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. 

JP Tinling - Administrator of the Annexed Transvaal

The QSA medal roll give the information that JP Tinling was a “Civilian Conductor of Watchmen” attached to the Army Service Corps. There is just one name on the page, the roll was prepared in the War Office, London on September 1, 1903, the signature is indistinct. The medal was despatched nine days later. The single name on a page prepared in London by a person (presumably an Army officer) not necessarily connected with the war suggests a personal approach by JP Tinling himself. The whereabouts of the correspondence between Mr Tinling and the War Office is unknown.

Back in 2017 when I started researching the medal the first port of call for researching a civilian living in South Africa was NASA (National Archives of South Africa), an excellent source. There were a number of hits for a “John Parr Tinling” from the Transvaal Archives and a couple from the Natal and Cape Archives.

 

John Parr Tinling was born in 1851 in Bath, Somerset to Edward Douglas and Catharine Maria (nee Elton) Tinling. His father was a Vicar and would later be Canon of Gloucester Cathedral and worked for HM Inspector of Schools. He baptised his son in his own parish of Walcot, Somerset. John was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford. When he went travelled to southern Africa is not known. He next appears in Pretoria having been a appointed a clerk in the Governor’s Office on May 31, 1879. The Transvaal had been annexed by Britain on April 12. He was still working there on November 10, 1880 when the archives record he acknowledged receipt of legal documents. The next day hostilities began when armed Boers disrupted an auction of goods seized by the British administration trying to recoup unpaid taxes. Outright war broke out shortly afterwards and Pretoria was besieged by the Boers.

 In 1881, Britain had lost the war and the Transvaal regained independence. John is effectively unemployed but the Natal Archives hold a letter from Cpt Henry Hallam Parr, CMG, 13th Foot (a senior soldier in South Africa) recommending him for a position in the Natal government. Henry was a cousin on his mother’s side. He appears to have been successful but it is not known exactly what job he held. In September 1881 John was in Kimberley and wrote to Lord Chelmsford who had led the British invasion of the Zululand in 1879. It is not known exactly in what capacity John was writing to this controversial soldier, but it is obvious he admired him greatly:

 “..But if the Govt, at home can make a mess of Colonial affairs they will do it.

Ever since the day when you gave up the command of the troops to Sir Garnet Wolseley, the management of S. African affairs has become involved in a hopeless muddle…for the settlement of Zululand was so bad, that it is only a question of time when the next Zulu war will break out.

These are not my opinions only, they are those of the Colonists of South Africa – men who will persist in their belief, despite the denial by the Colonial Office at home, that there was only one man who could have brought this country safely through all its troubles, and that was Sir Bartle Frere.” [Lord Chelmsford and the Zulu War, The Hon G French DSO, Pen & Sword Books 2014 pp246-247]

In 1889 John is back in the Transvaal where he marries Rebecca Bourhill, daughter of JCH Bourhill of De Beers, Kimberley, on January 19 at St Mary’s, Johannesburg. In December 1892 a daughter was born in Lichtenburg, two years later a son was born in Doornfontein, Johannesburg. It is not known what he employment he found on the Rand but he fell foul of the authorities, Transvaal Archives record the Public Prosecutor taking action against John in 1894 and 1895. In December 1896 he applies for a permit to purchase a “government gun” (a Mauser presumably) on the same terms available to Transvaal citizens. There the trail goes cold, we know war broke out three years later. Whether John and his family had to leave the Transvaal as refugees or had left before the exodus in September 1899 is not known.

During the war he found employment as Conductor of Watchmen – in charge of guards, probably Africans. It is not known whether he was in the Cape Colony or Natal or how long he held this post. In 1901 he was in London, recorded by the census as a boarder, his profession given as “agent/speculator” living on “own means”. John returned to Cape Town, by 1907 he was working in the Cape Colony Customs Department, later working for the Statistical Bureau.

In WW1 his son Douglas Edward volunteered and served with the 4th SA Infantry. He was killed on September 21, 1917 and is remembered on the Menin Gate, Ieper. Douglas’ medals were sold by City Coins in 2017 with the QSA to JP Tinling in separate lots but noted as “father & son”.

Within a year John was dead, he died of influenza at Claremont, Wynberg on June 22, 1918. He was buried in Plumstead Cemetery, Wynberg.

