Your ancestor in the South African Constabulary

In 1900 the South African Constabulary (SAC) was established, somewhat optimistically, in an attempt to keep peace in the areas of the Transvaal, Orange River Colony (Orange Free State) and Swaziland.
Master-minded, under orders from Roberts, by Baden-Powell, fresh from his successful leadership of the garrison during the Siege of Mafeking, the SAC was a military body disguised as a police force. It was recruited from British men in the Cape and Natal, as well as from further afield: Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India and Ceylon.

In addition, about 1500 Canadians were dispatched to swell the ranks of the SAC. Because these men were not recruited or paid by the Canadian government, their records are held mainly in South Africa. 57 Canadians died and six won decorations while serving in the ranks of the SAC. The 2nd Royal Canadian Regiment was the first to disembark in South Africa in November 1899 and from then on various other regiments continued to arrive in waves until June 1902. Among them was the unusual unit known as Strathcona’s Horse, the ‘Canadian cowboys’.

www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/boer/strathconahorse_e.shtml

Baden-Powell

For the South African Constabulary, Baden-Powell came up with a comfortable khaki uniform topped by a broad-brimmed American hat known as the Boss of the Plains pattern. This was usually abbreviated to B.P. and Baden-Powell remarked that this ‘brought about the mistaken notion that they (the hats) had something to do with me.’ Later, when he established the scouting movement, the uniform closely echoed that of the SAC, including the now-famous hat.

Records of Conduct and Service
Many members of the Constabulary made South Africa their permanent home. Records of Conduct and Service of the SAC held in the National Archives of South Africa provide comprehensive information. A typical record sheet gives a detailed physical description of the man, his date and place of birth, marital status, calling (occupation), religion, and name and address of his next-of-kin, as well as a list of promotions or transfers. His Defaulter’s Sheet may reveal the odd blot on his career. Should the reference to an ancestor’s SAC Record of Conduct and Service emerge on NAAIRS, the contents would take any family historian’s knowledge several leaps forward.  www.national.archives.gov.za/


More on the SAC at the following links:
www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/boer/southafricaconstabulary_e.shtml

www.angloboerwar.com/units/sac.htm

www.angloboerwar.com/forces/army_canada.htm

www.angloboerwar.com/units/lsh.htm

Baden-Powell in the Boss of the Plains hat with scouting uniform

Ancestors in Police Units, South Africa

In the second half of the 19th c a number of semi-military police forces were formed. They arose out of the need to maintain law and order over large areas and difficult terrain in South Africa.

One of these forces was the Natal Mounted Police, first raised after the 1874 Rebellion, as well as seeing action in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. This corps continued to serve through the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 (at the Siege of Ladysmith) and the 1906 Rebellion until finally being incorporated into the South African Mounted Riflemen in 1913.

They numbered about 300 at the beginning of the Anglo-Boer War. Many of its members were recruited in England in the early years of the unit and it’s interesting that some of these men are individually-named on Natal passenger lists, coming out on board ships such as the Kinfauns Castle and Roslin Castle in the 1880s. These lists appear in the European Immigration Department registers (EI) held at Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository.

In 1894 the unit was amalgamated with other groups to form the Natal Police – it was known by this name (NP) until 1913.

If an ancestor was in the NMP/NP, the chances of finding out more about him are good. The history of the corps is told in Holt’s The Mounted Police of Natal; 16 volumes of original records of the unit are preserved at Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository. They contain nominal rolls, enlistment registers from 1874-1913, records of service covering that period and a roll of individuals granted Long Service and Good Conduct Medals.

Further detail at www.ladysmithhistory.com/a-to-z/british-regiments/natal-police/

Similarly well-documented, the Cape Mounted Police (CMP) came into existence in 1882. Enrolment records are held in Cape Archives Repository.

Not to be confused with the above were the Cape Mounted Riflemen, a distinct semi-military entity, which began its life as the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police (FAMP) ca 1855, with the change in title dating from 1878. Their history is recounted by Basil Williams in his Record of the Cape Mounted Riflemen.

NAAIRS at www.national.archives.gov.za/ offers a large number of references concerning each of the units mentioned in this post.

