The Bush Veldt Carbineers were raised in Pretoria in February 1901 and did useful work in the difficult country north of Pietersburg in that year. They saw a lot of fighting, but it gained an unfortunate notoriety by the conviction of Morant, Handcock and Witton on charges that they had committed acts not in accordance with the rules of civilised warfare.
Harry 'Breaker' Morant was born in the United Kingdom between 1864 and 1865. He left England in April 1883 bound for Queensland where he was quickly married and divorced. He lived by droving and horse-breaking and thus acquired the name 'Breaker'. He enlisted with the South Australian Mounted Rifles to fight in the Boer War. Handcock, Morant and Witton were court-martialled and all three found guilty of executing several Boer prisoners and a German missionary. Handcock and Morant were executed by firing squad on 27 February 1902. Kitchener commuted Witton's sentence to a lifetime of penal servitude. Witton was returned to England where he served only three years of his sentence. Upon his release, he wrote a book entitled 'Scapegoats of the Empire'.
The story of the trial and execution was told in the 1979 film 'Breaker Morant'.
Undoubtedly a corps such as this, acting beyond the immediate control of higher authorities and far from support, was placed in a very unenviable position. The enemies they had to deal with were not always members of regular commandos, but often leaderless gangs of ruffians not unacquainted with nefarious practices and incapable of appreciating anything but the most arbitrary justice. Mr Green, who was chaplain to the Australian Bushmen, a corps that operated much in the Pietersburg district, speaks in terms of praise of the Bush Veldt Carbineers. He says that they were chiefly English refugees of that district. They acted as scouts for General Plumer, and did well. On one occasion they captured the convoy of a train-wrecking gang and 11 prisoners. These latter would not disclose where their mines were laid, so they were promptly put on a trolley; an explosion did take place, but none were killed. The corps had casualties on various occasions. Captain P F Hunt and Sergeant F Elands were killed on 6th August 1901, and one man on the 10th.
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