Gentlemen in Khaki 4

Kitchener's Fighting Scouts

Some forces came into being further on in the war, among them Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts, raised in December 1900, Ashburner’s Light Horse, the Bushveld Carbineers, Dennison’s Scouts, Driscoll’s Scouts and the Cape Colony Cycle Corps.

To research local armed forces serving in South Africa from 1899-1902 The National Archives, Kew, holds original nominal rolls (soldiers’ names) and enrolment forms (completed by each man) in WO 127 and WO 126. 

USING NAAIRS 

The South African National Archives online index (NAAIRS) available at www.national.archives.gov.za/ can help when tracing Anglo-Boer War ancestors. 

A search of NAAIRS index may reveal an ancestor’s deceased estate file, usually with a Death Notice included, and these latter documents are extremely informative. Sometimes there are two Death Notices found in estate files of the Anglo-Boer War period: one filled in briefly at the place of death, by the Adjutant perhaps, and another notice completed more fully later.

To illustrate this application of the online index, an example from my own research:  

William Dixon Smith, of Northumberland origins, emigrated to Natal in 1880, settling in Alexandra County where he established himself as a carriage-builder and blacksmith. He joined the local permanent volunteer force and at the time of the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, having been resident in Natal for twenty years, was Lieutenant Quartermaster of the Border Mounted Rifles. All volunteer units responded promptly to the call for mobilization and William, along with the rest of his contingent, entrained for Ladysmith on 28 September 1899. By January 1900 he was dead, one of many who died of a variety of diseases during the Siege of Ladysmith. The Death Notice provided his age at death, his occupation, his birthplace and parents’ names, his marital status, the name of his spouse and place of marriage, and the names and ages of his children. Other documents in the deceased estate file included a detailed inventory of his possessions, including the forge and anvil and other tools of his trade as well as household items, giving a picture of his lifestyle in the colony. Muster rolls preserved in Natal Defence Force records made it possible to track William’s career in the volunteers from the time of his enrolment.

BMR Trooper's mother receives
 'War Gratuity' of five pounds after
her son's death at Ladysmith - note that it
took two years for her to get it.

Correspondence in archival files could give further information about the next-of-kin: widows or mothers claiming the deceased’s pay or the five pound ‘war gratuity’, a seemingly scant return for the son's supreme sacrifice. A poignant memo mentions a youthful soldier’s only piece of movable property – his horse, ‘killed for food during the Ladysmith siege’.  Other documents in the case of this trooper showed that he had several younger siblings dependant on him. Such details take us beyond mere statistics and bring the human story to light.

Gentlemen in Khaki 2

The Natal Mercury Pictorial of 1915 gives the following intriguing version as to khaki's origins:  

‘Khaki was discovered by a happy accident. British troops in India wore a cotton uniform which when it was new was khaki in colour, but after a visit to the laundry was indescribable. A Manchester businessman, discussing this defect, casually remarked that a fortune awaited the man who could find a khaki dye that neither sun, soap, nor soda would fade. A young officer heard the remark, hired a skilled native dyer, and began the search. Years passed in fruitless experiment, till one day turning over a heap of rags, relics of their failures, they chanced upon one piece which was still khaki, though the laundry had worked its will. But it had received no special treatment, so far as they knew, except that it had fallen into a metal dish. That was the secret. The metal of the dish and the chemicals in the dye had combined to produce that fadeless khaki colour which makes our soldiers invisible and turned the lieutenant into a millionaire.’

Whatever the truth, khaki became standard overseas service issue in 1896 and its use spread into civilian life as well, men’s khaki jackets and trousers being advertised in South African newspapers from about 1899. Because of the universality of the khaki uniform, it’s not easy to identify photographs as being specifically of the Anglo-Boer War period, or even to know whether the pictures were taken in South Africa at all, rather than in other parts of the Empire – India, perhaps, or the Far East. Many photographs of this era were ‘mock-ups’ taken a long way from the veld.

