| Battle of Laing's Nek | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of First Boer War | |||||||
 Elizabeth Thompson's Floreat Etona! | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom |  South African Republic | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| G. Pomeroy Colley | Piet Joubert | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,216 | 2,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
84 killed Total: 199 | 14 killed Total: 41 | ||||||
  Location within South Africa | |||||||
The Battle of Laing's Nek was a major battle fought at Laing's Nek during the First Boer War on 28 January 1881.
Following the Boer declaration of independence for the Transvaal in 1880 the British suffered a series of disastrous defeats in attempting to regain the territory.
On 20 December 1880, Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Robert Anstruther and elements of his regiment, the 94th, marched from Lydenburg to Pretoria, the regiment’s band leading the column playing the popular song "Kiss Me, Mother Darling".
At Bronkhorstspruit the force was stopped by Boers who courteously required the "Red Soldiers" to turn back. Anstruther equally courteously refused at which point the column was devastated by rifle fire from the surrounding Boer ambush. Of the 259 in the column, 155 officers and men became casualties as did some of the women accompanying the regiment.
Instead of waiting for the reinforcements, the British High Commissioner for South East Africa, Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, assembled what troops he could and rushed forward, claiming to be moving to relieve the British garrisons in the Transvaal.
Colley gathered his force at Newcastle in Natal, dispatched an ultimatum to the Boers and, on its rejection, advanced towards the Transvaal border.
The first British camp on the march lay some 4 miles short of Laing’s Nek, a ridge in the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains that blocked the road between Newcastle and Standerton in Natal, South Africa. [1]
The British Natal Field Force, commanded by General Colley, numbered around 1,216 officers and men, including 5 companies of the 58th Regiment, 5 companies of the 3rd Battalion, the 60th Rifles, about 150 cavalrymen of the Mounted Squadron, a party of Royal Navy sailors with two 7-pound guns, and finally a unit of men from the Royal Artillery with four 9-pound guns.
The Boers, under the command of Commandant-General Joubert had about 2,000 men in the area, with at least 400 fortifying the heights around Laing's Nek. They had little difficulty in repulsing General Colley's inadequate force.
On the morning of 28 January, Colley tried to force a way through the pass. The battle began at around about half past nine with a heavy bombardment with the four 9-pounder guns and two 7-pound guns of the British Naval Brigade pounding the Boer positions on Table Hill. [2] : 218
Ten minutes later, the main British force, made up of the 58th Regiment, went forward and had difficulty advancing over the broken ground towards the summit. Further down the line, the Mounted Squadron made a charge against the Boer positions on nearby Brownlow's Kop. But, on reaching the summit, the British cavalry were fired upon by a line of entrenched Boers on the reverse slope, suffering many casualties, forcing them to withdraw.
By 10:30, with their threat to their flank removed, the Boers moved to attack the 58th Regiment still advancing on Table Hill where at 11:00, at reaching the top of the summit, the British were fired upon by concealed Boers in trenches just 160 yards (150 m) away and suffered even more casualties, including both commanding officers, Major Hingeston and Colonel Deane being killed. [2] : 220
While this was happening, a small party of Boers actually advanced from their positions on the lower slopes of nearby Majuba Hill and engaged the Naval Brigade near the British camp at Mount Prospect. Return rifle fire from the British kept the Boers back. By 11:10, two companies of the 3/60th Rifles had moved up Table Hill to cover the retreat of the 58th Regiment and by noon, the battle was over.
The British lost 84 killed, 113 wounded, and 2 captured during what was perceived as a fiasco. Most of the casualties were from the 58th Regiment, with 74 killed and 101 wounded, around 35% of their total strength. Among those killed in the battle were many of General Colley's staff including Major Poole and Lieutenants Dolphin, Elwes and Inman. The Boers reported their losses at 14 killed and 27 wounded. One month later, General Colley was killed at the Battle of Majuba Hill, which ended the war, after which Transvaal was recognised as an independent state.
The Victoria Cross is the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
The First Boer War, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal. The war resulted in a Boer victory and eventual independence of the South African Republic. The war is also known as the First Anglo–Boer War, the Transvaal War or the Transvaal Rebellion.
The Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881 was the final and decisive battle of the First Boer War that was a resounding victory for the Boers. The British Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley occupied the summit of the hill on the night of 26–27 February 1881. Colley's motive for occupying Majuba Hill, near Volksrust, now in South Africa, may have been anxiety that the Boers would soon occupy it themselves, since he had witnessed their trenches being dug in the direction of the hill.
Alan Richard Hill later Hill-Walker, VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He won the VC for his actions on 28 January 1881 at the Battle of Laing's Nek during the First Boer War.
Laing's Nek, or Lang's Nek is a pass through the Drakensberg mountain range in South Africa, south of Charlestown, at 27°27′39″S29°52′10″E at an elevation of 5400 to 6,000 ft (1,800 m). It is the lowest part of a ridge that slopes from Majuba Hill east to the Buffalo River. Before the opening of the railway in 1891, the road over the nek was the main artery of communication between Durban and Pretoria. The railway crosses the pass via a 2,213 ft (675 m) tunnel.
