Cameron V. Simpson
Cameron V. Simpson served in both the Australian and British armies in Northern Ireland, the First Gulf War and East Timor. He has studied South African History and spends most of his time writing and researching military history for books and documentaries.
He is the author of Maygar’s Boys, The Frontier Light Horse in the Anglo-Zulu War 1879, Blue Blood Troopers and the co-author of The Feather Bed Soldiers, A Tight Corner, Hartigan’s Horse and The Clash of Empires. He is a Vice President the Anglo-Zulu War Historical Society and has been a consulting historian with the Anzac Memorial in Sydney.
Frontier Warrior: The Life of Major General Sir Edward Yewd Brabant, KCB, CMG: A South African Colonial General
Frontier Warrior is the autobiography of South Africa’s Major General, Sir Edward Yewd Brabant KCB, CMG who soldiered for an incredible 47 years and rose from the rank of ensign in the militia to become the first major general in the Cape Colonial Forces.
He served during the Ninth Frontier War and while the Zulu War raged in 1879, he commanded the Cape Forces during the fierce fighting at Moorosi’s Mountain. He fought against the famed Basuto warriors during the BaSotho Gun War in 1880-81 and commanded the Colonial Division during the second Anglo-Boer War.
Brabant was not only a soldier but a farmer and well-known Cape politician. This manuscript, written in his own hand at the close of the Boer War, is a fascinating account of colonial South Africa, as seen by not only a military leader but a veteran politician. He was personally acquainted with Cecil Rhodes, ‘Chinese’ Gordon, Lord Roberts and many other influential leaders of the time.
Moorosi's Rebellion: A Forgotten War: The Cape Colonies War Against the BaPhuthi in Southern Basutoland 1879
Moorosi’s Rebellion is the product of over a decade of research into what is truly a forgotten war. The rebellion played out between February and November 1879 in the picturesque mountain landscape of Basutoland while the Zulu War raged on in Natal and Zululand. The aged Chief Moorosi of the BaPhuthi defended a mountain fastness against the Cape Colonial Military Forces, of which the very name of ‘Moorosi’s Mountain’ sent a chill down the spine of colonists as the BaPhuthi repulsed two determined attacks, the first in April and the second in June, during which period three Victoria Crosses were awarded. In late November, in the third and final attack, by using specially built scaling ladders, a young German-born lieutenant of the Cape Mounted Rifles became the first colonial onto the mountain. Within hours, they had taken the mountain, and thus the war, which had proven to be an embarrassment to the Cape Government, ended. Chief Moorosi and his brave warriors did not surrender but fought to the last.
