As the usual infantry tactics proved useless in many encounters it was decided that all battalions must provide a mounted infantry company. Some did this by converting one of their eight companies and others by making a 9th company, At first they were formed into 8 Mounted Infantry Battalions and in early 1900 two brigades were formed. The mounted infantry were men equiped and trained as infantry, armed with the infantry rifle (not the shorter cavalry carbine), but with the mobility offered by a horse. Usually a company of mounted infantry consisted of 142 men, four troops each of 32 men, commanded by a Major or Captain, all ranks being mounted. Each company had two wagons for baggage and food. Two companies of mounted infantry were attached to each cavalry brigade. The two companies amounted to 306 men, 310 horses, two machine guns and nine vehicles. Many of the men named here would have been part of the Mounted Infantry, but to simplify things, they are attributed to their parent Regiment here. |
The South African War 1899 to 1902
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postcard of unveiling
1920s postcard
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The memorial takes the form of a bare-headed soldier, with a rifle, leaning on a rock which is mounted on a rectangular sarcophagus. There are 193 names listed
and these include the Suffolk Regiment losses of 8 officers and 147 N.C.O.'s and men. The memorial was unveiled on 11th November 1904 by General Lord Methuen and dedicated 12th November 1904 by The Venerable H Hodges. The memorial cost £750 to erect. The sculptor Mr Arthur G Walker and the mason was Mr A H Hanchet. Details appeared in a special supplement to the Bury & Norwich Post, 22nd November 1904. Strictly speaking, this was the 2nd Boer War, but since we lost the first one, that tends to be sidelined The South African War was the first time we actually recognised the rank and file, the "Other Ranks". Previously there may have been the odd memorial in a church, placed by relatives of an officer. The South Africa War saw the beginning of war memorials as we now know them and Bury St.Edmunds has a particularly fine example. |
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This section here will take some time to complete, there being 193 names. I had no idea that there were so many. Mind you, disease accounted for a great number
of the deaths, rather than bullets and artillery. On the memorial they are grouped in Regiments/Corps, but I have put them in alphabetical order for convenience.
I have tended to look at all the names on a memorial plaque regardless of their origin, but in this case, the numbers are quite daunting so I hope I will forgiven if I list all of them but in the goodness of time expand on those who were natives of Bury St.Edmunds. I will therefore identify these in magenta on this page. If any of the others are from villages in this website, hopefully I can get their details and make their entry here a link to their village memorial pages. Viewers will definitely need to be patient as this memorial presents a whole new set of search problems. |