User:LameCat/South african light horse

The South African Light Horse regiment of the British Army (not to be confused with the Imperial Light Horse (ILH) later known as the Light Horse Regiment (LHR) of the South African Army) were raised in Cape Colony in 1899 and disbanded in 1907 .

The commanding officer tasked with raising the regiment was Major (locally a Lieutenant Colonel) the Honourable Julian Byng (10th Hussars) who would go on to rise to the rank of Field Marshal).

The future Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill served as a Lieutenant in the SALH.

Relief of Ladysmith
The regiment was formed in November 1899, just one month after the start of the Second Boer War, and by December of that year 8 squadrons had been raised from Uitlanders. A small portion were used to protect the railway line to De Aar but they mostly served as a part of the Mounted Brigade of the South Natal Field Force under Lieutenant-General Douglas Cochrane the 12th Earl of Dundonald, taking part in the relief of the besieged town of Ladysmith.

The Boers had encircled Ladysmith trapping a force of 13,000 British troops under the command of Lieutenant General Sir George White inside (along with separate sieges in Mafeking and Kimberly). The relief effort was dispatched from Cape Town under the command of General Sir Redvers Buller and by early December 1899 this 20,000 strong relieving army was arriving just south of the river Tugela.

Battle of Colenso
Buller launched his first major offensive against the Boer lines across the Tugela river on 15th December 1899 and the 3 squadrons of the SALH along with the rest of Dundonald's Mounted Brigade were aligned to cover the right flank of the battle formation. Their orders were to "endeavour to take up a position on Hlangwane Hill", a task in which they made good progress but eventually they were pinned down and lacking any chance of infantry reinforcement they were ordered by the General to withdraw.

Battle of Spion Kop
The attack on Colenso having failed Buller moved the focus of his army, now swollen to 30,000 men with the addition of Sir Charles Warren's division, to the west in January of 1900. The target was to capture a 430 meter high hill called Spion Kop and therefore use this commanding position to turn the Boer's right flank. A portion of the SALH remained at Chieveley with Major General Geoffrey Barton whose orders were to entrench there and protect the head of the communications line, but 4 squadrons moved westward with Dundonald.

On the 11th of January the Earl of Dundonald's Mounted Division which comprised approximately 3000 Cavalry marched to Pretorius's Farm, the South African Light Horse were tasked with protecting the baggage column but they reached their objective by noon. With the exception of the Royal Dragoons the cavalry now advanced to seize a bridge across the Little Tugela River at Springfield, which when they arrived they found unoccupied and none of the patrols found any Boers in the area. With some encouragement from his subordinates Dundonald decided to exceed his orders and push on towards the heights above Potgieter's Ferry which they reached around 6pm to find an already fortified position left unguarded and unoccupied. They named their new position Spearman's Hill and sent back a request for urgent reinforcements. Next day six volunteers of the SALH lead by Lieutenant Carlisle swam across the river to capture the ferry and brought the punt back to their side. Churchill described this as a "dashing exploit of which the regiment... are immensely proud". On the 13th their position was strengthened by the arrival of two battalions of Lyttelton's brigade and Sir Redvers Buller established his headquarters in this camp.

It took almost another week for the rest of the army to get into position and all the while the Boers were preparing their defence. During this period Colonel Byng took 2 squadrons to the top of a high hill overlooking a road from Colenso to Potgieter's and there attacked five Boer Ox wagons laden with supplies but they escaped. The SALH also went to support a patrol of Bethune's Mounted Infantry that needed to be extricated.

Orange River Colony
In the second phase of the war the regiment were mostly employed in the Orange River Colony.