Cape Garrison Artillery - view from the medal roll

The standard reference for colonial units is Stirling's The Colonials in South Africa (London, William Blackwood, 1907) which is widely used. I have taken the text below from Stirling and added nuggets from the scarce but useful The Armed Forces of South Africa, Major G Tylden (Johannesburg, Africana Museum, 1954). To this is added information derived from The Register and especially it's casualty roll and medal roll.

Raised 1891 as the Cape Garrison Artillery and Engineer Corps. The “Engineer Corps” was dropped from 1897. Volunteer status was dropped in January 1899. Mobilised in October 1899, the strength being 373. Throughout the war they did much good work. During 1900 they were chiefly employed on the western railway and west of the line. A section was for some months operating under Sir C Warren and other leaders against the Griqualand rebels. The corps assisted in garrisoning various important posts. Some were in Jacobsdal when that town was attacked on 25th October, and some were in the relieving force. In his telegram of 31st August 1900 Lord Roberts deals with an attack on Kraaipan station, in which he remarks: "Sergeant Southrood, Cape Garrison Artillery, behaved with great gallantry".

In 1901 detachments of this corps garrisoned, along with the Cape Town Highlanders and various locally raised troops, the towns in the extreme west of Cape Colony and sundry posts right up to the border of German South-West Africa, which were successfully held against repeated attacks.

A detachment was part of the little garrison of O'okiep. These men are unfortunatley not able to be identified.

Lieutenant J C Campbell of the CGA was, when serving with an armoured train, unfortunately killed in an accident north of Pretoria on 8th May 1902.

The Mentions gained by the corps were:

LORD ROBERTS' DESPATCH: 2nd April 1901.—Driver Rodger (DCM).

LORD KITCHENER'S DESPATCH: 23rd June 1902. — Lieutenant Colonel T E Lawton (DSO); Captain J Sampson; Company Sergeant Major W G Duncan; Sergeants W Lewis, RGA, F C Honey, W Carruthers (DCM), W Vye (DCM).

There are a total 958 names on the QSA roll of the Cape Garrison Artillery (WO100-240). Apart from Kitchener’s Horse above a number of men served in other South African units. But men from “overseas” units such as Lord Strathcona’s Horse (1), Army Service Corps (2), Canadian Infantry (1), Canadian Artillery (1), Royal Scots Fusiliers (1 officer), Royal Irish Regiment (1) and a sailor from HMS Monarch chose to join the CGA. Trpr 8457 RJM Horne of the Imperial Yeomanry secured himself a commission in the CGA.

The unit only suffered 10 battle casualties with just one man being killed, Gnr 637 GM Stephens at Brugspruit, four wounded and the remainder missing or POW. Three died of injuries and a further 17 died from disease.

The medal rolls reveal an unexpected and startling statistic, of the 958 men who served with the CGA 76 are marked as deserters – 7% of the unit. The medal roll simply states “deserter”, no place or date is given. Deserters were additionally marked “no medal”, one may assume the desertion took place during the war. The CGA was demobilised on 30 June, 1902 releasing every enlistee but continued as a part-time unit.

None of these men are noted in the Official casualty rolls – more new data only available in The Register. However, it raises the question, “why are they not on the official casualty rolls?”. Was the unit admin slack in that respect or as the unit was not involved in the front line then these desertions were not considered for “casualty reporting”? Every deserter was an original enlistee in the CGA which may indicate they were simply bored with rear echelon soldiering. Only nine deserters have been traced to serve in another South African unit.

Given the unit’s lack of frontline service they did not earn any battle bars as a unit. A QSA with a battle bar indicates service in another unit such as Kitchener’s Horse. State clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State are common, Transvaal, less so.

Given the flow of men into and out of the unit the King’s South Africa medal is scarce to the CGA. There are 444 men on the roll.

When researching the history of a unit the medal roll should not be ignored as a source of new information and insights.

 

The Ten Clasp QSA – Myth or Reality?

The South African National War Museum (now known as Ditsong National Museum of Military History) has or had a QSA with ten clasps named to Trpr Moses Wilson, Damant’s Horse. I proved it was not a valid ten clasp QSA, the two date clasps belonged on a King’s South Africa medal. See The ten-clasp QSA mystery resolved (Military History Journal (South African Military History Society) vol 125 No 5 June 2012). The Special Note appended to the article by the editor immediately prior to publication is in fact irrelevant to the matter. No other ten clasp QSAs are known to exist.

Is it possible though? Strictly speaking the answer is “Yes”. Eight and even nine clasp QSAs are known, you can see how many and to whom by using the query “Number of clasps awarded on a QSA” in the Research Centre on The Register of The Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902. The award of clasps was subject to rules specified for each clasp, these can be seen here.

