv,e months. 'The chairtn`an tbintk out that
in 1871 the number of proofs in Birmingham exceeded those
of Liege by 36 per zent.. whereas last year the number of
barrels proved at Liege was 874,929, thus exceeding Birming-
ham by 36 per cent. There was nothing in the condition of
the two countries to enable Belgium to make guns cheaper
than Birmingham, and he recommended the subject to the
attention of the trade. Competition was to be expected
from America, for, notwithstanding the large number of
guns made in Birmingham for that particular market, the
proof-house had had notice of the importation of fowling-
pieces of American manufacture for proof, and consequently
for sale. in Birmingham.