Anglo-Boer War: photos and casualties

To identify a regiment or find out more from a photo of an Anglo-Boer War ancestor, several avenues need to be followed: family memory or letters and other personal papers and surviving items such as medals, combined with archival sources as well as the close scrutiny of the photograph itself – with magnifying glass if necessary – revealing detail of badges or other insignia as well as who took the picture, when and where. Don’t ignore anything that might be written (or printed) on the back of the photograph, or on the card mount.
When rephotographing the photo, include the entire picture, not just the part showing the subject.

Even if all these are studied there may remain unanswered questions. You may need to call in a specialist in military research – never send your original photograph, but a good copy. 

If you’re uncertain who the photographed ancestor is, remember that he might not be an ancestor at all, but a friend in the same regiment. This also applies to group photographs: they might not include your ancestor.

Casualties

Ironically, it’s often easier to discover more about an ancestor who did not survive the war. There was enormous loss of life during the Anglo-Boer War, affecting both Boers and British, as well as the African population who were caught up in the conflict. Over
20 000 British died and nearly 23 000 were wounded. Disease accounted for more deaths than casualties during action. Enteric fever and dysentery killed about 18 000 – perhaps a conservative estimate.

























Names of Anglo-Boer War casualties taken from the South African Defence Force Roll of Honour can be accessed at www.justdone.co.za/ROH

A roll of Natal Field Force casualties of the first part of the war (20 October 1899-26 October 1900) is searchable at http://surreygenealogist.com/sgdatabase.htm

Recommended Reading

Steve Watt: In Memoriam (University of Natal Press Pietermaritzburg 2000) provides a Roll of Honour of Imperial Forces in the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902, 25 000 soldiers, women and civilians, who laid down their lives for the British Cause whether they were from Britian, South Africa, Rhodesia, Australia, Canada, or New Zealand. The book offers alphabetical lists by name, regimental number, regiment, type of casualty, place, date of death, where buried and whether the name is listed on a monument or in a graveyard, with location. Particulars of age and religion of the deceased, where available, are given.

John Stirling: The Colonials in South Africa 1899-1902 (Blackwood, Edinburgh 1907). A mine of information; some individual names such as those mentioned in dispatches, are included as well as details of each unit’s operations during the war.

Darrell Hall: The Hall Handbook of the Anglo-Boer War (University of Natal Press 1999) gives a useful list of British Regiments and the dates of their period of service in South Africa, with the battles or field operations at which they were present. Hall also gives a list of the Colonial Forces with SA arrival and departure dates, and a list of SA units with details such as when and where these were raised and disbanded. Men who were awarded the Victoria Cross during the Anglo-Boer War are listed alphabetically, as are names of graveyards where Imperial Soldiers were buried. There are brief biographies of some of the major personalities associated with the war.

Border Mounted Rifles, Ladysmith, December 1899

Finding Anglo-Boer War Ancestors online

Some useful Anglo-Boer War links:

www.britishmedals.net/kevin/wo126.html Ongoing project to index attestation papers of colonial soldiers from WO 126 TNA. So far the regiments available are:
Ashburners Light Horse
Bechuanaland Rifles
Bethune's Mounted Infantry
Border Horse
Border Scouts
Brabant's Horse
Bushmanland Borderers
Canadian Scouts
Town Guards (A-Da, De-Gro done to date)

http://surreygenealogist.com/sgdatabase.htm search various rolls including Natal Field Force Casualties

www.national.archives.gov.za/ South African National Archives and Record Service, incorporating NAAIRS index

www.militarymuseum.co.za/ South African National Military History Museum; recommended article ‘Researching ancestors who were Servicemen’; details of published medal rolls.

www.angloboerwar.com/units/natal_volunteers.htm Natal Volunteers, Police and Guides

www.perthdps.com/military/index.html  Australians serving in South Africa 1899-1902 listed alphabetically by state and contingent

www.naa.gov.au/fsheets/fs67/html Australian participation in the Anglo-Boer War, sources for service records, medal rolls, attestation papers, enrolment forms, returned soldiers' records

www.awm.gov.au/database/boer.asp Australian War Memorial site with Boer War Nominal Roll. Database searchable by name, unit and keyword

       Ladysmith: Defence of Caesar's Camp   Artist: R Caton-Woodville

Identifying Uniforms in Photographs

Any family historian who has looked despairingly at a photograph waiting for it to convey information will know that badges and other insignia are not always clear in Anglo-Boer War photographs, limiting our ability to identify the ancestor’s regiment.

