Army Lists

General James Melville Babington was born in 1854, and entered the 16th - the Scarlet - Lancers in 1873. From 1877 to 1880 he was Adjutant of the regiment , and in 1884 he accompanied Sir Charles Warren's Bechuanaland Expedition, for his services in which he was "honourably mentioned". From January 1889 to July 1890, Captain Babington was A.D.C. to Sir Evelyn Wood when the latter was commanding at Aldershot, in itself both a liberal military education and a marked compliment to the Lancer's ability, for Sir Evelyn never had any but good men round him. Returning as a Major to regimental duty, Babington succeeded to the command of the 16th Lancers in 1892.

Perhaps there is no feature of the Second Boer War which has more persistently forced itself upon the notice of students than the scope afforded by the operations for the employment of every sort of mounted troops. The extraordinary mobility of the enemy, coupled with their skill in selecting positions from which it has been impossible to ejext them without either frightful loss or by recourse to swift turning movements, has necessited quite unusual efforts to keep large bodies of cavalry and mounted infantry in the field.