Private Manuel Domingo de Tejada Hickie
Number: 9704
Company: 45th (Dublin) Company, 13th Battalion, First Contingent
ENLISTMENT
Date: 6 January 1900
Place: Newbridge
Age: 24 years 10 months (born on 24 February 1875 at Slevior, Borrisokane, County Tipperary)
Trade or calling: Nil
Place of birth: In the Parish of Terryglass, in or near the Town of Borrisokane, in the County of Tipperary
Address: Slevoir Mansion, near Nenagh, County Tipperary
Family: Single. Father Colonel James Francis Hickie, late 6th Dragoon Guards, mother Dona Licila Hickie (nee Larios y Herreros de Tejada), of Slevior, Borrisokane
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 5' 5". Complexion dark, eyes light brown, hair dark.
Religion: Roman Catholic
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 13 March 1900
Date home: 27 June 1900
Actions: Lindley
Service medal, clasps and other awards: Queen's South Africa Medal. Cape Colony, Orange Free State clasps.
DISCHARGE
Date: 27 November 1900
Place: United Kingdom
Reason for discharge: At his own request
Hickie won praise for his 'pluck' in caring for a wounded man under heavy fire in Lindley on 27 May, one of his comrades later writing, in an article published in The Irish Field on 9 March 1901:
I cannot close this chapter without mentioning Trooper Manuel Hickie's plucky action while looking after his wounded comrade, Robinson. He remained behind with him in Lindley after our retreat, and under heavy fire succeeded in carrying him to a hospital in the town, subsequently commandeering a stray horse and rejoining us in the kraal.
Hickie was himself wounded the following day, as described in the article above:
Captain Maud ... sent to the kraal asking for reinforcements, and about thirty of ours went out to him. On the way three of them were hit - Lang and Hickey rather severely wounded, and Chetwode slightly injured in the foot.
The same incident was described by Private St. John Blake:
As soon as it was light enough the shots began to come over us, and presently they got so hot that the Colonel ordered Longford to take No. 4 Section, and try to drive them back. We went out on foot some one hundred yards from the kraal, and it was here poor Hickie got knocked over, and with him a man named Laing. You can imagine how hot the fire was when I tell you that no one could stay with Hickie, but he built himself a little shelter of stones and lit his pipe and smoked away all the time; he was shot at noon and not brought in until seven o'clock; he is a plucky little chap.
Hickie was among the 400 men captured by Boer forces at Lindley on 31 May 1900, but he and the other wounded were left in a makeshift hospital in the town when the Boers left with their prisoners that day. He was freed when the British relieving force arrived on 1 June.
On his return home he gave a detailed account of the battle and his movements afterwards, which was reported in the Weekly Irish Times on 4 August 1900:
We mobilised at the Royal Barracks, Dublin, on the 13th January last, and after going through a course of training and drill, we got our equipment and went to the Curragh on the 13th February. We went through a further course of training there, comprising mounted drill and shooting, and after a month at the Curragh we left on the 13th March, and sailed from Liverpool on the evening of the same day, on the transport Montrose. After an uneventful voyage of twenty-six days at sea, we arrived at Cape Town on Sunday, the 8th April. No illness of any account, except in one case, occurred on board. Lieutenant Blackbourne got enteric fever, and on landing was put into hospital at Cape Town, and it was much regretted by the whole company that he was obliged to give up all hopes of ever getting up to the front.
We went into Maitland Camp, which was a special camp set apart for the Yeomanry, about four miles outside Cape Town. We got our mounts on the 13th April - they were chiefly Hungarian horses, with some Queensland ones. We left Maitland on April 20th, and proceeded to Matjesfontein, (200 miles from Cape Town), situated in the Karoo desert, and remained there on the lines of communication until the 13th May, when we then left for Bloemfontein, at which place we arrived two days after. We camped there until the 18th, and then marched out to Thaba Nehu, which is about 45 miles from Bloemfontein, our object being to take over some Boer prisoners - 150 in number - but owing to the proclamation which had been published by Lord Roberts, giving the prisoners a chance of release on their taking the oath of allegiance, they availed of it, and we returned to Bloemfontein, at which place we arrived on the 22nd May. The following afternoon (the 23rd) we entrained for Kroonstad, and arrived there the next day.
