Natal Militia with captured Zulu shields and assegai's captured during the Bambatha Rebellion in 1906 (Natal Carbineers)

The name of Colonel Havilland Le Mesurier, a permanent Australian gunner, is well known for his leadership during the Boer War when he commanded the 6th New South Wales Imperial Bushmen, while his son Hubert, a veteran of three wars, you will find no mention of in Australian histories; yet, in South Africa his name became synonymous with an act of bravery during the 1906 Bambatha Rebellion that was to see him awarded the rare Natal Meritorious Service Medal along with his numerous mentions in the press and official histories. He also became one of a handful of men to serve with both the Australian Imperial Force and the South Africans during the Great War.

Hubert Granville de Havilland Le Mesurier was born in Kensington, Middlesex, in June 1879, the son of Western Australian-born Havilland Le Mesurier, while his late grandfather was William Le Mesurier, a Canadian-born Deputy Commissary General. His mother’s father was Indian-born Colonel Samuel Hood Murray, so already there was military blood flowing through his veins. In 1881, the family was residing at 5 Linden Grove, Teddington, London, when at this time his father was recorded in the census records as being an unemployed tutor. Having resided in Watsons Bay, New South Wales, his father was commissioned in 1885 as a lieutenant in the New South Wales Artillery, while Hubert moved around NSW as a station hand and became an excellent horseman.

At the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in October 1899, Hubert’s father was eagerly searching for a position with an NSW Contingent, which he obtained in April 1900 as a major and second-in-command of the New South Wales Imperial Bushmen (6th Imperial Bushmen). Hubert made his way down from Queensland to Sydney in June, then presumably, like hundreds of volunteers at the time, he missed the opportunity to join a contingent and at his own expense sailed for South Africa.

While many of the Australians that arrived in Durban and Cape Town joined locally raised irregular regiments such as the Imperial Light Horse and Robert’s Horse, to name just two, Hubert enlisted in the Natal Mounted Rifles, a volunteer regiment, as a ‘special service’ trooper on 26th August 1900. Essentially all the Natal Volunteer regiments recruited special service men to bring their regiments up to operational strength. Ladysmith had been relieved by this time, and as the Natal Volunteers were not permitted to serve beyond the colony's border, Hubert was destined to patrol the colony that was now free from Boer Commandos. On 8th October 1900, the volunteers were released from active service and returned to their homes, during which time Hubert’s father had assumed command of the 6th Imperial Bushmen that were still on active service and in perpetual contact with hardened Boer Commandos until they returned home in July 1901.

On 14th March 1901, Hubert enlisted as a trooper in No. 2 Squadron, Natal Volunteer Composite Regiment, which operated along the Natal border with the two former Boer republics. With the close of the war on 31st May 1902, Hubert continued to serve until 31st July, at which point the volunteer composite regiment was disbanded. During this period, his father arrived in Durban with the 8th Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse, which he was commanding. Although they arrived too late to see any active service, it seems likely that father and son met, albeit briefly. Hubert’s next move was to enlist as a trooper in a provisional unit known as the Natal Border Police for a twelve-month enlistment period. Then at Pietermaritzburg on 10th November 1903, a little after three years in South Africa, he enlisted in the well-known Natal Police that had over the years seen a handful of Australians serving in its ranks. His service with the Natal Police was cut short when, on 6th December 1904, he was discharged ‘by order of the commissioner of police’ as his services were no longer required, and with only a ‘fair character’ recorded against his name in the discharge register, it suggests that he had a blemish or two on his conduct sheet.

Remaining in Natal, his reputation as a horseman grew, of which, in the book Old Trooper Looks Back, the author refers to Hubert’s skill as a horseman while providing a description of his appearance:

‘There was a rich Arab living in Durban, I think his name was Paruk, who had two beautiful big grey horses pulling a carriage. These horses were thoroughbreds of about seventeen hands, had never been ridden, and, being the owner's pride and joy, were wonderfully pampered and looked after. He protested very much when we took them away, but we just told him it was time Indians did something for the country and led them off. When we arrived in camp, it took four or five men to get a saddle on, and then the fun started. I think about 90% of the camp tried, but nobody could stick on for more than a fifty-yard dash, lasting about half a minute per man. Then a lean Australian (Le Mesurier), who looked like a Sunday school teacher, mild faced and eyeglasses said he would like a try. Everybody laughed, as the man looked so unlike the job, but he swung into the saddle, yelled, 'Let go', and boy, he could ride! That horse tried everything, even attempting to get among the seats on the grandstand, but in a very short and exciting time Le Mesurier had that horse gentled, sweating and obeying his commands. He rested a little, and did the same with the other one. I have seen many good men with horses, but have yet to see one better than him.’

