QSA To the Imperial Light Infantry , Mortally Wounded Spion Kop

QSA one bar Relief of Ladysmith 451 PTE W H SHEARER IMPL LT INFY

W H Shearer was wounded on 24/01/1900 at Spion Kop . He Died on 28/01/1900 at Mount Alice (Official casualty roll location: Spion Kop)

The Imperial light Infantry was raised in Natal and was largely re­cruited from those who had lost their employment through the outbreak of hostilities. The command was given to Lieutenant Colonel Nash (Border Regiment). By the end of December 1899 the regiment was ready for active service, and it was inspected by General Sir C Warren on 2nd January 1900. The Imperial Light Infantry saw comparatively little training and no fighting until they were thrown into the awful combat on Spion Kop on 24th January 1900. The Imperial Light Infantry, about 1000 strong, was paraded at 10 pm on 23rd January, and, as ordered, they took up positions from which they could reinforce General Woodgate, who commanded the force detailed to capture the hill. Sir C 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. He appeared anxious as to its non-appearance. 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. A field-officer of the Imperial Light Infantry, formerly a regular officer, who was present, has stated to the writer that about 8 pm it was whispered a retirement was contemplated, and that about 9 o'clock Colonel Nash intimated that he had got a message to get ready to move off the hill. These hours are uncertain, and might be put some­what later. 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.

From the reports of Colonel Thorneycroft and General Talbot Coke one would gather that all the troops left the hill together, the Scottish Rifles bringing up the rear, but in the darkness the absence of the Imperial Light Infantry from the main body might escape notice. The account given above is confirmed by the terms of a message published in the Spion Kop despatches, p 32, as follows: "Officer commanding Imperial Light Infantry. Withdraw and at once. 2am W J Bonus, Brigade-Major". No explanation of any kind is given as to this message, although it is appended to a report by General Talbot Coke the text of which gives the impression that the troops were all down the hill before midnight.

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 Cole-man, 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.

After the army had recrossed the Tugela, General Warren visited the camp of the Imperial Light Infantry and congratulated them on the splendid fight they had made. He specially mentioned by name several men who had distinguished themselves, among them being Private T Hughes, who, in a duel with some Boers among rocks not 50 yards away, was hit five times

W H Shearer is believed to be from Broughty Ferry near Dundee Scotland

Medal with original ribbon and in toned NEF condition

Code: 51058