himself. But the urgency of the situation
compelled the British Commander not only to detach portions of the
army corps, but to improvise hastily, from the general officers and
regimental units as they arrived in transports at Cape Town, special
forces with hardly any regard to the composition of the divisions as
originally fixed by the War Office. Thus to the commander of the 2nd
division, Lieut.-General Sir C. F. Clery, who was selected by Sir
Redvers Buller to make preparation for the relief of Ladysmith, and to
act as his second in command in that enterprise, two cavalry
regiments, four brigades of infantry,[139] two brigade divisions of
field artillery, a company of Royal engineers, and a pontoon troop
were assigned. But of these units, only the 4th brigade, commanded by
Major-General the Hon. N. G. Lyttelton, and Lt.-Colonel L. W. Parsons'
brigade division, R.F.A. (63rd, 64th, and 73rd batteries), belonged to
Clery's division. The 2nd infantry brigade, under Major-General H. J.
T. Hildyard, and Lt.-Colonel H. V. Hunt's brigade division (7th,
14th, and 66th batteries), being the first units of infantry and
artillery to arrive from England, were removed from Methuen's
division, and sent on at once to Natal. To these were subsequently
added both the infantry brigades of the 3rd division (the 5th, under
command of Major-General A. FitzRoy Hart, and the 6th, under
Major-General G. Barton), the 13th Hussars, originally designated as
corps troops, the Royal Dragoons, drawn from the 2nd cavalry brigade,
and the pontoon troop of the army corps.

[Footnote 139: The decision to despatch a fourth brigade to
Natal was made about 22nd November, after the development of
Joubert's raid south of the Tugela.]

[Sidenote: Various new distributions.]

The 3rd, or Highland brigade, under Major-General A. G. Wauchope, was at
first assigned by the Commander-in-Chief to Lord Methuen, to replace the
2nd brigade, transferred to Natal; but, as it was found later that
Wauchope's battalions would at the outset be needed to guard the railway
line in rear of Methuen's column, a 9th brigade, under Major-General
R.S.R. Fetherstonhaugh, was formed out of the infantry units already at
Orange River station, viz.: the half-battalion 1st Loyal North
Lancashire, 2nd King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 1st Northumberland
Fusiliers, and 2nd Northamptonshire. Lt.-Colonel F. H. Hall's brigade
division (18th, 62nd, and 75th b