[8] Colonel Benson, who has died of the wounds received in the attack, had played an active part in the present campaign, and had accomplished much good work. He belonged to the Royal Artillery, served in the Soudan, and was present in the engagement of Hasheen, where he was slightly wounded, and at the destruction of Tamai. He also took part in the expedition to Ashanti under Sir Francis Scott in 1895, and went with the Dongola Expedition under Lord Kitchener in 1896 as brigade-major of the mounted corps. He was twice mentioned in despatches, and was granted several decorations.
[9] Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Davis Guinness, R.A., was the eldest son of the late Mr. Thomas Hosea Guinness, who married Mary, heiress of Mr. Charles Davis, of Coolmanna, county Carlow. He was educated at Eton, became lieutenant in the Royal Artillery February 18, 1880; captain on January 19, 1888; and major on September 23, 1897. He married in 1889 the Hon. Lucy Matilda, eldest daughter of the sixth Lord Massy, and leaves a son, Hugh Spencer, who was born in 1890.
CHAPTER XV
THE CLOSE OF 1901—PROGRESS IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER
The establishment of constabulary posts from the Valley of the Modder towards Bultfontein and Boshof was being carried out simultaneously with the completion of a blockhouse line from Kroonstad to Coal Mine Drift on the Vaal. A blockhouse line from Kroonstad by Lindley, Bethlehem to Harrismith, and another by Heilbron and Frankfort towards Tafel Kop (a favourite Boer haunt and signalling station) and beyond it by Botha’s Pass, promised to curtail the enemy’s scheme of operations and push him into remote corners whence he would be unable to interfere either with the proposed extension of the rail from Harrismith to Bethlehem, or with another line working from Bloemfontein to the Waterworks and thence to Ladybrand.
TRANSVAAL (EAST)
General Bruce-Hamilton at the end of October assumed the direction of operations in the Eastern Transvaal, and the columns under his command were those of Colonels Allenby and Campbell at Standerton, of Colonel Barter at Leeukop (forty-six miles west of Bethel), of Colonel Mackenzie (late Benson’s) at Brugspruit. Colonels Williams and the Hon. C. G. Fortescue were moving west of Middelburg. Under the auspices of these troops and of those of General Spens, the Standerton-Ermelo line of blockhouses was constructed, and the constabulary posts to the line Brugspruit Station, Waterful Station, were established. At the conclusion of these useful operations General Bruce-Hamilton, having forced the enemy in a corner as it were and prepared for the further advance of his columns to the east, made Bethel his headquarters.
A concentration was afterwards arranged for the purpose of hemming the guerillas against the Eastern Transvaal Frontier, and consequently some of these struggled to break through the sweeping columns and the constabulary posts, while others, in knots, returned and pervaded the Delagoa Railway. They had of course to be dealt with, and Colonel Wools-Sampson, whose services had been invaluable to the lamented Colonel Benson, again applied himself to the locating of the offensive intruders. His information was brief and to the point. General B. Hamilton, with portions of General Spens’ and Colonel Sir H. Rawlinson’s columns, surprised the marauders at dawn on the 4th of December at Oshoek, twenty miles south-west of Ermelo. Owing to the dash and enterprise with which the 8th Battalion Mounted Infantry closed with the enemy and prevented their escape, the captures amounted to 93 prisoners, 116 horses, 26 waggons, 29 Cape carts, besides ammunition and telegraph and signalling apparatus.
While this exciting affair was going forward between Ermelo and Carolina, Colonel Williams was chasing some Boer banditti under Viljoen, Prinsloo, and Erasmus, who were fleeing westwards in the direction of Knapdaar. The pursuit was carried to Welte-Vreden, where the enemy (in a strong position and numbering some 500) commanded the passages over the Olifants River. Colonel Williams’ small force was unequal to a decisive engagement, therefore he drew off, having killed 5 and taken 12 Boers, 8 waggons, and 3500 rounds of ammunition in the course of his westerly pursuit. On the 7th, Colonel Rawlinson made a grand night march from Ermelo (General B. Hamilton’s headquarters), and took 8 prisoners, while at the same time Colonel C. Mackenzie, moving from Carolina to Waterval, vigorously chased the enemy towards the Komati Valley, capturing 16, together with their horses, mules, and cattle.