BUCHANAN-RIDDELL – ROBERT GEORGE
| Born: 1854/00/00 Rank: LIEUT.-COL Regiment: KING’S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS – 3RD BATT. GPS: |
Reason for death: KILLED IA Place of death: SPIOENKOP Date of death: 1900/01/24 Memorial: MOUNT ALICE & SPEARMAN’S FARM – NEAR SPIOENKOP |
Note:
THE GPS LOCATION FOR SPEARMAN’S FARM IS : S28°43.289 E29°32.574
AT THE BATTLE OF SPIONKOP ON THE 24TH JANUARY 1900, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BUCHANAN-RIDDELL HAD BEEN ORDERED BY MAJOR-GENERAL NEVILLE LYTTELTON TO ATTACK TWIN PEAKS WITH HIS BATTALION OF THE KINGS ROYAL RIFLES. AS THE BOER SHELLING PROGRESSED, GENERAL LYTTELTON ORDERED THE KINGS ROYAL RIFLES TO RETIRE STEADILY, EVEN THOUGH THE CREST OF THE HILL HAD ALREADY BEEN CAPTURED. IN HIS BOOK “HILL OF SQUANDERED VALOUR”, RON LOCK NOTES THAT BUCHANAN-RIDDELL IGNORED MANY MESSAGES TO RETIRE, AND QUOTES “HOWEVER BUCHANAN-RIDDELL AT THE TIME WAS SURVEYING HIS PRIZE, AND IN DOING SO PEERED OVER THE NORTHERN CREST OF TWIN PEAKS IN ORDER TO WITNESS THE COMMANDOS, LIKE PANIC-DRIVEN ANTS, SCATTERING IN ALL DIRECTIONS, AND IN SO DOING WAS SHOT THROUGH THE HEAD AND KILLED. IT WAS STILL EARLY IN THE WAR AND THE BRITISH WERE STILL TO LEARN THAT EVEN A TARGET AS MEAGRE AS HAD BEEN OFFERD TO THE FEW BURGHERS STILL LURKING AMONGST THE BOULDERS BELOW, BECKONED INSTANT DEATH”
