2nd Dragoon Guards – (The Queens Bays)

30th of October 1901. The Queen’s Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) received orders to hold themselves in readiness to proceed to South Africa on Active Service. They left Aldershot where the regiment was stationed on the morning of the 16th of November and sailed in the H M S Ship ‘Orotava’ from Southampton the same afternoon. Not a man was late for parade or the least the worst for liquor. During the war poor logistics and disease, combined with having to fight against a disciplined and capable enemy of excellent horsemen and marksmen who perfected guerrilla warfare, made this a hard-won campaign. In addition to men often having to go without basics such as food and water, enteric fever was a constant drain on manpower. The published casualty rolls for the campaign run to over 50,000 names, while studies of contemporary publications and reports put the actual figure for all casualties, including caused by disease, at 97,000.”