Why bully General Buller
And use his as a scapegoat for blunders others made
His monuments in Exeter and Crediton and Winchester
Are rich to him a fitting accolade

Yes he was schooled at Eton
And he got his commission in the King's Royal Rifle Corps
He served out there in China and at Canada's Red River
And was wounded in the Ashanti War

Laddy fought the Xhosa with some Boers he fought the Zulu
And for courage won the Victoria Cross
In the first rising of the Boer, Egypt and the Sudan war
Fought the fanatical and radical nadist

Though he led a soldier's life his newly-wedded wife
On a honeymoon cut short was not averse
When he was called away to march and leave the family hearth
And put the army and the men that served him first

She was his confidant in letters that he wrote
She stood behind him steadfastly and firm
Was his comfort when alone and far away from home
With loving words she wrote back in return

Why bully General Buller
And use him as a scapegoat for blunders others made
His monuments in Exeter and Crediton and Winchester
Are rich to him a fitting accolade

We don't know many soldiers that aren't fond of spirits
His preference was champagne, he liked it pink
Politicians, priests and monks are often covert drunks
Sanctimonious liars like a secret drink

We know he had a temper that didn't serve him well
For sometimes breaking British army discipline
But some in the Officers' Club had skeletons in the cupboard
And some were addicted slaves of gin

Once again they sent him for the second rising of the Boer
Unstintingly he answered to the call
To muster such a force in conditions worse than worse
In that conflict was the toughest task of all

Armchair critics gave him nicknames while sitting safe at home
Like Reverse and a Tugela Ferryman
But through a time they called Black Week he mastered a technique
Of fighting in a cruel and hostile land

Why bully General Buller
And use him as a scapegoat for blunders others made
His monuments in Exeter and Crediton and Winchester
Are rich to him a fitting accolade

Going against his good advice the advance of General White
Led that General into the arms of siege
Though many battles lost at a tragic human cost
Buller's doggedness saw Ladysmith relieved

They replaced him with another brave man they called Bobs
And his mistakes had consequences dire
He didn't realise the importance of supplies
Lost more men to sickness than in the line of fire

Buller opposed this strategy of scorched-earth policy
And the burning down of farms
And camps of concentration with unspeakable privation
Where infants died in their mother's arms

He warned the General Botha would become a gorilla
He was his old adversary
With Aldershot precision won the Berg en Dal decision
Scattered Botha's forces 'cross the wide country

Why bully General Buller
And use him as a scapegoat for blunders others made
His monuments in Exeter and Crediton and Winchester
Are rich to him a fitting accolade

Are rich to him a fitting accolade