TOPIC:

For anyone researching the Battle of Bothaville fought on 6 November 1900:

Pencil drawn map of the battle of Bothaville (Doornkraal) executed by either Claude Alexander or his brother Boyd. Showing positions of the rival forces at 9 a.m. and noon.

Shaun - your map makers I presume - not my research, see link after the article.

Boyd Alexander was born at Swifts Place, Cranbrook, Kent on 16th January 1873. He was a twin son with Robert Alexander of Lieut-Colonel Boyd Francis Alexander and his wife Mary Wilson and descended from the Alexanders of Ballochmyle in Ayrshire. Colonel Alexander and his wife had had two daughters born in Canada before giving bith to the twin sons. Three more sons followed, the youngest being Claud born in 1878.

Boyd Alexander was educated from 1888 at St Peters College, Radley, and it was during his school holidays that Boyd developed his enthusiasm for ornithology - making a study of the birds of Kent and Sussex.

He enlisted in the army, joining the Rifle Brigade in 1893 and in 1896, Boyd and his friend John Springett, a skilled taxidermist, made a comprehensive study of nesting habits and migrations at Rye, which became the basis of probably the finest and most complex collection of Kent and Sussex birds in existence.

In 1897 he led a scientific expedition to the Cape Verde Islands where he made an extensive collection of native bird species and, in 1898, went on his first African journey to the Zambezi and Kafuk rivers. He was appointed to the Gold Coast constabulary in 1900, and took part in the relief of Kumasi. In 1904 he led a scientific expedition to Fernando Po where he discovered various new species of birds. The same year saw the commencement of his most important work - an expedition across Africa from the Niger to the Nile accompanied by his younger brother Captain Claud Alexander, the zoologist Captain G.B. Gosling, P. Amaury Talbot and José Lopes. Later that year on 13th November 1904 Claud died of fever after six weeks of illness and was buried at Maifoni in Northern Nigeria. The expedition continued for three years and during this period Boyd surveyed the shores of Lake Chad and explored a considerable part of eastern Nigeria, returning to England by way of the rivers Ubangi, Shari and Nile. For his various discoveries he received gold medals from the Royal Geographical Societies of London and Antwerp, besides honours from other learned societies. In 1908 he returned to Africa for the last time and, during a local disturbance was killed by natives at Nyeri, in Wadai, on 2nd April 2 1910. His body was later recovered by French soldiers and Boyd was buried next to his brother at Maifoni in Northern Nigeria. A memorial to Claud and Boyd Alexander was placed in St Dunstans Church in Cranbrook.

Boyd Alexander published From the Niger to the Nile (1907), besides many articles and papers in scientific and geographical periodicals. His outstanding collection of Kent and Sussex birds was offered by his brother Herbert Alexander to Cranbrook and resides today at the Cranbrook Museum and his collection of 5,500 African birds resides at the Natural History Museum at Tring, Hertfordshire, as well as five manuscript volumes relating to his travel and bird collecting in Africa between 1898 and 1909.

sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=7062.0

This is a photo of their memorial by a Susan Featherstone and posted on the IWM website.

Thank you David; what an amazing backstory.

Regards,
Shaun

Shaun, thank you for that map. It is a bit difficult to work with as it is geographically more or less upside down. Hereunder a segment of the Bothaville Field Intelligence Map produced in 1902 and used by a Captain Feltham (Probably John Aldric, a man prominently mentioned in the Feltham listings on this site). Below that a picture of Bothaville in those days showing how much of the Orange Free State looked after the employment of scorched earth policies.

Thanks EFV; That now explains the comment on the 9am map of Bothaville which says "Burnt by Hunter".

That picture of Bothaville is quite something.

Regards,
Shaun

A Question of Direction.

As Everhard has pointed out one could say the maps are upside down with south at the top. Perhaps not surprising as the British approach was from the north and when drawing a sketch map one tends to portray what is in front of you as evidenced by sketch maps in my butterfly notebooks.

Shaun – when you wrote “executed by either Claude Alexander or his brother Boyd” was it a case of you know they were both involved in the encounter or one or other of them was, and do you know which unit they were serving in?

I suspect the map creator would have had a compass – one could even presume they did from the bottom right of the 9 am map. Oh dear they thought they were facing due west! Am I right in thinking I remember reading somewhere that compass readings taken on the veldt could be unreliable owing to iron ore deposits?

A Question of Numbers.

Both maps show the situation before “old woman” General Knox arrived at a leisurely pace in the evening with reinforcements and then failed to make haste after De Wet & Steyn and change what was a victory into a game changer that could have shortened the war.

So at the time the maps were drawn up the Imperial troops were about 600 strong. I can make out on the maps 3MI, 5MI, 7MI, 8MI, West Australians, N S Wales and in reserve Kitchener’s Horse. Other reports confirm all these were present plus some Canadians. Quite a mix for just 600 men especially when you consider each MI unit was made up of MI companies from 4 different regiments.

When the MI units were formed 10/11 months earlier I believe they were each about 500 strong so potentially they alone could have contributed 2,000 men on 6 November 1900. That they obviously didn’t reflects attrition, mainly due to disease, and that, based on my attempts to work out the history of the 5MI who included 2nd Worcester Smethwickians, they did not act consistently as units and at times the four different regimental companies could be separately engaged. So were the 2nd Worcester MI Company involved in the Battle of Bothaville (based on the nearest settlement) or Battle of Doornkraal (based on the name of the land it occurred on)? By the way Hunter & crew carried out their burning at Bothaville about a fortnight before the battle.

Finally a photograph of Boyd Alexander taken in 1902 and sporting his QSA medal ribbon. He was promoted to Lieutenant in January 1902.



Photo courtesy Wikipedia