the death of lieutenant harold lothrop borden at witpoort on 16 july 1900 occurred when lieutenant john edgar burch and he, while assisting the royal irish fusiliers and some new zealanders withstand a boer assault on witpoort ridge, led a counter-attack. it was successful, but boer marksmen, standing less than 200 metres away, shot them as they stood up to lead the assault. lord roberts reported to the war office that borden and burch "were killed while gallantly leading their men in a counter attack upon the enemy's flank at a critical juncture of his assault upon our position."