Orders, Decorations and Medals

‘When we heard that we were going to be attacked at Itala, I was sent right up to the top of the Itala Hill with about 90 men, to try and hold it, and prevent the Boers from attacking the camp from that direction. At about 2 p.m., on 26 September, they attacked my post five or six hundred strong. It was fairly dark, and the ground was covered with little rocks, which made it very hard to distinguish people. We kept up a heavy fire on both sides. They worked right round our right, and then rushed the position. It was a very plucky rush, but as they were about five to one, we couldn’t keep them out, and it ended in a sort of grand mêlée.

I have a vivid recollection of popping off my revolver with Boers all round me, and then I got too full of lead to continue the operation. They took about 37 prisoners and held the position all day. We people with bullets in us had to lie all day on our backs in the sun, and we didn’t get down again till 3 a.m. next morning, when the people in the camp, finding the Boers had cleared, sent for us. It was a bitterly cold during the night and a damp mist. The camp held out splendidly all night and day, until the Boers didn’t think it worth while losing any more men. There were about 1,500 Boers, and about 300 of us, so we didn’t do so badly.’

A master of understatement, Lieutenant Lefroy writes home while languishing in a Field Hospital.



The outstanding Boer War D.S.O. group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel B. P. Lefroy, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who was decorated for his gallantry in the desperate struggle enacted atop Mount Itala - wounded in no less than four places, he was credited with shooting Commandant Potgieter at point-blank range

Having then transferred to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment - and proved an inspiration to a young Montgomery of Alamein - he was given command of the 2nd Battalion and fatally wounded on the first day of the battle of Loos in September 1915: among his final messages from a Field Ambulance was a moving tribute to his men - which was made a Battalion Order - and “Play up!” to his old House at Harrow

Distinguished Service Order, V.R., silver-gilt and enamel; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Laing’s Nek (Lieut. B. P. Lefroy, D.S.O., Rl. Dub. Fus.); 1914 Star, with clasp (Capt. B. P. Lefroy, R. War. R.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col. B. P. Lefroy); France, Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, silver-gilt and enamel, the Great War campaign official late claims made by the recipient’s family in 1941, minor enamel damage to the first, otherwise good very fine (6) £6000-8000

D.S.O. London Gazette 11 October 1901:

‘For gallantry in the defence of Forts Prospect and Itala.’


Bertram Perceval Lefroy was born in South Kensington, London in May 1878, the son of Thomas Charles Perceval and Isabella Napier Lefroy. Educated at Harrow (1892-96) and the R.M.C. Sandhurst, he was commissioned in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in May 1898.

Fort Itala - no surrender - four wounds - D.S.O.

Ordered to South Africa with the 1st Battalion, and having been appointed Lieutenant in May 1899, Lefroy was present at the relief of Ladysmith and in further operations in Transvaal and Natal, including the action at Laing’s Nek in early June 1900; so, too, in operations in Orange River Colony.

However, it was for his part in the defence of Fort Itala on the Zululand Frontier of Natal in September 1901 that he won his D.S.O., when he was ordered by his C.O., Major A. J. Chapman, to hold the summit of Itala mountain with Lieutenant Kane of the South Lancashire Regiment and a small detachment of men.

A summary of this forlorn hope’s experiences on the 26th-27th appears in After Pretoria: The Guerilla War, by H. W. Wilson:

‘A small detachment, 80 strong, under Lieutenants Lefroy and Kane, was sent to hold the summit of Itala mountain. This was a mile from the camp, bare and flat, and by no means a good position. It was not fortified in any way, and the troops despatched to occupy it had no other shelter than that afforded by rocks and boulders ... As the night advanced the enemy arrived and made dispositions for the assault. To the west of Itala, Christian Botha and Commandant Scholtz with 800 men drew up; to the south-west Opperman with 500; to the north Potgieter with 600. Yet another detachment 200 strong seized the point on the Itala ridge, to the east of the fort, where Melmoth and Nkandhla roads cross ... If these figures, which are those of Major Chapman, are correct, the total strength of the Boers in the vicinity was 2,600, against 400 British.

At midnight the garrison of the fort at Itala heard from the detached outpost, a mile away, the roar of heavy firing. It lasted for a quarter of an hour, and ceased as suddenly as it had begun. Thirty minutes of anxiety passed, and then once more came the rattle of Mausers and Lee-Enfields. The second burst of firing lasted about half-an-hour, when once more silence followed. What happened was this. The Boers had rushed upon the detached force from all quarters, with the utmost fury. They were able to get to close quarters, owing to the darkness. Then they called upon the troops to surrender. “No surrender,” was the gallant answer of Lieutenant Kane. But in the absence of proper defences there could be but one issue to such a conflict.