In the Transvaal Archives is a photograph of 19 men, “residents of Pretoria” they have dated to 1880-1881. Only 15 are named: G Lys, A Bates, F Jeppe, Troye, JP Tinling, G Hudson, F Stiemans, Jorrisen, Palmer, Davis, Swart, H Nourse, H Bousfield, J Swart, (M)S Melville.

Those so far identified:
HB Bousfield – first Bishop of Pretoria

G Hudson – Cape Colony civil servant, appointed Colonial Secretary, Transvaal February 1880

FH Jeppe – Surveyor-General

EJP Jorrissen – attorney-general dismissed 1878, adviser to SJP Kruger and PJ Joubert

Nourse H – helped raise Kimberley Light Horse, Cpt Ferreira’s Horse, commanded Transvaal Mounted Rifles, Nourse’s Horse in ABWI. In ABWII Lt-Col Chief Staff Officer Cape Colony forces.

Troye – probably Gustav A Troye German born cartographer

The surname Tinling.

Gerald French quoted “one John Parr Tinling” writing to Lord Chelmsford. Some pages earlier French notes that Chelmsford’s mother was Anna Maria Tinling. He does not make the connection. John’s grandfather was Rear-Admiral Charles AS Tinling (1765-1840) whose brother was William Tinling (1749-1836) who was Anna Maria’s father. John and Lord Chelmsford are second cousins. Although a select quote, I believe the tone of the letter John wrote to his second cousin is more familial than business.

A Russian on Commando. The Boer War Experiences of Yevgeny Avgustus.

Edited by Boris Gorelik

Jonathan Ball Publishers, Jeppestown, South Africa 2022

 

ISBN 978-1-7761-9136-9

ebook ISBN 978-1-7761-9137-6

‘I will have to kill these people, even though they did not cause me the slightest harm!’

Not the best thought with which to enter a war perhaps, but that was the reaction of a Russian as he encountered a friendly Englishman who had just rescued his pith helmet from the waters of the harbour at Lourenco Marques, Portuguese East Africa in January 1900.

The Russian was Yevgeny Augustus, a proud officer of the Imperial Russian Army. Yevgeny was one of a few thousand volunteers who travelled thousands of miles to southern Africa to join the two Boer republics in their war against the Imperial British Empire.

Yevgeny wrote about his experiences and these have been translated into English (done well by Lucas Venter) and expertly edited by Boris Gorelik. Yevgeny’s memoirs were spread across a book and newspaper and magazine articles that have been expertly combined into one. A portion of Yevgeny’s memoirs were published by Boris in 2016.

Yevgeny writes well and honestly providing an insight into his motives, the effort of getting to southern Africa and then his war experiences; no one escapes criticism. One is left with a question; “Why did he go to war for countries and a people he had no stake in, no future with, nothing to gain and everything to lose?”

Yevgeny’s honestly consider his motives; the Boer fight for “freedom and very existence” appealed (although he was not a republican and remained committed to Imperial Russia until his death in battle, Boris concludes he was “a staunch monarchist”) and “there is an opportunity to smell gunpowder not on the training ground..but..in mortal combat”. He was bored of peace time soldiering. The war in southern Africa was a convenient opportunity for Yevgeny “to go off in search of another field of activity if the close confines of everyday life oppress him”. It is easy to reach the conclusion that if there had a been a war in Europe, closer to home, he would have fought there. The Balkan Wars of the 1870s attracted about 4,000 Russian volunteers, 10 times more than travelled to southern Africa.

From the moment Yevgeny left Russia in December 1899 the journey to South African Republic (SAR) presented moments of reflection, insight and new information as to what lay ahead. With fellow volunteers they travelled to Brussels to SAR’s representative in Europe, Dr WJ Leyds, to get papers that would allow him to cross into the SAR. Dr Leyds explained, he himself felt unable to directly recruit volunteers in Europe out of respect for Belgium’s official position of neutrality over the war. One theme sustaining the Boer fight was the false hope Europe (including Russia) would intervene on their side tipping the military balance in their favour. Clearly, this was always a slim prospect.

From Brussels they travelled to Marseilles to board a ship for Lourenco Marques via Madagascar and Beira. In Beira he met many Englishmen, “who had abandoned their affairs in Rhodesia… They all struck me as prime candidates for the gallows.. After I got to know them more closely, I spent several pleasant moments in the company of these gentlemen, who had lived through all manner of trials and tribulations.” The power of honest conversation. There were many Europeans there, like the English, seeking a fortune one way or another from gold mining in Rhodesia and the SAR.

