5 SEPTEMBER 1901 - BOUWER’S HOEK / PAARDEFONTEIN

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Col Scobell with a force of ‘A’ and ‘D’ Squadrons, 9th Lancers as well as Cape Mounted Riflemen was tasked with capturing Commandant Lotter’s Rebel Commando of some 120 men.

 

He succeeded in narrowing the chase in the first week of September 1901 to an area in the Tandjesberg Mountains, north of the Pearston-Graaff Reinet road.

 

Armed with information from the FID and guided by local coloured scouts, Scobell, on the fifth day of a six-day mission, found his quarry on the farm Paardefontein (one of two farms in Bouwershoek), near the hamlet of Petersburg.

 

Believing that Lotter’s men occupied a farm building, Scobell ordered a night march in pouring rain and deployed his 1100 men on some ridges overlooking the farm. Actually only 5 of Lotter’s men were in the farmhouse: Lotter and the rest of the Rebels had taken shelter from the rain in a nearby 30-by-15-foot stone sheepkraal, which was partially topped with a corrugated iron roof.

 

At dawn, a squadron of Lancers was sent to investigate the kraal. The commanding officer, Lord Douglas Compton dropped his pistol near the entrance. As he dismounted to pick up his weapon, the Boers opened fire. 

Compton escaped, but the six men behind him were mowed down. Immediately, a thousand rifles opened up on the fearfully outnumbered Boers in the sheepkraal. After some 45 minutes of the unequal contest, the Boers surrendered.

 

They suffered 13 killed (5 who were shot down as they fled from the farmhouse) and 46 wounded, while 61 unwounded survivors were hustled into captivity. Scobell’s force lost 9 men killed/died-of-wounds with a further 8 men wounded.

 

Lotter and four of his officers were later executed by the British authorities as rebellious subjects, guilty of High Treason under arms and Murder. 

 

As one historian points out, “In losing Lotter, the Boers had lost more than a tenth of the guerrillas in the Colony south of the Orange - the British Empire was a bottomless well when it came to replacing lost troops.”

 

Johannes van Eden from the farm Weltevreden, Somerset East stated “Burgher and Spy” under Rank on his ABO application form and noted service in the Commando’s of Genl Kritzinger and Commandant Lötter.

 

He was one of the unwounded Rebels taken prisoner at Paardefontein and was sentenced to death on 20 September 1901 in Graaff Reinet for High Treason under arms and murder. 

 

This was commuted to Penal Servitude for life on Bermuda, but the Royal Commission reduced the sentence to 3 years in November 1902. He returned to the Cape Colony on the SS Sunda and was sent to Tokai Gaol on 16 Feb 1903 as prisoner no 374. He was granted partial amnesty on 25 March 1903.

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DCM (Edw VII): Pte J.M. Haines, Cape M. R.

 

Haines was Mentioned in the LG of 3 Dec 1901 “For conspicuous gallantry in the capture of Lotter’s Commando near Petersburg, Cape Colony, on 5th September 1901”.

 

The entry also stated that he was accordingly “awarded a DCM, War Office Telegram, No 9599, dated 9th October 1901”.

 

He served with the Cape Mounted Riflemen for the duration of the war (including Wepener) but unfortunately his QSA and KSA became separated from his DCM.

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Eight DCM (Edw VII): Serjt. H.C. Cook. 9th Lancers; 
QSA, 7 clasps Belm, Mod R, RoK, Paard, Jhburg, D Hill, Witt; 
3610 Corpl. H.C. Cook. 9th Lancers;
KSA, 2 clasps SA’01, SA’02: 3610 Serjt. H. Cook. 9th Lancers; 
BWM & AVM with MiD: Condr. H.C. Cook. Remt. Dept.; 
Rl Vict.Medal (GeoV): unnamed as issued; 
Army MSM (GeoV, swivel suspender): Sub. Condr. H.C. Cook, I.M.L.; 
Army LS&GC Medal (GeoV): Staff Serjt. H.C. Cook. India Misce List. 

Henry Charles Cook enlisted in the 9th Lancers in 1893. He was Mentioned in the LG of 3 Dec 1901 
“For conspicuous gallantry in the capture of Lotter’s Commando near Petersburg, Cape Colony, on 5th September 1901”.

 

The entry also stated that he was accordingly “awarded a DCM, War Office Telegram, No 9599, dated 9th October 1901”.

Cook’s WWI service was with the Indian Army Remount Department and between March 1918 and June 1919 he was Mentioned in Despatches 4 times for the Mesopotamia Theatre: twice as Staff Sergeant and twice as Sub Conductor.

 

During the Prince of Wales’s 1921-22 India Tour he was Conductor in Charge of the Stable Establishment and received the Royal Victorian Medal for services rendered.