Experience we all know to be a valuable asset, and experience in war is
the most costly of its kind. To enable those coming after us to
reconstruct the picture of war, Regimental Histories have proved of
infinite value. That such a record fills a sentimental want hardly
requires assertion.

My first feelings on being honoured with a request from the Devonshire
Regiment to write a preface to the account of their "Work in South
Africa, 1899-1902," were, I confess, How could I refuse so difficult a
task gracefully? However, on further consideration it seemed to me that
undoubtedly such a preface should be written by some one outside the
corps itself. Onlookers, as the saying goes, often see most of the game,
and, being free from personal bias, can often add something to what
those engrossed in the meshes of life's details can only appreciate from
a narrower point of view.

From this standpoint, and as I was the General under whom the 1st Devons
served longest in South Africa, it seemed obviously my duty to attempt
the task.

The "Work of the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment" is portrayed
in these pages. It therefore only remains for me to add, for the benefit
of coming generations, what manner of men these were, who by their
dogged devotion to duty helped to overcome the Boer. Associated as one
was with many corps in the close intimacy of veldt life, it was a study
of the deepest interest to note the individuality that characterized
each, and which was often as clearly and as well defined as that of the
men with whom one daily came in contact.