Colonel 'Tim' Lukin CMG DSO while commanding the Cape Mounted Rifles c. 1903 (The Nongqai)
Henry Timson Lukin first arrived in South Africa in 1879 as a young seventeen-year-old greenhorn in the wake of the iSandlwana disaster. Having wished to pursue a career as a soldier, he fought during the Zulu War, was commissioned into the Cape Mounted Rifles, chased Boer commandos during the Boer War, commanded the South African Brigade on the Somme, then was promoted to Major General and successfully commanded the 9th (Scottish) Division between 1917 and 1918, which culminated in him being knighted. This was a truly amazing career for a lad who had failed the army entrance examination and arrived in South Africa as an unknown quantity 39 years earlier.
More commonly referred to as ‘Harry, ‘Little Tim’ or just ‘Tim’, he was born at Edith Villas, Fulham, London, on 24th May 1860, the son of Robert H. Lukin, a barrister, while his grandfather was the Reverend John Lukin. He was educated at the Merchant Taylor’s School, which he left in 1875, and wanting to enter the Royal Military College Sandhurst, he was sent to Mr. Winter at Woolwich to help him study for the army examination. He also attended courses at the riding school at Knightsbridge and an infantry drill course with the Guards at Chelsea Barracks in order to obtain the foundation of military training. Unfortunately, the young lads’ aspirations of attending Sandhurst were dashed when he failed the entrance exam.
The lure of adventure in South Africa was calling him, and at his own expense, on 2nd January 1879, he sailed aboard the Nyanza to Natal and landed in Durban just after the battle of iSandlwana. Lukin’s, Indian born cousin, Captain ‘Jack’ Spurgin, was serving in Natal as the adjutant of the 2/21st (Royal Scots Fusiliers) Foot and had arranged for Lukin to be commissioned a lieutenant in the Natal Native Pioneers in February, not yet being 19 years of age. Soon after, he joined the staff of Major Harcourt Bengough’s 2nd Battalion, Natal Native Contingent, which was attached to the 2nd Division under General Newdigate. Bengough, of the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment, was a Crimean War veteran and an excellent mentor for Lukin. He took part in the second invasion of Zululand, having witnessed the sheer power behind the field force. It was during the Battle of Ulundi on 4th July 1879, that Lukin was seriously wounded during the hectic charge made by the mounted troops as they surged out of the square in pursuit of the retiring Zulus. His biographer and brother-in-law, the Reverend R.E. Johnston, recorded that:
‘Following the Lancers, the mounted men of the Native Contingent charged. Major Bengough led them and Lieut. Lukin rode at his side. As they pursued a mass of the fleeing Zulu into the ravine, the young Galloper reeled for a moment in his saddle. “Lukin, you’re hit,” said Bengough. “It’s nothing, I’m all right, sir,” answered the boy. But a few moments afterwards he fell, limp and unconscious, from his horse. A Zulu bullet had struck him on the right leg and inflicted a serious contused wound which involved a large part of the calf of the leg.’
Following his first-hand experience of being medically evacuated to Natal and after several operations on his leg, he returned home to England to recuperate. In five months abroad, he had held a commission, fought in a decisive battle, was wounded, and entitled to the South African War Medal with clasp ‘1879’. It is unclear exactly when he enlisted in the 53rd (Shropshire) Foot; however, from Manchester on 22nd November 1880, the commanding officer of the 53rd submitted the application for Lance Corporal Henry Lukin, stating that he was formerly an officer in the NNC and entitled to the campaign medal. Presumably, he had enlisted as a gentleman ranker.
Lieutenant H.T. Lukin c. 1882 not long after he joined the Cape Mounted Rifles (Ulundi to Deville Wood)
Immediately following the Zulu War, the Cape Mounted Rifles, which were a permanent paramilitary force in the Eastern Cape, had been expanded into two battalions and referred to as ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ Wings. Candidates for commissions had traditionally come up through the ranks of the CMR; however, in late 1879, Lord Chelmsford proposed that men of the Frontier Light Horse and the 17th Lancers would make suitable soldiers in the CMR, while Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Fred Carrington, Commandant Cecil D’Arcy VC, and Captain Charles Shervinton had been brought in directly as officers. Competition for a commission was tough; however, Lukin, on the recommendation of Bengough, was successful and one of the few at the time to break the mould.