Basically the uniform consisted of tunic and trousers, worn with puttees (a strip of cloth wound round the leg from ankle to knee), and a khaki-covered helmet as protection against the sun. There were some changes – the original uniform fabric, a firm coarse cotton known as drill, was replaced by serge, and the style of the helmet underwent some modification. Sometimes a flap of material attached to the back of the helmet shaded the neck – or the helmet was simply reversed so that the longer part of the brim served that purpose. There was a regulation pith hat as well. The felt slouch or ‘smasher’ hat with the brim turned up on one side, as worn by colonial volunteers, was found to be more practical than the helmet, and this headgear also became popular among Imperial troops, so if the man in your photograph is wearing the slouch hat it may not necessarily mean that he was in a colonial unit. 

There were minor variations in dress according to regiment. The Canadians had their own distinctive hat with a high crown. Imperial cavalry regiments wore chains on the shoulders of their tunics, boots rather than puttees, and leather gauntlets. Certain regiments affected coloured puggarees wound round the helmet. It’s not difficult to pick out a member of a Scottish regiment in kilt and sporran (which must have been hot in the tropics, and sometimes a khaki apron was added to this ensemble). Some of these differences may aid in identification of an ancestor’s photograph, but in the field there were often highly-individualistic alterations to the regulation uniform.  

The high-crowned Canadian hat.

To be continued

Gentlemen in Khaki 1

For many family historians, the only surviving relic of an Anglo-Boer War ancestor is a man wearing khaki uniform, staring unblinkingly out of a faded photograph. Details about him are often scant, his regiment usually unknown. ‘He fought in the Boer War of 1899-1902. How do I find out more about him?’ is the frequently-asked-question. The answer is, with some difficulty.

In the run-up to the war, there were about 10 000 British troops in the Cape and Natal. Before the delivery of the ultimatum - the final word from Britain to the Boers that war would follow - Britain dispatched reinforcements of another 10 000, about 6 000 officers and men being sent out from India. 

Before the end of the war was in sight, some 500 000 men were in the field. If the ancestor in your photograph was in the British Imperial forces, he could have been in the Regular Army (Cavalry, Artillery, Infantry etc) or a Reservist. He may have been a member of the Militia (reinforcements attached to the Regulars) or among the Yeomanry. Over 120 000 recruits who had no military experience whatsoever joined the British Army during the Anglo-Boer War. If the ancestor served in the British Colonial forces, about 16 000 came from Australia, 6 600 from New Zealand, 6 000 from Canada and over 52 000 from South Africa itself. Statistics vary, but these give some indication of the task ahead when trying to find information about one particular individual.

On 16 October 1899, Rudyard Kipling penned his verses ‘The Absent-Minded Beggar’, which burst upon the British nation through the medium of the press, whipping up a remarkable degree of patriotic fervour. The theme of the poem was the very ‘gentleman in khaki’ that we’re attempting to find, our unknown warrior of the Anglo-Boer War:

‘When you’ve shouted Rule Britannia, when you’ve sung God Save the Queen,

When you’ve finished killing Kruger with your mouth,

Will you kindly drop a shilling in my little tambourine

For a gentleman in kharki ordered South?’

Most of us are familiar with the word – though perhaps not with Kipling’s spelling of it – but its origins are less-often considered. Said to stem from the Indian word meaning dust-coloured, opinion is divided as to how this form of apparel emerged. The Indian Corps of Guides in the 1840s may have been the first to dye their clothes as a form of camouflage, using a substance obtained from the mazari palm. 

Elsewhere, it is suggested that at a dangerous outpost on the Indian frontier, an officer dipped dazzling-white uniforms into coffee to make them inconspicuous while on patrol. This proved serviceable and was followed up by a request for an issue of properly-dyed uniforms in the colour, an idea which was gradually adopted by the British Army for its colonial campaigns. All troops serving in the re-conquest of the Sudan in 1897-1898 wore full khaki uniform.

To be continued.

Souvenir Saturday: letter from Ladysmith 1900

One of the best sources of information about an ancestor is original correspondence written by him, or, failing that, by his contemporaries. Sometimes more is gleaned from the people who knew him than from the ancestor's own letters, in which he may have been reticent about the details later to be of special interest to his descendants.

Fortunately for the Smith family, a number of letters written during the siege of Ladysmith by William Dixon Smith, Lieut Quartermaster of the Border Mounted Rifles, survived and were preserved. Among them was one of which Smith was not the author. This was written by Captain W Arnott of the BMR to his wife Betsy and took the form of a long essay to which he continued to add pages for the duration of the siege, as there was no way of sending any mail out of the beleaguered town.  

