WOODGATE – SIR EDWARD ROBERT PREVOST

Note:
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR EDWARD WOODGATE WAS A VETERAN SOLDIER WHO HAD FOUGHT IN THE ABYSSINIAN WAR, THE ANGLO-ZULU WAR AND IN ASHANTI (GHANA). HE WAS KNIGHTED (KCMG) IN JANUARY 1900. HE WAS NOT IN GOOD HEALTH AT THE TIME OF THE SPIONKOP BATTLE, AND NEEDED A LOT OF ASSISTANCE TO CLIMB TO THE SUMMIT OF THE MOUNTAIN.  HIS HEADQUARTERS WERE AT THE BACK OF THE HILL, BUT HE MOVED TO INSPECT THE DEFENCE LINE AND WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED WHEN HIT WITH A FRAGMENT OF SHRAPNEL ABOVE THE EYE.  HE RECOVERED CONSCIOUSNESS AS HE WAS CARRIED DOWN THE HILL.  HE BECAME VIOLENT AND DEMANDED TO BE TAKEN BACK UP THE HILL, BUT WAS RESTRAINED AND TAKEN TO SPEARMANS HOSPITAL.  HE WAS LATER TRANSFERRED TO RIVERVIEW HOSPITAL IN MOOI RIVER.  HE SURVIVED FOR TWO MONTHS, BUT THE INJURY TO THE CHBRAIN WAS SUCH THAT HE EVENTUALLY LAPSED INTO A COMA AND DIED. HE IS BURIED IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST JOHN’S CURCH AT WESTON NEAR MOOI RIVER.
THERE IS A METAL CROSS AND PLAQUE MARKING THE SPOT WHERE HE WAS WOUNDED ON SPIONKOP, AND WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE RIGHT SPOT. THE LATE KEN GILLINGS, THE BOER-WAR HISTORIAN AND TOUR GUIDE HAD A STORY TOLD TO HIM BY AN OLD BOER, MANY YEARS AGO, THAT GENERAL WOODGATE WAS WOUNDED AT A PLACE MUCH CLOSER TO THE EDGE OF THE HILL.  (CONTRIBUTED BY ROBIN SMITH).  IN HIS BOOK “HILL OF SQUANDERED VALOUR“, RON LOCK QUOTES A REFERENCE FROM A BOOK BY IAN UYS SAYING THAT GENERAL WOODGATE WAS SHOT THROUGH THE HEAD ABOVE THE RIGHT EYE, AT THE CREST LINE OF THE MOUNTAIN.