THE SUDAN CAMPAIGN 1896-1908
The first advance, led by Sir H. Kitchener, followed in 1896 and terminated with the recapture of the Dongola Province. From June to October Rundle was Kitchener’s Chief of Staff and was present at the actions of Firket and Hafir. He was promoted Major-General in November, and was made a C.M.G. In the following summer he commanded a small force that advanced to Merowe, and was Chief of Staff during the advance to Berber. In 1898 he was commandant on the lines of communication until the battle of the Atbara, when he resumed his old position as Chief of Staff. After the battle of Omdurman he took Kitchener’s place during the latter’s absence at Fashoda, and then led a column up the Blue Nile to the relief of Gedaref. For his services he was created a K.C.B. and received the thanks of Parliament. He returned home in December 1898, and received the command of the old South-Eastern District.
After the outbreak of the South African War he was, in October, appointed Deputy Adjutant General at the War Office, being transferred in the following January to the command of a Division at Aldershot, but was ordered to South Africa in March 1900. He first commanded the 8th Division in Robert’s march to Pretoria. Later he was placed in charge of the Harrismith District. During this time he conducted the Dewetsdorp operations, and commanded at the action of Biddulphsberg. He was also at Wittebergen. Later he worked with Sir Archibald Hunter in the Barandwater Basin and commanded the troops in the North-Eastern Free State, where he controlled many of the “drives” organised in that region. In these operations he was slightly wounded. He acquired a reputation for much caution and deliberation - he greatly valued the lives of the men under his command, taking few risks and never meeting with a reverse, and acquiring the fond nickname within the Army of “Sir Leisurely Trundle”. He remained in South Africa till the close of the war, and was promoted a K.C.M.G. for his services.
Upon his return to England in 1902, he assumed command of the 5th Division. In November 1903 he was appointed G.O.C. in C. of the Northern Command, and held that position until April 1906, having been promoted Lieutenant-General just one year earlier. For nearly two years Sir Leslie was unemployed, and then, on 10 September 1909, he was promoted General, having been selected in June for the post of Governor and Commander-in-Chief at Malta. He continued in this appointment until after the beginning of the Great War, returning to England in February 1915. On his arrival he was selected to succeed Sir Ian Hamilton as Commander-in-Chief of the Central Force, which then consisted of some 10 Divisions and mounted troops of Territorial Force organised for home defence. From May 1916 he remained unemployed until his retirement in May 1919.
Sir Leslie Rundle had, by his 15 years’ service in Egypt, risen from a subaltern of the Royal Artillery to the rank of Major-General in the British Army and to the dignity of the K.C.B. As a young regimental officer he had earned golden opinions wherever he went. In Egypt, he began by displaying all his natural soldierly qualities to good effect, and he served Lord Kitchener with tact and fidelity which met with its reward. He was promoted to G.C.B. in 1911, and G.C.M.G. in 1914. He had been made a G.C.V.O. in 1912. In 1907 he was appointed a Colonel Commandant of Royal Artillery, and he was Honorary Colonel of 3rd Bn. the Buffs from 1899 to 1907. He was a J. P. and also a County Councillor for Hertfordshire. He was a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem., and his wife, Eleanor Georgina, eldest daughter of Captain Henry Jermyn Montgomery Campbell ,R.A., of Thurmaston Hall, Leicester, whom he married in 1887, a Lady of Grace of the Order. His only sister was married to Sir Reginald Wingate. They had no children.
Rundle was a handsome man of smart appearance. During his long military career he earned a reputation for thoroughness and caution. Although scrupulously fair, he was outwardly somewhat unapproachable, except to children, with whom he had a warm rapport.
General Sir Leslie Rundle died on 20 November 1934, in a nursing home at the age of 78. His funeral service was held at St. George’s, Hannover Square, and he was buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery.
With two folders containing extensive research, with photographs and the books:With Rundle’s Eighth Division in South Africa, by Thomas C. Wetton; With the Eighth Division, by E. C. Moffett; A Rain of Lead, The Siege and Surrender of the British at Potchefstroom, by Ian Bennett.
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