Bushveldt Carbineers

Bushveldt Carbineers
Pietersburg Light Horse
Bushveldt Carbineers, a unit that included Henry Harbord "Breaker" Morant, which took part in the Second Boer War
Active	February 1901 - December 1902
Country	South Africa
Allegiance	British Empire
Branch	British Army
Type	Irregular Mounted Infantry Scouts
Size	Regiment
Garrison/HQ	Strydpoort Pietersburg
Engagements	Second Boer War Transvaal Campaigns Battle of Duivelskloof Court-martial of Breaker Morant
Commanders
Notable commanders	Col. Robert Lenehan Capt. Percy Hunt Capt. Alfred Taylor

The Bushveldt Carbineers (BVC) were a short-lived, irregular mounted infantry regiment, raised in South Africa during the Second Boer War.

The 320-strong regiment was formed in February 1901 and commanded by an Australian, Colonel R. W. Lenehan. It was based at Pietersburg, 260 kilometres north-east of Pretoria, and saw action in the Spelonken region of northern Transvaal, during 1901–1902.

About two-fifths of the regiment's members had previously belonged to units recruited in Australia.^{[citation needed]} The BVC also included about 40 Boers, who had been recruited at internment camps;^{[citation needed]} among the members of the BVC, these Boers were known as "joiners".^{[citation needed]}

The unit was later renamed as the Pietersburg Light Horse on 1 December 1902^[1]

Breaker Morant

The 1980 film Breaker Morant portrays the unit in which Australian Lieutenants Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock were serving when they were court martialed. They were executed on 27 February 1902 by a firing squad of Cameron Highlanders, having been convicted by the British army of murdering a civilian and Boer prisoners of war. Morant claimed that the BVC had been ordered not to take prisoners. Lieutenant George Witton, who had been sentenced to death by the same court-martial but whose sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, was released following a public outcry; he had served 32 months.

See also

• James Christie, an account by a member of the BVC (Bushveldt Carbineers)

References

• The Bushveldt Carbineers and the Pietersburg Light Horse by William (Bill) Woolmore (2002, Slouch Hat Publications Australia) ISBN 0-9579752-0-1

This page was last edited on 12 November 2023, at 06:11