John Bisdee
The 1st Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen’s Contingent in action against the Boers at Warmbad, Rooikop, Transvaal, South Africa, 1 September 1900
This native of Tasmania joined the imperial forces and fought bravely in South Africa
When the Second Boer War was declared on 11 October 1899, governments of colonies from around the British Empire offered to send troops to contribute to the British war effort. This included the governments of the six colonies of Australia (the country would not be confederated into a Commonwealth until 1 January 1901). Among the troops sent were the 1st Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen Contingent, a unit whose members would be awarded two Victoria Crosses. Most of the troops the colonies of Australia contributed were mounted units, formed before departure. This was despite a decree requesting infantry contingents as being of most service and cavalry of the least.
Australians also enlisted in British units or South African colonial units and recruitment for British units, such as the Scottish Horse, was undertaken in Australia. The Australian contribution to the war effort took place over five waves, the first coming in 1899 immediately after the outbreak of the war and drawn from the men of the colonial militia.
The second wave included the bushmen contingents (arriving between December 1899 and February 1900), recruited widely and paid for by public subscription or sponsored by wealthy individuals. The third wave of Australians were the Imperial Bushmen Contingents, recruited in a similar manner but paid for by the imperial government in London. After federation came draft contingents raised by the state governments of the new Commonwealth and then, the new federal Commonwealth Government contributed Australian Commonwealth Horse troops. Some of these troops were still aboard their ships on their way to South Africa when peace was declared in May 1902. In all, about 16,000 Australian men served in South Africa.
Trooper John Hutton Bisdee arrived in the third Australian wave with the 1st Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen’s Contingent in May 1900.
John Bisdee was born in the small Tasmanian community of Melton Mowbray in 1869, some 50 kilometres from the colony capital in Hobart. His grandfather had travelled to Van Diemen’s Land in 1821 (its name was changed to Tasmania in 1856 to remove the stigma of the former penal colony). Educated in Hobart, John had then worked the family holdings at Hutton Park, Melton Mowbray, until he enlisted in April 1900.
Australians were valued in South Africa for their abilities to ride and shoot. In many ways, the terrain they were used to traversing in Australia matched that of the veldts of South Africa. The Australians were also resourceful and used to enduring the harsh and unforgiving environment of the Australian bush. All these things should have proved positives in South Africa. Despite their enthusiasm for the cause many Australians arrived in South Africa without much training. The colony militias only trained a few hours a month and their service did not require much of them. Similarly their officers had little training despite some efforts to remedy this. Captain Charles Cox had led members of the New South Wales Lancers to Aldershot in England to undergo training in 1899. The disparity in the Australian outlook on life and British military training and leadership were evident in South Africa but would become more pronounced in during the First World War. During the Second Boer War, this fatal disparity became horrifically symbolised by the fate of Troopers Harry ‘The Breaker’ Morant and Peter Handcock, court-martialled and executed in February 1902.
The war in South Africa came as no surprise to Britain or the Empire. Tensions had been building between the Boers and Britain since the Napoleonic Wars. The two Boer republics, the South African (or Transvaal) Republic and the Orange Free State, formed in the 1850s, were recognised by Britain but tensions continued to grow. This led to the First Boer
War in 1880-1881. Gold was discovered in the Transvaal in 1886 and many foreigners (especially British) flocked to the gold fields. Britain wanted to incorporate the Transvaal and the Orange Free State into a federation under British control and agitated for the rights of British citizens within Transvaal as well as control of the gold fields. Negotiations broke down in June 1899 and a series of ultimatums led to war being declared on Britain by the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State.
As early as July 1899, the Australian colony of Queensland offered to send troops and forces were requested from New South Wales and Victoria that same month. The first of
“THEY WERE PASSING THROUGH A NARROW GORGE, VERY ROCKY AND THICKLY WOODED, WHEN THE ENEMY IN FORCE SUDDENLY OPENED FIRE AT SHORT RANGE FROM HIDDEN COVER, WOUNDING SIX OUT OF THE PARTY OF EIGHT”
these contingents arrived in South Africa in November 1899. As such, Australian troops were involved in the three phases of the war. The first phase, when British infantry were defeated and besieged by the more mobile
Boer troops, took place between October and December 1899. The second phase, between December 1899 and September 1900, saw the British counter-offensive and most towns in South Africa coming under British control. The third phase, between September 1900 and May 1902, saw a largely guerrilla war waged between mounted Boer commandos and British mounted units. The first Australian units arrived too late, however, to be involved in the defeats of the ‘black week’ (10-17 December 1899) when more than 2,000 casualties were inflicted on the British by the Boers in three separate engagements. Australian troops were involved with the cavalry of Major-general John French at the relief of Kimberley and then at the battle of Paardeberg in February 1900.
