Lot 4: Ernest Henri Griset (French, 1844-1907) The Last Stand, Nicolson's Neck; and The Ambuscade, Nicolson's Neck, a pair (2)

The Last Stand, Nicolson's Neck; and The Ambuscade, Nicolson's Neck, a pair
each signed and dated 'Ernest Griset/99' (one lower left, one lower right), watercolour and bodycolour
each 38 x 48cm (15 x 18 7/8in).(2)

PROVENANCE:
Sale, Sotheby's London, 17 March 1970.
Purchased from the above by the present owner.

The Battle of Nicholson's Nek - At the start of the Anglo-Boer war in late October 1899 the British forces in Natal were concentrated in the Ladysmith area and a force consisting of Royal Irish Fusiliers, a Gloucestershire Regiment and a Mountain Battery were sent out to capture the nearby pass of Nicholson's Nek to the north of the town. During a night march boulders were rolled down the hill causing the mules to stampede and the artillery and much of the ammunition to be lost. At dawn on the next day the force occupied a nearby hill known as Tchrengula, which proved to be a very exposed position and which was quickly surrounded by Boers. After several hours of fighting, when the remaining ammunition ran out eight hundred British soldiers surrendered. This was one of the two events contributing to what became known at the time as Mournful Monday.