The Cape Mounted Police (originally Cape Police) was the principal law enforcement agency of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

during its last three decades. In addition to its ordinary policing duties, it was a para-military organisation, which saw active service in several campaigns and operations, including the

Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

(1899–1902). The force was fully militarised in 1913 and transferred to the new

South African Army The South African Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Servi ...

as a mounted rifle regiment.

Background

The formation of the Cape Police followed a four-year period of warfare in southern Africa, which included the 9th Frontier War (1877–78), the Northern Border campaigns (1878–79), the Morosi campaign in

Basutoland Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basot ...

(1879), the

Basutoland Gun War The Basuto Gun War, also known as the Basutoland Rebellion, was a conflict between the Basuto and the British Cape Colony. It lasted from 13 September 1880 to 29 April 1881 and ended in a Basuto victory. Following Basutoland's transformation int ...

(1880–81) and the Transkei (a.k.a. 'Mpondomisi') Campaign (1880–81). At that time, policing in the Cape Colony was decentralised. Each district had a small "rural" police force, under direction of the resident magistrate.

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

had both town and water police. There were para-military mounted police forces in

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, w ...

and the northern border districts. The

Scanlen Scanlen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Eliza Scanlen (born 1999), Australian actress *Thomas Charles Scanlen Sir Thomas Charles Scanlen (9 July 1834 – 15 December 1912) was a politician and administrator of the Cape C ...

ministry had the Police Regulation Act passed in 1882, to enable the government to establish police forces. The Act authorised it to declare "police districts" and establish police forces for them, to preserve the peace, prevent crime and apprehend offenders.Police Regulation Act (Act 12 of 1882) (Cape). These forces were "chiefly intended for the detection and investigation of crime and the arrest of offenders."''Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette'' 6284 (25 August 1882) : Rules and Regulations for Police Forces. However, in the case of any war or other emergency, the government could deploy them to assist with the defence of the colony, within or beyond its borders. Although the Act did not give these police forces a specific name, they became known collectively as the "Cape Police". They were quite separate from the local forces directed by the magistrates.

Cape Police: 1882–1904

Original districts

Seven police districts were established in August and September 1882. Each was a self-contained organisation, headed by a commissioner.''Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette'' 6284 (25 August 1882) : Government Notice 984. District 1 was in

, and was largely an urban police force. Five districts were in the eastern province, which bordered on

and the Transkeian territories, where some of the recent conflicts had taken place : District 2 (HQ :

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

), District 3 (HQ :

King William's Town Qonce, formerly King William's Town, is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River (Eastern Cape), Buffalo River. The town is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London, South Africa, ...

), District 4 ( HQ :

Fort Beaufort Fort Beaufort ( Xhosa: iBhofolo), officially renamed KwaMaqoma in March 2023, is a town in the Amatole District of South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, and had a population of 25,668 in 2011. The town was established in 1837 and became a mun ...

), District 5 (HQ : Queenstown) and District 6 (HQ : Wodehouse). District 7 (HQ :

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

)''Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette'' 6289 (8 September 1882) : Government Notice 1045. covered the major urban area of the diamond-mining province of

. In March 1883, the rest of Griqualand West, which had hitherto had its own police force, became District 8 (HQ :

Barkly West Barkly West is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, situated on the north bank of the Vaal River west of Kimberley. Establishment and naming Barkly West was initially known as ''Klip Drift'' (sometimes written as Klipdrift). This ...

).''Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette'' 6350 (9 March 1883) : Government Notice 256. Finally, in June 1884, the northern border districts along the

Orange River The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch language, Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibi ...

became District 9 (HQ :

Upington Upington () is a town founded in 1873 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was originally called Olijvenhoutsdrift ('Olive wood drift'), due to the abundance of olive wood trees i ...

).''Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette'' 6499 (24 June 1884) : Government Notice 597. This replaced the Northern Border Police, which had been formed in 1880. The Cape Police were mounted, except in Cape Town and Kimberley where they were generally foot police.

