Field Cornet

A Field Cornet (Afrikaans: Veldkornet) was a South African term for either a local government official or a military officer.

Initially, the term was used for a civilian official in a local government district (Drostdy) of the Cape Colony, acting as and invested with the authority of a military officer and empowered to act as a magistrate. The Field Cornet was subject to the Landdrost of such a district and acted as his representative. As such, the Field Cornet performed important functions in administrative, judicial and police matters. In addition, in peacetime the Field Cornet was the head of the militia and was responsible for maintaining law and order in his area.

However, the term later came to denote a military rank equivalent to that of a lieutenant in the Boer armies as well as in the South African Army between 1960 and 1968. A Second Lieutenant was referred to as an assistant field cornet.


Famous quotes containing the words field and/or cornet:

    I learn immediately from any speaker how much he has already lived, through the poverty or the splendor of his speech. Life lies behind us as the quarry from whence we get tiles and copestones for the masonry of today. This is the way to learn grammar. Colleges and books only copy the language which the field and the work-yard made.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    I never saw youe madam laye aparte
    Your cornet black, in colde nor yet in heate,
    Sythe first ye knew of my desire so greate,
    Which other fances chac’d cleane from my harte.
    Henry Howard, Earl Of Surrey (1517?–1547)