Patrick William Forbes
Major Patrick William Forbes (1861 – 1918) was a British South Africa Police officer who commanded a British South Africa Company force which invaded Matabeland during the First Matabele War.
Life
Born in 1861 at Whitechurch, England, he was educated at
Matabele war
In 1893, the First Matabele War broke out and Forbes was selected to command all forces in the region against the Ndebele (Matabele). He gathered a force of around 700 men from the BSAC. It advanced towards Bulawayo, capital of Matabeleland. In addition to rifles, the column was equipped with five Maxim guns, three other rapid-fire guns, two cannon, and 200 rifles.[1] On 25 October 1893, the BSAC camped in a laager formation. That night, at around 2.15 AM, a large force of Matabele warriors attacked. At the Battle of the Shangani, the Maxim guns proved crucial to defeating them. Around 1,500 Matabele died. Others committed suicide rather than return defeated. Forbes advanced towards Bulawayo, encountering another large force a week later, on 1 November. 2,000 Matabele riflemen and 4,000 warriors attacked Forbes at Bembezi, about 30 miles (48 km) north-east of Bulawayo, but again they were no match for the crushing firepower of the major's Maxims: about 2,500 more Matabele were killed.[2] At this point the Matabele king Lobengula evacuated Bulawayo and burned it.
Shangani Patrol
The next morning, Wilson and his men discovered that the Shangani river was now completely flooded due to rains and it could not be navigated without extensive fire cover, and Forbes was nowhere to be seen. The patrol was cut off from the main column and Wilson had no choice but to make a last stand. In desperation, Wilson sent the Americans
Forbes, running out of supplies, retreated to Bulowayo, his column harassed continuously by the Ndebele. Forbes handed de facto control of the retreat to Piet Raaff, a veteran of the Anglo-Zulu War. He reached Bulawayo on 18 December 1893. Raaff died of a stomach condition shortly after arrival.
Later life
He was a member of Legion of Frontiersmen.
Forbes was criticised for being an indecisive leader who tried to compensate his shortcomings with a "by the book" attitude.[citation needed] Nonetheless, Forbes later became Commissioner to the BSAC territory in North-Eastern Rhodesia (now Zambia), from July 1895 to June 1897.[3] He died in 1918.
References
- ^ Robert I. Rotberg & Miles F. Shore, The Founder:Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power, Oxford University Press, New York, 1988, p.442.
- ^ Knight, Ian (July 1989) Queen Victoria's Enemies: Southern Africa. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp.35–6
- ^ Gann, Lewis H. (1958). The Birth of a Plural Society: The Development of Northern Rhodesia Under the British South Africa Company, 1894–1914. Manchester University Press. p. 211.
- History of Rhodesia, by Howard Hensman (1900) – the full-text of the book can be found online for free PDF
- Scouting on Two Continents, by Major Frederick Russell Burnham, D.S.O., Autobiography. LC call number: DT775 .B8 1926. (1926)
- Shangani Patrol, a feature film, docudrama by David Millin. Filmed on location by RPM Film Studios. Stars Brian O'Shaughnessy as Major Allan Wilson and co-stars Will Hutchins as Fred Burnham. Adrian Steed plays Major Patrick Forbes. Internet Movie DataBase(1970)
- A Time To Die, by Robert Carey, the story of the Patrol.
- 35mm copies and publicity stills of this film are preserved at the South African National Film, Video and Sound Archives, Pretoria. [1]