Ultimately, seven VCs were awarded for heroism at Colenso, all in recognition of extreme valour connected to the attempts to recover the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries.
The citation of Captain Reed (Later, Major General Hamilton Lyster Reed, VC, CB, CMG, (1869–1931). Born in Dublin, Reed joined the Royal Field Artillery in 1888. In the latter stages of the Boer War, Reed served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General for Intelligence. He would go on to serve as a Military Attaché with the Turkish Army during the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, and commanded the 15th (Scottish) Division in the Great War, then the 52nd (Lowland) Division in the 1920s) of the 7th Battery RFA’s award was as follows:
Captain Reed, who had heard of the difficulty, shortly afterwards brought down three teams from his battery to see if he could be of any use. He was wounded, as were five of the thirteen men who rode with him, one was killed; and thirteen out of twenty-one horses were killed before he got half-way to the guns, and he was obliged to retire.[i]
Captain Congreve’s citation reads:
At Colenso on the 15th December, 1899, the detachments serving the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, had all been either killed, wounded, or driven from their guns by Infantry fire at close range, and the guns were deserted. About 500 yards behind the guns was a donga in which some of the few horses and drivers left alive were sheltered. The intervening space was swept with shell and rifle fire. Captain Congreve, Rifle Brigade, who was in the donga, assisted to hook a team into a limber, went out, and assisted to limber up a gun. Being wounded, he took shelter; but, seeing Lieutenant Roberts fall, badly wounded, he went out again and brought him in. Captain Congreve was shot through the leg, through the toe of his boot, grazed on the elbow and the shoulder, and his horse shot in three places.[ii]
The bravery of Lt. Freddy Roberts and Corporal George Nurse (Later, Lieutenant George Edward Nurse VC (1873–1945). Born in the Ulster town of Inniskilling / Enniskillen, Nurse would go on to be commissioned and serve in the Royal Artillery during the Great War) was summed up very succinctly (almost churlishly) in their joint citation, tacked on to that of Congreve:
Lieutenant Roberts assisted Captain Congreve. He was wounded in three places. Corporal Nurse also assisted. [iii]
These first four medals were all Gazetted on 2 February 1900, and this leads to a degree of confusion, as some accounts of the action refer to only these being awarded. In ‘With the Flag to Pretoria’, which was published in 1900, Congreve, Reed, Roberts and Nurse are referred to as ‘The Four’.[iv]
Two months later, the VC awarded to the Medical Officer, Major Babtie (Later, Lieutenant General Sir William Babtie, VC, KCB, KCMG (1859–1920), and Honorary Surgeon to the King) was Gazetted:
At Colenso, on the 15th December, 1899, the wounded of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, were lying in an advanced donga close in the rear of the guns without any Medical Officer to attend to them, and when a message was sent back asking for assistance, Major W. Babtie, R A.M.C., rode up under a heavy rifle fire, his pony being hit three times. When he arrived at the donga, where the wounded were lying in sheltered corners, he attended to them all, going from place to place exposed to the heavy rifle fire which greeted anyone who showed himself. Later on in the day, Major Babtie went out with Captain Congreve to bring in Lieutenant Roberts, who was lying wounded on the veldt. This also was under a heavy fire.[v]
And a year later, the VC awarded to Private George Ravenhill of the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers was Gazetted. Ravenhill had been part of the infantry escort for the guns (provided by A and B companies of his regiment) and the citation reads as follows:
At Colenso, on the 15th December, 1899, Private Ravenhill went several times, under a heavy fire, from his sheltered position as one of the escort to the guns, to assist the officers and drivers who were trying to withdraw the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, when the detachments serving them had all been killed, wounded, or driven from them by infantry fire at close range, and helped to limber up one of the guns that were saved.[vi]
George Albert Ravenhill VC (1872–1921) was born in Aston, Birmingham, and joined the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers, serving in India. He transferred to the 2nd battalion in 1898, and would see extensive service in the Boer War, winning both the Queen’s South Africa Medal, and the King’s South Africa Medal, with clasps for Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal and Cape Colony. Ravenhill left the army in 1908 and quickly fell on hard times, however. Tragically, his VC is one of only eight to have been involuntarily forfeited after Ravenhill was imprisoned for theft – this meant he also lost his VC annuity, then worth £50. Even though he would go on to serve in various theatres in the Great War, Ravenhill died in poverty aged only 49 – a terrible way for a brave and loyal man to have been treated. Indeed, shortly before Ravenhill’s death, King George V declared that once awarded, VC should never be forfeited.
The seventh, and final, VC of the battle was belatedly awarded to Captain Schofield, who had led the first – and only successful – attempt to recover some of the abandoned guns. As Schofield had been ordered to make the attempt, rather than volunteering so to do, he was initially denied a VC, and instead awarded a DSO. This would later be changed, and his VC was Gazetted on 30 August 1901 – almost 2 years after the battle. The citation read:
At Colenso, on the 15th December, 1899, when the detachments serving the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, had all been killed, wounded, or driven from them by Infantry fire at close range, Captain Schofield went out when the first attempt was made to extricate the guns, and assisted in withdrawing the two that were saved. In consequence of the above the appointment of this Officer to the Distinguished Service Order, which was notified in the London Gazette of the 19th April, 1901, is cancelled.[vii]
It is worth noting that, throughout the long history of the award, there have only ever been three sets of fathers and sons who were both VC winners, and yet two of these have links to Colenso. Lt. Freddy Roberts followed in the footsteps of his father, who had won his VC in the Indian Mutiny, while a son of Captain William Congreve (also called William) would go onto to win a VC in the Great War.
NOTES:
[i] The London Gazette of 2 February 1900, Numb. 27160, p. 689
[ii] The London Gazette of 2 February 1900, Numb. 27160, p.689
[iii] The London Gazette of 2 February 1900, Numb. 27160, p.689
[iv] Wilson, With the Flag to Pretoria, Vol.1, p.99
[v] The London Gazette of 20 April 1900, Numb. 27184, p.2547
[vi] The London Gazette of 4 June 1901, Numb. 27320, p.3769
[vii] The London Gazette of 30 August 1901, Numb. 27350, p.5737
3 Comments
The donga being 500 yards behind the gun line is always interesting as the manual of the time states that the wagon lines should be 200 to 400 yards from the gun position. this would also have left them exposed to Boer rifle fire.
The two Congreves are also interesting. The old man, then captain Walter Congreve who won the VC at Colenso, in WWI as a Major General was the general officer commanding XIII Corps and gave the order for the South African Brigade to hold Delville Wood at all costs during the Somme battles.
His son Billy (William) won the VC during WWI on the Somme and was killed on the 20th of July 1916 in Longueval, the village next to Delville Wood.
too many South African influences.
Interesting points, Dominic.
I was trying to confirm a link between these Congreves and the inventor of the Napoleonic-era Congreve Rocket, Sir William Congreve, but no luck yet. Surely there has to be a connection?
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