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George Bright - an Imperial Light Infantry man 7 years 9 months ago #55021

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George Elliott Bright

Private, Imperial Light Infantry – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal and Laing’s Nek to 80 Pte. G.E. Bright, Imperial Lt. Infy.

George Bright at some stage in his life underwent an identity crisis. Born on 28 May 1877 in Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland he was the son of William Henry Bright, a Merchant, and his wife Hannah. The family lived in Bridge Street at the time of his christening on 8 October 1877.

At some point during the late 19th century Bright made the decision to spread his wings and leave his homeland deciding to pursue a life for himself in South Africa which is where he was when the Anglo Boer War commenced on 11 October 1899. The death of his father on 27 May 1892 (the day before his birthday) from Typhoid Pneumonia could well have decided Bright that is was time to leave.

For a number of years the tensions between the Transvaal Republic under President Paul Kruger and Great Britain had been festering. Finally the gauntlet was thrown down by Kruger in the form of an ultimatum to the British authorities. This went unanswered and the Transvaal and its fellow Boer Republic, the Orange Free State, found itself at war with an Empire.

Initially things went well for the Boer forces with the Imperial troops thin on the ground. This was also one of the primary reasons why a call went out to the Colonials in Natal and elsewhere to raise local regiments to assist in the fight on the side of the Empire. One such outfit was the Imperial Light Infantry – the foot soldier equivalent of the Imperial Light Horse. Raised in Natal it comprised, mostly, recruits from those who had lost their employment on the Witwatersrand after the outbreak of hostilities and had ventured south to Durban.

Bright elected to join their ranks and attested at Durban on 8 November 1899. Assigned to “A” Company with no. 80 and the rank of Private he was one of the first to join. His attestation papers confirmed that he was 23 years of age, was 5 feet 7 inches in height, weighed 154 pounds and had a dark complexion, grey eyes and black hair. He wore a size 8 boot. And this is where his identity crisis comes to the fore – for some obscure reason Bright signed the form “G.E. Burton” – the surname being crossed out and later replaced by Bright at some stage. Who was Burton and why did he sign with this name? We will most likely never know and he does not appear to have used the name again.

The command of the Imperial Light Infantry was given to Lieutenant Colonel Nash of the Border Regiment and by the end of December 1899 the regiment was ready for active service. They saw comparatively little training and no fighting until they were thrown into the awful combat on Spioen Kop on 24th January 1900. About 1000 strong, they paraded at 10 pm on 23rd January, and, as ordered, took up positions from which they could reinforce General Woodgate, who commanded the force detailed to capture the hill.

Sir Charles Warren visited the regiment early on the morning of the 24th, and asked the officers if they had seen anything of a mountain-battery which he was expecting. They had not. He requested that 2 companies be sent forward to a specified point to be ready to escort the battery to the summit. The companies of Captains Champney and Smith moved out at 6 am and waited as ordered for the battery, but about 9 am a staff-officer told them to reinforce immediately on the summit. The 2 companies advanced and reached the top shortly after 10 am. At this hour the enemy's fire was appalling, the hail of bullets and shells being ceaseless, but these untried volunteers are said to have pushed up to the shallow trench and the firing-line beyond it without flinching. They at once commenced to suffer very severe losses. These 2 companies were the first reinforcements to enter the firing-line, and their arrival proved most opportune, some Lancashire companies being very hard pressed at this time and at this part of the position.

About mid-day Colonel Nash was ordered to reinforce on the summit with "every available man". About 2 pm he reached the top with his remaining companies, who at once bolted out from the rocks at the head of the ascent and fed the firing-line, pushing forward fearlessly across the open.

Throughout the afternoon and evening the firing was unceasing, and often at very close quarters; after dark it had died away. The regiment having been collected, fell in and marched off. They had barely gone 200 yards, however, when an officer said to Colonel Nash, "Where are you going?" The latter replied that he had been ordered to take down the regiment. The other officer then said, "I am Colonel Hill of the Middlesex; not a man or regiment is to leave the hill". The officers of the Imperial Light Infantry then said to their men that a mistake had been made, and the column 'about turned', marched back to the place they had come from, put out pickets, and lay down among the dead and wounded. The worst feature of this very trying experience was the ceaseless crying of the wounded for water: there was none on the hill. During the night a staff-officer informed Colonel Nash that he had better bring down his men before dawn if no fresh troops or orders came up. Between 3 am and 4 am the regiment was again collected and finally left the hill. No Boers had ventured on to the hill up to that time.

This was the world Bright found himself in on that fateful day and night. The losses of the Imperial Light Infantry, as published at the time, were: killed—2 officers, Lieutenants Rudall and Kynoch-Shand, and 29 non-commissioned officers and men; wounded—3 officers, Captain Coleman, Lieutenants H R Brown and Richards, and 110 non-commissioned officers and men; missing—19 men. Most of the latter were afterwards found to have been killed or wounded.

Having survived that bloodbath Bright went on to the Relief of Ladysmith and beyond to take part in the battle of Laing’s Nek which saw the effective end of a Boer presence (for the moment) in Natal. From there it was on to the Transvaal before he took his discharge from the regiment on 23 April 1901 having earned the Queens Medal with the requisite clasps.

What became of George Bright after the Boer War? He stayed on in South Africa settling for the most part, in Durban after first marrying Margaret Mary in Johannesburg. A number of children, nine in total, were born to the couple. The eldest, Alvin William Claude Bright, was born in 1905. The youngest child, Mavis Patricia Bright was born in Portuguese East Africa (Mocambique) in 1920 suggesting that, for at least a time, Bright lived there.

According to his grandson Bright was a crack shotist who went to England to shoot competitively – this could well have been in 1911 when he and his wife sailed to London from Cape Town aboard the “German” on 30 June. He was listed as being a Machinist by occupation at the time. His grandson was proved correct – an article headed ‘The Kings Prize (S.R.)’, which appeared in the Evening Mail 19 July 1911 showed a table “Open only to Territorials and retired Territorials” who were competing for the Bronze Medal. Out of 7 shots at 200, 500 and 600 yards, Pte. G.E. Bright of the Transvaal Volunteers came 8th with a points tally of 96.

George Elliott Bright passed away at Addington Hospital in Durban on 18 December 1955 at the age of 78. He was resident at 153 Wentworth Government Village at the time (an ex-barracks for married South African Policemen). Career-wise he had been a Saw Doctor – a chap who sharpens saws for use in the forestry and other related industries. For many years he was employed by Blaikies before venturing out on his own.