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South African War (Anglo Boer War) in the Karoo

Johan Hattingh’s presentation on the at Gariep Dam conference 2009: Hattingh, Johan - Boer war in the Karoo 768KB

Deelfontein hospitaal, De Aar

During the Anglo-Boer War Dr J Purvis-Stewart, called the Karoo a “place to see”. He was one of the doctors sent to South Africa in 1901with the Imperial Yeomanry Bearer Company – the first company of its kind raised ever established by private funding. In his biography, Sands of Time, he wrote: “After three weeks’ tedious delay in Cape Town our hospital at last entrained and made its way towards Bloemfontein through the Karoo. This is a high table-land surrounded by koppies, flat-topped mountains of varying heights, peppered with short scrubby bushes and small stones, but without grass. This is a place to see – rivers without water, flowers without scent, birds without song. The railway tracks were bordered with empty bully-beef tins and beer bottles. Here and there was a tin-roofed shack inhabited by a couple, often with about 15 children. At Deelfontein, we visited the already established Imperial Yeomanry base-hospital, staffed by eminent civilian physicians and surgeons and lavishly equipped to the last detail. All their glass and crockery, from champagne goblets down to the most menial sanitary vessels, were emblazoned with the Imperial Yeomanry badge, the Prince of Wales’s feathers. Shortly after we left there our train passed through a storm of locusts. They reminded us a pantomime snow storm, except, as one Tommy said, that the flakes were khaki coloured “to match the troops.” At Norval’s Pont our train crossed the Orange River on a temporary bridge of tressels and pontoons. It replaced the bridge recently blown up by the Boers.

Tributes to a great man: Major-Genl Andrew Wauchope

It was dark on the afternoon of October 13, 1899, when the news of Major-General Andrew Wauchope’s death reached Edinburgh. It flashed through the town and suburbs like wildfire – Red Mick as he was known to family and friends - had been killed at the head of the Scottish Brigade at Magersfontein. Slowly the news permeated into the country side and out to the border areas. The initial shock was followed by disbelief, then horror, as the full impact struck. Then a terrible gloom followed as individual families gathered around members of the Wauchope clan to grieve. Scotland as a whole mourned the loss of Wauchope. “There is no other soldier whose death would have produced a like impression,” wrote his biographer. One Edinburgh woman is reputed to have said: “Even the man who brings our milk in the morning is grieving for him.” Wauchope’s father was injured in a hunting accident and died at the age of 56, his brother William inherited the estate, but also died, leaving Andrew to become Laird of Niddrie, their country home, which was often referred to as “an oasis of the Black Country.” Andrew was at times shy, highly strung and nervous, but he had a fiery temper which would flare if disparaging remarks were made about his red hair and freckles. He was casual, even careless in dress. He often went out in an old coat, straw hat, and unpolished shoes. In fact some said he did not care whether the clothes he wore were his own or not, so his elegant and painfully precise brother, William, kept his wardrobe under lock and key at all times. Despite all this Andrew was totally impeccable when it came to his uniform. He loved cricket, boating, riding and hunting, but said his friends, was never more than a fair shot. He was a man of deeds and few words. He was sadly missed. In addition to the memorials to him at Matjiesfontein, in the Karoo, where he is buried, memorials were erected by public subscription in Niddrie Village, in the Presbyterian church where he worshipped at York and at Perth and on the village green at Yetholm.

Ghost still on patrol in Middelburg

During the Anglo-Boer War a Captain Hicks was placed in charge of a group of fearfully inefficient “poor whites”.
It was said they were only in the war for the money and so inefficient that poor Hicks was at a loss as to what to do with them. The locals jokingly called them DMTs “Delirium Military Tremens”. This group of misfits and Hicks were stationed on the farm The Willows, near Middelburg, and it was here that the poor captain was shot dead right on the doorstep of the house by a Boer sharpshooter. Locals say his ghost still roams feebly about at certain times of the year. No one has any explanation as to what became of his sloppy band of soldiers.

