Cape Corps
| Cape Corps | ||||||||||
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Cape Corps emblem
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| Active | 1781-1878, 1915-1991 | |||||||||
| Country |
 South Africa
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| Branch | ||||||||||
| Type | Infantry | |||||||||
| Role | Motorised Infantry | |||||||||
| Size | One Battalion | |||||||||
| Part of | South African Infantry Corps | |||||||||
| Garrison/HQ | Cape Town and Kimberly | |||||||||
| Motto(s) | Fortiter et fideliter | |||||||||
| Battle honours |
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The Cape Corps and its predecessor units were the main military organisations in which the Coloured members of South Africa's population served.
As one of the military units of South Africa with one of the longest histories, the Cape Corps reflects the history of South Africa's Coloured population to a great extent.
The first Coloured unit to be formed was the Corps Bastaard Hottentoten (Afrikaans: "Corps of Bastard Hottentots"), which was organised in 1781 by the Dutch colonial administration of the time. Based in Cape Town and drawing its members from men of mixed Hottentot and White ancestry, this unit had about 400 members under the command of Hendrik Eksteen and Gerrit Munnik. However, the unit was disbanded in 1782 when French mercenaries arrived in the Cape.
In 1793 this unit was re-formed in Cape Town as the Corps van Pandoeren (Pandour Corps) with 200 men under the command of Captain Jan Cloete, only to be disbanded again in 1795.
The unit was re-formed again under the British colonial administration in May 1796, this time under the name Hottentot Corps. It was headquartered in Wynberg and consisted of about 300 men. In 1798 the headquarters were moved to Hout Bay.
On 25 June 1801 the Cape Regiment was formed. It was organised as a British imperial regiment of ten companies and retained all the personnel of the Hottentot Corps.
With the Dutch taking over colonial administration of the Cape once again, the Corps Vrye Hottentotten ("Corps of Free Hottentots") was formed on 21 February 1803. It was later renamed the Hottentot Ligte Infanterie ("Hottentot Light Infantry").
When the British returned to the Cape, they formed The Cape Regiment in October 1806. Headquartered in Cape Town, it was organised as a typical colonial unit with British officers and Coloured other ranks. In later years, the Regiment also had a troop of light cavalry added.
On 24 September 1817 the Regiment was reduced in size (a previous order to completely disband having either been ignored or rescinded) to two small units of about 200 men for the defence of the Cape Colony's eastern frontier. The two units were named the Cape Cavalry (consisting of one troop of dragoons) and the Cape Light Infantry. Mathew Richmond, coming from the Royal Military College, joined them in 1817.
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Wikipedia