On the morning of the 25th we detrained, and after marching 15 miles received urgent orders to join General Colvile at Lindley, a town about 50 miles distant. The battalion started immediately, having with them a convoy of waggons. It appears that it was not possible to obtain more than about one day's rations. Our men had only half rations on Saturday, 26th, the second day of the march. On Sunday, 27th, the battalion started at dawn, and entered Lindley in the afternoon. The Belfast Company was left two miles in the rear with the convoy. Towards the end of the march horsemen were occasionally seen on the hills in different directions, but no one suspected that Lindley was in the enemy's hands. We (the 45th, 46th, and 47th Companies) were halted in a deep donga about a mile outside the town, whilst the scouts reconnoitred. As there were no signs of the enemy in the town we entered it and drew up in the market square, where we were ordered to off-saddle for an hour, feed our horses, and then to march forward to catch up General Colvile, who, it will be remembered, sent for urgent aid, as he was hard pressed. Soon after we entered the town a sharp fire was opened upon us from the windows of the houses. It was then discovered that the place had been evacuated by the British at sunrise of that day, and that the enemy were in the houses and in large numbers round the town.
The Dublin Company was ordered to advance against a hill that was strongly held. After a short interchange of fire they were withdrawn, and, joining with the Duke of Cambridge's Own, they retired to the neighbourhood of the convoy, where the Belfast Company was posted. The entire battalion thus united thus established themselves on two or three small hills. On all sides we were surrounded by De Wet's commandos, and my opinion as regards the strength of the enemy, which I afterwards obtained from the Boer General De Wet, was between 2,000 and 3,000, though we were only 400 strong. It was on Sunday afternoon that we arrived in Lindley, and we fought all that afternoon up until about 5.30 p.m., when darkness intervened. Our casualties for that day were only five.
On the next day (Monday 28th) firing commenced at 7.30. Whilst we were at breakfast the enemy opened fire on us, and firing was continued until 5.30 in the evening, when darkness again intervened. On that day our casualties were four killed, including Captain Keith, of the 47th Company, and several wounded, amongst whom were Lieutenant Sir John Power (of the 54th [46th] Company) and Lieutenant Benson, and Troopers Murphy, Laing, and myself, all of the 45th Company. Being a trooper in the 45th I will only deal with the casualties in my own company. Trooper Murphy was shot through the left thigh, Lieutenant Benson through the left arm, Trooper Laing through the right leg, and myself through the left leg. Trooper C. Power was killed by being shot through the head.
The next day (Tuesday, the 29th) firing commenced at 6.40, and continued at intervals all day. The enemy having, on the previous day, completed encircling us, our work consisted in keeping them back. We had only one casualty in our corps that day -- Trooper W. P. Robinson, who was slightly wounded in the stomach. The firing was not so severe as on the previous day, and at 5.15 p.m. it stopped, darkness again intervening.
On Wednesday, May 30th, the enemy were reinforced, and they fired on us with increased intensity, but, notwithstanding, there were very few casualties indeed. From time to time bodies of our men moved out against positions that were particularly troublesome, but they were always forced back by the enemy's superior numbers.
The next day (Thursday) -- a memorable day indeed -- firing was commenced at 3 o'clock in the morning, while it was yet dark. Sixty men of the 45th Company, headed by Lord Longford, made a determined bayonet charge, thereby gaining an important position, but it resulted in 5 men being killed and four wounded, Lord Longford and Lieutenant Villiers Stuart being amongst the latter. The Boers, who always dread the bayonet, fled from the position, which the Yeomanry took, and everything remained quiet until about 5.45 a.m. (daybreak), when the enemy, who had been heavily reinforced, began to press the attack in overwhelming numbers. Heavy guns and pom-poms were brought up, and the hills held by our fast diminishing numbers were shelled without cessation. All the morning desperate fighting continued. About midday the enemy succeeded in capturing a kop that commanded the position held by the Duke of Cambridge's Own. Notwithstanding, it was not till three o'clock that the company was obliged to surrender.
A very fine attempt was made to save the men of the Duke of Cambridge's Own by Captain Humby and 40 men belonging to the Dublin and Belfast Companies. They ran down from the headquarter position, and though open to a very withering cross-fire, succeeded in reaching the position, but too late to relieve their comrades, as they practically ran into the jaws of death; and as they had no chance of either going forward or returning, they fought as gallantly as possible until they were taken prisoners, many of them in the meantime being shot down. Those who had been wounded during the fighting on the previous day were placed in a kraal, which was repeatedly shelled by the enemy, and as it had become so dangerous they were removed, under fire, to a small farmhouse, the stretcher bearers carrying the wounded from the kraal to the farmhouse being frequently fired on. During the morning bullets frequently struck the walls of the house where the wounded lay, and two or three even went inside, but, luckily, did no harm. When the surrender took place the Boers good-naturedly arranged an ambulance, by which the wounded were removed into the town of Lindley, where they were placed in the Wesleyan chapel, which had been fitted up as an hospital for their reception. Nothing could have exceeded the kindness and attention shown by the Boer doctors and nurses to the British wounded. Those of the Yeomanry who were not wounded were taken prisoners and marched off with the Boers in the direction of Reitz.
