A failed escape attempt? - Sgt Delaney, Royal Irish Fusiliers

Eighty British soldiers are recorded as having escaped from captivity, from about 10,000 soldiers captured. But, only 6,000 POWs were kept for any length of time. After September 1900, most British POWs were kept for a short period of time, some only long enough to be stripped of useful arms, ammunition, clothing, food and valuables before being set free to hobble barefoot and nearly naked back to camp.

A post on angloboerwar.com featured the exploits of two escapers of the New South Wales Lancers, Troopers Ford and Whittington. The text and images come from "the first 150 pages of Volume 62 of The Graphic, July to December 1900." A report was carried in the newspapers in June from which the account in The Graphic relies on heavily.

Trooper Milverton Ford had his account published in The Sydney Mail Saturday 30 June 1900 which is transcribed here. He notes they were joined by: "a sergeant of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, who had seen service in India and Omdurman". The report in The Graphic names him as "Sgt Delaney".

Whittington and Ford arrived safely in Delagoa Bay, Portuguese East Africa, but what happened to Sgt Delaney and who was he?

In the report published by the Sydney Mail Ford says that Delaney split from them after four days, "Parting as friends", heading south towards the railway at Bronkhorst Spruit. No further mention is made of him. However, the report published in the Daily Mail (Perth, Western Australia) two weeks earlier on 16th June, states that "Near Middelburg they missed Sergeant Delaney". Middelburg and Bronkhorstspruit are nearly 100km apart in a rough east-west line; Bronkhorstspruit is not south from Middelburg. There is definitely some confusion in Ford's account or the re-telling by the journalist who recorded it.

There was only one Sergeant Delaney of the Royal Irish Fusiliers captured in the war, 4245 C Delaney. The published Natal Field Force simply shows him as dying in Pretoria on 21st May, 1900, no record of him being captured. However, he must have been a POW to have died in Pretoria before the city was captured on 6th June, 1900. Delaney was most likely a POW at Nicholson's Nek on 30th October, 1899, although he was also present at Talana ten days prior.

Contemporary newspapers published confusing information about Delaney's exact date of death. The Army & Navy Gazette, 16th June, and The Times, 11th June, both state the date as 21st May,  but in the Army & Navy Gazette edition published 14th July it states "30-04". Only the latter publication shows the cause of death as peritonitis.

If this is the same Sgt Delaney as escaped with Ford and Whittington then he must have been re-captured by the Boers and returned to the POW camp. Ford recounts that "some of these who had attempted to escape before us contracted fever, and gave themselves up soon afterwards, returning to camp only to die". Delaney became ill and died a prisoner, one of 76 British soldiers to die as a POW, he is buried in Petronella. Sgt 4245 Delaney served in the 1898 Sudan campaign. Unfortunately no service papers have been traced.

Who was there? 66th battery Royal Field Artillery at Colenso 15th December, 1899

Family historians want to know where their ancestor fought, and medal collectors obtaining a medal to someone involved in a well known action is a popular aim, but how do you know "your man" was there?

The Battle of Colenso on 15th December, 1899 was the third and final British defeat in seven days - christened "Black Week" by the newspapers.

The battle was notable for the loss of four guns from 66th battery and six from 14th battery, despite attempts to recover them under intense fire from the Boers that resulted in multiple casualties. Just two of the original 12 guns that were marooned were recovered. The remaining 10 were abandoned on the field of battle on the orders of the British commander, Major-General Sir Redvers Buller, VC. The loss of the guns, a rare event and embarrassment to the Army. For the Royal Artillery the guns were their Colours - the flags each infantry regiment used to carry into battle. The Colours were defended resolutely and many lives were lost in their defense. Conversely capturing the enemies' Colours was a great and celebrated event.

Darrell Hall's excellent forensic examination of the artillery at Colenso is essential reading to understand the battle.                                                              

Immediately news of the battle and the loss of the guns was telegraphed to the world a row broke out; "Who was responsible?" Buller blamed his chief gunner, Colonel CJ Long for positioning the guns too close to the Boer positions so their fire blasted the gunners from their guns. Others blamed Buller for ordering efforts to recover the guns to be stopped and the guns left as his army retreated from Colenso.                                                                                                                                                                         In efforts to recover the guns six Victoria Crosses and 22 Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded. One of the VC winners was Lt FHS Roberts, King's Royal Rifle Corps, the only son of Field Marshal Lord Roberts VC, who was given command in South Africa following "Black Week".

Which members of the 66th battery fought at Colenso? Obviously, the one VC and 13 DCM winners and casualties from the battery are confirmed as being present. But, this group is the minority of those who were present at the battle.

