4pp. als. by British Captain J.A. Hensley, dated 20th. December, 1899 and written from “Frere Camp”. This was 5 days after the Battle of Colenso (on 15th. December) which was the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War. It was a precursor to the proposed relief of Ladysmith. Inadequate preparation and reconnaissance and uninspired leadership ( under the command of General Sir Redvers Buller) led to a heavy, and in some respects humiliating, British defeat. Hensley was with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who together with 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, the 1st Connaught Rangers and the 1st Border Regiment, formed the Fifth (Irish) Brigade.
This poignant letter provides graphic details of the battle and describes several of the casualties and injuries he witnessed. Some he mentions are Captains Bacon, Henry and Skewran and Gordon McCleod. These casualties are confirmed in Mildred Dooner’s book, “The Last Post” and on the angloboerwar.com database.
Tragically, Hensley himself was killed only a month after this letter was written at Venters’ Spruit. (20th. January 1900). Most interesting is that his death is discussed by Winston Churchill in his book “London to Ladysmith” – 1st. edn. pp. 331. To quote” ‘What did you lose in battle?’ ‘Oh,about fifty. Poor Hensley was killed you know; that was the worst of it’. Captain Hensley was one of the smallest and bravest men in the Army, and the Dublin Fusiliers , who should be good judges, regarded him as their very best officer for all military affairs, whether attack, retreat or reconnaissance. Each had lost a friend, but collectively as a regiment they had lost a powerful weapon.” See Lot 334 in this sale for a first edition of London to Ladysmith.
A few extracts from the letter:
“We have had a great deal of picquet duty to do – my time comes round every third night & that means being up all night and we are up every morning at 3AM.”
“You have no doubt heard of our great fight at Colenso on Friday. It was a terrible day and none of us expected to come out of it. In our own Brigade alone the losses were 538 of which we lost 219 men……….”
“No cover of any kind nothing but open fields. We were told to rush the river but it was too deep & about 8 of our men were drowned………..”
“If it was bad advancing in double time it was much worse returning walking and the bullets and shells thick as hail. ……….”
He then goes on to discuss the various casualties referred to above. (please see the scans for the full text).
Condition The letter is written on all four sides of a folded leaf in purple ink (? Indelible pencil). It is clearly legible apart from the 4th. page which is somewhat faded and soiled but still just legible. The thin paper is browned and fragile. It had been folded twice horizontally and as these folds were splitting, making the letter difficult to handle, theyt have thus been reinforced with four strips of transparent archival tape (Filmoplast P) which can be seen of the supplied scans.
Overall a wonderful, poignant and important document.
- Overall Condition: See description
- Size: 8vo.
- Sold By: Ronald Levine - Modern First Editions
- Contact Person: Ronald Levine
- Country: South Africa
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 011643 8437
- Preferred Payment Methods: EFT for South African customers and International Bank Tranfer for customers abroad. I am unable to accept payment by credit card.
- Trade Associations: SABDA