Lukin was appointed a lieutenant in Left Wing, CMR, on 23rd March 1881, as the BaSotho Gun War was still raging, however, he arrived in Basutoland on 22nd April 1881, four days after the armistice had been agreed. He was posted to No. 1 Troop while, fellow Zulu War veteran, Captain Charles Shervinton was temporarily commanding the Left Wing as Lieutenant Colonel Carrington had been seriously wounded in March. Shervinton was another excellent role model for the young Lukin, as he was arguably the most respected officer in the CMR at that point, not only because of his excellent leadership through a dozen tough fights in Basutoland but also for his outstanding record during the siege of Eshowe in Zululand. He had, like Lukin, failed to obtain a regular army commission and had spent time in the ranks of the 20th Hussars.
Lukin settled into regimental life, and following years of service at different posts across the Eastern Cape, he was married to Miss Lily Quinn of Fort Hare in 1891, and then, in 1892, he was selected from all the officers in the CMR to travel to England, where he took courses with the British Army in gunnery, range finding, signals, and musketry, of which he performed brilliantly. While in England, he attended a levee at Buckingham Palace in May 1893, of which it would be assumed that not many CMR uniforms had been seen around London. Promotion was slow; however, on 1st February 1894, he was promoted to captain and appointed the gunnery instructor of the CMR Artillery Troop at Umtata, and two months later, in addition to his gunnery duties, he was appointed as the regimental signalling instructor – he was a busy man.
Major Arthur E. Lorch, who enlisted as a private in the CMR in 1891 and served under Lukin as a gunner, recorded this period in The Story of the Cape Mounted Riflemen:
‘At that time the officers of the regiment were inclined to an opinion that nothing less than a commission in the regular Imperial Army of Great Britain was comparable than one in the Cape Mounted Riflemen. Young Lukin had more than one embarrassing question to answer of the “dashing dark cavalry regiment” he served with in the Zulu War; but he had that grit and efficiency which won him promotion to Captain, and after he organized the Artillery Troop into a smart Horse Artillery Battery and produced an establishment of signalers which during the South African War became widely known throughout the British Army.’
Captain H.T. Lukin, centre with the regimental signallers of the CMR at Umtata c. 1897 (The Nongqai)
Soon after, the newly promoted Captain ‘Tim’ Lukin, served with the Pondoland Field Force in 1894 and then with the Bechuanaland Field Force during the Langberg Rebellion of 1896/97, where he was the Field Adjutant to Lieutenant Colonel Edmund H. Dalgety, the Officer Commanding the BFF. Dalgety, or ‘Old Dal, as he was known, had served as an officer in the 21st Foot and knew Lukin’s cousin Jack. Dalgety had resigned his commission and joined the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police as a private, and during the Ninth Frontier War, he was commissioned into the Frontier Mounted Rifles and had been an officer in the CMR since 1892 when he took command—he was another stalwart and mentor of Lukin. On 14 April 1897, Lukin took part in the attack at Toto’s Stadt and was mentioned in despatches twice during the campaign.
It was during the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902 that Lukin’s military prowess and leadership came to the fore. He was now 39 years of age and took to the field with his artillery troop under the command of German-born Major Charles F.L. Sprënger, the hero of Moorosi’s Mountain, and along with ‘C’ and ‘D’ Squadrons CMR, they were ordered to join General Gatacre’s 3rd Division at Queenstown.
With the formation of the Colonial Division in February 1900, under the command of Brigadier General Edward Y. Brabant, himself an old CMR man, Lukin was appointed to command all of the divisional artillery, of which they were continuously in action with Boer Commandos. During the fight at Labuschagne’s Nek on 3rd March 1900, Lukin’s guns were a deciding factor; having man-handled the guns onto the high ground at night, he was really starting to make a name for himself as an efficient and driven officer.
When Generaal Christiaan de Wet besieged part of the Colonial Division at Jammersburg Drift, near Wepener, Lukin once again commanded the artillery with great skill between 6th and 24th April under extremely difficult conditions. On 29th April, Dalgety submitted his list of recommendations for awards to Lord Roberts, which read in part that ‘Capt. Lukin commanded the artillery and did most excellent work, putting one of the enemy's guns out of action.’ He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order that was gazetted in April 1901.
He was promoted to the rank of local Lieutenant Colonel and Commander of the CMR attached to the Imperial Forces on 13th October 1900 and took part in the anti-commando operations in the Cape Colony against Kommandant G. Scheepers and Generaal P.H. Kritzinger. In June 1901, he then became the Second-in-Command of Colonel Henry J. Scobell’s column and served alongside Colonel Douglas Haig, the commanding officer of the 17th Lancers. Scobell was a man detested by the Boers, a reputation that he never shook, while Haig later commanded the British Expeditionary Force during the Great War.