In the accompanying cabinet print, though, the collar badge provides an excellent clue: it shows an elephant with howdah, a badge adopted when the 33rd and 76th regiments merged to form the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (originally the elephant appeared without the howdah, so that is another clue for earlier dating purposes). The same design was used on the regimental buttons, though in this photograph the buttons are slightly out of focus.

Now that the badge has been identified, further research shows more about the possible field operations in which this young soldier could have been involved. He was evidently of an Imperial (not a Colonial) regiment and is seen here in his 'Number One' Dress - blue, not khaki. It seems likely that he was among the thousands recalled from service elsewhere in the Empire to be sent to South Africa as reinforcements. The 1st West Riding Regiment (Duke of Wellington's) served in South Africa from January 1900 to the end of the war 1902. They were present at operations at Klip Kraal, Paardeberg (18-27 Feb 1900, where the Boers were defeated) and at Renosterkop. After the reorganisation of the British Forces in May/June 1900, the 1st West Riding Regt. formed part of the Sixth Division under GOC Lieut-General T Kelly-Kenny.

For more on the 1st West Riding Regiment (Duke of Wellington's) see www.dwr.org.uk/dwr.php?id=108

The name and location of the photographic studio – stated on the mount below the photo - can be helpful in establishing where and when the picture was taken. In this instance, the photographer was W Clark who had a studio in Longmarket Street, Pietermaritzburg in the 1890s and early 1900s.

So-called vignette photographs were trendy during this period: the subject, usually head and shoulders only, faded out artistically towards the edges of the photo. It’s an attractive effect, but generally disastrous for identification of details, and military portraits unfortunately did not escape this fashion. See example showing the same soldier as above, but in vignette: www.flickr.com/photos/17890883@N04/2891321343/

Photo Link

A useful selection of photographs showing typical uniforms of the Anglo-Boer War era can be found at www.soldiersofthequeen.com/page5-SouthAfrica.html

Note particularly the group of British infantrymen in a varied assortment of headgear: cap, slouch hat (some more slouched than others), glengarry (triangular cap perched precariously at an angle on the head). There is a hint of discernible ‘uniform’ worn by only a couple of these men. The photograph was taken by Coyne, in Pietermaritzburg, probably ca 1900.

Also note the photograph of a Canadian Trooper of the South African Constabulary, with the distinctive high-crowned Canadian hat; more about that in a future post.

More on Anglo-Boer War Ancestors

A photograph of your Anglo-Boer War ancestor may include soldier’s accoutrements which could give clues as to date, regiment and rank: e.g. in the Border Mounted Rifles, a Natal permanent volunteer corps, up to 1896 ammunition was carried in a pouch with a brown leather crossbelt. After that date, the ‘Royston Entanglement’ was adopted – a combined rifle sling and bandolier used by NCO’s and troopers. Officers and Warrant Officers of the unit wore the Sam-Browne sword belt.

Incidentally, the Alexandra Mounted Rifles, which evolved to become the Border Mounted Rifles in 1894, adopted the use of khaki for its field service uniform in 1874. This is the earliest recorded military use of khaki in South Africa, a possible exception being the 2nd Highland Light Infantry (74th Highlanders) who in the 8th Frontier War 1850-52 fought in doublets of that colour.

Colonial Volunteers

Some of the most interesting departures from standard uniform were seen among the colonial volunteer regiments. It wasn’t unknown for certain of these to take to the field in their shirtsleeves, a deplorable habit occasioning much comment from more conventional quarters. However, the colonials were valuable and courageous troops, well-suited by experience to the conditions which they faced in South Africa. This is particularly true of the colonial mounted regiments – they formed two-fifths of the entire mounted force participating in the war.

Which Regiment?

If your ancestor was among the colonials, there are numerous possibilities as to the regiment in which he could have served. On the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, thousands of troops from the overseas colonies were sent to South Africa from Canada, India, Ceylon, Australia and New Zealand.

