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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
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ranges up to 2,000 metres (2,187 yards) but was probably reasonably accurate up to half that
distance in competent hands. Point-blank range was 400 metres (437 yards). It had a fixed vertical
box magazine taking five rounds from a charger but it lacked a cut-off to isolate the magazine and
allow single-shot loading. The carbine bolt-handle was bent down while that of the rifle stuck out at
right-angles to the body of the gun; a feature that was recognised as being a nuisance, catching, as it
did, on clothing and other equipment. While a bayonet could be fitted, it was not a weapon of which
the Boers approved.
The Lee-Enfield
The first small-bore military rifle used in the British army was the Lee-Metford which used black
powder and the Metford rifling system of seven shallow grooves which managed to combat the black
powder fouling which occurred. With the introduction of cordite propellant, the rifling degraded after
the firing of about 6,000 rounds and the Enfield five-groove system was adopted. The tenround
magazine was adopted for the Lee-Metford Mark II in April 1893 and its use was continued with the
Lee-Enfield Mark I* which came into service as an improved version of the Mark I in 1899. The
weapon had a cut-off which isolated the magazine and single-round firing was mandatory until the
order “Open cut-offs, rapid fire!” was given. Had British marksmanship been anywhere near that of
the Boers, the sudden, fearful torrent of rifle fire that would have resulted would have been
devastating. Indeed, by 1914 the deficiency had been rectified to such an extent that German troops
became convinced that they were being fired on by machine-guns rather than rifles. The 0.303-inch
(7.7mm) cartridge was a development of the black powder version first introduced in 1888 and fired
a cupro-nickel jacketed lead-cored bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2,060 feet per second. The
sword-bayonet was a two-edged weapon which could be fitted to the barrel without impeding the
firing of the rifle. British troops were trained to close down on the enemy and use the bayonet, a
practice which the Boers found uncivilised.
See also:
Artillery.
Reference:
Hall, Darrell, ed. Fransjohan Pretorius and Gilbert Torlage, The Hall Handbook of the Anglo-Boer
War (Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 1999).
Rimington, Colonel Michael Frederick
British reconnaissance was poor early in the war but, under the command of such men as Michael
Rimington, it improved greatly.
Rimington was born in Penrith, Cumbria, England, in 1858. He was with the 6th Inniskilling
Dragoons in Natal in 1881, and served on the Bechuanaland Expedition of 1884–85 and in operations
in Zululand in 1888. His experience of South Africa was thus considerable. On the outbreak of war in
1899 he raised his own regiment from farmers in Natal, the
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