Bashom The Fox was wounded at the Battle of Omdurman (2 September 1898) and galloped 50 miles one afternoon with dispatches. Captain W Smythe his rider was awarded the Victoria Cross (Dispatches to say the battle was won by the British Army).
Imported from Egypt to England, August 1901, by Captain W Smythe VC
Bashom the Fox went to live in Essex with Hon. Mrs Ives at Moyns Park, bred several foals and spent the rest of his life in the green fields at there. He bred several Polo Ponies and its thought that some of Bashom’s blood runs through and is related to Polo Ponies in Australia owned by the Ashton Brothers and which arrived in England in 1930 to play polo. Bashom is also known as the Giraffe, after he was used in the early days in Sudan for game hunting Giraffe prior to him going to the British Army as a Charger. The Battle of Omdurman was between the British General Herbert Kitchener who defeated the army of Abdullah al-Taashi (a Sudanese General & Ruler) and the date would be appropriate - 2 September 1898. 120 horses died in battle that day. Bashom was wounded, but survived to make the journey to England with his officer of that day. Available at archive.org is the book The Arab: the horse of the future, by The Hon Sir James Penn Boucaut KCMG published in 1905. Within this Mrs Ives of Moyns Park has an Arab stallion called Bashom. I quote "....that there are a few thoroughbred horses to be found which combine the required qualities in perfection, and that it is noteworthy that the majority of those are smaller than the average blood horse, and that amongst those at Moyns Park which have those required qualities was Bashom, an Arab of the highest caste, bred in Arabia by Ibn-Al-Raschid, Sheikh of the northern branch of the Rohilla tribe, thus showing that in using the word 'thoroughbred’ Arabs are included..”