LORD METHUEN

Hokitika Guardian, 1 November 1932, Page 5

LORD METHUEN

V WAR VETERAN DIES. LONG MILITARY CAREER. ’(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) • LONDON,' October 30. .%cThe death is announced of FieldMarshal ’Lord 'Methuen, G.C.8., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.0., who played a prominent part.; in the South African WaT. Lord Methuen’s military career beg a n at the age' of nineteen in the Scots Guards. He saw service on the Gold Coast against the Ashantis and later in Egypt against Arabi Pasha, and still later in India. In the South African War he ‘ wa» given the command of the First Infantry Division and assigned the task of advancing to the I rdlief of Kimberley which was besieged by the Boers, who had prepared defensive , positions on the way .up to the town. Lord Methuen’s attacks at Belmont and Enslin were successful and at the Modder River, with the assistance of a diversion by the Kimberley garrison, he drove the Boers back. 'But the ■strongest position, Magersfontein, still lay before him. Relying on his scouts’ observations, he decided on an attack under cover of darkness on the night °f Decembei 11. 1899. The /Boers, 'however, had made a quick change in their defences, and Lord Methuen’s . forces suddenly encountered a terrible rifle fife from concealed positions which compelled him to order a retreat and abandon his effort to ’ relieve Kimberley at that time. Speaking at a gathering of 'South African War veterans, General Sir lan Hambton related the following incident in this campaign : Sir lan said that'out of all the books written about the Great War no one could produce a single incident to vie •with that of Lord Methuen and General De la Rey, after Klip Drift, which Sir lan described in th<? following way: “The British* commander • was lying badly wounded in a tent, and the Boer commander was doing what he could for him. Commandant Scheepers had been tried by court martial and had been shot for reasons which did not appear to the. Boers. Many of De la Key’s commando wanted to shoot Lord Methuen in reprisal. At a moment when it seemed that' the malcontents were going to carry their point De la Rey had the waggon in which lay Lord Methuen driven right in amongst them and 'shouted: “There! Would you shoot wounded man ?’ To which, as they say in Parliament, the reply was in the negative. Now, 1/ ask you, if Sir VViilffSTn Robertson had captured Ludendorff with his leg broken, is it likely lie 'would have 'been allowed t 0 act like De la Rey? Those sort of incidents—and there were many of them—make us quite glad to look back on the old South African War, especially as we, for our part, have the thought of generous peace terms to make us comfortable.” .. it . ! V 1

At the end of the Boer War Lord Methuen was awarded the G.C.B. and given the Eastern Home Command, appointed Governor of Natal in 1939, he was made Field-Marshal in 1911. During the World War Lord Methuen wa,s Governor and Commander-in-Chief at Malta, and in 1920 was made Governor and Constable of the Tower of London.