London's contribution.
Dec. 1899.] The Wives, Widows, and Children cared for.
The City Council, at a meeting held on December 20, decided to select detachments of twenty picked marksmen from volunteer regiments and to form them into its battalion of City Imperial Volunteers, 1,000 strong. The sum of £25,000 was contributed to the equipment of this force by the City Funds, and the freedom of the City was promised to every volunteer in the organisation. Of this and other patriotic movements in the Empire's capital we shall have more to say shortly. Private individuals came forward with the most splendid generosity to contribute to the fund raised to defray the cost of the force. Messrs. Wilson, of Hull, the great shipowners, offered free of charge the use of a fitted transport for three months—an offer which was, it was calculated, equivalent to the gift of £15,000. Besides the infantry battalion, the City provided a battery of four guns and a detachment of mounted infantry. All ranks and all conditions showed equal alacrity in helping the cause. Those who were of fighting age and physique were ready to give their lives; the rest contributed money to the best of their ability. Working men subscribed their pence and shillings to keep in comfort the wives and children of their comrades who had gone to the front. And unquestionably the manner in which the nation had done its duty by raising hundreds of thousands for the wives, widows, and children of the soldiers, and for the comfort of the wounded contributed in no small degree to the alacrity with which the call to arms was met. The soldier was everywhere what he should always have been—a privileged and honoured man.
HIT!
A wounded New South Wales Mounted Rifle.
[Dec. 1899.
Imperial Yeomanry.
For the raising and equipment of the Imperial Yeomanry, 8,000 strong, private effort and subscription were entirely responsible. The work of organisation was undertaken by Lord Chesham, and in every county committees were formed to further the recruiting of the corps. The idea was to enrol young men who were good riders and good shots, and it was carried out with very fair success. There was no want of men; the only difficulty was to find suitable men. The great nobles and wealthy families of the country were forward in volunteering. The Duke of Marlborough, Earl Dudley, Lord Alwyne Compton, the Marquis of Hertford, the Hon. T. A. Brassey—a well-known writer upon naval matters—and the Hon. Schomberg K. M'Donnell, private secretary to Lord Salisbury, were a few typical names from the long list of those who sacrificed comfort and ease for a life of pain and hardship in South Africa. Among the various corps raised were companies of rough riders, composed of "bachelor gentlemen" who provided their own arms, and several companies the ranks of which were entirely filled by gentlemen. In all, nineteen battalions were enlisted, in each case four companies strong, the companies numbered consecutively from 1 to 76. More might have been raised, but in March, 1900, enlistment was stopped by the Government.