The case of Henry Harbord 'Breaker' Morant

The case of Henry Harbord ‘Breaker’ Morant

 

Military and the Media have a tenuous yet mutually supportive relationship.   Military moves and manoeuvres are no longer matters of discussion restricted to closed military circles.  Every such action is not just observed but critically analysed and debated.

Senior journalists acquire substantial knowledge to report authoritatively on events on the battlefront.  

The only military actions that get left out of the gaze of close observation are Section level operations conducted in the deep delves of forward areas where no rules of Combat and transgresses of human rights abound.  Even that opacity is waning with live broadcast of actions like the US Seals’ Operation to ‘take out’ OBL.

The Second Boer War (1899-1902) is remembered in India for Mahatma Gandhi’s participation in it and of his services being recognized with a ‘Mention in Despatches’.  Gandhiji served as a Nursing Assistant, a significant role in a war that claimed a total of over seventy-five thousand lives.   

The Second Boer War was fought in three broad stages.  At first the Boers, descendants of Dutch settlers in Transvaal and Orange Free States, part of the British Empire, and inflicted heavy casualties. This initial defeat and consequent loss of prestige touched an emotional chord across the Empire and thousands offered to volunteer to join the battle against the Boers. A force that included troops from their other Colonies, including over ten thousand from India was raised with which the British struck back.   

 

Among these volunteers was one ‘Breaker’ Morant, a young man from Australia with an interesting array of talents both of brain and brawn, uncommon antecedents, skills, camaraderie and chasing triumph.

 This is his story.

Harry Harbord ‘Breaker’ Morant (1864-1902), was a horseman, balladist and soldier, born into an English family on 9 December 1864.  While still in his teens, he migrated from native home in Bridgewater, Somerset to settle in Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

            Though Morant staked a claim to high family credential by flaunting being the son of Admiral Sir George Digby Morant of Biddeford, Devon, it was not the seas that beckoned but a love for horses.  A ‘natural’ in relating to horses, he soon acquired a reputation of an ace horse ’Breaker”, drover, steeple chaser   and polo player, besides of being a drinker and womanizer.   He was also alongside, a man of fine tastes and sentiment who contributed Bush Ballads to the Sydney Bulletin under the pen name ‘The ‘Breaker”'.

           Having worked at different places - newspaper office, as a store man and a clerk, ‘Breaker’ Morant was a unique combination of macho abilities and social subtlety. These qualities impressed a lady named Ms Daisy O’Dwyer who later, as Daisy Bates, rose to be one of Australia’s pioneering Anthropologists.  Ms Daisy married him but unable to reconcile to her husband’s drinking and worse, actions of thieving pigs, she soon realized her mistake and left him.

             The ‘Breaker’ was now himself broken.  Alone and forlorn, he sought to correct his life’s trajectory. 

             Opportunity to do so came as an enrolment drive for troops in Transvaal.  ‘Breaker” seized the chance to start his life afresh, regain honour and social standing and return with grace to his native England. He enlisted into the 2nd Contingent, South Australian Mounted Rifles, in the name of Harry Harbord Morant.

The climate and terrain of Transvaal is much alike outback Australia and helped ‘Breaker’ Morant to quickly adapt to his new environs.  His riding skills, understanding of the bush, communication abilities and impeccable manners were soon noticed by his superiors and he was tasked to be a dispatch rider to Bennett Burleigh, the Wartime Reporter of The Daily Telegraph of London. This duty gave Morant many chances to meet and interact with townsfolk, in particular the nurses of a close by Hospital.

After about a year, Morant was offered a commission in Baden Powell's South African Constabulary but was overcome by a desire to return to Devon, the town of his birth and chose to proceed on leave.  While in England, he met one Captain Percy Hunt of the Bushveldt Carbineers who was also on leave. The two men developed an intense friendship, one that was to greatly impact both their lives.

Their first joint endeavour was to get engaged to two sisters. Neither relation blossomed and it was not long before both Morant and Hunt thought it better to return to Southern Africa and re-join the war.

     Back at the front, ‘Breaker’ Morant accepted the commission in Baden Powell’s Transvaal Constabulary that had been earlier offered to him.  In April 1901, he rose to the rank of Captain in the Bushvelt Carbineers (BVC), an irregular force under the command of an Australian Colonel.  Captain Hunt, his friend, also joined the same force and the two were now fellow officers in the same Unit.

Lord Horatio Kitchener (later to be Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army) was then the Commander of the British Forces in South Africa and had raised several irregular regiments to combat commando units of the Boers.  The Bushveldt Carbineers, was one such irregular force.  Its composition was interesting, with half its men comprising of Australians and a large part of the rest being surrendered Boers, known as ‘joiners’ recruited from Boer Internment camps.  The Australians of the Regiment resented the Boers and treated them with great suspicion.   

Bushveldt Carbineers operated in two columns, one under Morant’s charge and deployed about 30 miles south-east of Pietersburg from where he achieved considerable military success in eliminating several bands of roving Boer commando groups. So effective were his campaigns that other Boer groups were forced to move northwards to the Bandolier Kop region. 