Reduction in districts

Financial stringency soon caused the government to economise by closing headquarters and combining districts. From September 1884, Districts 3 and 5 were jointly commanded by one commissioner, and from 1887 he was in command of District 6 as well. From February 1886, Districts 2 and 4 were both under one commissioner. District 1 was closed in 1888.''Reports of the Commissioners of Police'' (1888). The five police districts were then renumbered : * Districts 2 and 4 became District 1 * Districts 3, 5 and 6 became District 2 * District 7 became District 3 * District 8 became District 4 * District 9 became District 5. In March 1891, Districts 3 and 4 were placed under a single commissioner.''Reports of the Commissioners of Police'' (1891). In 1892, the government combined Districts 1 and 2 and added more than a dozen eastern and midland magisterial districts to them to form a new District 1; and amalgamated Districts 3, 4 and 5 to form a new District 2. District 1's HQ were in Port Elizabeth and District 2's in Kimberley.''Reports of the Commissioners of Police'' (1892). When

British Bechuanaland British Bechuanaland was a short-lived Crown colony of the United Kingdom that existed in southern Africa from its formation on 30 September 1885 until its annexation to the neighbouring Cape Colony on 16 November 1895. British Bechuanaland h ...

was annexed to the colony in November 1895, it was added to District 2. 106 members of the Bechuanaland Border Police were transferred to the CP.''Reports of ... the Commissioner of Police, Kimberley for the Year 1895'' (1895).

Duties

Law enforcement duties were many and varied. Annual reports, tabled in Parliament, show that cases of assault, breaches of the peace, contraventions of laws and regulations, drunkenness, loitering, public nuisances, theft, trespassing and vagrancy were routine. Some districts had to contend with stock theft, diamond theft and smuggling (especially in and around Kimberley), and contraventions of the lawAct 22 of 1867 (Cape). which prohibited "native foreigners", i.e. Black men from territories outside the colony, from entering the colony without an official pass.As shown in the statistics in the annual reports from 1882 onwards. From 1884, District 7, which bordered on the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

, had to act as customs officers.''Reports of the Commissioners of Police of the Several Police Districts of the Colony'' (1884). Districts 7 and 8 also had to deal with rioting mineworkers in 1884. In 1886, District 7 had to deal with election-related unrest. ''Reports of the Commissioners of Police'' (1886). In 1887, District 7's headquarters staff survived two attempts to poison them with arsenic, presumably to undermine law enforcement in Kimberley.''Reports of the Commissioners of Police'' (1887).

Bechuanaland Campaign

British Bechuanaland was soon the scene of the CP's first military action. During the 1896–97

rinderpest Rinderpest (also cattle plague or steppe murrain) was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic water buffalo, and many other species of even-toed ungulates, including gaurs, African Buffalo, buffaloes, large antelope, deer, giraffes, wilde ...

epidemic, CP District 2 was ordered to ensure that infected livestock were killed. Batswana leaders resisted the order, leading to armed conflict and a lengthy standoff in the Langberg mountains. As the CP did not have the necessary resources, the government mobilised the defence force to end the resistance. Units of CP District 2 were attached to the military Bechuanaland Field Force for the eight-month-long operation.

Anglo-Boer War

The

followed barely two years later. The government mobilised the CP on the outbreak of war in October 1899, and placed them under military command. Both Districts 1 and 2 were in action throughout the war. Neither served as a unit, but was broken up into detachments which served with British and Cape military formations in many parts of the colony, and in the neighbouring Boer republics. Operations included the defence of Kimberley during the three-month-long

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

(October 1899 to February 1900); the defence of Mafeking during the seven-month-long

(October 1899 to May 1900); operations in and around the

Calvinia Calvinia is a regional town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa named after the French people, French religious reformer Jean Calvin. The town falls under the Hantam Local Municipality which forms part of the Namakwa District Municipalit ...

district (December 1900 to January 1901); operations in the Transkei (July and August 1901); and the pursuit of General Smuts' commandos (September 1901 onwards).Stirling, J. (1907). ''The Colonials in South Africa 1899-1902''. The CP were also responsible for guarding

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. Nine members were decorated for war service, and many were

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. Sgt Maj Alexander Young was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

(August 1901). District 2 launched a monthly journal, ''The Bandolier'', in October 1900.''The Bandolier'' Vol 1 No 1 (1 October 1900). The CP re-established a presence in Cape Town towards the end of 1901. It opened a training depot at Maitland, and the whole of the

Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula () of South Africa is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good ...

became District 3 shortly afterwards.''The Bandolier'' Vol 1 No 15 (1 December 1901). In 1902, part of District 2 was added to District 3. From 1902, District 2 used camels for patrolling the

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal d ...

region of its district.''Report of the Commissioners of Police'' (1902).

