British German Legion

At the end of the war, the soldiers were entitled to return to their country of origin at the public expense, but some, fearing a hostile reception at home, settled in the Cape of Good Hope.

In March 1855, von Stutterheim began raising the Legion by hiring 200 agents in Germany to recruit soldiers, focusing mostly on port cities.

[2] On 16 July 1856 members of the Legion were involved in a fracas with British soldiers in the Camp at Aldershot in Hampshire which quickly developed into a major riot fought with stones, sticks and bayonets and leading to about 50 men receiving hospital treatment.

Though both sides were equally to blame, the men of the British German Legion were billeted at Barrack field in Colchester Garrison,[3] where many married local women.

Facing difficulties in repatriation by having served a foreign country, most of the members of the Legion were resettled in the Eastern Cape Colony, in South Africa.