A draft of 180 men, consisting of reservists, section “D” Militia Reservists, and recruits joined the battalion on the 7th; amongst these were 120 married men.

At 11.30 a.m. on April 11th orders were received to move at once into Ladysmith, which was to be reached at 2 p.m.  The reason for the sudden move was not explained.  There was no transport.  Out of six wagons, the complement for a battalion on light field service scale, there were only two in camp at the time.  At Arcadia the battalion, in common with the rest of the brigade, was allowed tents, and told that it could have anything it liked to take with it.  There was consequently a good deal more than six carts could carry.

Towards evening, after the tents had been struck, packed, and sent on ahead, and the battalion was waiting in the open for more wagons, a most violent thunderstorm came on, lasting about two hours.  Ten men of one company which was holding a work on Rifleman’s Ridge, between Arcadia and Ladysmith, were struck by lightning, none, however, being killed.  The battalion eventually reached camp at Star Hill, just above the iron bridge outside Ladysmith, at 3 a.m. wet to the skin.  It was found that the tents had arrived.  These were pitched and the men turned in.  The greater part of the brigade did not reach Star Hill till the following day.

On the 13th the Gordons and Devons moved camp to Hyde’s Farm under Surprise Hill, the Devons proceeding next day to a camp under Thornhill’s Kopje, throwing out picquets on that hill and also on another kopje further out towards Nicholson’s Nek known as Devon Kopje.

From this time till May 15th the battalion remained quietly encamped under Thornhill’s Kopje.  Route marching and field days occupied the men most mornings, hockey and football most afternoons.  The men suffered a good deal at first from jaundice, which was chiefly the result of over-eating after their long abstinence, but they got fit and recovered their strength gradually; it was, however, fully six weeks to two months before they were really ready to take the field.

In the meantime General Buller had turned the Biggarsberg, and the Boers had fallen back on Laing’s Nek.

The 7th Brigade now formed part of the 4th Division under the command of Major-General Neville Lyttleton, and on May 16th the Regiment was ordered to proceed north to Modder’s Spruit.  Here it remained till the 20th, on which day it continued its march to Elandslaagte, and encamped near the railway station.  On the 23rd, having handed in all tents and excess baggage, the Regiment marched to Sunday’s River, where it joined up with the divisional head-quarters, and on the following day formed the rear-guard on the march to Black Craig Farm.  Here the division encamped in the heart of the Biggarsberg.

Halting at Kalabis on the 25th, the division reached Ingagane on the 26th.

[Illustration:  Railway Bridge Destroyed by Boers, Ingagane]