The Bambatha (Zulu) Rebellion broke out in Natal on 7th February 1906, initially over the enforcement of hut taxes when Sub-Inspector Sidney H.K. Hunt and a trooper of the Natal Police were murdered. Following an escalation in violence and martial law being declared on 23rd February, the Natal Mounted Rifles was mobilized for active service. Hubert, having re-enlisted in ‘B’ Squadron, NMR, took to the field once more and first saw action at Elands Kraal on 12th May against Chief Mteli’s 150-200-strong impi, then on 14th May at Nqoro Hill near Fugitive’s Drift, the scene of severe fighting during the Anglo-Zulu War on 22nd January 1879.

It was on 2nd July 1906, during a drive from Maphumulo towards Wome Kopje that looked over Gaillard’s Drift, that Colonel Aubrey Woolls-Sampson, a fifty-year-old South African whose name was a byword at the time, suspected that Zulu impis were close by and lying in ambush. In what was described as an ‘exceedingly broken country, covered in thorn trees’, some forty rebels, as they were referred to at that time, had been observed, but their main point of concentration remained unknown – Wools-Sampson also had no local guide with them, thus compounding the lack of intelligence. Woolls-Sampson ordered ‘B’ Squadron of the Natal Mounted Rifles under Captain Peter M. Rattray DSO to advance dismounted up a steep hill known as Mpumulwana to locate and dislodge the rebels. Having ascended halfway up Mpumulwana, Rattray, an experienced Scottish-born veteran of the 1896 Matabele Rebellion and the Boer War, knowing that the Zulus were to his front but concealed, wanted to draw them into a premature attack. He had ordered his men, who were advancing in close order, to fix bayonets, as he anticipated close combat at any moment. To draw the Zulus out, he needed a volunteer to advance and goad them into a fight. It was Hubert, who was already accepted as a skilled horseman, who came forward and volunteered for the dangerous task – effectively, he was the most forward man of the entire column and hundreds of yards ahead at that.

Hubert bravely advanced alone on horseback up Mpumulwana until he rode right on top of 300-400 Zulus who were all armed with shields and assegais. They rose as one and charged towards Hubert, who, having successfully goaded them into attacking, turned and galloped back down the hill to rejoin his squadron, while ‘as they appeared over the brow, they were met by the fire of Rattray’s men’. Rattray’s strategy had paid off and resulted in the Zulu attack being beaten off, with Rattray’s men hastily pursuing them. Woolls-Sampson located close behind ‘C’ Squadron with the remainder of his column, on seeing the fight unfold, ordered the Northern District Mounted Rifles, Zululand Mounted Rifles and Royston’s Horse to pursue them, of whom an estimated 102 rebels were subsequently killed. Interestingly, there were a handful of Australians serving with the Northern District Mounted Rifles and a larger number with Royston’s Horse.

For this singular act of gallantry that materially assisted in locating the Zulus and regaining the initiative in the face of poor intelligence, Hubert was promoted to sergeant the same day and was subsequently awarded the Natal Meritorious Service Medal, of which, in a break from normal conventions, twelve MSMs were awarded for bravery during the rebellion that were all gazetted in September 1907. It could be argued that a Distinguished Conduct Medal would have been more fitting; however, during the rebellion, the Natal authorities awarded the MSM, which was normally a long service medal, as a second-tier gallantry medal to that of the DCM, of which eight were awarded, five to the Zululand Mounted Rifles alone. Hubert saw further action at Izinsimba on 8th July against Matshwili’s impi before the regiment was demobilized on 30th July 1906 so that the men could return to their businesses and employment.

