Picking out the dead horses of the 66th Field Battery, Royal Artillery, at the railway accident, Kaap Minden, 9 October 1900

Photograph, Boer War (1899-1902), 1900.

The British relied on thousands of horses to draw their artillery and supplies in South Africa. Many of these animals, sent from Britain and not acclimatised, succumbed to the tough dry conditions on the veldt. The average life expectancy of a British horse, from the time of its arrival in Port Elizabeth, was around six weeks.

From an album of 156 photographs presented to Major-General Horace Smith-Dorrien, GOC of 19th Brigade and showing its operations in South Africa, July to October 1900.