             To combat the Boers in that area, a squadron of the BVC, also moved northwards, to a location in the difficult remote and dangerous region of Spelonken, about ninety miles from Pietersburg.  ‘Fort Edward’ the command post there was to be the base for further operations here.  Within a few weeks, the squadron at Fort Edward came to be headed by Captain Hunt with Morant and one Lieutenant Handcock as his subordinate officers. 

            Even before Morant and Hunt had come to Fort Edward, this field post had received adverse media attention for an incident of the cold-blooded killing of Boers. This was followed by another incident, one of insubordination in which troops looted a supply convoy and threatened its Commander.

            Captain Hunt had promptly reported the incident to his superiors at Pietersburg and had the runaways arrested.  It now became his first task was to restore discipline at Fort Edward in which both  Morant and Handcock both assisted him, becoming not just feared bit also detested.

           On 5^th August 1901, Capt Hunt led a patrol to a Boer farmhouse called Devil's Gorge, about 80 miles away, to capture the farmhouse owner Veldtcornet Barend Viljoen, a Boer Commando leader.   This Patrol was accompanied by a large complement of African ‘Irregulars’.

           Captain Hunt’s information was of there being about twenty Commandos at the farm house, but the move of the Patrol was apparently leaked to the Boers who strengthened their numbers and position and now waited for the attacking party to arrive.   A firefight ensued during which both Barend Viljoen the Boer Commander and his brother Jacob Viljoen were killed.  But Captain Hunt himself was grievously wounded and died before the retreating patrol could return to Fort Edward.

‘Breaker’ Morant was inflamed by Hunt’s death.  Hunt was not just a Commander. He was also a friend, confidant and above all, a hero in his own mould - brave, brash, hard and uncaring. In his fury, Morant ordered the entire garrison to assemble and exhorted them with emotion to avenge Captain Hunt’s death.  The next day, he led a   large body of troops all the way back to the Viljoen Farmhouse, only to find it abandoned.   He then started to track down the   retreating Boers, chasing them on double march and caught up with them a little after dusk.

          It was now that Morant’s emotions got the better of him and in a fit of anger, he opened fire, a bit too soon. The Boers, now alerted spread out and escaped into the darkness. One injured Commando named Visser who could not run was captured. 

Early next morning, a runner arrived from Fort Edward to inform Morant that  the Fort itself,  now lightly manned, was under Boer attack that required the ongoing mission being called off and a hurried fall back to Fort Edward.  

           The injured Visser was now a liability and ‘Breaker’ Morant had him questioned and searched which brought to fore some pieces of British Uniforms, including a pair of trousers recognized by ‘Breaker’ Morant to be of Captain Hunt.

‘Breaker’ Morant’s anger was now uncontrollable.  In accordance with Lord Kitchener’s Orders, there should be no prisoners taken.  Overruling objections, Morant ordered a firing party to shoot Visser. 

Before Morant could reach back to Fort Edward, another convoy from Peitersburg had managed to reach there and helped push back the Boers. The garrison suffered the loss of one Carbineer and some horses. 

         Captain Taylor, who was in charge of the Fort when the Boers attacked got to know that one of the Boers had known of the impending attack but suppressed the information. Taylor had him shot forthwith. 

Another spate of cold-blooded killings followed in which Morant as leader of a patrol to intercept a group of Viljoen’s commandos, ordered the captives to be summarily shot.   Rev. Heese, a German missionary who was witness to those cold-blooded killing and was himself curiously found shot dead a few days later. 

           A further  incident of Morant and Hancock killing a group of Boer commandos who had even raised a white flag after their being captured and disarmed was also widely reported.

The adverse coverage of these events at Fort Edward began to ring alarm bells.   Very serious cognizance was taken of their actions and an investigation ordered into all incidents involving the BVC. On 24^th October 1901, Colonel Hall the Commanding Officer of the BVC ordered the arrest of six members of the Bushveldt Carbineers, four Australians and two Englishmen. Morant, having proceeded on leave was not at first amongst them, but was arrested immediately on re-joining.  

The Court of Inquiry that followed concluded on 15 January 1902 with charges being laid against Morant for inciting various persons in the killing of Visser,  two incidents of killing of Boers, and the murder of Rev Heese.

             Pleas ,made to Lord Kitchener for the Australian government being informed  prior to proceeding with the trial were ignored and the Court-martial commenced immediately on being ordered and held at Pietersburg. 

            Two hearings against Morant were held - one concerning the shooting of Visser, the other being the case of killing the ‘Eight Boers'.  Unluckily for him and the other two accused, troops of the BVC did not show the much-expected camaraderie. Instead, a large number of the men they led gave damning evidence.   One Corporal went as far as to state that he "would walk 100 miles barefoot to serve in a firing squad to shoot ‘Breaker’ and Hancock."

An interesting incident during the trial was of the Blockhouses at Pietersburg where the Court martial was taking place being attacked by the Boers.  Both Morant and Hancock fought valiantly alongside others to fend off the attack and thereafter reverted to their status of accused.