By the time of Hubert’s MSM being gazetted, he was living in Western Australia, where his father, as a colonel, was then serving as the commandant general of the military forces. In what was an unprecedented investiture, in November 1908, Hubert stood before the Governor General of Western Australia when he was presented with both the MSM and the Natal Rebellion Medal—his father proudly stood by and watched while, at the time, the press reported the brave deed that had resulted in the medal, but until that time, no one in Australia was aware of. Interestingly, and making it an even more unprecedented investiture, Lieutenant Cyril P. Bryon of the 18th Australian Light Horse regiment also received the Natal Medal, having travelled to South Africa at his own expense and served as a trooper in the Natal Carbineers following several years in Baden-Powell’s South African Constabulary. Five years later, Hubert’s father died in Adelaide, with the press recording that he rode behind the military procession wearing his medals.

The funeral of Hubert's father, Colonel Havilland Le Mesurier. While we do not have a photo of Hubert, he could possibly be stating at the foot of the grave (South Australian Archives)

Returning to the life of a station hand, Hubert was back in NSW when the Great War broke out in August 1914. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on the 18th May 1915 and, as a trooper, he was allotted to the 5th Reinforcements of the 1st Light Horse Regiment and embarked for Egypt a week later – it would have been a rarity to have a trooper wearing four medal ribbons at this point in the war and completely a one-off in the AIF for a Natal MSM to be worn. He joined the regiment at Gallipoli on August 28th and remained continuously in the field until the evacuation on December 27th, at which point the regiment returned to Egypt to reorganize and refocus in the mounted role. Two weeks after arriving back in Egypt, he was charged for refusing to obey the orders of an officer and received 21-days field punishment No. 2. The following month, on 21st February 1916, he was severely injured by a bomb wound to the chest. It was then determined while he was in hospital that the wound was self-inflicted, resulting in him being admitted to ‘M’ Special Mental Hospital at Abassia. Not long after this, on 11th April, he returned to Australia aboard Runic, still suffering from the effects of his wound and melancholia; that was no doubt a very dark period of his life. He was discharged with a pension in Sydney on 24th July 1917.

Not wasting any time, he travelled back to Durban, a town that was all too familiar to him, and on 17th November 1917, he enlisted as a trooper in the 10th South African Horse that was then serving in East Africa. However, on 5th December, he was awarded three days confined to barracks for improper conduct and was discharged on 2nd January 1918 at Pietermaritzburg. Six days later, on 8th January, he re-enlisted as a sergeant in the Veteran Reserve of the Cape Commandant’s Staff in Kimberley, and then a few days later, he was transferred as a trooper to the Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport Company – a trade that he excelled in. He was promoted to sergeant on 1st February and embarked aboard the Walmer Castle on 6th April and disembarked at Harve, France, on the 14th May. He was posted to the Auxiliary Horse Depot at Harve, where he took part in breaking in and rehabilitating horses; however, he was reported as being absent without leave between 21st and 24th August. He was destined to remain at Harve until 4th July 1919, at which point he returned to the Union of South Africa and was discharged on 28th August, thus concluding his last known military service.

An extract from Hubert's AIF attestation papers where he declared his previous service with the Natal Mounted Rifles and Natal Police (National Archives of Australia) 

He remained in Africa for some time and was an employee of the Broken Hill Development Company in Northern Rhodesia, and returning to Australia, he died at Goulburn, New South Wales, on 30th March 1956, fifty years after the deeds that earned him the Meritorious Service Medal during the Bambatha Rebellion. Hubert’s name will always remain closely attached to the Natal Mounted Rifles that are today known as the Queen Nandi Mounted Rifles. He had enlisted on no fewer than ten known occasions and served in nine separate units in three wars – an interesting character, as many were during this period.

References:

An Old Trooper Looks Back.

Goetzche, Eric., The Official Natal Mounted Rifles.

Natal Government Gazette, 10th September 1907.

National Archives of Australia: B2455 Service papers of Hubert Granville Le Mesurier.

Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository: Natal Police enlistment and discharge records.

South African Defence Archives: Soldier Service papers and enlistment cards.

Stuart, James., A History of The Zulu Rebellion 1906.

Thompson, P.S., An Historical Atlas of the Zulu Rebellion of 1906.

Maitland Weekly Mercury., 25 August 1906.

West Australian., 17 November 1908.

Western Mail., 2nd November 1907.

Norseman Times., 1st November 1907.

Ancestry.com

Findmypast.com

Hubert Granville de Havilland Le Mesurier (1879-1956) - Find a Grave Memorial