Dashing Dragoon, Anguished Emissary

Inspired by his own family history, Hugh Tweed’s Dashing Dragoon, Anguished Emissary tells the story of a former cavalry officer who is sent to southern Africa in the mid-19th century.
During a visit to the parish church of Thornham, Norfolk, Hugh noticed from a memorial plaque that a distant relative had died at a relatively young age in South Africa in 1852. “Several years later, coincidentally, a cousin gave me an envelope containing transcripts of letters that had been written by this man to his young wife during his time in Africa,” explains Hugh. “After researching background information of the period I was able to piece together a story which I thought worth telling, not only to other family members, but also to the wider public.”
Dashing Dragoon, Anguished Emissary follows William Samuel Hogge’s career firstly serving with the 7th Dragoon Guards in the eastern part of Cape Colony during which he established a reputation as a leader of irregular troops and received accolades from his superiors. After retiring from the army he was later sent back to Cape Colony where he attempted to bring order to the troubled lands outside the boundaries of the colony. With little support from the irascible governor Sir Harry Smith, he struggled to negotiate peace agreements between warring tribes and recalcitrant Boer farmers. Travelling for days on horseback under a blazing African sun he managed to secure a landmark deal with powerful Boer leader, Andries Pretorius, and initiate agreements with Moshoeshoe, chief of the Basuto people, bringing peace for a while to this part of the African continent. But his success was marred by tragedy: he was to die unexpectedly in the furtherance of his duties at the age of only forty.
This story, much of which is told by Hogge himself through letters to his adored wife, is about great personal sacrifice and will appeal to readers interested in one man’s struggle against adversity. It will also appeal to students and followers of Victorian era politics and military history, both in the UK and South Africa.