Andrew Gilbert Wauchope Major - General Andrew Gilbert Wauchope ( 5 July 1846 – 11 December 1899 ) was a British Army officer , killed commanding a brigade at the Battle of Magersfontein in the South African War . Andrew Gilbert was the second son of Andrew Wauchope of Niddrie Marischal , Midlothian , Scotland and Frances - Mary née Lloyd daughter of Henry Lloyd , Esq . , Co . Tipperary , Ireland . Following education at Stubbington House School he was sent to HMS " Britannia " in 1859 to train as a naval cadet , then posted as a midshipman to " St George " the following year . He was not happy there , and obtained his discharge from the Navy on 3 July 1862 , shortly before his eighteenth birthday . He resolved to enter the Army , and purchased a second lieutenant ' s commission in the Black Watch in 1865 . In 1867 he was appointed lieutenant , and served as an adjutant from 1870 to 1873 . In 1873 he served in the Second Anglo - Ashanti War , detached on special service with a Hausa regiment ; he was twice wounded and mentioned in despatches . In July 1878 , the United Kingdom took control of Cyprus as a result of the Cyprus Convention , and Wauchope was appointed governor of the Paphos region , returning to England in August 1880 . He was promoted Captain in 1878 , and made CMG in 1880 . He served on the staff in the Transvaal War in 1881 , and with his regiment in the 1882 Anglo - Egyptian War . That year , he married his first wife , Elythea Ruth Erskine ; she would die in childbirth in 1884 , leaving him twin sons . He fought in the Sudan Campaign in 1884 , where he was severely wounded at the Battle of El Teb on 29 February , and mentioned in despatches . He was promoted to major in March , and given a brevet lieutenant - colonelcy in May , before serving on the Nile Expedition , where he was again severely wounded at the Battle of Kirbekan in February 1885 . Following the expedition he returned to Scotland to manage his family estates at Niddrie and Yetholm , which he had recently inherited . The coal mines of Niddrie were highly productive , and as a result he became one of the richest men in Scotland . In 1893 he married his second wife , Jane Muir , the daughter of William Muir ; they had no children , and she would survive him . A staunch Conservative , he was politically active , and opposed Gladstone for the constituency of Midlothian in the 1892 election ; whilst he did not win , he reduced Gladstone ' s majority by over 80 % . He opposed the coal strike of 1894 and the proposed eight - hour work limits for miners , but was generally recognised by his workers as a generous employer ; during the coal strike he supported the families of the strikers . He again ran for Parliament at a by - election in UK Parliament constituency in June 1899 , losing to Arthur Dewar . On the local level , he was an elder of his parish church and member of the local school board , as well as the parish council and the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland . He was promoted to colonel in 1888 , being made CB in 1889 and given command of the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch in 1894 . In 1898 he commanded a brigade in the reconquest of the Sudan , seeing action at Atbara and Omdurman , and was promoted to major - general that year as a result . He was appointed to command the 3rd ( Highland ) Brigade in the South African War , which saw action at Belmont and Modder River as part of the force sent to relieve Kimberley . Pushing further , they again encountered the Boer force at Magersfontein In the resulting Battle of Magersfontein , the Highland Brigade was ordered to make a dawn attack on the Boer defences . However , the force was spotted before it was prepared to attack , and faulty reconnaissance meant that the enemy positions were not properly located ; the column came under heavy fire as it struggled to deploy for action . Wauchope was killed by rifle fire in the opening minutes of combat ; the brigade was pinned and went to ground . It held its position for a short while - after Wauchope ' s death , it was leaderless , and no - one would take command until late in the afternoon - and despite the Guards Brigade being in support , in the early afternoon it was routed . Wauchope ' s dying words are a subject of some dispute ; Douglas ' biography , quotes them as " Don ' t blame me for this , lads " . Arthur Conan Doyle wrote that :