On this day, 125 years ago: Lord Ava mortally wounded at Wagon Hill

‘If he could have recovered the doctors say he would have been paralysed or would have lost his memory. He was the best type of Englishman’.

After their first attempt to storm Ladysmith on 9 November 1899 was defeated, the invading Boers lingered about for some weeks, licking their wounds. It was finally agreed that another attack would be launched in the early hours of 30 November. With the plans in place, the various commandos moved into position in the afternoon of 29 November, in readiness to commence the assault at 0200 hrs the next day. Rather than utilising this time to get their men ready, run through drills, prepare weapons, and to imprint the plan in their minds, instead, having all this time to spare actually worked against the Boers. The more time they had to think about the assault, the more they got cold feet. The boastful words shared at the krygsraad started to give way to doubt and fear: for all their earlier bravado, the prospect of facing the flashing bayonets of the British Tommies was not an appealing one. Sure enough, and true to form, yet another (unofficial) krygsraad was thus held by the junior officers who were meant to lead the attack^[i], and all these concerns, worries and misgivings came tumbling out: ‘The more they discussed the attack the less they liked it, and by one o’clock they had satisfactorily convinced one another that it was an impossibility, and that the best thing to be done was to go to bed’.^[ii] And so the proposed attack on 30 November was simply – though mutinously – ‘cancelled due to lack of interest’ by their junior officers.

It was thus not until 6 January 1900 that the invaders finally plucked up the courage to have another go at storming the town – this action would be known as The Battle of Wagon Hill, and I have covered it in some depth previously:

https://www.chrisash.co.za/2018/01/06/on-this-day-in-1900-the-battle-of-wagon-hill/

Though – thanks mainly to the gallantry of the Imperial Light Horse, and the bayonet charge of the Devons – the British won the day, losses on both sides were heavy. On the British side, these included one very distinguished fellow, a certain Archibald James Leofric Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Earl of Ava (1863-1900), eldest son and heir of the Marquis and Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, one of the most illustrious Anglo-Irish aristocratic families. He had been educated at Eton and commissioned into the very prestigious 17^th Lancers[iii], serving in India before leaving the army.

When the Boer War started, Lord Ava had travelled to South Africa to work as a War Correspondent and ended up stuck in Ladysmith. A keen sportsman and top horseman, he was a Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute, and – never a fellow to shy away from the action – blurred the lines between being a soldier and a reporter, having acted as a galloper at Elandslaagte.

Assisted by the ladies of the town, Lord Ava, Colonel Dartnell (Natal Police)[iv], Colonel Frank Rhodes, and Major Karri Davies (Imperial Light Horse) had been the driving force behind the Christmas Party which had been organised for the (white) children of Ladysmith, at the height of the Siege.

A few days after that happy event, as the battle raged on top of Wagon Hill early in the morning of 6 January, Lord Ava again couldn’t resist getting involved. He was again blurring the lines and acting as a galloper / runner for Colonel Hamilton, and it was in this capacity that he was shot through the temple as he carried a message forward from the Colonel. Ignoring the bullets which were flying about, Colonel Frank Rhodes (brother of Cecil) rushed forwards and managed to pull him back under cover.[v] Lord Ava would die 5 days later, however, on 11 January 1900.

Remarkably, after the death of Lord Ava, and the death of two of his other brothers in the Great War, the title ended up being passed to the fourth son. Though they have since become a fashionable target for mockery, no one can deny the gallantry, patriotism, and sense of duty that the British Upper Classes displayed in those times. A popular and likeable figure, Lord Ava’s character was summed up by an Irish sergeant: ‘You’d never taken him for a lord – he seems quite a nice gentleman’.

There is a monument to him up on Wagon Hill, marking the place where he was shot. It is near the one for the Imperial Light Horse.

NOTES:

[i] Maurice, History of the War in South Africa 1899‒1902, Vol.2, p.654

[ii] Amery, The Times history of the war in South Africa, 1899-1902, Vol.3, p.165

[iii] The 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge’s Own) were known as the ‘Death or Glory boys’ and had arguably the best cap badge in the army. They were amalgamated with the 21^st Lancers in 1922 to form the 17^th / 21^st Lancers. All six Lancer regiments have since been rolled up into the present-day The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeth’s Own) – which retains some very similar to the skull and ‘Or Glory’ cap badge of the old 17^th Lancers

[iv] https://www.chrisash.co.za/2018/07/01/hell-fire-jack-dartnell-natal-police/

[v] Amery, The Times history of the war in South Africa, 1899-1902, Vol.3, p.194