The farm has a rich history and part thereof was to act as a staging area for the British troops under Field Marshall Lord Roberts when lifting the siege of Kimberley.

During the siege of Kimberley by the Boers in 1899 the British forces where soundly beaten at the Battles of Modder Rivier and Magersfontein during a period that the British referred to as Black Week. Losses suffered during this period forced the British to hold position with 10 000 troops at Modder Rivier with no way to relieve the siege.

After taking control as British Commander-in-Chief in South Africa in January 1900, Field Marshal Lord Roberts, assembled 30,000 infantry, 7,501 cavalry and 3,600 mounted infantry, together with 120 guns, in the area between the Orange and Modder Rivers.

Piet Cronjé believed that Roberts would attempt to attack him in a flanking manoeuvre from the west, and that the advance would largely continue as before along the railway line. With this in mind, Roberts ordered Methuen to advance with the 1st Division on 11 February in a feint movement on Magersfontein, while General Sir Hector MacDonald led the Highland Brigade 20 miles (32 km)west to Koedoesberg, thereby encouraging Cronjé’s forces to believe that the attack would occur there. However, the bulk of the force initially headed south to Graspan, then east deep into the Orange Free State with the cavalry division guarding the British right flank by securing drifts across the Riet River.

On 13 February, Roberts activated the second part of his plan, that involved French’s cavalry separating from the slower main force and piercing forward quickly by swinging northwards, just east of Jacobsdal, to cross the Modder River at Klip Drift.

As French’s column neared the Modder River on 13 February, a force of about 1,000 Boers made contact with his right flank. French wheeled his right and centre brigades towards their enemy, thereby allowing the brigade on the left to hold course for Klip Drift, while giving the enemy the false impression that he was headed for Klipkraal Drift. The whole force then wheeled left at the last minute and charged the Klip Drift crossing at full gallop.

The Boers at Klip Drift, who were taken completely by surprise, left their camp and provisions behind, which French’s exhausted men and horses were glad to seize. Although speed was important, the cavalry had to wait for the infantry to catch up to secure the lines of communication before moving forward to relieve Kimberley. The cavalry’s route had taken them deep inside the Free State over Cronjé’s line of communication, thereby cutting off any Boer forces who did not immediately fall back. Meanwhile, Roberts led the main force in an easterly direction with the objective of capturing the Orange Free State capital, Bloemfontein.

French’s flanking manoeuvre took a very high toll on horses and men in the blazing summer heat, with about 500 horses either dying en route or no longer fit to ride.^[64] When Cronjé became aware of French’s cavalry on his left flank at Klip Drift, he concluded that the British were trying to draw him eastwards away from his prepared defenses.

He dispatched 900 men with guns to stop the British push northwards. French’s men set out from Klip Drift at 9:30 am on 15 February on the last stage of their journey to Kimberley, and were soon engaged by the Boer force sent to block them. Rifle fire came from the river in the east while artillery shells rained from the hills in the north west; the route the Kimberley lay straight ahead through the crossfire, so French ordered a bold cavalry charge down the middle. As waves of horses galloped forward, the Boers poured down fire from the two sides. However, the speed of the attack, screened by a massive cloud of dust, proved successful and the Boer force was defeated. The route to Kimberley was open.