The tragic tale of this ex paymaster of the 85Th Regiment, and his two sons is remembered by the range of mountains named in his memory, the Biggarsberg.

Biggar had fought throughout the Peninsula War and in 1820 arrived in South Africa as part of the scheme to settle immigrants along the Cape frontier.

In 1835 he and his son, George move up to Natal, where his other son, Robert had already settled.

In October 1837, with his son George, he was one of the first people living at Port Natal to sign an address of welcome to Piet Retief, when he arrived with his group of Voortrekkers.

In February 1838, after the death of Piet Retief, George helped the Voortrekkers defend their laagers. He had been spared by the Zulus who recognised him. Unfortunately he was killed by a grief stricken Voortrekker, van Vuuren, who returned from a hunting trip to find his wife and child slain and hideously mutilated. Before Biggar could explain what had happened, van Vuuren shot him at point-blank range.

Two months later Robert was killed in an ambush by the Zulus at the battle of Tugela Gorge.

Alexander then left Port Natal and joined the Voortrekkers, as they moved inland to avenge the deaths of the men and women killed in February 1838. He wanted to avenge the death of his 2 sons.

On 9 December the Wenkommando (as it came to be known) camped in the valley below the mountains which the Zulus knew as the Honey mountains (they followed the honey birds to rob the bee hives of honey) and which the Voortrekkers originally called the Mud Mountains- later named the Biggarsberg in his memory. Here they washed their clothes and laid them out to dry on large slabs of stone on the river bank –hence the name Waschbank, with the spelling changing to Wasbank in the mid 20thC, by which it is still known.

On 10 December, as they left from this camp and started the climb up the mountains, Biggar who was travelling in his Scotch cart, drawn by a horse, fell into a hole in the river, they were crossing. The water was deep as it had been a very wet summer, that December. As he and his horse regained their footing and moved out of the river the men on their horses who had been sitting watching this, all laughed and made the comment “Kyk Biggar het in die gat geval” (Look Biggar fell in the hole) The farm is still named Biggarsgat, as is the river and the mountains they climbed up and which they later named Biggarsberg. They recorded that the day was bitterly cold, “although there was no snow… the bite of the south east wind was every bit as bad.”

On the evening of the 10 December they camped on the slopes of Talana hill and picked up coal, from the lower slopes of the hill, for their cooking fires. Today this is the site of Talana museum and of the first battle of the Anglo Boer War 20 October 1899.

He went on to fight with the Voortrekkers at Blood River and the moved with the commando to Mgunguinhlovu, where they found the remains of Piet Retief and his party. They buried them all in a common grave.

After setting fire to and destroying the royal kraal, they followed Bongaza, a local Zulu who offered to lead them to where King Dingaan and the cattle were hidden. On 27 December, Karel Landman with 300 men, Biggar and his 76 natives led a raid on the cattle. This was a trap and as they moved into the valley the Zulus surrounded them. The battle became a running melee with leaping, shouting Zulu’s, lowing cattle and rearing horses forcing their way through the bush. In this running battle 5 trekkers and Biggar were killed. Biggar refused the chance to save himself, by refusing the offer to share a horse, choosing to remain and fight with “the men of colour” that he commanded.

A memorial to Alexander Harvey Biggar may be found in the Moth Hall in Dundee. The memorial to where he fell in the hole in the river, was relocated to the base of the Biggarsberg some years ago. The memorial marking the route over the mountains was placed on the top of the Wenkommando Pass in 1938.rica