Most of the known eight and nine clasp QSAs have the following battle clasps; Belmont, Modder River, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen and Relief of Kimberley. This combination represents the fighting and hard slog on the Western Front from November 1899, relief of Kimberley and the capture of the Boer capitals, ending with the second mass surrender of Boers in the Wittebergen in July 1900.

The clasp issue rules allow for a South Africa 1902 clasp on the QSA if the recipient served less than the 18 months overall to qualify for a KSA. But, most eight or nine clasp men either left the war in 1900 or 1901 or earned the KSA with over 18 months service. There are only nine months between the qualification dates for the first clasp, Belmont, November 1899, and the last clasp, Belfast August 1900, which gives plenty of time to earn South Africa 1901 take a break then serve again in 1902 to earn a South Africa 1902 clasp on the QSA. No examples have been found of a valid ten clasp QSA.

Total Clasps	Total known	South Africa 1901 clasp	South Africa 1902 clasp	Both date clasps	KSA Medal
9	40	38	2	0	0
8	214	41	1	18	73

 Of the 73 KSA medals issued to recipients of an eight clasp QSA three earned their KSAs as civilian conductors with the Army Service Corps and were thus, correctly, not issued clasps to the KSA. One had a no bar KSA, the other two single bar KSAs with South Africa 1901 clasp. The latter earned their South Africa 1901 clasps by virtue of being discharged from Rimington’s Guides in 1901.

There were only five battle clasps awarded for the Natal campaign; Talana, Elandslaagte, Defence of Ladysmith, Relief of Ladysmith, Tugela Heights and Laing’s Nek. A ten clasp QSA for a participant in this campaign would have to combine with battle clasps from the Western Front. As both fronts were fought simultaneously it is scarce to see QSAs with clasps for both fronts. Most are Relief of Ladysmith paired with Relief of Mafeking but, they don’t figure  in high clasp combination QSAs. The majority of this double relief combination are five clasps: RoM,OFS,T,TH,RoL. Belfast is the most likely non-Natal clasp in combination with the Relief of Ladysmith clasps as that battle in August 1900 marked the union of Buller’s Natal Field Force with Lord Robert’s South African Field Force.

A few multi-front clasp combinations are known to cavalry soldiers, in what capacity they served on either front or why they switched it is not known. They would have had to travel at some speed to meet the qualifying dates for the clasps. Captain FR Lawrence, 14^th Hussars, and Pte 3899 JC Parker, 14^th Hussars (probably officer’s servant) earned eight clasps each; J,DH,Bf,CC,OFS,TH,RoL,SA01,SA02. Pte 4331 V Botting, 9^th Lancers, managed the Natal clasp in his Western Front eight clasp combination; B,MR,J,DH,Bf,RoK,OFS,N,SA01. The most common Western Front and Natal combination is Relief of Ladysmith and Relief of Mafeking,

In summary, the ten clasp QSA is technically possible but so far no valid issue of such a medal has been found.

Battles of the Boer War - who was W Baring Pemberton?

Having recently read this book and been impressed by it's novel approach I wanted to know more about "W Baring Pemberton. The 1972 edition by Pan Books did not have the usual blurb about the author.

Thankfully he was an active member of the community in West Sussex where he lived so I quickly learnt about an erudite man of varied interests. But, the first two-thirds of life were a blank. How could a name like "W Baring Pemberton" not exist in newspapers or even the census?

I stumbled on his birth name, "Noel William Baring Pemberton" - Noel! or Noël - those four letters unlocked his life story.

Noel William Baring Pemberton (left, from Ancestry) was born 13 December 1897 near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. One of six children born to Colonel WW Pemberton and Adele MacDonald. Noel was educated at Wellington College and Oxford University where he read History and Law. Noel married Mary Burder, they would have two sons and a daughter. He passed his Bar Examination for Lincoln’s Inn in October 1935 [The Times 18 October 1935]. He appears to have dropped his first name “Noel” and published as “W Baring Pemberton”.

He does not appear to have pursued a career in law, preferring a career in the arts. In 1932 he was listed as a Director of Flicker Productions with studios at Shepperton, they aimed to produce six “book movies” on “sport and other subjects”. [Kinematograph Weekly 04 February 1932] In 1933 he was credited with adapting a story for the film “Watch Beverley” (rated U). 1936 saw his first history book published, Carteret, The Brilliant failure of the eighteenth century that was well received. A reviewer in Truth [3 June 1936] wrote “This is a book which will probably appeal more to historians than to the general public, for although readable throughout, and is often enlivened by strokes of Mr Pemberton’s dry and incisive wit, it assumes…a knowledge greater than most lay readers are likely to possess.” Encouraged, he produced a biography of Lord North in 1938 “directed at the serious historian and specialist”.

