Son of Edward Housman and Sarah Jane {Williams} Housman. Youngest brother of poet, A.E. Housman
L/Cpl. G. Herbert Housman, 6365, "E" Company, 4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifles
Served with the King's Army in Burma, and later in South Africa during the Second Boer War. Held the rank of Lieutenant Corporal in the British Army
Killed in action at the Battle of Bakenlaagte, when Colonel Benson's much feared No3 Flying Column, marching back to its base camp for re-fit, was attacked by Boer commandos under General Botha, on the Kriel-Kinross Road, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Outnumbered four to one, the column's rear guard of 210 Commonwealth troops set up a defensive position on Gun Hill and fought about 900 Boers in a close-quarters twenty-minute gun fight that ended only when the column's rear guard was annihilated.
Great bravery was demonstrated by the men on both sides, with combined casualties numbering approximately 87 killed with 182 wounded. Colonel Benson (a veteran of the Battle of Magersfontein, 11 December 1899) was to die the next morning from wounds received on the field of battle
This rear-guard action allowed the British main column time to deploy and set up a defensive perimeter under Lt Colonel Wools-Sampson. This deployment prevented the attacking Boer forces from riding on and capturing the main column as Botha had originally planned. The Boers left the field with whatever spoils they could carry, and the British carried the wounded into the entrenched camp during the night
The Bakenlaagte battlefield is located on the Kriel-Kinross road at the intersection of the R547 and R580 roads in Mpumalanga Province, just south of the present-day Matla Power Station
The 73 dead of the Commonwealth troops were buried on Gun Hill, but at sometime in the 1960s they were reinterred in Primrose Cemetery, at the corner of Cemetery road and Beaconsfield road, Germiston, Johannesburg, South Africa
L/Cpl. G. Herbert Housman, 6365, "E" Company, 4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifles
Served with the King's Army in Burma, and later in South Africa during the Second Boer War. Held the rank of Lieutenant Corporal in the British Army
Killed in action at the Battle of Bakenlaagte, when Colonel Benson's much feared No3 Flying Column, marching back to its base camp for re-fit, was attacked by Boer commandos under General Botha, on the Kriel-Kinross Road, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Outnumbered four to one, the column's rear guard of 210 Commonwealth troops set up a defensive position on Gun Hill and fought about 900 Boers in a close-quarters twenty-minute gun fight that ended only when the column's rear guard was annihilated.
Great bravery was demonstrated by the men on both sides, with combined casualties numbering approximately 87 killed with 182 wounded. Colonel Benson (a veteran of the Battle of Magersfontein, 11 December 1899) was to die the next morning from wounds received on the field of battle
This rear-guard action allowed the British main column time to deploy and set up a defensive perimeter under Lt Colonel Wools-Sampson. This deployment prevented the attacking Boer forces from riding on and capturing the main column as Botha had originally planned. The Boers left the field with whatever spoils they could carry, and the British carried the wounded into the entrenched camp during the night
The Bakenlaagte battlefield is located on the Kriel-Kinross road at the intersection of the R547 and R580 roads in Mpumalanga Province, just south of the present-day Matla Power Station
The 73 dead of the Commonwealth troops were buried on Gun Hill, but at sometime in the 1960s they were reinterred in Primrose Cemetery, at the corner of Cemetery road and Beaconsfield road, Germiston, Johannesburg, South Africa
Son of Edward Housman and Sarah Jane {Williams} Housman. Youngest brother of poet, A.E. Housman
L/Cpl. G. Herbert Housman, 6365, "E" Company, 4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifles
Served with the King's Army in Burma, and later in South Africa during the Second Boer War. Held the rank of Lieutenant Corporal in the British Army
Killed in action at the Battle of Bakenlaagte, when Colonel Benson's much feared No3 Flying Column, marching back to its base camp for re-fit, was attacked by Boer commandos under General Botha, on the Kriel-Kinross Road, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Outnumbered four to one, the column's rear guard of 210 Commonwealth troops set up a defensive position on Gun Hill and fought about 900 Boers in a close-quarters twenty-minute gun fight that ended only when the column's rear guard was annihilated.
Great bravery was demonstrated by the men on both sides, with combined casualties numbering approximately 87 killed with 182 wounded. Colonel Benson (a veteran of the Battle of Magersfontein, 11 December 1899) was to die the next morning from wounds received on the field of battle
This rear-guard action allowed the British main column time to deploy and set up a defensive perimeter under Lt Colonel Wools-Sampson. This deployment prevented the attacking Boer forces from riding on and capturing the main column as Botha had originally planned. The Boers left the field with whatever spoils they could carry, and the British carried the wounded into the entrenched camp during the night
The Bakenlaagte battlefield is located on the Kriel-Kinross road at the intersection of the R547 and R580 roads in Mpumalanga Province, just south of the present-day Matla Power Station
The 73 dead of the Commonwealth troops were buried on Gun Hill, but at sometime in the 1960s they were reinterred in Primrose Cemetery, at the corner of Cemetery road and Beaconsfield road, Germiston, Johannesburg, South Africa
L/Cpl. G. Herbert Housman, 6365, "E" Company, 4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifles
Served with the King's Army in Burma, and later in South Africa during the Second Boer War. Held the rank of Lieutenant Corporal in the British Army
Killed in action at the Battle of Bakenlaagte, when Colonel Benson's much feared No3 Flying Column, marching back to its base camp for re-fit, was attacked by Boer commandos under General Botha, on the Kriel-Kinross Road, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Outnumbered four to one, the column's rear guard of 210 Commonwealth troops set up a defensive position on Gun Hill and fought about 900 Boers in a close-quarters twenty-minute gun fight that ended only when the column's rear guard was annihilated.
Great bravery was demonstrated by the men on both sides, with combined casualties numbering approximately 87 killed with 182 wounded. Colonel Benson (a veteran of the Battle of Magersfontein, 11 December 1899) was to die the next morning from wounds received on the field of battle
This rear-guard action allowed the British main column time to deploy and set up a defensive perimeter under Lt Colonel Wools-Sampson. This deployment prevented the attacking Boer forces from riding on and capturing the main column as Botha had originally planned. The Boers left the field with whatever spoils they could carry, and the British carried the wounded into the entrenched camp during the night
The Bakenlaagte battlefield is located on the Kriel-Kinross road at the intersection of the R547 and R580 roads in Mpumalanga Province, just south of the present-day Matla Power Station
The 73 dead of the Commonwealth troops were buried on Gun Hill, but at sometime in the 1960s they were reinterred in Primrose Cemetery, at the corner of Cemetery road and Beaconsfield road, Germiston, Johannesburg, South Africa
Gravesite Details
Lt/Cpl Housman was 2nd cousin 3x removed, to the Contributor of this memorial
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