NAM.1973-06-45-1

The Biter Bit: An Incident with Sir Redvers Buller’s Force, 1900. Watercolour en grisaille signed lower right ‘G.B’ by Gordon Frederick Browne (1858-1932), special artist for ‘The Graphic’ during the Boer War (1899-1902). Published 19 May 1900. This watercolour, based on a photograph by a British officer, was published with the caption: ‘Before our troops entered Colenso [19 February 1900], the Boers had all their dead horses brought into the houses, which were therby made, of course, quite untenable. Luckily, a convoy of Boer prisoners were brought in, and the officer in charge of them made them drag the horses out and get them away, so the ‘Biter was bit’, for the work was anything but pleasant, the stench being intolerable.’

Boer War (1899-1902)