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Date	Original Topic
29th January 2005	Col. Hamilton - Brown By Stephen Jamison Col. Hamilton - Brown accompanied Chelmsford in 1879 was a Captain of the Diamond Fields Horse. As a military modeller I am keen to model my country man, can anyone assist with uniform detailsof the Diamond Fields Horse please.
Date	Replies
29th January 2005	Keith Smith Stephen In 1878/9 George Hamilton-Browne was the captain of a company of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, Natal Native Contingent. I January 1879, he was appointed commandant of the battalion. Not long aftr Isandlwana, he, and his commanding officer, Commandant Rupert Lonsdale, were sent off to Cape Town to recruit auxiliary horsemen and the regiment was disbanded. HB returned and, quite by chance, was present as a civliian at the battle of Gingindlovu. Lonsdale returned to be given command of a troop of the newly formed Natal horse, which made use of his recruits. He did not join the Diamond Fields Horse until 1886. (See Major G. Tylden, “Commandant George Hamilton-Browne of the Colonial Forces”, Journal for the Society of Army Historical Research, Vol. 37, 1959, pp. 153-160.)
30th January 2005	John Young Stephen, If you still want to know what the Diamond Fields Horse uniform looks like, then drop a line to the Curator of the Cecil Rhodes Birthplace Museum, The Rhodes Centre, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire. The Museum has Cecil Rhodes' own uniform for the unit. John Y.