From Arnott's letter, we learn more about William Dixon Smith's final few days before he died at Intombi hospital camp on 13 January 1900.

Poor Smith of Umzinto died of fever last week. His was a very peculiar case. He felt poorly for a few days and was quite indignant when the Dr sent him to hospital. They kept him there for a fortnight and as [he] got neither better nor worse they sent him out to the Neutral camp at Ntombi spruit thinking that the change of air might improve him. It wasn't to be, poor fellow.

In fact, it's likely that the change of air, far  from doing William any good, may have worsened his condition as by that stage enteric and dysentery were rife at Intombi and men were dying like flies.

Ironically, William's own last communication with his family, who were awaiting  news anxiously in Umzinto, was a telegram sent by heliograph, intending to reassure his wife with the optimistic message 'All Well'.


For a group photo of the BMR officers, including Smith and Arnott, see
molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/05/souvenir-saturday-natal-border-mounted.html

and of William Dixon Smith in his BMR uniform
molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/souvenir-saturday-william-dixon-smith.html


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Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 1899 21

IN MEMORY OF THE BRITISH OFFICERS AND MEN
who died in the Intombi Camp between November 1899 and March 1900
Erected by the South African War Graves Board
'As in Adam all Die, so also in Christ all be made Alive'
1. Cor. 15: 22

Story of Alfred D Alborough

Dedicated to Alfred D Alborough born March 1872 and died at Intombi hospital outside Ladysmith on 14th March 1900 from enteric. Alfred was a Trooper with the Border Mounted Rifles.

Son of William Alborough b15th Dec 1835 Norfolk d13th April 1892. William is buried at Boston Natal. Mother was Anne Elizabeth Sleightholme b1846 Sleights York d19th August 1877. William and Anne met in Natal and married on the 9th June 1863. They had 6 children, Albert Parker, John, William, Henry, Alfred D, Walter and Charles.

Note William Alborough arrived in South Africa on the 20th May 1855 with his father William Alborough senior and a sister Jane. Jane married a Robert Bloy and the descendants of this family still live in Natal

Intombi Hospital, Ladysmith 14 March 1900. From the diary of HE Fernandez Medical Officer at the above hospital: 'To tell you the truth, this place with all its horrors and misery and worry is beginning to get on my nerves. Every one of our Staff of Doctors has gone except Buntine, who still keeps on. Ladysmith itself (4 and a half miles away) In my big marquee about the same time I lost a man named Alborough quite unexpectedly whose brother was sent away from here a few days ago with the most hopeful account of the patients condition.'

Anyone interested in the Alborough surname may contact Derek Austin for copy of scanned handwritten family tree:
dubbin_1@bigpond.com

Note: Alborough's name is among the Border Mounted Rifles on one of the large memorials shown above. As he was not buried at Intombi Cemetery there is no separate grave or Memorial Inscription for him there.

Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 1899 20

UHLMANN, W - Trooper, Border Mounted Rifles
d. 30th Jan 1900
(Note that the date of death is given as 20th January in the NMR Regimental History p 90)

VERN, P - Private, 1st Devonshire Regt.
d. 18th Feb 1900, aged 21

VYVYAN, Kenneth M - Border Mounted Rifles
d. Intombi (of enteric) March 10th 1900 aged 21 years
'Dearly Loved Son of Rev Thomas Grenfell and Edith May Vyvyan
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori'

UNKNOWN SOLDIER - of 2nd Batt Rifle Brigade
who died at Intombi Camp on Feb 22nd 1900 of enteric fever
(Upper part of memorial, which would have given the name of the deceased,
is missing and, during renovating and restoring of the cemetery,  incorrectly replaced by Border Mounted Rifles cross. It is possible that this upper portion should be that attached to the memorial of William Dixon Smith.)

