Major Wallace Bruce Matthews Carruthers

Major Wallace Bruce Matthews Carruthers (13 February 1863 - 21 October 1910) was a Canadian soldier. He was a veteran of the South African War and the founder of the Canadian Signalling Corps. ---In 1902, Carruthers again volunteered for service in South Africa as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles. On 31 March 1902 he was involved in the action at Harts River (Boschbult) where he was leading some 21 men of 3rd and 4th Troops 'E' Squadron to screen the main body of Cookson's Column as they prepared a defensive position. Faced with several hundred charging Boers and no cover, Lieutenant Carruthers dismounted his men to meet the attack. They fought until out of ammunition by which time 18 had been killed or wounded, including Carruthers.Some references, although not consistently, indicate that he was taken prisoner in that action but further details of that are unknown.In general, the Boer were not capable or interested in keeping prisoners and usually, after being stripped of weapons and useful equipment, the prisoners were soon released. For this action, Carrtuhers was Mentioned in Despatches by Lord Kitchener who said "There have been fewer finer instances of heroism in the whole course of the campaign."As a result of his service he was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with five clasps: Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Cape Colony, SA 1902

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