Casualties 66th battery

	Officer	NCO	Other        Rank	Total
KIA	1	2	3	6
WO	3	2	10	15
POW	2	4	15	21
Missing			2	2
Total	6	8	30	44

The next source of identification is the clasp qualification on the Queen's South Africa medal. The "Relief of Ladysmith" clasp covers this battle, but also other battles, the qualification date for the clasp is from the 15th December, 1899 to the 28th February, 1900. Therefore soldiers not present at Colenso could be awarded the clasp the same as those present at Colenso, how do you tell them apart?

A total of 266 men are on the roll of the 66th battery with the clasp "Relief of Ladysmith", but the usual complement of a battery was 171 men (from Hall), a contemporary account states there were 165 men in the battery at the battle of Colenso (Act-Bdr 31002 T Stephenson, English Lakes Visitor 20-01-1900). It is clear that about 100 men on the 66th battery roll with the clasp "Relief of Ladysmith" could not have been at the battle. To identify the men who were there from those who were not you need to establish when they joined the battery. A number of men were bought into the battery to make up for its losses at Colenso. This information can be found in the service records.

For each of the 266 men I have looked for service papers and constructed a nominal roll for the battery at Colenso. Each man's entry in The Register will show whether it was likely he served at the battle or not. A summary is shown in the table below:

Rank	Establishment (from Hall)	Total on Roll	Present - 66th btty	Percentage of establishment	Present Other #	Not Present	Unknown *
Major	1	2	1	100		1
Captain	1	4	1	100	1	1	1
Lieutenant ^	3	5	3	100		2
Battery Sergeant-Major	1	3	1	100		1	1
Quartermaster Sergt~	1	3	2	200		1
Farrier Sergt~	1	3	1	100	1		1
Sergeant	6	10	6	100		1	3
Bombardier~	6	15	9	150		3	3
Corporal	6	9	3	50		3	3
Trumpeter	2	4	2	100	1		1
Farrier	4	0	0	0
Saddler	2	0	0	0
Wheeler~	2	3	2	100			1
Gunner	76	104	61	80	4	18	21
Driver	59	88	48	80	5	15	20
Cpl SS	0	1	1	0
Cpl Collar Maker	0	1	1	0
Bmdr CM	0	3	1	0		1	1
Shoeing-Smith	0	8	6	0	2
	171	266	148	87	14	47	57

^ the number of Lieutenants on the roll is unusually inflated by 1 as Lt CStL Hawkes was on the sick list at the time of the battle and his place was taken by Lt GL Butler from the Unattached List.

~ Ranks listed follow Hall, these ranks include trades such as Wheelers and Acting ranks as shown on the medal roll, such as Wheeler QMS and Acting Bombardier

# Present other - with RA Staff or 66th battery's Brigade partners the 7th and 14th batteries

* Unknown - no service papers or papers show no proof

This table shows that 86% of the 66th battery who served at Colenso have been verified as joining the battery prior to the 15th December, 1899. Two men were transferred in just two days prior to the battle. A further 62 who appear on the 66th battery medal roll for the "Relief of Ladysmith" clasp did not serve with the battery on the 15th December. There is a large rump, 56 men, for whom no proof has been found that they served, numerically over half of this group could not have served with the battery at Colenso.

Having established that "your man" was there the next question is "Where was he on the battlefield, what did he do?". Did "your man" try and rescue the guns?

Again, unless he won a gallantry medal this is very difficult to establish. It is believed that all who tried to rescue the guns either received a gallantry medal or were killed in the attempt. However Bombardier 31002 T Stephenson wrote a number of letters home, in one he gives a lengthy account of his unsuccessful attempt to rescue a gun (English Lakes Visitor 20-01-1900). Stephenson did not receive a gallantry award, so his letter raises the possibility others tried to rescue the guns whose names have been lost.

Artillery batteries are very structured, divided into "the guns" and "the ammunition supply". Certain ranks only served in one of those sections; Lieutenants, Sergeants and Bombardiers served on the guns, Corporals were on the ammunition wagons (in the rear). Gunners and Drivers, the most numerous ranks in the battery, served on both the guns and ammunition wagons. 

In Bombardier 31002 T Stephenson's lengthy account he summarises, "Out of 165 men only 91 returned, but half of them were in charge of the baggage." (English Lakes Visitor 20-01-1900) The figure of "91 returned" seems low given that only 44 of the battery were casualties. Stephenson, according to his account, was stranded on the battlefield and made his own way back to camp. Perhaps there were more stragglers like him to add to the "91 returned". From the nature of the fight, the majority of casualties were among the gun crews and not the ammunition wagon crews, as Stephenson remarks, "half of them were in charge of the baggage.". Most Gunners and Drivers who were present but not casualties or gallantry award winners would not have been with the guns but on the ammunition wagons. The experience of the men on the ammunition wagons, well to the rear of the guns themselves - about 800 yards on the day sheltered in the "large donga" was different to those serving the guns exposed to the full force of the Boer fire.