Adding to his DSO, Lukin was appointed a companion of St. Michael and St. George for carrying out a successful night attack against Kommandant’s P.H. Kitzinger and Lotter’s Laager at Wildefontein Farm in the Lady Grey District on 6th June 1901. The commando phase of the war was very demanding on the men of the CMR, with almost every day spent in the saddle in pursuit of seemingly illusive commandos. When Generaal Jan Smuts’ commando smashed a squadron of Haig’s 17th Lancers’ at Modderfontein farm in the Tarkastad District on 17th September 1901, Lukin was extremely close to catching Smuts; however, he slipped through the net and was never caught by the British. Following the Boer War, Smuts entered politics, and Lukin got to know him well.
The author at Modderfontein Farm near Tarkastad in the Cape Province. Here, Lukin came exceedingly close to closing with Smuts' commando just prior to them carving up Colonel Doug Haig's 17th Lancers at Modderfontein.
Lukin’s talent was recognized by being appointed by Lord Kitchener to command a Flying Column on 10th October 1901, which had formerly been commanded by Colonel George F. Gorringe, who was sent home sick; this column was known as ‘Gorringe’s Flying Column’ and operated without wheeled transport in order to provide them greater flexibility and speed. Boer Kommandant Ben Bouwer, later in life, commented on the columns pursuing him and Lukin in particular:
‘One would have thought that colonial troops would have been better able to cope with us and this was in fact the case, especially as far as the Cape Mounted Rifles were concerned. When we had dealings with them, they were under the command of Tim Lukin who commanded the South Africans in Flanders during the Great War. Whenever Lukin was after us, we knew it without having to be told so; but he had no free hand and was forced to adapt his pace to that of his allies and share in the defence and management of their cumbrous supply columns. The Cape Mounted Rifles were composed of picked men, good shots and riders, and they had plenty of pluck.’
On 1st December 1901, Lukin was appointed the commander of No. 1 Division, Cape Colonial Forces, with the local rank of colonel. Taking with him many of his own CMR as his staff officers, he held this appointment until 13th December 1902, six months after the war finished, when he issued the last general order for his district. He had entered as a capable artillery captain and was now, the highly respected Colonel H.T. Lukin CMG, DSO.
In the post war years, when Colonel Dalgety retired, Lukin was appointed as the commanding officer of the CMR on 1 January 1903; then, on 1st June 1904, he was appointed as the Colonel and Commandant General of the Cape Colonial Forces while still commanding the CMR. In June 1911, he attended the Coronation of King George the Fifth in London, followed by a visit to the military maneuverers in Switzerland as a representative for the Union Defence Force. On 1 July 1912, he was promoted to Brigadier General and appointed the Inspector General of the South African Mounted Rifles and the Permanent Forces of the Union Defence Force. However, nearing the age of retirement, he was informed in April 1914 that, as he would soon be 55 years of age, the government asked him to retain the position of Inspector General until April 1915 at which point he would be retired.
Brigadier General H.T. Lukin (front centre) when about to attend the Coronation of King George the Fifth in London 1911 (Cape Archives)
His retirement was put on hold, as on 5th August 1914, Great Britain and Germany were at war, and South Africa was asked by Great Britain to seize parts of German South West Africa. Lukin commanded what was known as ‘A’ Force, numbering 2,420 men that saw a lot of action and remained in the field until July 1915, when the Germans in South West Africa surrendered; he was mentioned in dispatches for his part in the campaign.
In August 1915, with South Africa raising the 1st Infantry Brigade for service on the Western Front, Lukin was promoted to Brigadier General, commanding the brigade. Stopping in Egypt, the brigade saw action against the Senussi in February 1916, where he distinguished himself as a column commander; he was appointed a Companion of the Bath, awarded the Order of the Nile Third Class, and mentioned-in-despatches.
The brigade arrived on the Western Front in April 1916 and joined the 9th Scottish Division under the command of Major General William Furse of General Sir Henry Rawlinson’s 4th Army. Operating on the Somme, Lukin led his brigade into the line at Bernafray Wood on 11th July 1916, 10-days after the British offensive was launched. They were under heavy artillery fire for two days and sustained casualties, including one of Lukin’s battalion commanders being killed.
Brigadier General H.T. Lukin, when commanding the 1st South African Brigade on the Somme in 1916.
