Desertion, punishment and pictures: the mutiny of the imperial Cape Mounted Riflemen at Bushmen's River Post, Natal, 1852

Abstract

Aspects of the role of the Imperial Cape Mounted Riflemen during the early years of the Colony of Natal are discussed. The situations facing the regiment on the Natal and the Eastern Cape frontiers are compared and particular attention is paid to the desertions from the CMR detachment at the Bushmen's River Post in 1852. This is linked to the 1851 mutiny of the CMR on the eastern frontier. The reaction of the colonists to mutiny and to the punishment of the mutineers is described. The depiction of the mutiny by an early colonial military artist is discussed and attention is paid to a water colour in the regimental museum in Nottingham, England, which is duplicated in the Natal Museum's collections. The reproduction of this drawing in colonial publications is related to the nervousness of settlers at the time of the Bambatha Rebellion in 1906.

To cite this paper: Dominy, G. 1995. Desertion, punishment and pictures: the mutiny of the imperial Cape Mounted Riflemen at Bushmen's River Post, Natal, 1852. Natal Museum Journal of Humanities 7: 41-9.