In South Africa there were permanent regular forces including the Natal Police, Cape Mounted Police and Cape Mounted Rifles. These should not be confused with the permanent volunteer units which had been in place for some years, such as the Natal Carbineers, Durban Light Infantry, Diamond Fields Artillery and Diamond Fields Horse, Border Mounted Rifles, Kaffrarian Rifles, Cape Town Highlanders, the Kimberley Regiment and others.

Irregulars

Certain corps were raised at the beginning of the war, specifically for service in that conflict. These so-called irregulars carried an aura of glamour and non-conformity: Brabant’s Horse, Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry, Roberts’s Horse, the Imperial Light Horse, the Imperial Light Infantry, Steinaecker’s Horse – the stuff of legend.

Some forces came into being further into the course of 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.


Research

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

Col. Plumer's attempt to relieve Mafeking from the north; by artist Frank Dodd RI

 Daily Telegraph, 19 May 1900

Mafeking Relieved: At last! Baden-Powell and his heroic garrison are safe, their long privations are at an end. Lord Roberts has nobly kept his word, thanks to the dauntless and invincible courage of the troops composing the column of relief. He asked the garrison to hold out until May 18. True to his promise, succour arrived on that very day and the news reached London last night after a day of anxious waiting and eager hope deferred hour by hour.

It was just seventeen minutes past 9 o'clock when the message containing the glorious news began to come over the tape from Reuters Agency, and the Daily Telegraph had the felicity of being the first to convey the intelligence to the public by means of a placard in the front window of the office.

It was greeted with cries of joy from the passers-by. Cheers were raised and a crowd instantly collected. People gave vent to their long pent-up enthusiasm for the Defender of Mafeking, who has captured the heart of the nation and of the Empire. Strangers shook one another by the hand, staid folk forgot their staidness and shouted their loudest; the infection of the cheering spread like wildfire, and the news was carried through the streets of London like a flash.

The glad tidings for which the Empire had waited more than 200 days spread from mouth to mouth, from east to west.

[Note that today, the placename is spelt Mafikeng. But the original name added a new word to the English language: 'maffick', meaning to exult riotously.]

Your Anglo-Boer War Ancestor

Your photograph of an Anglo-Boer War ancestor (if he fought on the British side) probably shows him wearing khaki uniform. Khaki is for most of us a familiar term: it stems from the Indian word meaning dust-coloured. How this form of apparel evolved is uncertain. 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.

It has also been suggested that at a dangerous outpost on the Indian frontier, an officer dipped white uniforms in coffee to make them inconspicuous while soldiers were on patrol. This 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 conquest of Sudan in 1897-1898 wore full khaki uniform.

According to a 1915 edition of The Natal Mercury Pictorial:

‘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 overheard 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 of its origins, 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 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 British Empire – India perhaps, or the Far East. Many photographs of this era were ‘mock-ups’ taken a long way from the South African veld, perhaps prior to the soldier leaving home. Generally, such photos show the uniform in pristine condition; it would look less so after a few months in the field.

The uniform consisted of tunic and trousers, worn with puttees (a strip of cloth wound like a bandage 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 was modified. Sometimes a flap of material attached to the back of the helmet shaded the
neck – or the helmet was reversed so that the longer part of the brim served that purpose. There was a regulation pith hat (solar topee) 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 wore 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 uniforms.

Finding an Anglo-Boer War Ancestor

On 21 March 1906 the United Kingdom paid South Africa 9,5 million pounds compensation for damage done during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).

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, 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.

One of the most frequently-asked questions I receive is: my ancestor fought on the British side in the Boer War. How do I find out more about him? The answer is, not without difficulty.

If the ancestor 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 within South Africa.

Statistics vary, but these numbers give some indication of the task ahead when trying to find information about one particular individual. For many family historians the only surviving relic of an Anglo-Boer War ancestor is a man in faded khaki staring out of an old photograph; details are usually scant, his regiment frequently unknown.

As family historians know to their cost, names, dates and places are notoriously absent from the back of photographs. In Anglo-Boer War groups, badges and insignia may not be visible or easily identifiable. More about this in a future post.