In their defence before the Court Martial, Morant and the others took two main pleas.  First, to emphasise the difficulties of guerrilla warfare and justify their actions as errors in making quick decisions on the battlefield in the midst of intense fighting.  The second was of the killings being in compliance to a direction passed by Lord Kitchener, the Commander-in-Chief for no prisoners being taken.  

The issue, in the words of the then Provost Marshal as recorded in his diary was that “... if they had wanted to shoot Boers, they should not have taken them prisoner first”.   It was now established that Morant and others did indeed kill some prisoners.  Their offence was to kill the Boers after capturing and disarming them consequent to their surrender by raising a white flag.  Killing those in captivity after surrender was murder.

After hearings on two charges concluded at Pietersburg, the three accused were put in irons and taken to Pretoria under heavy guard to be tried on the third charge relating to the murder of Rev. Heese. 

          Hancock, who had originally confessed to the murder, now gave an alibi. He claimed to have visited two Boer ladies at their farms on the day. This was corroborated by the ladies. But the evidence against ‘Breaker’ Morant was overwhelming and the Court, on 26^th February 1902, returned a verdict of ‘Guilty’. ‘Breaker’ Morant and Handcock were to be executed the next morning.  

             That night, Morant and other guilty met together for a "last supper" and spend time in each other’s company. Morant even wrote a few lines of poetry as also scribbled a ‘Confession’   on behalf of himself and Hancock.

             Early next morning, just before 06:00 hours, Morant and Hancock were led out to be executed by a firing squad from the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. Both men refused to be blindfolded.  Morant gave his cigarette case to the squad leader, to who his famous last words were:

     "Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!"

Due to news censorship, Morant’s home country Australia received no news of developments leading to the trial of its citizen or of his  execution until  after almost two months. There was dismay and public outrage and the Australian government demanded an explanation from the C-in-C, Lord Kitchener.  

           The C-in-C’s replied to the Governor-General in Australia via a telegram that read as follows:

    "In reply to your telegram, Morant, Hancock and Witton were charged with twenty separate murders, including one of a German missionary who had witnessed other murders. Twelve of these murders were proved. From the evidence it appears that Morant was the originator of these crimes which Hancock carried out in cold-blooded manner. The murders were committed in the wildest parts of the Transvaal, known as Spelonken, about eighty miles north of Pretoria, on separate dates namely 2 July, 11 August, and 7 September. In one case, where eight Boer prisoners were murdered, it was alleged to have been done in a spirit of revenge for the ill treatment of one of their officers - Captain Hunt - who was killed in action. No such ill-treatment was proved. The prisoners were convicted after a most exhaustive trial, and were defended by counsel. There were, in my opinion, no extenuating circumstances. Lieutenant Witton was also convicted but I commuted the sentence to penal servitude for life, in consideration of his having been under the influence of Morant and Hancock. The proceedings have been sent home."

News of the executions also caused ripples in England. The British government announced in the House of Commons that, in keeping with normal practice, the court-martial proceedings would not be made public.  

Morant’s case did not end here.  Very curiously, the official transcripts of the Court-martial reportedly disappeared soon afterwards.  Evidence emerged that Lord Kitchener had indeed ordered that 'no prisoners to be taken' – the principal plank on which Morant and Handcock’s defence rested. There were also other observations on the Court Martial itself being procedurally flawed.

Jim Unkles, an Australian lawyer, submitted Petitions before Queen Elizabeth II, and the House of Representatives Petitions Committee in October 2009 to review the convictions and sentences of Morant, Hancock and Witton. The petitions were referred to the British Crown by the Australian Attorney General. 

        Alex Hawke, a Member of the Australian House of Representatives delivered a forceful speech on 27 February 2012 that the case for pardon of the three men sentenced 110 years ago was "strong and compelling.”

The British Ministry of Defence however rejected the pleas for pardon by Australia on grounds that “no new primary evidence has come to light which supports the petition to overturn the original courts-martial verdicts and sentences”.  In their view, “Pardons are only appropriate where an offender is both “morally and technically innocent of the offence” and “seeking a pardon for these men could be rightly perceived as ‘glossing over’ very grave criminal acts”. 

             The Australian Government announced in May 2012 that it would not seek a pardon for Morant from the British Government as “he and the other two men were guilty of killing the prisoners thereby closing curtains on this case.

The takeaway from the story of ‘Breaker’ Morant is that a soldier, more particularly a team leader in operations is, after all, a human with his own emotions, feelings, friendships whose actions are often guided by the high and noble spirit of camaraderie.  

         More often than not, such a leader is young and ‘hot-headed’, the very trait which makes him an effective fighter.  His decisions are taken on the spot and to be implemented immediately.  There is no ‘back reference’ to seniors, Rule Books or precedents at that stage.  What he decides at the spur of the moment is final and once implemented, there is no going back. 

           On the flip side, the ‘josh’ of young soldiers and officers is itself the core national asset on which stands the edifice of the military strength of a nation. To what extent must that 'josh' be encumbered?  

           Morant’s story brings focus upon that crucial factor and leaving with us the question of whether, in such cases, how far can the balance of justice tip on the side of leniency?