One such entrepreneur, a German from Alsace, gave Yevgeny the benefit of his experiences through his brother who, “was also stupid enough to go fighting for the Boers as a volunteer, and now I got his last letter in which he says that the Boers give the foreigners the cold shoulder, look down upon them, that’s how dizzy their recent victories have made them. You have to pay out of your own pocket for your kit, shoes, clothes and provisions, and I doubt if you have a lot of money left after your partie de plaisir’ [pleasure cruise].”

He also freely offered his opinion and advice, “Remember never to believe the newspapers when they accuse the British of everything and depict the Boers as some Old Testament patriarchs. Once you get there, you’ll understand things better and change your convictions. You’ll realise that this war was caused by the Boers’ hatred of all other nations and their fear of losing their oligarchic form of government in their struggle against new and alien elements. On both sides you’ll see the most unbridled greed and narrow-minded egoism conceivable. But in any case, my sympathies are with the English, because they and they alone brought the light of culture and civilisation to these shepherds, who spend all their time singing psalms and reading the Bible…I feel sorry for you, young man, so take my sincere advice: go home before it’s too late”.

Yevgeny ignored this man’s advice and travelled on, crossing the border at Komatipoort. The Boers he encountered there were “very unkindly, to tell the truth”. At Lourenco Marques there was confusion whether they would need to pay their train fare to Pretoria. Yevgeny decided not to trust the rumour and bought a second-class ticket. At Komatipoort, some French volunteers claimed a free ticket. Yevgeny complained to the station master and was offered a free upgrade to first-class. Further down the line at Waterval Boven the station master there refused to recognise the upgrade and demanded eight shillings from a frustrated Yevgeny promising him the fare would be refunded at Pretoria by the director of the railway. At Pretoria the director explained there was no such refund policy.

Finally, Yevgeny arrives at the Natal front in late January and attaches himself to the Krugersdorp Commando. His first battle experience is that of Vaalkrans in early February.  Travelling through northern Natal he notes the destruction wrought by the Boer invaders in Newcastle, which had not been defended by the British; the town “seemed completely lifeless. Everything around us bore the signs of ruthless, senseless destruction: ruins, the heaps of rubbish and bricks, the oppressive silence of the deserted streets and squares, recalled the darkness of the Middle Ages, when wars were characterised by savage hostility between peoples, when it was considered inadequate merely to rout the enemy in an open field and every victory was accompanied by looting, destruction and the wreaking of violence upon peaceful, unarmed civilian”. Betraying a naivety born out of an idealistic view of the war fostered in European coffee houses and bars, also surprising for a professional soldier, he pondered how such a state of affairs could exist “in our age of civilisation and progress”.

Now Yevgeny’s narrative turns to warfare and it is apparent the foreign volunteers, like Yevgeny, who thought their professional training would be of use, begin to question what they can contribute beyond simply adding an extra rifle to the firing line. Not the role for a European trained officer. The Boers needed no lessons in military engineering, especially their ability to dig concealed trenches “as though guided by some deeper instinct”.

However, he had reason to doubt the commitment of Boers and foreign volunteers to a fight to the finish. In the desperate battles on the Tugela Heights he felt many Boers “had probably dispersed, believing that the cause was lost”. On the final day, February 27^th, he counted seventeen of the Krugersdorp Commando still present. The retreat north was dispiriting, Yevgeny found some Hungarians who had fled the Tugela Heights before the final battles, nicely set up “the owners of a squat little tent and a wagon with all sorts of goods – canned food, saddles, blankets and the like.”

Amidst the chaotic retreat of the Boer forces in Natal, the foreign volunteers began to think of forming their own units to conduct guerrilla operations at which they felt they could excel. Once again lofty ideals did not materialise, the “Russian Corps” failed due to a lack of Russians, so they became 36 Europeans. For some ego was primary, of the two Germans, a Prussian officer was given command of a German Baron on the promise that German and Dutch recruits would be placed under his command. It was not the foreign volunteers who would shine but the Boers, “the flawless guerrilla operations of De Wet, De la Rey and Botha will make their way into tactical handbooks.”

Yevgeny was wounded and captured in the defence of Pretoria in June 1900. Spared from being sent to a POW camp in Ceylon by the intervention of the Russian military attaché with the British forces he was back on duty with the Russian Army in August 1900.

These memoirs are an invaluable addition to the literature on the war. Yevgeny provides many insights on the complete journey, physical and mental, of a foreign volunteer. His honest assessment and opinions shine a light and make obvious the complexities of a war keenly debated today.