The Mounted Police of Natal

H. P. Holt

• Publisher: Bonhopai Books
• Year: 2025
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781779790996
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

 H. P. Holt's The Mounted Police of Natal chronicles the formation, operations, and legacy of one of South Africa's most distinctive colonial institutions. From their early deployment during the Zulu War to their involvement in the Boer conflicts and frontier policing, the mounted police played a complex role in both enforcing imperial authority and managing relations with indigenous communities. Holt, drawing from official records and firsthand accounts, presents the corps not merely as a military force but as an evolving institution straddling law enforcement, espionage, and cultural diplomacy. The book offers fascinating detail about patrol life, native affairs, rebellion suppression, and the blurred lines between justice and colonial control. An indispensable work for understanding the machinery of British colonial administration in Southern Africa. 

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• DEDICATION
• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION
• LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
• CHAPTER I—THE DAYS OF SAVAGERY
• CHAPTER II—THE FOUNDING OF THE CORPS
• CHAPTER III—THE EARLY DAYS
• CHAPTER IV—THE TRAGEDY OF ISANDHLWANA
• CHAPTER V—ZULUS REPULSED AT RORKE’S DRIFT
• CHAPTER VI—A CAPTIVE KING
• CHAPTER VII—IN SNOW AND SLEET
• CHAPTER VIII—DISCONCERTING DISCUSSIONS
• CHAPTER IX—DISTURBANCES IN PONDOLAND
• CHAPTER X—IMPORTANT CHANGES
• CHAPTER XI—THE LAST BOER WAR
• CHAPTER XII—BESIEGED
• CHAPTER XIII—AFTER LADYSMITH
• CHAPTER XIV—THE DEFENCE OF MAHLABATINI
• CHAPTER XV—HUNTING THE ENEMY
• CHAPTER XVI—A VISIT TO ENGLAND
• CHAPTER XVII—THE REBELLION OF 1906
• CHAPTER XVIII—AFTER BAMBATA
• CHAPTER XIX—MOME GORGE
• CHAPTER XX—EXCITING NIGHT IN THE BUSH
• CHAPTER XXI—HEADQUARTERS
• CHAPTER XXII—AT THE BACK OF BEYOND
• CHAPTER XXIII—THE C.I.D.
• CHAPTER XXIV—WITCHCRAFT
• CHAPTER XXV—COLOURED CRIMINALS
• CHAPTER XXVI—THE BRIGANDS OF DE JAGER’S DRIFT
• CHAPTER XXVII—THE ZULULAND POLICE
• CHAPTER XXVIII—THE WATER POLICE
• CHAPTER XXIX—THE RAILWAY POLICE
• CHAPTER XXX—MANY UNIFORMS
• APPENDIX — PAST AND PRESENT OFFICERS OF THE NATAL POLICE