The enemy, after a momentary repulse, came on in overwhelming force, and though the soldiers fought magnificently, acting up to the example set them by their two Lieutenants, they were speedily overborne by sheer weight of numbers. Lefroy shot Commandant Potgieter with his revolver in the desperate mêlée that ensued. Some few of our men succeeded in making their way through the Boers, and escaped to the south side of the mountain, where, in the bush, they were comparatively safe, and when day broke could yet render good service. The greater part of the little detachment, however, was killed, wounded, or captured. About two a.m. a message reached the main body to the effect that the outpost had been rushed by 500 Boers and annihilated. Thus more than one fourth of Major Chapman’s command had been put out of action to little or no purpose.’

Lefroy, who was shot through the stomach, leg, arm and chin, and ‘got too full of lead’ to continue operations, was lucky to survive, two of his wounds being described as near-fatal. He was put forward for an immediate D.S.O. by Lord Kitchener, and received promotion to Captain, the latter appointment being made in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was also mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 3 December 1901, refers).

The Royal Warwickshires - Montgomery of Alamein’s inspiration

Having then served in England, in Gibraltar and back in South Africa, he attended Staff College. Of subsequent events, Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein - then a young subaltern in the Royal Warwickshires - later wrote:

‘The Battalion returned to England in 1913 and an officer of our 2nd Battalion was posted to it who had just completed the two-year course at the Staff College at Camberley. His name was Captain Lefroy. He was a bachelor and I used to have long talks with him about the Army and what was wrong with it, and especially how one could get to real grips with the military art. He was interested at once, and helped me tremendously with advice about what books to read and how to study. I think it was Lefroy who first showed me the path to tread and encouraged my youthful ambition. He was killed later in the 1914-18 War and was a great loss to me and the Army.’

In fact, by the time Lefroy had departed to take up a new post at the War Office in April 1914, it has been said he had sown the seeds of a deep and lasting ambition in his young protégé.

The Great War - Battalion C.O. - mortally wounded at Loos

Embarked for France and Flanders as a Captain on the Staff of the 1st Division in August 1914, Lefroy remained similarly employed for seven months and was thrice mentioned in despatches (17 September 1914; 14 January and 31 May 1915). He next served on the Staff of 26th Division in England and was advanced to Major in July 1915.

Shortly afterwards, however, he was appointed to the command of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment in France in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, in readiness for the battle of Loos. And it was in this capacity that he was fatally wounded on the first day of the battle, dying in a Field Ambulance two days later on 27 September. As might be expected of the late hero of Fort Itala - and as confirmed in a letter of condolence sent to his mother - Lefroy personally led the attack. The regimental history states:

‘On 25 September came the battle of Loos. In the attack that day the line of the 7th Division was facing Cite St. Elie and the Hulluch Quarries five miles north of Loos. The 2nd Battalion went over the top at 6.30 in the morning. In the face of terrific fire they reached the first line of trenches to find that the wire was not cut. Private Arthur Vickers on his own initiative and with the utmost bravery ran forward in front of his company, and standing up in broad daylight under heavy fire cut two gaps in the wire. His gallant action contributed largely to the success of the assault, and was justly rewarded with the Victoria Cross, the first that had been won by a soldier of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Continuing to advance through the Quarries the Battalion carried the second line also without much difficulty, but on reaching St. Elie at 9.30 were checked. Nevertheless they held on till dusk, when owing to the retirement of the 9th Division on their right they were compelled to fall back. When the Battalion was mustered at midnight there were present no officers and only 140 men. Lieutenant-Colonel Lefroy and two of his officers had been mortally wounded, seven other officers were killed, seven were wounded and one was a prisoner. Of the men 64 were killed, 171 wounded and 273 missing. Lieutenant H. P. Freeman was attached to the Battalion next day, and under his command the remnant remained in the trenches till 29 September.’

Prior to his death from wounds at a Field Ambulance on the 27th, Lefroy sent the following message to his men, a message that was made a Battalion Order:

‘Tell them my last thoughts are with them. I pray their bravery in the hour of severe testing may win them through to success. Would to God I had been spared to serve and lead them a little longer. But as it is I trust that the men of the Warwickshire Regiment will pull together, work together and uphold the credit, the good name and the traditions that the Regiment has so nobly won. May God’s blessing rest on them in their hour of danger or peace, and may the heroic self-sacrifice of their officers, non-commissioned officers and men who have fallen inspire them to deeds of unfaltering and unfailing bravery.’

As confirmed in Harrow Memorials of the Great War, he also managed to send his old school house another message: “Play up!”

The Colonel, who had been appointed a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour, was buried in Fouquieres Churchyard Extension, near Bethune, France; sold with copied research, including MIC entry which confirms only one set of Great War campaign medals was ever issued in the recipient’s name, in 1941.