Photographs: Dixon-Smith

For more information on Intombi enter the word Intombi in this blog's search facility

Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 1899 19

STRAUSS, O - Trooper, Border Mounted Rifles
d. 17th December 1899 (of dysentery)

TAYLOR, JG - Trooper, Imperial Light Horse
d. 20 Dec 1899
(Plaque on ILH Wall of Remembrance)

TUPMAN, Kenneth Lyon - Captain, The King's Regt.
d. during the Siege of Ladysmith Feb 4th 1900, aged 30 years
'Blessed are the pure in heart'

TUPMAN, KL - Capt. The King's Regt.
d. 4 Feb 1900 during the Siege of Ladysmith aged 30 years
This stone has been erected by his brother officers
in affectionate remembrance

Photographs: Dixon-Smith

For more on Intombi enter that term in this blog's search facility

Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 1899 18

SAUNDERS, WGB - Trooper, Imperial Light Horse
d. 10 Jan 1900 from wounds received at Wagon Hill
(Plaque on ILH Wall of Remembrance)

SHAW, Eustace Herbert - Natal Carbineers
of Talavera Umgeni County; rejoined on the outbreak of war;
one of the defenders of Ladysmith who died near this spot 19th February 1900, aged 36 years
'True Soldier: True Son: True Brother'

SMITH, David Guthrie - Trooper, ILH
died of wounds 12th Nov 1899, aged 23 years

Photographs: Dixon-Smith

For more on Intombi enter that term in this blog's search facility

Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 1899 15

PEARCE, FW - Trooper, Imperial Light Horse
d. 1 Feb 1900
(Plaque on ILH Wall of Remembrance)

PEARSON, Reginald W - Lieut. 2nd Batt Rifle Brigade
d. 22 Feb 1900 aged 23 years
'Rest in peace, Beloved, Until the day break, and the shadows flee away'

PLATT, Cecil Sherman - 2nd Lieut. 5th Dragoon Guards
of Barnby Manor, Nottinghamshire
d. at Ladysmith on January 8th 1900 serving with his regiment during the Siege of Ladysmith, aged 22 years

Photographs: Dixon-Smith

For more on Intombi enter that term in this blog's search facility

Intombi Cemetery Memorials: Anglo-Boer War 6

DAVIES, John Estcourt Hungerford - Natal Carbineers
d. 21st Jan 1900
This stone is erected by his loving wife and children
In Affectionate Memory
'Will Ye Not Come Back again'

DIXON SMITH, William - Lieut. Quartermaster, Border Mounted Rifles
d. 13th Jan 1900 (of enteric fever)
(Cross is missing; see ANDERSON, A O
for similar cross bearing inscription
'Border Mounted Rifles' with regimental motto 'Rough But Ready' plus boot and spur insignia)

DUKE, Frederick
third son of Thomas and Harriet Duke of Steyning, Sussex, England
who after serving with the Natal Carbineers in the Boer War
died of enteric fever at Ndombi [sic] during the Siege of Ladysmith, on 20 Feb 1900 aged 31 years

Photographs: Dixon-Smith

For further information and background on Intombi enter that term in the search facility on this blog.

Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 5

COLVILLE, John Stewart Hepburn - Natal Carbineers
d. at N'Dombi [sic] 20th Jan 1900 Aged 38 years
'Peace Perfect Peace'
(inscription very faded)

COUTTS, Donald Weir
eldest surviving son of the late J Coutts, born at East London 30th Oct 1873
died at Intomba [sic] of enteric fever during the Siege of Ladysmith, 21st Jan 1900
'Resting in the Saviour's Love'
Erected by his sorrowing mother

CURTIS, Arthur William - Capt. Royal Field Artillery
b. 3 March 1870
d. 9 March 1900 (of enteric)

Photographs: Dixon0Smith

For further background to Intombi enter that word in this blog's search facility.

Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 4

CAMPBELL, J - Trooper, Imperial Light Horse
d. 23 Jan 1900
(Plaque on ILH Wall of Remembrance)

CARTER, JCE - Trooper, Imperial Light Horse
d. 22 Jan 1900, from wounds received at Wagon Hill
(Plaque on ILH Wall of Remembrance)

COHEN, JB - Natal Carbineers
d. 6 March 1900 (of dysentery)
(Jewish, buried adjacent to cemetery precincts)

Photographs: Dixon-Smith

Note: for further background information on Intombi Hospital Camp during the Siege of Ladysmith enter 'Intombi' in the search facility on this blog.