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From: Patricia Frykberg <>
Subject: Re: [ZA] Brabant's Horse
Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 20:14:28 +1200
References: <F2C5193A-86AA-11D8-880A-000A958703BA@alphalink.com.au><005f01c41ad1$c7621f00$045623c4@oemcomputer>


At Wepener (or Jammerburg Drift) (April 1900) .With Brabant's Horse were the
CMR, Kaffrarian Rifles, Queenstown Volunteers all under Brigadier General
Brabant now in command of the Easter Cape Troops. and one or two Imperial
units the Royal Scots and Royal artillery.. De Wet in his own book "The
three Years War" says
"To tell the truth there is not a man amongst us who would have asked better
than to make prisoners of the Cape Mounted Rifles and Brabant's Horse. They
were Afrikanders, and as Afrikanders although neither Free Staters nor
Transvaalers they ought in our opinion to have been ashamed to fight against
us. The English, we admitted, had a perfect right to hire such sweepings and
use them against us, but we utterly despised them for allowing to be hired.
We felt that their motive was not to obtain the franchise of the Uitlanders
but -- five shillings a day!"
The siege lasted 16 days in the most awful weather. Some claim that this
siege was de Wet's biggest mistake. For he wasted 16 days. Had he gone on to
destroy lines of communication for the advancing Roberts things might have
gone differently. My father-in-law Wilhelm Frykberg, new from Sweden really
only wanted to be in the fight. I don't think his was pure conviction either
way!!!
Pat

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rosemary Dixon-Smith" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, 5 April 2004 05:33 PM
Subject: Re: [ZA] Brabant's Horse


> Brabant's Horse were Maj-Gen E Brabant's Mounted Infantry; there
> were two regiments (1st & 2nd) about 600 strong each in Jan 1900,
> and were raised at the beginning of the war. (Hall's Handbook of
> the Anglo-Boer War)
>
> Pakenham says: "..De Wet attacked and laid siege to nineteen
> hundred men of Brabant's Horse at Wepener. These were mostly
> Afrikaners from Cape Colony, and the thought that they had
> volunteered to serve the Crown (and earn five shillings a day in
> the process) whetted the appetites of De Wet's men. However, the
> Wepener garrison dug themselves in with skill; they had their
> backs to Basutoland (and an open telgraph wire throughout the
> siege).
> (This extract from Chapter 32 'Keeping De Wet from Defeat' 17
> Mar-April 1900; Pakenham's "The Boer War".)
>
> Ray - I recently read more about this unit and can't recall in
> which source - let you know when I find it.
>
> Regards
> Rosemary
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andrew Rodger" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 4:42 AM
> Subject: Re: [ZA] Brabant's Horse
>
>
> > There are, or were until recently, still some Brabants in SA;
> one I
> > recall was an Anglican canon who lived with Archdeacon and Mrs
> Rolfe at
> > Beda Hall, Fort Hare in the early fifties; he had a hilarious
> encounter
> > with the local magistrate after knocking down a donkey in the
> middle of
> > the road from Lovedale into Alice (which had been remade for
> the Royal
> > Visit in 1947 and apparently not touched since then). The
> magistrate
> > asked him why he had knocked it down. "Because I didn't see
> it."
> > "Where was it?" "In the middle of the road." "So why didn't
> you see
> > it?" "It was in a pothole, your worship."
> >
> > On Friday, April 2, 2004, at 08:51 PM, Ray Pitt wrote:
> >
> > > Good evening fellow list members,
> > > I was
> wondering if
> > > some
> > > of the military buff's out there could provide me with some
> details of a
> > > colonial unit called " Brabant's Horse". Were these men
> recruited
> > > from any
> > > one area, say for instance the Eastern Cape or Border areas?
> The name
> > > Brabant is one that I remember as there was a street in East
> London
> > > that was
> > > called Brabant street. I presume named after the said
> gentleman. Just
> > > who
> > > was he?
> > > Do lists of the enlisted men in this unit exist somewhere? I
> have
> > > reason to
> > > believe that some of my Ridgard ancestors were volunteers in
> this unit
> > > and I
> > > want to try and find out any details of just where they
> enlisted and, if
> > > possible, their service records.
> > > Kindest regards,
> > > Ray Pitt
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ==== SOUTH-AFRICA Mailing List ====
> > >
> *****************************************************************
> ******
> > > To find out about South African Research and how to do it
> please visit:
> > > http://home.global.co.za/~mercon/
> > >
> >
> > ______________________________
>
>
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