Top honour for Karoo soldier

The Victoria Cross (VC) was awarded to 78 members of the British Armed Forces for bravery in action during the Anglo-Boer War. One of the recipients of this highest and most prestigious award for gallantry made to British and Commonwealth forces was John James Clements, a son of the Karoo. Clements was born in Middelburg, on June 19, 1872, and shortly after the outbreak of the war he enlisted in Rimington's Guides at Noupoort on October 20, 1899. Awarded the rank of corporal Clements was a popular, well-liked man among the troops. According to The Victoria Cross, Colonel Rimington said: “South African born, he had a splendid physique, was a good boxer and always ready for a ‘scrap’.” He lived up to this when his scouting party was attacked at Strydenberg on February 24. 1900. Twenty-eight year old Clements was shot through the lungs by some Boers. According to the London Gazette of June 4, 190, he fell to the ground and lay there bleeding badly. The Boers came towards him and called upon him to surrender, however, instead of submitting, he leapt to his feet, dashed at the Boers and shot three with his revolver. He then forced all five in the party to surrender to the unwounded men of Rimington’s Guides. For this immensely brave act he was awarded the Victoria Cross. It was presented to him in London on July 1, 1902. Clements recovered from his wounds and went on to serve in World War I. He died on June 18, 1937

In presenting the Victoria Cross to Clements Major-General Bruce Hamilton said: I have personally enquired into the particulars of this case from those who were present, and especially from the late Lieutenant Harvey, who commanded the party. His testimony on such a matter is absolutely reliable. He told me that when he and Clements were wounded only two members of his party remained - intelligence officer, Carlyle and Wilson. They were facing five unwounded Boers at close quarters, and that they would probably have been obliged to surrender had not Clements, who with conspicuous courage and devotion, despite the fact that he was already dangerously wounded, dashed among them and shot three of them with his revolver. As a direct result of Clements's action our party escaped being made prisoners, and instead we captured the Boers, who surrendered by raising their hands in the air. We brought them to our camp, where two eventually died. The attack took place near a farm about 8 km south of Strydenburg. Hearing that a party of Boers was on the prowl, the Guides managed to capture one man and he told them that five others were watching them from a nearby kopje. They decided to leave one man in charge of the prisoner and to charge the hill. This was not Clements’s only courageous deed. According to his superior officers he constantly risked his life while out on scouting work. Clements went to King Edward's Coronation as a member of the Damant's Horse Contingent, was discharged on his return on October 15, 1902. He bought ground in Natal and settled down to farm near Newcastle. He enlisted in Botha's Scouts for the German South-West Africa Campaign and, at the outbreak of the World War l, enlisted again and served until the autumn of 1915. He returned to South Africa and to his farm, where he died at the age of 65. He was survived by his wife and eight children.

Epidemic of 'Karoo-itis'

A strange epidemic occurred among staff at the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Deelfontein, reported senior surgeon Alfred Fripp in the British Medical Journal of July 30, 1900. Doctors termed it “karoo-itis” and mostly it surfaced among newcomers from England. The latest contingent, he said had just presented with exactly the same symptoms as the initial batch of staff showed when they first arrived. “The disease affects people serving in a wide area in the arid central zone of South Africa. One of its many causes seems to be the extremely hot weather, but fortunately since it is now winter, it seems to have disappeared.” Doctors at Deelfontein, said Fripp had compared notes with colleagues at other places such as De Aar, in their efforts to isolate and exclude some of the symptoms. “We have some theories,” he writes, but he did not detail them. He added:“Perhaps we shall soon arrive at a true explanation of its cause, and then I hope we will know how to prevent the distressing symptoms. At present we simply do not know what to do.”

A menagerie to entertain patients

One unusual aspect of the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Deelfontein in the Karoo, was that it had a menagerie for the entertainment, amusement and instruction of the sick and wounded men. Specimens were collected by principal medical officer, Colonel Sloggett and two taxidermists from the British Museum, who had been sent to the hospital to be treated for typhoid fever. They were E C H Seimund and C H B Grant, both members of Yeomany regiments, and other members of the medical team who also found the veld creatures and abundant bird life of the area fascinating. An article in The Ibis, No 13, dated January, 1902, states that for its very interesting collection of South African birds the British museum is indebted to Colonel A T Sloggett who, while serving at the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital during the Anglo-Boer War, sent them information and specimens. The actual collection, says the article, was made by two of the museum’s taxidermists who served as troopers in the Yeomanry and who helped Colonel Sloggett compile the collection At the conclusion of the war most of the animals were sent to the Zoological Gardens in London. The trio presented a fine collection of preserved material to the British Museum. This collection included about 830 bird specimens and their eggs. “Forty bird species were recorded in the Deelfontein area from 1901 to1902,” state Sue Milton and Richard Dean in an article in the October 1, 2008 Journal of African Ornithology.

