field cornet

British  

noun

1. Often shortened to: cornet.  a commander of burgher troops called up in time of war or in an emergency, esp during the 19th century

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Example Sentences

The Field Cornet of Christiana asks what he is to do with twenty men, and states that the Johannesburg Police are bolting.

From Project Gutenberg

The Field Cornet, with whom I conversed at some length, upon being shown the dreadful condition of the wounds, admitted that at one time explosive bullets had been served out, but that it was not possible that they could have been used that morning, since he was convinced that that particular ammunition had already been expended.

From Project Gutenberg

But for the most part they behaved with a certain decorum, and it may be that the weapon which they bore was the silent confirmation of the Field Cornet's words.

From Project Gutenberg

They had been proceeding to reinforce Game Tree Fort, upon an order from Field Cornet Steinekamp, when the cessation of hostilities had taken place under the provisions of the Red Cross.

From Project Gutenberg

The Field Cornet proceeded to assert that the acts of his men were neither so barbarous nor so inhuman as those which our own soldiers had committed after the battle of Elandslaagte, where, he said, Imperial troops had stripped the body of General de Koch, leaving him to lie upon the field wounded and naked, and adding that we were morally responsible, and held as such by every right-minded person in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, for the subsequent death of the Boer general.

From Project Gutenberg