Robert Elwes
Wood engraving published inThe Illustrated London News,30 April 1881
LieutenantRobert Hamond Elwes(1856 – 28 January 1881) was aBritish Armyofficer who was killed in action during theFirst Boer War.As a junior officer in theGrenadier Guardsregiment, Elwes fought in theBattle of Laing's Nekwhere he died while leading a cavalry charge againstBoerforces. His death was portrayed inElizabeth Thompson's 1898 painting "Floreat Etona!".
Family and early life
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Elwes was born in 1856[1]toRobert Elwesand Mary Frances Lucas at Congham House, nearKing's LynninNorfolk.He was educated atEton College.After graduating, he joined the Grenadier Guards where he gained the rank ofLieutenantin November 1879.
The First Boer War
[edit]Following the Boer declaration of independence for theTransvaalin 1880 the British suffered a series of disastrous defeats in attempting to regain the territory. At the outbreak of thewarElwes shipped out toSouth Africawhere he was seconded from the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards to the58th Regimentand appointedAide-de-CamptoMajor-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley,then the British High Commissioner for South East Africa and Commander-in-Chief ofNatal.On 9 January 1881 Elwes dined at Government House atPietermaritzburgwith Colley, his wife, Lady Colley, and other officers and members of the general's staff. Guests included the authorH. Rider Haggard.[2]The next day Elwes left Pietermaritzburg with the BritishNatal Field Forceled by Colley who took them into the Transvaal viaNewcastleandLaing's NektoPretoriato relieve the garrisons in the besieged towns who were desperately short of food and ammunition.[3]
The Battle of Laing’s Nek
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On the morning of 28 January, Colley tried to force a way through the pass. But theBoers,under the command ofCommandant-General Joubert,had about 2,000 men in the area, with at least 400 fortifying the heights around Laing's Nek. Over-eager commanders drove their men so hard up the steep slope in their anxiety to get at the enemy that when the decisive charge was actually made, the exhausted infantrymen and cavalry came nowhere near the Boer defences before being mown down. At around 11.00am, Colonel Deane along with Elwes and other members of General's staff were ordered to lead the 58th up the hill, riding to their certain death against the Boer bullets. An eyewitness of the attack on described the incident:
"Poor Elwes fell among the 58th. He shouted to another Eton boy (an Adjutant of the 58th whose horse had been shot), 'Come along Monck! Floreat Etona! We must be in the front rank!’ And he was shot immediately".[4]
The event was immortalized in Elizabeth Thompson's painting, "Floreat Etona!" (1898). Among those killed beside Elwes during that heroic charge were Major Poole, and Lieutenants Dolphin and Inman of the General's staff.[5]
Elwes is buried at Mount Prospect Cemetery, Natal.
References
[edit]- ^"Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland, 4th ed." edited by Bernard, Sir Burke (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1958), pp 254. Hereinafter cited as Landed Gentry of Ireland.
- ^"The Days of My Life" by H. Rider Haggard. Chapter 8.
- ^"The life of Sir George Pomeroy-Colley, K. C. S. I., C. B.,C. M. G., 1835-1881" By William Francis Butler, pp. 288
- ^"Academy notes" by Henry Blackburn. (1875) (Chatto and Windus).pp.46
- ^A Narrative of The Boer War. Its Causes And Results by Thomas Fortescue Carter. London: John Macqueen. (1900)