Dinner salutes war effort

St. Mary's Hospital annual dinner at the Whitehall Rooms of the Metropole Hotel in London, on October 3, 1901, was as usual a grand affair. Guests included 24 St. Mary's doctors as well as several other medical men recently returned from service in the South African War. In total there were almost 200 guests and in a characteristic colourful speech Edmund Owen, acknowledged the country’s debt to those who had served abroad and paid an eloquent tribute to those who had fallen. Thanks were returned by Wallace Ashdowne, a surgeon who had just returned from service with the Imperial Yeomanry Base Hospital, at Deelfontein in the Karoo. It was a most successful evening, and one of the most interesting dinners given by the hospital, said an article in the British Medical Journal of October 1901.

Two strikes to the grim reaper

Many countries and Red Cross type organisations sent equipment and personnel to South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War. Among these was a group of Scots from Edinburgh who collected £12 000 to establish and staff a hospital, writes professor J C (Kay) de Villiers in Healers, Helpers and Hospitals. Personnel embarked on the SS Briton which arrived at in Cape Town on April 10, 1900. There was no transport to take them northwards, so they did not disembark, but sailed on to Port Elizabeth. There they found no suitable accommodation for the nurses, so on May 17, 1900, these women were sent on to Noupoort in the Karoo where they joined the No26 General Hospital. Tragedy struck three weeks after they arrived. Sister Mary Boyd, the sister of physician Dr Francis D Boyd, was struck down by dysentery. Nothing could be done to help her and she died four months later. One of the orderlies, William Dick, also died of typhoid.

A trat scheduled for next year

Anglo Boer War enthusiasts will be delighted to learn that Taffy and David Shearing are in the process of completing their “rebel list”. They have been working on this project for 50 years. “Taffy got the name of the first rebel when we were engaged!” says David. Tracing 15435 rebels and their stories has been a labour of love, so they have decided to publish this list to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary next year. This promises to be a publication worth waiting for.

Round up solves a riddle

Boer War researcher Allen Duff recently visited the graves in Laingsburg and was faced with a puzzle. The inscription on the grave of Private F Gardner, of the 5th Royal Warwickshire Regiment, stated: “Accidentally killed in the execution of his duty on 9.01.1902.” Allen wondered just how Private Gardener could have been ‘accidentally’ killed’ then he remembered Round-up and rushed to his files. There he found a story quoting a letter written by Lieutenant Austin of C Company, Fifth Warwickshire Field Force, while stationed in Laingsburg. On January 13, 1902, Austin wrote: “The men are ready to blaze away at anything at night, so I sing out ‘friend’ when doing my rounds. We had a man killed at Laingsburg on Thursday, they mistook him for the enemy. Raw militia are beauties, but these men are improving, thanks to me, of course.” So there was the explanation of how poor Private F Gardner met his death and the riddle was solved!

Aching with lonlliness

In the same letter Lt Austin mentioned suffering from intense loneliness “I am in charge of a blockhouse with twenty men to guard a bridge 200 miles from Cape Town. Our HQ is at Worcester, a long way off, so I am my own master here. I have no troubles, except it is awfully lonely.” “It seems he was the man that Emily Hobhouse met,” said Allen. In Boer War Letters she describes her trip from Kimberley (April 18 – 19, 1902) and states: “The journey was tedious and now autumn had come the nights were cold in the train. There stands out in my mind a bare spot where the eye swept the horizon in vain for even a tree and no human creature was in sight, where I talked with a Tommy almost mad with the aching solitude around him. He poured out his feelings: (accustomed to town life) he found himself in this – to him – torturing silence. He said he had been out for months and had never seen an enemy but felt he was going out of his mind with loneliness and lack of employment. I gave him my novel to read – it was a Dickens – and such papers as I had and suggested collecting strange flowers and insects, or tilling the ground. We crawled away and left him on the silent veld. What is it Kipling wrote of these boys? ‘Few, forgotten and lonely, Where the white car-windows shine, No, not combatants only, Details guarding the line, Out of the darkness we reach, For a handful of week-old papers, And a mouthful of human speech....”

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