Lieutenant-Colonel R.A. Finlayson, C.M.G., commanded the Kimberley Regiment during the siege of Kimberley, for which services he was created a companion of the Order of St. Mickael and St. George and Mentioned in Despatches.

'Born October 11th, 1857 at Edinburgh and educated at John Watson's Institute there. He came to South Africa in 1875 and in 1882 was in the service of the Cape Government Railways. He joined the Hon. J.D. Logan in business in 1884 and remained with him until 1892. He was in the Kimberley Scots and joined the Kimberley Rifles in 1890 as a Lieutenant. By 1895 he was a Major. He commanded his regiment in 1897 and became Lieutenant-Colonel the following year. He was the first Officer Commanding of the Kimberley Regiment and so was in the siege of Kimberley, for which he was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the C.M.G. After the siege he was commander of the infantry of columns which operated in O.F.S., Cape Colony and Transvaal. Awarded Colonial Auxiliary Force Officer's Decoration (V.D.). He died in 1940 and was buried at Colwyn Bay, N. Wales' (The History of the Kimberley Regiment refers).

The Kimberley Regiment was a volunteer unit created in 1899 by the amalgamation of the Diamond Fields Horse and the Kimberley Rifles.