Regiments.Officers.Men.
K.W.K.W.
Royal Dragoons--26
13th Hussars----
Royal Artillery3101898
Roy. Engineers----
Queen's West Surrey31030245
K.O. Lancs34107225
Royal Fusiliers--569
King's Liverpl.----
Devons-716189
Somerset L.I.311663
West Yorkshire2527173
Lancashire Fus.61285247
Royal Welsh Fusiliers221054
Scottish Rifles61049102
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers51498248
East Surrey1627176
Border161420
Dorsets-1327
South Lancs2426121
Middlesex--2071
K. Roy. Rifles3947143
York and Lanc.-413137
Durham L.I.2620118
Roy. Irish Fus.--1488
Connaught R.-756177
R. Dublin Fus.51289348
Rifle Brigade-1230151

The Defence of Ladysmith,[33] October 29, 1899, to February 27, 1900.

The actual siege of Ladysmith commenced when Sir George White met with the reverse at Lombards' Kop on October 30, and lasted for four months. With the large force at his disposal there was but small chance of the place being carried by assault, but there was always the possibility of its being compelled to surrender by famine. Fortunately, in White we had a commander whose reputation for personal bravery was proverbial, and he had with him senior officers whose names were almost as well known for their gallantry. In his garrison were seasoned regiments of old soldiers who had but recently arrived from India. The Boers had experienced the metal of White's men at Talana and at Elandslaagte, and cared little to come again to close quarters with them.

During that long siege of four months the Boers made but one attempt to attack the place. This action, known as Cæsar's Camp (January 6), was one of the hardest-fought actions of the war, our losses amounting to 18 officers and 158 men killed, 29 officers and 221 men wounded, whereas the total casualties for the rest of the siege only reached the total of 6 officers and 62 men killed, 33 officers and 262 men wounded. The losses by sickness were not unusually heavy. That they were not heavier was due to the cheerful face put on the situation by the brave commander and the self-devotion of the officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps, who, as ever, showed themselves as careless of their own lives as they were tenderly careful of those of the men committed to their charge.[34]

Casualties at the Defence of Ladysmith.

Regiments.Officers.Men.
K.W.K.W.
5th Dragoon Guards-419
5th Lancers17214
18th Hussars-1919
19th Hussars--616
Royal Artillery----
Roy. Engineers2177
Devons342550
Leicesters21526
Gloucesters--89
K. Roy. Rifles3-4258
Manchesters1104990
Gordon Highl.231625
Rifle Brigade293243

With the surrender of Cronje's army, the relief of Ladysmith, and the entry of our army into Bloemfontein, it was hoped that the back of the enemy was broken. The war, however, dragged on for close on two years, the principal incidents being the relief of Mafeking by Brigadier-General Mahon on May 15, the occupation of Johannesburg by Lord Roberts on the 31st of the same month, and the entry into Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, on June 5. The Boers showed marvellous powers of recuperation, and many hard actions were fought ere they were subdued. In the month of October the aged President Kruger deserted his fellow-countrymen, and embarked for Europe, and on the 25th of that month Lord Roberts formally proclaimed the annexation of the two Republics to the Empire, and in the following month Lord Roberts handed over the command to General Lord Kitchener. Then we entered on a long period of guerilla warfare, for which our troops were little prepared. More reinforcements were called for, and by the close of the year 30,000 men were sent out to South Africa. It was not until the month of March, 1902, that the Boer commanders consented to treat, although the hopelessness of the struggle must have been long apparent to the meanest understanding, and on May 31, 1902, the conditions of surrender were signed. Never was an enemy treated with more consideration.

The war in the Transvaal was noteworthy in many ways. It is true that in the campaign in Egypt a small body of Canadian Voyageurs had volunteered for service up the Nile, and that the Government of New South Wales had despatched a contingent to our assistance at Suakin in 1885; but during the war in South Africa contingents were despatched from all our dominions beyond the seas. Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, and Tasmania all had their forces in the field; whilst in the regiments of Yeomanry were to be found men drawn from all ranks of society and from all parts of our Empire—from the islands of the West Indies to Hong-Kong. Then, again, it was the first occasion in which men from our Volunteer corps had been permitted to strengthen the ranks of their line battalions, and the first in which the Yeomanry and Militia had been pushed forward into the fighting-line. There were two great lessons taught by the war—the one that our military organization was not adapted to modern warfare, and the second that the Mother Country could count on the warm-hearted support of her children beyond the seas.