The other evidence showing "he was there" is a letter or account either written by the man or he is named. I have found letters, long and short from three members of the 66th battery:

Shoeing-Smith	25723	AH	Butler
Gunner	29487	W	Silsby
Acting Bombardier	31002	T	Stephenson

No doubt others exist.

This work has uncovered two new casualties; Driver 6302 T Jeffs was, according to his service papers, wounded, Driver 31020 J Williams suffered from chorea, literally "shell shock" when a "shell burst above his head". He is not in the official casualty roll due, I believe that chorea was not regarded as "wound", accordingly I have not included him as a casualty above. Gunner 85109 J Treanor was actually in prison on the 15th December, he is counted as "not present".

Royal Army Medical Corps - casualty analysis

The Royal Army Medical Corps served throughout the war in every theatre. They served on the front line and at all stations back to the hospital ships taking wounded and sick men back to Great Britain.

When I analysed their casualties I was surprised at how few men were battle casualties.

A total of 411 men became casualties, as expected the overwhelmingly majority fell victim to disease, 68%, only 18% were battle casualties.

Total RAMC Casualties (some men had more than one casualty)

Accident	3
Battle	73
Deserted	3
Died*	16
Disease	282
Drowned	7
Miscellaneous	22
Railway	2
Self-inflicted	1
Suicide	2
Total	411

* - Died, cause not known

~ - Miscellaneous, various known; poisoning, during surgery, hepatitis, etc.

Breakdown of Battle Casualties

Killed	10
Died of wounds		10
Missing	9
POW	6
Wounded	38
Total	73

The men of the RAMC were certainly in the firing line. The Corps won five Victoria Crosses – all for tending the wounded under fire,  and 37 DCMs, 14 of these were to the rank of Lance-Sergeant and below and would have been for gallantry in action. Those of  the rank Sergeant and above could equally of have been awarded DCMs for good service in the war as for an act of gallantry.

Lord Roberts' Bodyguard

The military response to the ultimatum issued by the South African Republic lay squarely with Britain. In their wisdom, the War Office, and Britain's generals believed they knew best how to prosecute the war. The local knowledge and military experience, albeit limited but critical, present amongst the residents of the Cape Colony and Natal was largely ignored. Not surprisingly this upset "the colonials" and by then end of 1899, after "Black Week", three towns besieged the New Year looked bleak. The arrogance of the British military establishment was a source of embarrassment.

The War Office realised new blood was needed and they appointed Field Marshal Lord Roberts to replace Major-General Sir R Buller, VC, as Commander-in-Chief. Lord Roberts and his energetic deputy, Lord Kitchener, arrived in Cape Town on January 10th, 1900. They had much work to re-organise and re-energise the battered British forces. Crucially, they realised the contribution "the colonials" could make to future military success.  Roberts authorised further mounted units be raised; Roberts' Horse and Kitchener's Horse. A Colonial Division was formed, commanded by the newly promoted Major-General EY Brabant, a veteran of the Cape's earlier wars. They were to do sterling service, not least in the successful defence of Wepener in April 1900.

Roberts' public relation offensive included a public face, about five days after arriving he asked Major DT Laing to raise a bodyguard composed of selected men from colonial units. Major Laing was a veteran of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders who had settled in southern Africa. he had fought in the conquest of Matabeleland in 1893 and commanded the Belingwe Field Force. Laing understood both the British Army and the colonial fighter.

The initial strength of the Bodyguard was 40 men, enrollments began on January 23rd, by February 1st 40 men had been signed up.

Unit	1st 40	Replacements
Brabant's Horse	5
Canadian Dragoons	0	2
Canadian Mounted Rifles	1	1
Cape Garrison Artillery	1
Cape Town Highlanders	2
District Mounted Rifles	2
Duke Of Edinburgh's Volunteer Rifles	2	2
Imperial Light Horse	1	2
Kaffrarian Rifles	2
Marshall's Horse	2	1
Nesbitt's Horse	1	1
New Zealand Mounted Infantry	0	1
Prince Alfred's Volunteer Guard	3	1
Queensland Mounted Infantry	2
Queenstown Rifle Volunteers	4
Rimington's Guides	3
Robert's Horse	2
No parent unit traced	7	1
Totals	40	12

Those men whose parent unit has not been traced must have had previous military service in southern Africa and be known to Major Laing or recommended by men he trusted. There is very little written about the recruitment of the Bodyguard, what we know has been derived from the medal rolls (WO100) and nominal rolls (WO127).

