A Boer War 'Defence of Natal 1901' D.S.O. group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel B. P....

A Boer War ‘Defence of Natal 1901’ D.S.O. group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel B. P. Lefroy, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, late Royal Dublin Fusiliers, for his gallantry in the fierce close-quarter night fight with Botha’s Commandos on the summit of Mount Itala, where he killed Commandant Potgieter, one of the ablest Boer Field Officers. A mentor of the future Field Marshal B. L. Montgomery, Lefroy was mortally wounded leading the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment during their attack on the Hulluch Quarries and St. Elie on the first day of the Loos Offensive, 25 September 1915, and died two days later Distinguished Service Order, V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Laing’s Nek (Lieut. B. P. Lefroy, D.S.O., Rl. Dub. Fus.) engraved naming; 1914 Star, with clasp (Capt. B. P. Lefroy, R. War. R.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lt. Col. B. P. Lefroy); France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, silver-gilt, and enamel, the Great War campaign medals later issues, minor enamel damage to the first, otherwise good very fine (6) £8,000-£12,000 --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, May 2015. D.S.O. London Gazette 11 October 1901: ‘For gallantry in the defence of Forts Prospect and Itala.’ M.I.D. London Gazettes 3 December 1901; 17 September 1914; 14 January 1915; and 31 May 1915. Bertram Perceval Lefroy was born in South Kensington, London, on 18 May 1878, the second son of Thomas Charles Perceval and Isabella Napier Lefroy. His family, originally large landowners around Cambrai, had been driven out of France in 1569 and mostly settled in Ireland. Educated at Harrow (1892-96) and the R.M.C. Sandhurst, he was commissioned in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers on 7 May 1898, and promoted Lieutenant on 10 May 1899. Defence of Itala - ‘Popping Off’ with his Revolver and Killing Commandant Potgieter Ordered to South Africa with the 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Lefroy was present at operations in Natal between December 1899 and June 1900, including the invasion of the Orange Free State, the Relief of Ladysmith, and the action at Laing’s Nek (6 to 9 June). He joined 5th Battalion Mounted Infantry in August 1900. 5th MI was on operations in the Transvaal east of Pretoria until February 1901, when it was switched to the Zululand frontier of Natal. The South African Military History Society Journal, Vol 2 No 1 - June 1971, ITALA - MONUMENT TO VALOUR refers: ‘Twice in less than 23 years, Natal was saved from invasion by the gallant stands made by two small, vastly outnumbered detachments of British soldiers. The first was at Rorke's Drift in 1879 and the second at Mount Itala in 1901.’ Early in September 1901, Louis Botha, Commandant General of the Boer Republican Forces, started gathering the biggest raiding Commando of the guerilla war. Over 2,000 tough, fighting men set out across the cold, rain-swept springtime veld to begin the second Boer invasion of the Colony of Natal. Botha's ambitious plan was to enter Northern Natal, disrupt and degrade British control, then penetrate Cape Colony and ultimately join up with Smuts, who had already succeeded in getting into the Cape with his small force. British columns sent to catch the Commandos got bogged down in the quagmires that passed for roads. Botha, with no wheeled transport, could manoeuvre with ease. Using pack animals to carry his supplies, he averaged 10 miles a day, whilst the British could barely travel three. By 24 September, Botha had reached the Transvaal frontier. From his look-out on Babanango Kop, the rolling green hills of Zululand stretched south to the horizon. To his right he could clearly see Isandhlwana, where nearly 1,500 British troops had been massacred by Cetewayo's impis 22 years earlier. To his front lay Mount Itala, a commanding height, eight miles to the South. The route he planned to take was guarded by two small British military garrisons, at Itala and Fort Prospect, 14 miles apart. Botha wanted stores, fresh horses and, above all, easy victories. His spies reported that the two outposts were weakly fortified and undermanned, so he prepared to attack. For over a year, Natal had been peaceful. Six months earlier, a detachment of 400 men from the 5th Mounted Infantry had been posted to Nkandhla as a frontier guard. Their Commanding Officer was Major Chapman, also of the Dublin Fusiliers. At 38 he was Botha's junior by three months, campaign-hardened like his men, with nearly two years of arduous veld warfare experience. Unlike many of his fellow-officers of that period, Chapman was astute, wide awake and extremely capable. Early in September, Chapman decided to move forward to a new post at the foot of Mount Itala, almost at the apex of the Transvaal's southern enclave. The treeless summit of Itala, over 4,800 feet high, slopes gently down to its base in the east, 1400 feet below, along a ridge over a mile in length. This ridge terminates in a narrow, steep spur at the bottom, vital ground which concealing the outpost site below from the summit. Initially it appeared to be a weak position, but in fact it was not, provided the defenders were well led and courageous. On 23 September, Chapman had learnt that he was in the path of Botha's southern thrust, and his able corps of scouts kept him informed of the ever-increasing danger. He must fight if attacked, but only great skill and courage could save his small garrison of 300 at Itala. The men worked feverishly with spades and picks, digging mutually supporting trenches about 4.5 feet deep, skilfully sited in the trees at the wooded outpost site. On the north side, a natural rock wall put the defenders on a platform overlooking all approaches. The Achilles heel of the position, the rock spur above the camp, was sangared (stone-walled) right across, and a machine-gun set up to fire upwards to Itala summit. Fort Prospect nearby had 68 men manning trenches within barbed-wire protection. At dusk on 25 September Major Chapman sent 80 men under Lieutenants Lefroy and Kane to the summit of Itala. In modern terms his concept was to establish a fighting patrol, positioned in ambush along the most likely route of enemy attack, to give warning to the main body and to disrupt the Boer assault. Their move to the top of the mountain was unnoticed by the Boers. Crouching cold and stiff amongst the rocks at the summit, the small British detachment watched and silently waited. Full moon was two nights away and the clear sky was moonlit from dusk to near dawn. Towards midnight sounds of approaching Boers could be heard. Soon a large body of men approaching could clearly be seen. At 100 yards the first British volley crashed out, catching and annihilating the leading group of attackers. After an exchange of fire, the surviving Boers pulled back to regroup. An account of Lefroy’s experiences that night appears in After Pretoria: The Guerilla War, by H. W. Wilson: ‘The summit of Itala mountain was a mile from the camp, bare and flat, and by no means a good position. It was not fortified in any way, and the troops despatched to occupy it had no other shelter than that afforded by rocks and boulders ... As the night advanced the enemy arrived and made dispositions for the assault. To the west of Itala, Christian Botha and Commandant Scholtz with 800 men drew up; to the south-west Opperman with 500; to the north Potgieter with 600. Yet another detachment 200 strong seized the point on the Itala ridge, to the east of the fort ... the total strength of the Boers in the vicinity was 2,600, against 400 British. The enemy, after a...