The outbreak of the Second World War interrupted his writing career, in 1940 he took a post at Eton college teaching history. The end of the war bought another chapter, he moved his family to West Sussex living at Morriswood, Holbrook, Horsham and Manor House, Billingshurst. Not forgetting his law training he became a magistrate in Horsham, joined the local Conservative Association. In 1949 he published a biography of William Cobbett. In 1952 his first play “Cactuses and Kings” had its premiere at the Court Royal, Horsham. The play had been written before World War II. Described as a satirical comedy about King Boris who, in league with republicans, agrees to stage a fake revolution forcing him to abdicate and live a comfortable life in retirement with his “beloved cactuses” (sic). [The Stage 7 February 1952] I think he would have enjoyed the irony of his story with the reality the UK has suffered in recent years with the real life Boris. He became Chair of the Theatre Royal Guild & Theatre Club. Just two years later he published a biography of Lord Palmerston in 1954, again well received, “a straightforward, informative, and readable life”.

Noel’s art career expanded to broadcasting and he was regular lecturer to local societies on historical topics. His talents extended to music as an Associate of the Royal College of Music, a “talented pianoforte player” [West Sussex Gazette 1 November 1956] , and painting joining the Association of Sussex Artists. He was also a member of the Circle of Glass Collectors.

1962 saw his first foray into military history with “Battles of the Crimean War”, noted for his “considerable research on both published and unpublished sources”. Perhaps, encouraged by this work he became a member of the executive committee of the National Army Museum. Working quickly his second military history work was published in 1964, “Battles of the Boer War”.

“Battles of the Boer War” is a slim volume of just 208 pages, not much tree pulp and ink for nearly three years of intense warfare. However, Baring Pemberton’s abilities at distilling information and organising facts is immediately apparent. He has picked just five battles to analyse, not simply recount the dates, movements, names and numbers involved. This is not a re-tread of what you think you know about Belmont, Modder River, Magersfontein, Colenso and Spion Kop.

He sets out his stall with admirable honesty and intelligence. Admitting he “must tend to be one-sided…. Unfortunately the best Boer accounts have never been translated and I know no Afrikaans.” He ignores “nearly all accounts written by ‘Our Special Correspondent in South Africa’. Except when from the pen of Winston Churchill, these are of little worth and deeply coloured by prejudice. Accepted avidly by a jingoist British public, they passed into common currency where they are still found.” A statement that rings true today for the “history” written by the inheritors of the victory in 1910. A large number of personal papers were read from key actors and witnesses such as Lord Methuen, General Pole-Carew, Hughes-Hallett, Birdwood, Hubert Gough and a host of officers from the artillery and infantry. In seeking balance he also corresponded with people in South Africa. The result is a startling analysis of each battle in three acts; prelude, (in)action, consequences. Criticism is freely offered and the recollections of some, such as Buller, are forcibly rebuked.

Baring Pemberton also earns praise for his treatment of the casus belli, “…it was not as simple as that”. In just a few pages he clearly lays out the complexities of the history, politics, economics and personalities that led to the invasion of the British colonies.

I think this book deserves a wide audience; it won’t break the piggy-bank. The book was re-published in 1969, 1972 and 1975.

W Baring Pemberton died 3 November 1966, not knowing the success of his last book. He led a varied and interesting life and left a lasting legacy. Thank you.

                                                        West Sussex County Times 1954

Casualties - don't simply trust newspapers

A recent post on eBay selling a QSA to Pte 6374 J Cooper, 1st bn Oxfordshire Light Infantry has again highlighted the need to double check a source.

The seller had found a newspaper report listing Pte Cooper has having died at Bloemfontein on 8th December, 1900. The seller notes, "I have been unable to find out any further information on him."

As the compiler of the most correct casualty roll for the war I had to check this out. There is no record on The Register for Pte 6374 J Cooper, 1st bn Oxfordshire Light Infantry. Just to be sure, I re-checked the official casualty roll, the medal roll, Soldier's Effects, Bloemfontein Memorial Wall, no mention of Pte Cooper.

I looked in detail at the news paper report from the Reading Mercury, 15th December, 1900:

There are four names shown, one is false. Pte 5960 W Bennett did not die from disease either, he lived to collect a King's South Africa medal (unfortunately he was killed in 1915). I did a further check on the names inscribed on the memorial wall at Heilbron, Stopp and Merry are mentioned but Bennett is not.

It is possible Pte Cooper's death was misreported, but there is no evidence he lived into 1901 or 1902 - he did not receive clasps for these years, or a King's South Africa medal.

I have not come across very many examples like this, which is good, but all the same the news must have been distressing to family and friends of the soldiers concerned.