Bisdee arrived with the 1st Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen’s Contingent on 28 May 1900 with 121 men and 133 horses, having set sail on 26 April. His unit was involved in the later phases of the British counter-offensive. Following the defeat at Paardeberg, the Boers relied more and more on guerrilla tactics performed by fast moving mounted irregular
“TROOPER BISDEE DISMOUNTED HIS HORSE AND PLACED A WOUNDED OFFICER IN THE SADDLE, RUNNING ALONGSIDE UNTIL THEY WERE OUT OF RANGE OF THE ENEMY, WHERE HE REMOUNTED THE HORSE AND RODE TO SAFETY”
units. In response the British relied more and more on their own mounted units and especially those from Australia to whom the irregular nature of the war now seemed best suited. This was despite the incredibly harsh conditions for both horses and men. The Australians lost more men to disease than were killed by enemy action throughout the war. The units with Bisdee’s (the 4th South Australians and 4th Western Australians) formed the 4th Imperial Bushmen under Lieutenant-colonel Rowell.
They proceeded to Port Elizabeth and from there were given the role of encircling the Boers in the Wittebergen Basin, a Boer mountain stronghold in the North-east Orange River Colony. A supply colony destined for Lindley and defended by the Tasmanians was attacked by General Piet De Wet’s forces but these were driven off. The Tasmanians were transported by train to Praetoria in August and then marched to join General Paget at Lindley. They subsequently saw hard fighting, one account stating that the men were under fire virtually every day. The Tasmanians joined the Mounted Brigade where they were usually employed as the advance guard, especially when enemy contact was expected.
On 1 September 1900, 20 men of the squadron under the command of 20-year-old Lieutenant Guy Wylly. The lieutenant would also be awarded the VC for his actions that day.
The Tasmanian Contingent were, as usual, in advance of the main force at Warmbad, near Rooikop, Transvaal. A group of eight men split off to pursue some 350 Boer cattle.
They entered a narrow gorge, rocky and thickly wooded, when a small force of Boers opened fire from cover and immediately wounded six of the eight Tasmanians, including Bisdee, Wylly and the other officer. One trooper
(Brown) was wounded and later died, Corporal Brown was also wounded.
In his citation, Trooper Bisdee, incorrectly termed a private, “was one of an advance scouting party passing through a narrow gorge, when the enemy suddenly opened fire at close range and six out of the party of eight were wounded, including two officers. The horse of one of the wounded officers bolted and Trooper Bisdee dismounted, put the officer on his own horse and took him out of range of the very heavy fire”. Wylly’s citation gives more details of the engagement, “That officer, seeing that one of his men was badly wounded in the leg, and that his horse was shot, went back to the man’s assistance, made him take his [Lieutenant Wylly’s] horse, and opened fire from behind a rock to cover the retreat of the others, at the imminent risk of being cut off himself.”
These were the first two of the 14 Tasmanians to be awarded the Victoria Cross and two of the six awarded to Australians during the Second Boer War. After successfully extracting themselves, the overall action was a success. Seven Boers were captured, 100 rifles, 40,000 rounds, two supply wagons and the 350 cattle.
During the action, Bisdee was wounded and, as a result, he was invalided home in December 1900. His arrival back in Tasmania was something of a major event and he was welcomed by crowds at the train station. His, and Wylly’s, Victoria Crosses were gazetted in November 1900. Wylly convalesced in Britain and was then commissioned in the South Lancashire Regiment in December 1900. Wylly received his Victoria Cross from King Edward
VII on 25 July 1901. Bisdee would receive his in Hobart in August 1902. Once recovered, however, Bisdee reenlisted, this time as a lieutenant in No. 1 Company, 2nd Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen Contingent and set sail for South Africa once more.
This saw Bisdee involved in the third, guerrilla, phase of the war, arriving with 253 men and officers and 289 horses on 24 April 1901. Bisdee continued to serve in South Africa until the end of the war. The Tasmanians joined General John French in the Cape Colony and were in regular contact with various enemy commandos. They then joined Major-general ‘Harry’ Scobell’s column and were then formed into a Flying Column under Colonel Gorringe. They were “incessantly employed” for 12 months according to the official war record. Many of these operations began with long rides at night followed by an attack on a commando the following morning.
Another Australian mounted contingent’s experience can be considered typical. Between August and December 1901, the
NSW Mounted Rifles rode 3,000 kilometres and were involved in 13 skirmishes. These resulted in five dead and 19 wounded with 27 Boer dead, 15 wounded and the capture of a further 196. The 2nd Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen Contingent suffered six deaths and 16 injured or otherwise struck off. Bisdee was Mentioned in Despatches during his service with this Contingent. On 22 May 1902 the Contingent embarked at Durban for Hobart, arriving home on 25 June.
John returned to Hutton Park although he was still a celebrity – he received his Victoria Cross from the governor of the state on 11 August, 1902, in honour of the coronation of King
Edward VII which had taken place on 9 August.
Bisdee’s wedding in Hobart in 1904 was a major state event. He then joined the 12th Australian Light Horse, Tasmanian Mounted Infantry and became the regiment’s commanding officer in 1913. In July 1915 he joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as a captain in the 12th Light Horse and departed for Egypt that November. He served in active operations until wounded in 1916 and was promoted, eventually reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was assistant provost marshal in Egypt.
Bisdee was appointed OBE in June 1919. He died at home in Tasmania in 1930.