My name on my tombstone 6

If you live in Kwa Zulu Natal it might be a good idea to check where your family's granite tombstone came from. Reports in the Durban area in recent years indicate that stolen tombstones are being used to make granite kitchen tops which are then re-sold to unsuspecting communities. Make sure you know the origins of the material used for your counter tops, especially granite.

Tampering with grave sites is a serious offence that carries a hefty fine and even a prison sentence. The KZN Cemeteries and Crematoria Act requires one to seek permission from the MEC for Local Government to formally exhume a grave site. The department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) in KwaZulu-Natal is the custodian of grave sites in the province and should be consulted if there is a need to formally exhume a grave site.

It is disturbing to hear of criminals who do not respect grave sites desecrating them by stealing tombstones placed there by relatives to remember their loved ones.

This type of vandalism in graveyards has been going on for some time and perpetrators are seldom caught. 

Prince Imperial's Memorial Vandalised

In July 2012 it was reported that the memorial to the Prince Imperial, near Nqutu in the Dundee district, had been the target of vandals for the second time in six months. The marble cross marking the site was destroyed and the supporting structure seriously damaged. This served no purpose: the site is a memorial – there are no human remains buried there and nothing of value is hidden below the surface.

The incident at the Prince Imperial memorial site followed hard upon the heels of the desecration of the Intombi Military Cemetery near Ladysmith, earlier in the year. A grave was dug up, creating a hole 2m deep, and a headstone was damaged.

From the photograph taken at the site the headstone appears to be one of the distinctive Border Mounted Rifles’ memorials. I believe the headstone is that of William Dixon Smith, Lieutenant Quartermaster of the BMR, who died at Intombi in January 1900 – not a faceless soldier to me, but a real person, whose Siege letters I’ve read and whose life and family history I have researched in depth. The situation is deplorable no matter which grave has been disturbed.

Intombi Cemetery showing desecration of grave of Border Mounted Rifles 

Lieut QuarterMaster William Dixon Smith

Souvenir Saturday: William Dixon Smith 1899

William Dixon Smith, Lieutenant Quartermaster, Border Mounted Rifles.
Photographed at Ladysmith Natal, December 1899. He died of enteric
at Intombi Camp in January 1900.




QSA - William's medal has the bar Siege of Ladysmith
(not shown here)

William's memorial at Intombi Cemetery near Ladysmith. Unfortunately,

due to vandalism or to animals wandering through the cemetery, the top

part of the memorial, a cross with the BMR logo, is now missing. 

William's stepson Alexander Anderson's memorial, below, shows the cross

in place, with the BMR boot and spur insignia.

Intombi Camp Graveyard - early view

Remembrance: ancestors' military memorabilia tell a story

Border Mounted Rifles: brass button with BMR and crown.

Boer War period.

Border Mounted Rifles: the famous boot and spur insignia, 

with the motto 'Rough but Ready'

shown on memorials at Intombi Cemetery Ladysmith

In memory of William Dixon Smith who died at Intombi

during the Siege of Ladysmith 1900. Also his stepson

Alick Anderson of the same unit.

Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 1899 9

HOLTE, EM - Trooper, Border Mounted Rifles
d. 10th February 1900 (of enteric fever)

HOLYLAND, R - Farrier Quartermaster Corporal, Royal Horse Guards
d. of fever at N'Domba's [sic] Camp
15th Jan 1900, aged 34 years

HORNSBY, E - Private, 1st Devon Regt
Died of wound 18th Feb 1900
(age illegible on MI)

Photographs: Dixon-Smith

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

Intombi Cemetery Memorials Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 7

FOSTER, Frederick G - XI Prince Albert's Own Hussars
d. at Intombi 8th February 1900 aged 27

GORDON HIGHLANDERS Memorial

to men of the Regt. who died of disease at Intombi between 8 Jan and 16 Mar 1900

2nd Battalion:
TAGGART J, Colour Sgt.
BRIND, P, Lance Sgt.
MCKAY, J, Lance Corpl.
MATHIESON, N, Lance Corpl.
DOWNIE, G, Drummer
BRYANT, J, Pte.
FAULDS, T, Pte.
MCRAE, W, Pte.
MATHIESON, R, Pte.
PORTEOUS, T, Pte.
ROSS, J, Pte.
SUTER, H, Pte.
1st Bedford Regt. Attached [to Gordon Highlanders]
HOWES, J
TWELVETREE, H

Placed by the Regiment

GORTON, Henry Corbett 'Dickie' - Imperial Light Horse
wounded Ladysmith 6th Jan 1900
d. Intombi Spruit 10th Jan 1900
'One of the best and bravest'
Erected by the staff of the Castle and Natal Breweries

Photographs: Dixon-Smith

For more information on Intombi enter that term in the search facility of 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.

Intombi Cemetery Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 3

BOLES, G - Private, 1st Devon Regt.
d. 19th Feb 1900 aged 23 years

BRITTAIN, Francis Henry
formerly of Parkfields, Tittensor, Staffordshire, England, and late of Lidgetton in this colony, who died at Intombi Camp, Ladysmith, on the day of its Relief, 1st March 1900, aged 28 Years

BURROWS, W - Farrier Sgt. Imperial Light Horse
d. 30 Jan 1900
(Plaque on ILH Wall of Remembrance)

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.

Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 2

BARKER, Francis Oswald - Lieut. 5th Lancashire Fusiliers
d. at Ndomba [sic] Camp 2nd Feb 1900 aged 24 years

BENSON, HC - Sgt. Imperial Light Horse
d. 7 Dec 1899, from wounds received at Elandslaagte
(Plaque on ILH Wall of Remembrance)

BLAIKIE, Tom - Corps of Guides
d. 18 February 1900 aged 36 yrs

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.

Intombi Cemetery Memorials, Ladysmith: Anglo-Boer War 1

ANDERSON, Alexander O - Trooper Border Mounted Rifles

d. 29 January 1900 (of enteric fever)

(Stepson of William DIXON SMITH, BMR, also buried at Intombi)

ARKWRIGHT, Cyril - Lieut. 5th R I Lancers

b. 14 March 1874 d at Ntombi 10 Mar 1900 after the Relief of Ladysmith
'For Queen and Country'

ASHE, J W. Trooper, Border Mounted Rifles

d. 13 Feb 1900 (of dysentery)

Photographs: Dixon-Smith