Relief of Ladysmith Relief of Ladysmith When the Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, the Boers had a numeric superiority within Southern Africa. They quickly invaded the British territory and laid siege to Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. Britain meanwhile transported thousands of troops both from the United Kingdom itself and from elsewhere in the Empire and by the time the siege of Ladysmith had been lifted, had a huge numeric superiority. The Colony of Natal was bisected from east to west by the Tugela River which rose in the Drakensberg (to the west) and flowed into the Indian Ocean to
Geoffrey Barton of Ladysmith on 1 March. Barton was injured during the action on 27 February. After Ladysmith and Mafeking had been relieved, Major General Barton was sent to the Weston Transvaal, where he commanded in the Krugersdorp and Pretoria districts until the end of the war in early June 1902. He left Cape Town on the SS "Canada" and returned to Southampton in late July 1902. For his service in the war, he was mentioned in despatches (including by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902), and appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). Geoffrey Barton