If you’re lucky enough to own a medal awarded to the ancestor, engraved on the rim will be his name, rank and unit, which is a good start in any research. Most men serving in the Anglo-Boer War were eligible for one or both of the two campaign medals – the Queen’s South Africa and the King’s South Africa. Several published medal rolls are available, including D R Forsyth’s Defenders of Kimberley Medal Roll, and S M Kaplan’s Medal Roll of the Queen’s South Africa Medal with Wepener Bar, and Medal Roll of the Queen’s South Africa Medal with Bar Relief of Mafeking.

www.militarymuseum.co.za/ South African National Military History Museum: recommended reading is the article ‘Researching Ancestors who were Servicemen’.
Update 2014: the article is now accessible on this blog; see relevant top tag

Honorary Doctorate for Natal Genealogist Shelagh Spencer

Genealogist and author Shelagh O’Byrne Spencer is to receive an Honorary PhD from the University of KwaZulu Natal. The award is in recognition of her outstanding work in the field of Natal settler genealogy, including her monumental project, British Settlers in Natal 1824-1857, covering approximately 2800 settlers who came to Natal, South Africa, during that era. To date 1057 biographies have been published in seven volumes.

Mrs Spencer will be presenting the Graduation Address at the Arts and Social Science Graduation in Pietermaritzburg on the 17th of April 2010.

Read more at www.shelaghspencer.org/

Final word on female emigrants

The time and stamina taken up by childbearing, pregnancy and childbirth wasn’t much discussed by colonial women in their letters – even to their nearest and dearest ‘back home’. Victorian attitudes to such subjects precluded frankness. Ellen McLeod writing from the Byrne Valley in 1851 to her sister in England writes: ‘I am vexed to say I have but a poor account to give of myself. I am going to benefit the Colony, though not myself, by increasing the number of inhabitants …’

The risks involved in childbearing could be intensified for women living far from medical assistance. During the 1880s, Charlotte Dixon Smith ran a hotel at Umzinto in Alexandra County, Natal, combining inn-keeping with her midwifery skills. While still able to travel on the rough roads, expectant mothers would be brought in by wagon from outlying farms to stay at the hotel. Their babies would be delivered at Umzinto and they would make the return journey home when recovered.

Emigrant women in South Africa operated mostly within the confines of the home, but they made a large contribution to the colony. The settler wife was the rock upon which each family was founded. Under trying circumstances, she maintained civilized standards as far as possible. Her vital role, to bear and nurture the children of the Empire, as well as sustaining and comforting her husband, allowed him the freedom to achieve in areas of life from which, by unwritten social laws, she was excluded. Behind every successful colonial male – farmer, merchant, politician or entrepreneur – was a woman.

Though there was an influx of female emigrants to South Africa in the years following the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, it would take a World War to shake the rigid social structure which was the legacy of the Victorians, and to change women’s expectations forever.


Further Reading:

Dear Louisa: History of a Pioneer Family in Natal 1850-1888 by Dr R E Gordon (T W Griggs & Co, 1970)

A Merchant Family in early Natal: diaries and letters of Joseph and Marianne Churchill 1850-1880, edited by Daphne Child (A A Balkema, 1979)

Colenso Letters from Natal ed by Wyn Rees (Shuter and Shooter, 1958) The letters of Frances Colenso, wife of Bishop John Colenso, written 1865-1893.

Life in Natal a Hundred Years Ago By a Lady (Struik, 1972) [Possibly written by Sir John Robinson)

Natal Memories by Barbara Buchanan (Shuter and Shooter, 1941)

British Settlers in Natal 1824-1857 by S Spencer (UNP) Currently in 7 volumes.

Natal Settler Agent: The Career of John Moreland, Agent for the Byrne emigration scheme of 1849-1851 by J Clark (A A Balkema, 1972)

The British Settlement of Natal: a study in imperial migration by A F Hattersley (Cambridge University Press 1965) [Also many other works by this author.]

A history of education for European girls in Natal 1837 – 1902 by Sylvia Vietzen (UNP 1973)


Aided immigration from Britain to South Africa 1857-1867 by Esme Bull (HSRC Pretoria, 1991)



www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary  Extensive resource for women’s history, its catalogue contains records of female emigration societies including records of the South African Colonisation Society (1901-1922)