MCCORQUODALE – HUGH STEWART
| Born: 1875/08/00 Rank: LIEUT. Regiment: THORNEYCROFT’S M.I. GPS: S28°38.888 E29°30.995 |
Reason for death: KILLED IA Place of death: SPIOENKOP Date of death: 1900/01/24 Memorial: SPIOENKOP |
Note:
IN HIS BOOK “HILL OF SQUANDERED VALOUR” RON LOCK RECORDS THE FOLLOWING:-
“SECOND-LIEUTENANT HUGH MCCORQUODALE, THE 25-YEAR-OLD SCION OF A WEALTHY FAMILY WAS AN EVEN LATER ARRIVAL. HE HAD APPEARED ONLY THAT MORNING ‘LOOKING FOR A JOB’ AS HE HAD INFORMED CHURCHILL WHO HE KNEW FROM SCHOOL DAYS. SUCH WAS THE INFORMALITY OF THE TMI, HE WAS ENLISTED ON THE SPOT. BY 9AM THE BURGHERS OF THE CAROLINA COMMANDO HAD REACHED THE CREST LINE OF SPIONKOP, AND BY DRAGGING THEMSELVES ON THEIR STOMACHS INTO THE DEAD GROUND, WERE ABLE TO FIRE DIRECTLY INTO THE CENTRE OF THE BRITISH TRENCH. ONE SECTION OF THE TMI WHO HAD OCCUPIED THE BOULDER STREWN GROUND TO THE WEST, ATTEMPTED TO RETALIATE AND WAS WIPED OUT TO A MAN. ONE OF THE DEAD WAS THE TALENTED AND WEALTHY HUGH MCCORQUODALE WHO HAD BEEN WITH THE REGIMENT FOR FEWER THAN 24 HOURS”. CHURCHILL HAD BEEN ALERTED TO HIS FATE BY BEING TOLD ‘A SMART, CLEAN-LOOKING YOUNG GENTLEMAN HAD BEEN FOUND LEANING FORWARD ON HIS RIFLE’. THE SHELL THAT HAD KILLED MCCORQUODALE ALSO SMASHED HIS FIELD GLASSES WHICH BORE HIS NAME.
