UBIQUE - THE GUNNERS OF SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

The story of the Gunners of South Africa perhaps began with the arrival in Table Bay in April, 1652 of Jan van Rieceeck, for he surely had with him some trained gunners to supervise, if not man, the cannon of the Fort de Goede Hoop. Since that time hundreds, if not thousands, of men representing the Dutch East India Company and the Royal Artillery have in turn been stationed in this country to man the defences at the Cape and elsewhere, not to mention the countless numbers who have served in volunteer units and in units of the various Brigades that have gone to make up the South African Artillery Corps as we know it today.

Keywords

• Gunners of South Africa
• Dutch East India Company
• the cannon of the Fort de Goede Hoop
• South African Artillery Corps
• Royal Artillery
• Jan van Rieceeck