Basutoland - Gun War

Ref: P5291
  • £950.00

GUN WAR. 1881 incoming cover from Brighton JA 27 81 to a Sgt. Major R. B. Hooper, 2nd Mounted Yeomanry, that has been endorsed on the front ‘Killed in Action’. On 14 January 1881, Colonel Brabant led a force of 380 cavalry, 180 infantry, 400 armed burghers, and two 7-pounder guns towards Thaba Tsueu. The Basuto suffered heavy casualties, while the Cape lost 16 killed and 21 wounded. Brabant then returned to his camp at Tsita's Nek. Sgt. Major Hooper was one of those killed that day. A very rare ingoing cover to a soldier in the Gun War and the only cover known that states ‘Killed in Action’.