Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Kekewich greeting the relief column, 15 February 1900

Photograph, Boer War, 1900.

Kekewich commanded the Kimberely garrison during the siege. A relief column commanded by Lord Methuen moved to its relief in November 1899, but was defeated by the Boers in the ensuing battles of the Modder River and Magersfontein. Finally on 13 February 1900, a cavalry brigade commanded by Lieutenant General John French seized the crossings of the Modder River, the major obstacle to the British advance, and entered Kimberley on 15 February.

From an album of 39 photographs compiled for Lord Roberts.