Battle of Schuinshoogte, also known as Battle of Ingogo, was fought north of Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, on 8 February 1881 during the First Boer War. General Sir George Pomeroy Colley's communications with Newcastle were under constant harassment by mounted Boer patrols under Commander J D Weilbach after the Battle of Laing's Nek and as a result he planned to clear a path along the Newcastle-Mount Prospect road to better protect the British supply line, and receive fresh reinforcements he needed to bolster his ranks.
Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, was an Irish British Army officer who became Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Natal and High Commissioner for South Eastern Africa. Colley was killed in action, at the Battle of Majuba Hill.
The battle of Bronkhorstspruit was the first major engagement of the First Boer War. It took place by the Bronkhorstspruit river, near the town of Bronkhorstspruit, Transvaal, on 20 December 1880. Threatened by the growing numbers of militant Boers in the Pretoria region, the British recalled the 94th Regiment of Foot, which had several companies garrisoned in towns and villages across the wider area. The regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Philip Robert Anstruther, led a 34-wagon column consisting of roughly 250 men on a 188-mile (303 km) journey from Lydenburg back to Pretoria. A similar-sized Boer commando force, led by Francois Gerhardus Joubert, was ordered to intercept and stop the British.
The Battle of Colenso was the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War. It was fought between British and Boer forces from the independent South African Republic and Orange Free State in and around Colenso, Natal, South Africa on 15 December 1899.
The Battle of Magersfontein was fought on 11 December 1899, at Magersfontein, near Kimberley, South Africa, on the borders of the Cape Colony and the independent republic of the Orange Free State. British forces under Lieutenant General Lord Methuen were advancing north along the railway line from the Cape to relieve the siege of Kimberley, but their path was blocked at Magersfontein by a Boer force that was entrenched in the surrounding hills. The British had already fought a series of battles with the Boers, most recently at Modder River, where the advance was temporarily halted.
The 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1881.
In the Battle of Blood River Poort or Scheeper's Nek on 17 September 1901 a Boer commando led by Louis Botha crushed a British force commanded by Major Hubert Gough during the Second Boer War.
The Battle of Ladysmith was one of the early engagements of the Second Boer War. A large British force which had concentrated at the garrison town of Ladysmith launched a sortie on 30 October 1899, against Boer armies which were slowly surrounding the town. The result was a disaster for the British. The main body was driven back into the town, and an isolated detachment of 800 men was forced to surrender to Commandant De Wet. The Boers did not follow up their advantage by proceeding towards the strategically important port of Durban, and instead began a siege of Ladysmith, which was relieved after 118 days. John Norwood was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the battle.
Robert Hamond Elwes was a Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards famous for having died valiantly at the Battle of Laing's Nek, South Africa as immortalized in Elizabeth Thompson's painting, "Floreat Etona!" (1898).
The Natal Field Force (NFF) was a multi-battalion field force originally formed by Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley in Natal for the First Boer War. It was later re-established for the Second Boer War (1899–1902) and commanded by Major-General Sir Redvers Buller VC GCB GCMG.
The siege of Lydenburg was a siege carried out by South African Republican forces on British-occupied Lydenburg, between January and March 1881 during the First Boer War. Despite fierce British resistance, the Boers reclaimed the town following the British defeat at the end of the war. The siege lasted 84 days.
Floreat Etona! is an 1882 painting by Elizabeth Thompson, Lady Butler. The title is the motto of Eton College, "may Eton flourish". The painting depicts an incident that took place in 1881, during the First Boer War. it is held now in a private collection.
The Natal Mounted Police (NMP) were the colonial police force of the Colony of Natal created in 1874 by Major John Dartnell, a farmer and retired officer in the British Army as a semi-military force to bolster the defences of Natal in South Africa. When required the NMP would be assisted by the Colony's volunteer regiments including the Natal Carbineers. It enlisted European officers, NCOs and natives. Men of the NMP fought and died in the Battle of Isandlwana and at Rorke's Drift during the Zulu War of 1879.
Major-General Sir John George Dartnell KCB, CMG was a British soldier and police officer who was the founder and first Commandant of the Natal Mounted Police. A veteran of the Indian Mutiny, he saw action in every campaign in South Africa from 1879 including the Zulu War and the First and Second Boer Wars.
Majuba: Heuwel van Duiwe, is a 1968 South African War drama film directed by David Millin and co-produced by Roscoe C. Behrmann and Hyman Kirstein. The film stars Roland Robinson, Reinet Maasdorp, and Patrick Mynhardt in lead roles along with Siegfried Mynhardt, Anna Neethling-Pohl and Morné Coetzer in supportive roles.
Christiaan Botha was a younger brother of Louis Botha (1862–1919) and Philip Botha (1851-1901), but an older brother of Theunis Jacobus Botha (1867-1930), and likewise a Boer general in the Second Boer War (1899–1902) who then both fought the British to the end.