Sites

Significance: Grave and monument to Pieter Lafras Uys, Voortrekker leaderkilled during the Anglo-Boer War, in the Battle ofHlobane on 28 May 1879.
Archive Import: Petrus Lafras Uys was one of the original settlers in the Utrecht area in 1847. He was the first Landdrost appointed by the government of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiekafter Utrecht was officially incorporated into the Transvaal on November the 6th, 1859. He was a member of the Transvaal Volksraad for the Utrecht district, also commandant for several years. A commando of some forty men, including his four sons, fought with the British during the Anglo Zulu War of 1978-79. He was killed in the battle of Hlobane on March 28, 1879, a boer hero. His grave was excavated in 1988, and his remains were reburied in Utrecht. Uys negotiated with King Mpande for the land on which Utrecht was established.The monument was erected in 1881 by the burghers and British soldiers of Col. Wood later Field-Marshall Wood, with whol he fought in the war.
History: One of the few memorials proclaimed as historical monuments by the Historical Monuments Commission stands in Utrecht the simple but dignified and elegant monument erected in honour of Pieter Lafras Uys.
Pieter Lafras Uys bore the same names as his father, the well-known Voortrekker leader, and was a brother of the young hero, Dirkie Uys. His father and brother were both killed by the Zulus at the battle of Italeni in 1838. After the annexation of Natal by England, he settled near Utrecht which was then a part of the Transvaal. At the outbreak of the Zulu War of 1879 he offered his services to the British military authorities, and, according to Col. Evelyn Wood, ‘armed, mounted, equipped and provisioned his large family at his own expense’, and brought them and a body of Transvaal burghers into the field.
This burgher force played an important part in the attack on Zululand from the north-west. On 1st February, 1879, it participated with a mounted force under command of Colonel Buller in a daring and successful raid on Qulusi’s kraal.
On 28th March these burghers joined Buller’s so-called ‘Flying Column’ when they set out to capture a number of cattle from the Zulus on the Hiobane Mountain. The small force was surrounded by an overwhelming superior Zulu force. They broke through the Zulu lines and escaped down the mountain. It was there that Col. (later Sir) Redvers Buller earned the Victoria Cross by his bravery. Uys was with him, but went back to see what had become of his men, and was stabbed to death. His comrades erected a memorial in his honour at the place where he fell, and another was built in Utrecht itself with the inscription:
‘Erected by his fellow burghers of the Town and District of Utrecht and the Officers and Men of the Flying Column under the command of General Wood, with whom he served, as a token of their admiration and respect.’
Visual Description: Alteration: Body exumed from original burial site in 1988, and reburied at Utrecht.
Colours:
Site Features:
Condition: Good
Construction Date:
Materials:
Catalogue: , No: , Significance Category:Grave and Monument to Pieter Lafras Uys, Voortrekker leader killed during the Anglo-Boer War, in the Battle of Hlobane on the 28yh May 1879.