McKEICH – ROBERT
| Born: 1855/09/05 Rank: LIEUT. Regiment: NEW ZEALAND CONTINGENT – 2ND BRIGADE GPS: S26°40.978 E27°56.472 |
Reason for death: KILLED IA Place of death: VEREENIGING – LAST OFFICER KILLED – WHILE HUNTING Date of death: 1902/06/04 Memorial: MACCAUVLEI GOLF COURSE – VEREENIGING |
Note:
“A Boer War veteran said today he still remembered clearly the day Lieutenant McKeich was killed, about June 3 or June 4, 1902, a few days after the peace conference attended by Lord Kitchener. Lieutenant McKeich, who was a butcher at Lawrence before the war, and Lieutenant H Raynes, a Dunedin man who was formerly a conductor on the old Roslyn cable cars, set out across the veld on horseback to shoot springbok. They were held up by a party of three Boers, two of whom were armed. The Boers apparently did not know that peace had been declared.
The Boers ordered the officers from their horses, and told them to take off their uniforms. The order was given to Lieutenant Raynes first. He was carrying a heavy service revolver in his hip pocket. He took off his jacket, and when he went to undo his braces at the back, he whipped out the revolver, shot one Boer through the head, and another through the chest. He had only two bullets in his revolver. The third Boer came towards him, and Lieutenant Raynes threw the heavy empty revolver at him. It struck the Boer between the eyes, crushing his skull and killing him. The two New Zealand officers then went to remount their horses, and as Lieutenant McKeich was getting into the strirrups, the Boer who had been wounded in the chest crawled to a rifle and shot him dead.”
Ashburton Guardian, Wednesday November 2, 1955
MACCAUVLEI GOLF COURSE ENTRANCE – NEAR VEREENIGING S26°41.588 E27°56.323
