[7] He was promoted to major on 22 January 1893 and posted to the 2nd Battalion the York and Lancaster Regiment before being appointed assistant military secretary to the General Officer Commanding Cape Colony in December 1895.

[8] In 1899 Plumer returned to Southern Rhodesia where he raised a force of mounted infantry and, having been promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel on 17 October 1900,[9] he led them at the Relief of Mafeking during the Second Boer War.

[6] He was promoted to colonel on 29 November 1900 and was then given command of a mixed force which captured General Christiaan de Wet's wagon train at Hamelfontein in February 1901.

[6] Plumer arrived back in the United Kingdom in April 1902,[10] and two months later was received in audience by King Edward VII on his return.

[11] In a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Major General Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief in South Africa during the latter part of the war, wrote how Plumer had "invariable displayed military qualifications of a very high order.

"[12] He was promoted to major general for distinguished service in the field on 22 August 1902,[13] and was appointed Commander of the 4th Brigade within 1st Army Corps on 1 October 1902.

The battle started with the simultaneous explosion of a series of mines placed by the Royal Engineers' tunnelling companies beneath German lines.

[27] On one occasion, an Arab delegation protested a proposal by Jewish battalions to install their regimental colours in the chief synagogues, saying they "wouldn't be responsible for the consequences".

Brooke who had studied at University College, Oxford and was a chief mourner at the Leeds funeral of Robert Middleton in October 1912.