Next day (Friday, 1st June) Lord Methuen arrived at Lindley, twelve hours too late to relieve us, though he experienced six hours' fighting in the attempt. Lord Chesham and a large force of Yeomanry went in pursuit of their captured comrades, but owing to night coming on the Boers evaded him, and, as it appears from information received since, got their prisoners up to the Transvaal, leaving many sick at different towns on the way.
The Boer General, De Wet, came into the hospital in Lindley, to see the wounded, on the evening that they were brought in. He is a very fine looking man, standing between six feet two and three inches in height, and built in proportion, with an air of absolute self-confidence, and, judging by his acts, it is not misplaced. He assured the wounded that everything possible would be done to make them comfortable, and that they deserved it, as they had fought the best commandos of the Orange Free State -- namely, the Bethlehem commandos, who had fought under General Botha in Natal, at the time of the disaster to the Royal Irish Fusiliers and the Glocester Regiment on the 30th of October. He said he felt certain that each day we would give in, but as Tuesday night arrived without our surrendering, and as we proved ourselves to be, he said, the best shots he had fought against, barring Brabant's Horse, he had been obliged to send for some big guns, intending to shell us out of our position. He seemed to be hurt by our having made such a successful bayonet charge that morning, and told us that by so doing we had been guilty of very ungentlemanly conduct in routing them out of their beds so early in the morning. As we held out till Tuesday night he came to the conclusion that we would not give in on Wednesday, so, as already said, sent for the big guns to shell us out. He told us that had we made an attempt by night to break through his lines we would have been simply smashed up. As we were such a valuable prize, he had taken special precautions to ensure our safety inside the circle, knowing that as we were Yeomanry he was certain that our kits would make good loot for his burghers, and he ended up by saying "You Irishmen are the devils for fighting."
On the 4th June Lord Methuen sent a large convoy down to Kroonstad, and twenty-three of the wounded accompanied it, amongst them being Troopers Murphy, Laing, and myself, and we were placed in the Scotch National Red Cross Hospital, where we were treated in the most skilful and careful manner possible by the doctors and nurses. Lord Iveagh's Hospital Corps was at that time at Bloemfontein, and it did a great deal of valuable work, chiefly amongst the enteric patients. The only cases of enteric amongst the 45th Company were Lieutenant Blackburn and Quartermaster Montgomery (late High Sheriff of Longford), and who at the time of my leaving was convalescent. On arrival at Kroonstad it was found necessary to perform an operation on Trooper Laing's leg. Troopers Murphy and myself left on the 19th June by hospital train, and arrived at Cape Town on the 22nd, where they were put in No. 5 General Hospital at Woodstock. On the 27th I left for home (invalided) by the mail steamer Moor, arriving in Southampton on July 13.
Where all behaved with conspicuous courage it would be invidious to dwell upon the acts of individual bravery. It would not, however, be fair to close this account about our engagement without specially mentioning Lord Longford, who, although wounded in three different places, and at three different times, still kept fighting, and would not surrender, although called on several times to do so, and only did so when ordered by his colonel.
It is impossible to say anything in praise of the Boers as an enemy; they may be anxious to fight fairly, yet there are many cases on record of disregard of the conventions of modern warfare, such as the use of expanding bullets, firing on the Red Cross flag, which became in some cases positions of danger instead of safety. I don't think very much of their marksmanship either, and they will not fight unless they are completely covered. Except myself all the other representatives from Tipperary, namely, Troopers Brereton, Kenny, Kierans, Rolleston, and McDowell are in the hands of the Boers.
At the time of the 1901 Census he was living on the family estate at Slevior, Terryglass, Tipperary, with his mother and brother, a lieutenant in the 1st Gloster Regiment. Ten year later he was still on the estate; also living there were his father and a sister, Manuel recorded as being a Justice of the Peace.
On 24 September 1914 he married Mary Elizabeth MacDermott in the Killimore Roman Catholic Church, Portumna, County Galway.
He served in World War 1 as a Lieutenant on the General List of the Territorial Force Reserve, relinquishing his commission on 7 December 1918.
He died on 6 May 1954 at The Old Court, Terryglass.
Dublin Evening Mail, 8 June 1900
Leinster Reporter, 28 July 1900
Catholic Standard, 16 December 1949
Irish Times, 7 May 1954
This page last updated 16 November 2025.