Farmer's Guard

The Farmer’s Guard was first raised as the Burgher Police in January 1901 to protect an area around Bloemfontein.[1]  The British were making use of surrendered Boers who, “had for some time past been taking an active part in assisting British operations…in the capacity of scouts and spies”.[2] The Guard came under E Division, South African Constabulary.  Kitchener used the S.A.C. to enact a policy of pacification to “encourage as far as possible the resumption of civil life.”.[3] In the Orange River Colony two “protected areas” were declared; a radius of 25 miles around Bloemfontein and the country bounded by the Riet and Modder Rivers between the Kimberley and Pretoria railway lines. In these areas posts were established to protect roads to and from the railway and also serve as a base for operations against the enemy and the farms that supported them.[4]

In December 1901 they were re-named the Farmers’ Guard (medal roll) or Farmer’s Guard (on the medal), the apostrophe is mobile and also disappears. Their remit and status as civilian police remained the same.  They do not warrant an entry in Stirling’s “The Colonials” (William Blackwood, 1907) or Tylden’s “The Armed Forces of South Africa” (Africana Museum, 1954) because they were not part of the British army. Major E.N. Morris, S.A.C. was responsible for the Guard. Like most S.A.C. officers he was an experienced officer of the regular Army in the Devonshire Rgt. He had served in the Relief of Ladysmith attached to Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry. The men were enlisted on short contracts of three months, Baden-Powell suggested they be paid one month in arrears “so that the officers have some hold over them”.[5] The officers were from the S.A.C. as the Guard did not have any officers itself. There was one Superintendent, three Troop Sergeant Majors, five Farrier-Sergeants and a Medical Corporal. Like the S.A.C. they used the system of 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd class ranks for Troopers and Sergeants, but not apparently Corporals.

Organised into three troops; A, B and C. A fourth sub-unit simply named as “Second Farmers’ Guard” was created. On the medal rolls 28 men are not allocated to any sub-unit.

Troop	Strength
A	295
B	277
C	214
“Second”	72
Unallocated	28
Medal Roll Total	886

A further three men who are listed in the casualty roll could not be found on the medal roll bringing the total who served in the unit to 889. In June 1902 the strength of the Guard was 653.[6]

According to the medal roll 95% of the men did not serve in another unit indicating they were pre-war residents of the Orange Free State. How many were surrendered burghers is not known. Of 45 men who served in another unit 16 served in the National Scouts. Grundlingh states “615 Free State burghers” served in the Farmers’ Guard.[7] Recruitment for the S.A.C. was brisk, in February 1902 Baden-Powell recorded that 17 Australians landed at Durban stating they had been promised employment in the Farmers’ Guard by an S.A.C. officer on leave in Australia. Baden-Powell noted this officer had no right to make such a promise and that the “Farmers (sic) Guard was for local men only – ‘otherwise all recruits will want to go for it”.[8] At least one Australian served in the Guard; Trooper 48 Alfred J. Reeves came to South Africa with the 1^st contingent New South Wales Mounted Rifles. He served in the Guard as a 2^nd Class Trooper.

The unit apparently saw very little action. Only two men died as a result of enemy action, a further three were wounded. Most casualties occurred on 23 March, 1902 somewhere along the Modder River.

Name	Casualty	Notes
Bekker, HJ	Died of wounds 23 February, 1902	Buried Bloemfontein.
Bridgeman, R	Wounded 28 March, 1902
Calitz, J	Accidentally killed 23 March, 1902 Modder River	Buried Bloemfontein.
Clarke, JJ	Wounded 28 March, 1902 Modder River, died 29 April, 1902	Buried Bloemfontein.
Coetzee, C	Died of disease 18 November, 1902	Buried Bloemfontein.
Collins, PD	Wounded 28 March, 1902 Modder River
Froneman, L	Accidentally killed 17 December, 1901 Sanna’s Pos	No known grave
Nieman, HL	Wounded 28 March, 1902 Modder River

Images for this unit are very hard to find. After Pretoria The Guerilla War (volume 3 p.421) has this image of the “Burgher Police” capturing a Boer sniper. The location is given as Kroonstad which had its own burgher police established 8 weeks before the Burgher Police created at Bloemfontein in November 1901.

Grundlingh reproduces a picture of 12 Farmer’s Guards in an earthwork decorated with the message, “What/We/Have/We/Hold/E. R.”.[9]

The medal rolls were prepared and medals issued between 1905 and 1908 by the S.A.C. 871 QSAs were issued, the bulk in 1905. Just 15 medals have been noted for sale, the majority this century. As more 20^th Century medal catalogues are indexed no doubt more will surface.

 

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[1] Grundlingh, A. “Collaborators in Boer Society”, The South African War The Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902, Warwick P. ed (Longman, 1980) p.266

[2] The Times History of the War, vol. 5 (Sampson, Low, Marston 1907) pp.248-249

[3] ibid vol. 5 p.261

[4] ibid vol. 5 p.261

[5]  Ross, Hamish, Baden-Powell’s Fighting Police The S.A.C. (Pen & Sword 2022) p.55

[6] Ibid p.137

[7] Grundlingh op. cit. p.266

[8] Op. cit. Ross p. 115

[9] Op. cit. Grundlingh p.266