Cape Mounted Police: 1904–1913

Consolidation

After the war, the government consolidated the three districts into a single police force. Lt Col Macleod Robinson, who was already commissioner of Districts 2 and 3, was given command of District 1 too. On 1 April 1904, the three districts were amalgamated under Robinson's command, and the CP was renamed Cape Mounted Police.''Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette'' 8636 (1 April 1904) : Government Notice 350. At the same time, the government established an 'Urban Police District', comprising the urban police elements in the Cape Peninsula, Grahamstown, Kimberley, and other towns. ''Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette'' 8638 (8 April 1904) : Government Notice 365. District Inspector Robert Crawford was appointed commissioner.''Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette'' 8642 (22 April 1904) : Government Notice 408. As this fragmented district proved unsatisfactory, most of the towns concerned were transferred to the CMP, and Cape Town and Kimberley each became an UPD in its own right.''Report of the Commissioner of Urban Police'' (1904). Crawford was commissioner of the Cape Peninsula UPD and, from 1909, of the CMP too.Kilpin, E.F. (Ed) (1910). ''Cape of Good Hope Civil Service List 1910''.

Herero Wars

During the

Herero Wars The Herero Wars were a series of colonial wars between the German Empire and the Herero people of German South West Africa (present-day Namibia). They took place between 1904 and 1908. Background Pre-colonial South-West Africa The Hereros we ...

(1904–08), the CMP had to deploy additional men to guard the border with

German South-West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

, to control the influx of refugees, and to stop gun-running from the Cape to the warring parties.Green, Lawrence G. (1948). ''To The River's End''.

Ferreira Raid

In November 1906, an armed gang led by the Ferreira brothers entered the northern Cape from German South West Africa, with the object of stirring up anti-British rebellion. The gang attacked a CMP outpost at Abeam, killing a policeman. With the support of the

Cape Mounted Riflemen The Cape Mounted Riflemen were South African military units. There were two separate successive regiments of that name. To distinguish them, some military historians describe the first as the "imperial" Cape Mounted Riflemen (originally the ...

, the CMP captured the gang.

Morenga expedition

In September 1907, at the request of the government of

German South West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

, the CMP tracked down the

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Nama genocide * Herero chat, a species of bird ...

resistance leader

Jacob Morenga Jacob Morenga, also Jakob, Jacobus, Marengo, and Marenga, known as the "black Napoleon", (1875 – 20 September 1907) was an important figure in Namibia, then the German colony of German South West Africa. He was chief leader in the insurrection a ...

, who had escaped to the Cape Colony and taken refuge in the

. A CMP detachment under Major Heathfield Eliott, cornered Morenga near Witpan, and killed him in the ensuing shootout. Eliott was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

and a German order, and the South West African government gave the CMP men a campaign medal for the operation.Alexander, E.G.M., Barron, G.K.B and Bateman, A.J. (1986). ''South African Orders, Decorations and Medals''.

Final years

When the Cape Colony was incorporated into the new

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

in May 1910, the CMP and the UPDs were placed under the control of the new national ministry of justice. The

Permanent Force The Permanent Force was an integral part of both the South African Defence Force and the South West Africa Territorial Force which consisted of all the full-time volunteers, volunteers of Auxiliaries and national servicemen. South Africa The Def ...

and the

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Af ...

were established on 1 April 1913. The CMP were fully militarised and transferred to the Permanent Force as the '5th South African Mounted Riflemen', while the UPDs were transferred to the South African Police. The 5th SAMR was disbanded in April 1920 and its members were transferred to the SA Police.

References

{{reflist Defunct law enforcement agencies of South Africa 1882 establishments in the Cape Colony Mounted police