field commandant, noun phrase

Origin:
South African DutchShow more Translation of South African Dutch veld commandant, see veld commandant.
obs. except in historical contexts
commandant sense 1. Also used as a title.
1811 J.G. Cuyler in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1901) VIII. 28Davel and a Hottentot were found dead by the Field Commandant Stoly.
1812 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. (1928) I. 109In every district there is a field-commandant, who has the supreme command of the parties which are occasionally sent out against the Bosjesmans, or against plundering-parties of fugitive slaves and Hottentots.
1835 C.L. Stretch Journal. 4 Feb.Left Somerset..to Spring buck flat where the Field Commandant Smit was bivouacked with 400 men.
1835 Graham’s Town Jrnl in A. Steedman Wanderings II. 347This party..consisted of two hundred of the Swellendam Burghers, under the command of the veteran and gallant old Field-Commandant Linde.
1839 W.C. Harris Wild Sports 34We were..rather coolly welcomed by the Field Commandant, to whom we presented the Government letter.
1852 Trial of Andries Botha 103The orders of the field-cornets and field-commandants were, that every man who ought to have been at Philipton, and was not there, was to be made a prisoner.
1875 J.J. Bisset Sport & War 189We moved on to Queen’s Town, being first met by the mounted Burghers of the District, drawn up under their field-cornets and field-commandants.
1971 J. Ploeger in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. III. 342Increasing friction with the Bushmen led to the decision in 1774 to reorganise the defence of the northern frontier of the Colony by instituting the office of ‘veldcommandant’. These new office-bearers..were placed in charge of thirteen field-corporals with the rank of ‘wagtmeester’. The..field-commandants, who were subordinate to the landdrost, were chosen from among these ‘wagtmeesters.’
1972 [see field cornet sense 1].
commandant sense 1. Also used as a title.
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obsolete or obsolescent
field, nounn.field cornet, noun phrasen. phr.
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