13 NOVEMBER 1901 - BRAKSPRUIT

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Towards the end of 1901 Lt-Col W B Hickie, with a force of mounted troops and infantry totalling about 870 men, was engaged in covering the construction of blockhouses on the Schoonspruit.

 

On 13 November 1901, Hickie lost heavily at the farm, Brakspruit, 32km north-east of Klerksdorp, when two squadrons of Imperial Yeomanry (drawn from the 103rd and 107th Coys, 2nd Bn, and the 107th Coy, 6th Bn, IY), whom he had sent forward to reconnoitre, were destroyed. 

Ten men were killed or mortally wounded, eleven were wounded, and 64 were taken prisoner. In this action, the Boers lost four men killed and eight wounded.