Born 1835; son of J. R. White, Esq., of Whitehall, co. Antrim; educated at Sandhurst; entered the Army, 1853; served in Indian Mutiny; captain, 1863; Major, 1873; was in the Afghan War of 1878-80, and present at the occupation of Kabul, and in the expedition to Maidan, Sharpur; Military Secretary to Viceroy of India; Lieut.-Colonel, Gordon Highlanders, 1881; Colonel, 1885; Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General in Egypt; commanded a brigade in Burmah, 1885-86 (for which service he was promoted Major-General, and thanked by Indian Government), and an expedition into Zhob; Commander-in-Chief in India, 1893-8; Quartermaster-General to the Forces, 1898.] [Illustration: [_Photo by Gunn & Stuart._ LADY WHITE.] [Sidenote: Strength of the Enemy.] Against these the Transvaal alone could put into the field 40,000 or 50,000 men with 70 or 80 guns. The Orange Free State could dispose of 10,000 to 15,000 men with 30 or more guns. Thus, if the Boer forces had advanced in the third week of September, they could unquestionably have swept the British out of Natal, and have made themselves masters of the whole of northern Cape Colony. With the fighting qualities which they have since displayed, they must have surrounded and captured the diminutive British detachments which kept vigil close to the frontiers of a formidable military power. Why, then, was the attack delayed? [Illustration: [_Photo by Gregory._ OFF TO THE WAR! Bidding farewell to the Army Service Corps at Southampton.] [Sidenote: The attack delayed.] [Sidenote: OCT. 1899.] _The Boer Forces Mobilised._] In the first place the Orange Free State was not at that date ready to throw in its lot with the Transvaal. It had no quarrel whatever with England, and many Englishmen lived happily within its borders. Only a prodigal use of Mr. Kruger's secret service funds, and the desperate exertions of the Free State President, Mr. Steyn, obtained the consent of its Volksraad to the war. Moreover, when that consent had been obtained its armaments were incomplete. Ammunition was wanting; and so, reluctantly, all movement was postponed by the plotters against the British Empire till the first day of October. Even then, it was calculated, it would be easy to sweep the "rooineks" into the sea, as but few of the Indian troops would have arrived. By October 1 the Transvaal completed its mobilisation, and was ready to attack. It was expected that the first Boer victory would be followed by a tremendous uprising of the Cape Dutch, the disloyal of whom had been armed and were in constant correspondence with Pretoria. [Illustration: [_Photo by R. Stanley & Co._ LADY SYMONS. Widow of General Symons, and promoter of a fund for the widows and orphans of soldiers.] [Illustration: [_Photo by R. Stanley & Co._