On 14th July, with 131 officers and 3,032 men, Lukin was ordered to capture and consolidate the nearby German held Deville Wood, while the village of Longueval would also be consolidated—it was to be held at all costs! In what was to be the most desperate and bloody fight yet fought by South Africans in the war, the wood was captured, and on 20th July, when they were relieved, their shattered ranks numbered only 5 officers and 750 men who were not wounded. The Germans had thrown nine battalions against them during this time, but they held the wood. Lukin himself was slightly gassed during the battle.
Following the operations between the 12th and 24th October at the Butte de Warlencourt, also on the Somme, Furse was relieved of command of the 9th Division and Lukin, with the rank of Major General, was appointed as his replacement. As the ninth commander of the division since August 1914, his old colleague from South Africa, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, would later place on the record, in a letter to the War Office, his ‘high appreciation of his distinguished services and his great ability as a soldier. One of the most reliable Divisional Commanders in France.’ Interestingly, General Jan Smuts, his old Boer War adversary, and Sir Lionel Phillips, both well-known South African politicians, visited Lukin in the field, while Winston Churchill served under him as a battalion commander.
Lukin commanded the division during the Battle of Arras in April 1917 and at Ypres during September and October 1917, where the division lost 2,289 men. In December 1917, they were in the line at Gouzeacourt on the Somme. Soon after, in the New Years Honours List, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Bath; he was now Sir ‘Tim’ Lukin. In addition to being knighted, he was mentioned in dispatches a further three times, which was not bad going for a man who, when 18 years old, failed the army entrance examination.
He was the type of commander that regularly visited the front line and was known to have been incredibly brave, as was witnessed by his nephew, Major Edwyn H.L. Johnston, a Canadian Staff Officer, who visited him in the front line and recalled,
‘On the way down March trench we were heavily shelled, apparently by a ‘Minnie.’ A shell burst just beside us on top of the communication trench, and a great chunk of sizzling-hot metal fell between us. Uncle Harry laughed as he heard it plunk into the mud and said, ‘That’s a near one my lad; wait till it cools and take it home as a Christmas souvenir’ – which I did.’
Worn out from two years on the Western Front, Lukin handed over command of the 9th Division and was knighted by the King at Buckingham Palace on 16th March 1918. His command of the division officially ceased on 19th March, while on the 21st, Operation Michael was launched, and the division being in the line sustained heavy casualties, including the temporary destruction of the South African Brigade. The history of the 9th Division records that:
‘At the beginning of March General Lukin was appointed to a command in England. During his period of command, the Ninth had gained numerous outstanding successes, particularly of the 9th April and 20th September 1917, and developed a steady reputation so firmly established at Loos. He had served with the Division for nearly two years and had won the esteem and confidence of all ranks.’
In England, Lukin commanded the 64th (2nd Highland) Division in Norwich and two years later, in March 1920, he returned to Cape Town aboard the Balmoral Castle.
In his retirement from his residence at Ascot House in Kenilworth, Cape Town, he threw himself into the welfare of South African veterans, and in 1924, as the First President of the British Empire Service League in South Africa, he hosted Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, of which General Smuts also attended. It’s quite incredible to think that in September 1901, Haig and Lukin were desperately trying to capture Smuts and his commando. With his health failing, Major General Tim Lukin died at Muizenberg on 15th December 1925, aged 65 years.
Haig, Smuts and Lukin during the post war years. One can only ponder the conversations that they had and if they discussed the period of September 1901 (Ulundi to Deville Wood)
Whenever, I used to walk through the company gardens in Cape Town, I would, on purpose, walk past his statue that faces the Delville Wood memorial as a means of paying respect to a truly remarkable man. Only a handful of very resilient men could say that they were both at Ulundi and in the trenches of the Western Front, and for those that were, less than half a dozen commanded brigades or divisions.
The imposing statue of Major General 'Tim' Lukin at the Company Garden's in Cape Town. His pose is almost identical to the one in the above photo with Haig and Smuts (Author's collection)
For a video on Lukin, I co-wrote the script with Chris Parkinson of Red Coat History: An Extraordinary Soldier: From the Zulu War to the Somme (youtube.com)
References:
Dictionary of South African Biography, Volume III
Arms and Armour Press., South African War Honours and Awards 1899-02.
Cloete, Pieter G., The Anglo-Boer War 963 Days.
Johnston R.E., Ulundi to Deville Wood.
Van Der Poel, Jean., Selections from the Smuts Papers, Volume 1.