Redvers Buller

He rode back three times to save men from a pursuing enemy.

Redvers Henry Buller repeatedly rode back during the retreat from Hlobane on 28 March 1879. With Zulu troops pressing the withdrawing British mounted force, he carried Captain Cecil D'Arcy to safety, rescued Lieutenant Charles Everitt after his horse was killed and helped another exhausted trooper escape. These acts earned the Victoria Cross.

Born at Downes near Crediton, Devon, on 7 December 1839, Buller attended Eton and entered the 60th Rifles in 1858. He served in China in 1860, in Canada and on the Red River Expedition, and in the Ashanti campaign of 1873-1874. He subsequently commanded mounted troops in southern Africa during the frontier and Zulu wars.

After Hlobane, his career continued in the First Boer War, Egypt and Sudan. He held senior administrative appointments as Quartermaster-General and Adjutant-General and became a full general. He received the grand crosses of the Order of the Bath and the Order of St Michael and St George.

In 1899 he commanded British forces sent to South Africa. Defeats at Colenso and during subsequent attempts to reach Ladysmith damaged his reputation, although his army eventually relieved the town in February 1900. Lord Roberts replaced him as overall commander. Buller returned to Aldershot but was dismissed from command in 1901 after publicly defending his conduct.

He spent his remaining years at Downes, retaining considerable public support despite professional controversy. He died there on 2 June 1908 and was buried in Crediton.