o THE STORY OF THE 34TH COMPANY (MIDDLESEX) IMPERIAL YEOMANRY FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF PRIVATE NO. 6243 BY WILLIAM CORNER AUTHOR OF " SAN ANTONIO DB BEXAR " AND " MITLA, AN ARCHiSO LOGICAL STUDY " AngloBoerWar.com WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 1902 AngloBoerWar.com PEEFACE M So, for better and for worse, Henri Riel, accept my verse !" FTIHAT this book may fall into the hands of some readers who are not entirely familiar with the identity of the 34th Company is not improbable, and to ensure for these a clearer understanding of the story herein related it may perhaps be well to restate that the 34th Company was the first of three Imperial Yeomanry Companies raised in the County of Middlesex, the other two being the 35th and the 62nd Companies. The 34th and 35th Companies formed AngloBoerWar.comone half of the 11th Battalion, the 33rd East Rents and 86th West Eents being the other half.* The 11th Battalion, for the greater part of its cam­ paigning, was a part of the 17th Brigade, which was com­ manded by Major-General Boyes, and which in turn was a part of the Eighth Division of the great South African Army. The Eighth Division was commanded by Major- General Sir Leslie Bundle, and it operated in the eastern portions of the Orange Free State, which afterwards became the Orange Biver Colony. This old 34th Company was begun to be organised in December, 1899. It remained at the front, on active service, from April, 1900, to June, 1901, and during that period it suffered casualties to the amount of about fifty * Concerning a re-organisation of the 11th Battalion, see March 5,1901, page 409. PREFACE per cent, of its fighting strength. The complete list of its casualties forms Appendix m. to this volume. It is unnecessary here to enlarge upon its meaning. The medal given us for this work has three clasps, viz., " Wittebergen; " " Transvaal; " and " Cape Colony." For most of the view illustrations of the book I am indebted to the kindness of Captains Newnham and Boiler, and to Sergeant Le May of the 53rd Company, who put their best " snap shots" at my disposal, for which courtesy I take this opportunity of thanking them. Two illustrations, " A Morning Start," and " One of Prinsloo's Tents," were sent to me by a friend who thought them sufficiently typical to be included. I do not know by whom they were taken or I would here give the proper acknowledgment. It has been my good fortune that an interest, which from time to time has manifested itself in various helpful and kindly ways, has been maintained in the making of this book from its very beginnings by many of my comrades and friends. It is an interest of which I am proud. It hasAngloBoerWar.com been at once an encouragement and gratification to me. I dare not go so far as to name it a justification for these pages. It would savour too much of the old Adam of excuse to say that my comrades " beguiled me," though, in more senses than one, to them belongs the responsibility that these, my notes, have taken book form. Very early in the campaign I began, I confess, to take notes, to take them openly and frequently, but at first aimlessly and certainly without malice aforethought. Nevertheless I must have laid myself open to suspicion, for somehow it got about that I was writing a book, and so one more clear proof that even the appearance of evil should be avoided was established. Why it was taken for granted that I was plotting such un-original sin was never made very plain to me, but the accusation became so general that I soon found it easier not to deny the impeachment, and finally I became com- PREFACE vii mitted. I was pertinently asked, " If yon have not constituted yourself Scribe and Recorder to the Company to what purpose is all your scribbling ? " Once being convicted I rolled my somewhat incoherent snowball of notes more diligently than ever, tried to accept the situation gracefully, and began to realise that the best must be made of a bad job. To endeavour to fulfil in a measure certain generous expectations that were ex­ pressed, I felt would be the best acknowledgment that I could offer for that kindly interest. It was quite natural that advice should follow, and it was plenteously offered at almost every stage of the book's growth. Often it was very good. I was told, "Avoid the diary form," " Beware of the continuous narrative," " Your writing must possess a literary merit," " Enlarge upon the fighting; fighting is what the public want to hear about," " Spread on local colour," " Sprinkle Dutch about," " Give 'em beans." (I fancy " 'em " did not refer to the horses, but to some shadowy, indefinite authority for whom such a change of diet might be salutary.AngloBoerWar.com) " Cut it down, and then cut it down again; a book of 120 pages of large type should more than suffice to tell all there is worth telling about your Company." (It hardly need be stated that this piece of advice did not emanate from a member of our Company.) "Do not make your Preface too long; no one reads a Preface now- a-days." Alas! I fear that my book is altogether an example of how difficult it is to follow good advice, how­ ever desirous one might be of profiting by it. I know how many and extensive are its omissions, and that its faults are beyond any power of remedy I possess. To one counsellor I ventured : " But what do you understand by 1 local colour' ? " " Well," he answered, " for instance, don't you remember that horrible stench of dead horses and cattle that time we marched into from the east ? You might lay stress on that; bring it out." "But that," I protested, "was hardly so much a matter of local colour as of pervading odour?" "Oh, viii PREFACE don't be an idiot," he answered, " you know very well what I mean." And fired as it were by the sudden splendour of local colour, he ran on excitedly, " Don't you remember the frightened rabbits, how they used to scutter through camp, chased by a howling mob of men chucking bayonets, boots, and tins of jam, and how excited the native boys used to get over it all! Then how cunning the buck we drove before us were, knowing a skyline contour better than a prismatic compass. And the swallows, how clever they were at hunting flies disturbed at the edge of racing veldt fires, or fluttering ahead of our horses' feet in the noonday heat as our movement up the ridge disturbed their invisible prey and our invisible foes ! " " Capital! " said I. " Capital! " " Oh yes, then the Basutos and their concerts and their concertinas, and how the Sergeant-Major chopped up seven of 'em—concertinas I mean. And don't forget the camp calls—make the most of 'em. ' Boll up for your feed t' ' Stand by your kits!' ' Cawfee ap!' ' From the right number!' 'Fall in the Night Guard!' 'Who's got a AngloBoerWar.commatch?' and a hundred others. And, I say, what price the I.Y. language! And Cossack posts and pickets and " But he then fell upon another side of war—matters too sad to be dragged up in a Preface. There was food for thought in all this, but oh ! he did not mean " local colour " at all, although he thought he did. What he really meant was, " Show us again the great picture as we saw it! Becount to us those things which gave us such vivid impressions! Bring back to us those sensations that still vibrate in our memories! " It was a work of art he desired and not a mere journal of facts, and he was right to demand it, for the subject is worthy. I broke it to him as gently as I could, that for the best of reasons I could not supply it—and that I had not bargained for it, and that it was not down in the specifications. Another dear good comrade came to me and said, " I PREFACE ix say old chap, I want to write you up some notes about the music and the songs we have sung on trek and in camp. You know how music associates itself with places and things and doings, ' The Queen of the Earth' and 'Annie Laurie' will always seem to us to hover over our experiences at Klip Nek, won't they ?—no fear ! " Those notes were never written, for did he not all too soon (in the words of a song I mostly associate with him) " Die ! Die! Die like a Soldier ! Soldier of the Queen! " A friend to whom I sent my MS. with a hope that he might see his way to write a Preface for me, wrote to me, " Why didn't you make more of the result of your Com­ pany's doings. You seem to arrive at nothing. What were you supposed to be doing! What was the object of all your riding and fighting and trekking up and down? Others will ask this after reading your book—if they do read it. As for a Preface how would this do ? " So they hunted and they hollo'd, till the setting of the sun ; An* they'd nought to bring away at last, when th' huntin'-day was doneAngloBoerWar.com.