The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-05
COLONEL KEKEWICH.


 One of the officers Who Has Been Shut
 Up in Kimberley.
 One of the many momentous lessons taught by the present war, that which may be laid to most closely to heart is
 that youth Is a nearly priceless gift in Ia commander of men. There are of
 course exceptions to every rule; cases may be quoted where hale and hearty
 veterans have achieved abiding suc-
 cess, and at this moment great issues
 are controlled by the aged Commander
 in Chief in South Africa.
 But for executive work the young and l active have obviously and necessarily
 the best of It. They more than make up in energy, dash, and sustained hope | fitness for the show wisdom that ma | turity gives. There are. moreover old heads to be found on young shoulders,
 and the freshness of spirit that has SUD-
 ported such men as Baden-Powell
 Kckewich. Pitcher, and Plumer in their
 arduous tasks has been allied with
 much cool. calm judgment, and a. | IL IS lO lltSC
 comparatively young officers that we
 owe the most brilliant flashes in the
 dark pail of disappointment. And they are young.
 ] Col Baden-P Powell is only forty-two | Lieut.. Col. Kekewitch is only forty-one,
 Lieut.. Col. Pitcher. is forty-one, Lieut.. Col. Plumer just year older. Another name might be mentioned in this con- nection, despite the failure with which it is associated, that of Major Thorney- croft, who held Spion Kop with the local regiment until it was all cut up or swept out of existence. We have 1t on the authority of the General responsi- ble really for the reverse that the young leader of forty did all that man could do in his terrible position.
 Robert George Kekewich, who what ever the issue at Kimberley, will de deserve to rank with the most gallant and intrepid of British soldiers, Is a Devonshire man--one of the Kekewichs of Peamore, near Exeter. He entered the army from the militia in 1874, gazetted to the One Hundred and Sec ond Regiment. but passing almost at once to the Third East Kent, the his- torical and ever famous Bluffs" He was soon noted for his devotion to hts work and within a couple of years gained the best reward that a young officer can secure--the appointment of Adiutant to his regiment--a post that demands much knowledge of drill and detail and yet more insight into char acter and powers of command. He was now to see service for the first time, and when just of age, accom- panied his regiment when quartered at Singapore on the Perak expedition, planned for the coercion of native Rajah and a rebelious tribe.
 For nearly ten years Kekewich was to be denied further opportunity for distinction. Though most of the time he continued Adjutant of his regiment, working still in the same practical school, that of the management of men, His next chance came in 1884 when the tardy dispatch of the Nile expedition to attempt .he rescue of Charles Gordon from Khartoum called into acquisition a number of Special service" officers, and Kekewich's regimental record in the "Buffs' won him selection with the rest
 To his excellent antecedents he added many useful personal traits. He was already known as sound, safe young fellow, of untiring energy and a happy, tactful manner in dealing with others above and below him. His ap- pointment to the staff of the expedition as Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General was altogether right, and he soon proved it.
 Nor did the withdrawal of Wolseley's | force from the Soudan end his con- nection with Egypt as a theater of war, When Osman Digna and the desert | tribes broke into disturbance on the Red Sea lttoral, there was brief cam paign from Suakim under Sir Francis | Crenfell. in which Capt. Kekewich act ed as brigade major to the British | troops engaged.
 He was now only Brevet Major after | eleven years service, but the full regi- | mental rank was not given him for an- | other five years, and then in another | regiment, the Inniskilling Fualliers. | While in this rank he had the good for- tune to join the staff of the Command erin Chief in Madras as military sec retary and after that to fill the same to the Lieutenant General in that garrison in 1898. He was brought into the Loyal North Lancashire as it's Colonel, specially selected for t'se command at a time when the regiment wanted pulling together. It was a mere accident that it was serv- ing at Cape Town last spring, and little else that took him northwa-d to Kim berley with a portion of the regiment ] short time before it was beleaguered. l
 His career since then has been public property, and his name will ever be associated with one of the most gallant defenses in our military annals. Full details are still wanting to do justice to lls efficient leadership, but we can ap- preciate his fine qualities from the re- suits achieved. Undaunted tenacity in the first place, for he has never once unlimited resourcefulness, fer never have defensive means been more lacking at the outset of a siege or