The Bodyguard obviously accompanied Lord Roberts' on his great march from Orange River Camp to Belfast via Paardeberg, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Diamond Hill. Seventeen also earned the Relief of Kimberley clasp, why they were separated is not known.

On 25th October, 1900 Britain marked the annexation of the South African Republic with a large parade in Pretoria. The Bodyguard were one of four units representing "the colonies". [Dundee Courier 29-10-1900] The St James' Gazette reported on 28th November, 1900 the "Kimberley contingent" left that town by train following an address from the mayor. Their destination was not shown.

In late 1900 Lord Roberts handed over command to Lord Kitchener and left in December. Before he left Roberts asked Major Laing to raise a regiment known as "Commander-in-Chief's Bodyguard". The Bodyguard was dissolved, a few men stayed with the new regiment, the majority returned to their parent units. Over the time the Bodyguard existed a total of 52 men served in the unit, one just for 3 days. Most served into October 1900 when most transfers out began, the last man transferred out was on December 11th. The last man transferred in was on June 14th and he served for six months.

These 52 men earned 25 clasp combinations; the most common clasps are Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Belfast and Cape Colony - the clasps awarded Lord Roberts himself. Others to be found are Belmont, Modder River, Relief of Kimberley, Elandslaagte, Relief of Mafeking and Defence of Ladysmith and Wittebergen. These men truly represented the breadth of Colonial service in the war.

For the full list of men who served check this PDF.

The group to MJ Paxton, Kaffrarian Rifles, Cape Colony Cycle Corps and in WW1 3rd SAMR and 8th SA Horse.

On May 29th, 1900 the 69th (Sussex) company IY were briefly attached to Robert's Bodyguard immediately prior to the occupation of Johannesburg. Their post of honour was brief as they joined the 7th bn IY very soon after. (A Yeoman's Letters, PT Ross, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton & Ket, 1901 pp3-5. The 48th (North Somerset) Company IY also acted as a bodyguard to Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. They were commanded by a nephew of Lord Roberts, Cpt WM Sherston, DSO. [Banffshire Journal and General Advertiser 04-06-1901, Central Somerset Gazette 27-05-1905]

Finding "new" casualties

With the digitisation of records from archives ...

Soldier's Effects on Ancestry is very useful aas it often gives the soldier's first name, place and date of enlistment and names of his next of kin which makes genealogical research possible in the absence of service papers. As a rule, service papers for deceased soldiers were destroyed.

I have used Soldier's Effects to find the names of soldiers who died at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, Hampshire in the UK after they had served at the war in South Africa. I extracted a list of names with death dates between 10 October 1899 and 31 December 1902. Then, cross referencing this list with The Register and medals rolls I was able to update existing casualty records; where men had been wounded but not recorded in the casualty rolls as dying, and add new records for men invalided from the war who died at Netley.

Existing casualty records updated - 48
New casualties identified              - 44

These men are included as casualties.

I cross referenced these men against Steve Watt's "In Memoriam" as he lists Netley deaths and there are five net "new" casualties, and seven updates to dates and units compared to that information in Watt .

There was a third category of men who died after the end of the war 31 May 1902 - these are not included as casualties unless they had been wounded or invalided with an illness during the war. Their deaths are recorded in the Biographical Notes section, there are 44 men in this category.

The vast majority of the men identified served in the British Army, however individuals from "colonial" units also found themselves at Netley and some unfortunately died there: British South Africa Police, Cape Medical Staff Corps, Canadian Artillery, Imperial Yeomanry Scouts, Prince of Wales Light Horse, Rand Rifles and Rhodesian Regiment.

Pause for thought: PTSD - then and now

This blog was sparked by a report on the UK ITV news relating that in 2018 71 UK veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan had committed suicide as they struggled with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  The next day a post on The Anglo-Boer War Facebook page showed a letter home written by a British soldier days after he had been in intense combat against the Boers. He related to his mother, "had it not been for my horse...I would certainly have been killed or badly wounded", "an officer close by me had his left eye clean shot out", and then "My chum who was with me was shot and it upset me very much".  His reaction was stoic, "never mind Mother, I shall have to make the best of it".

It seems that in 2018 military veterans are still having "to make the best of it". PTSD did not exist in 1900, it was first termed as shell-shock during WW1 but not understood as a mental health issue that required treatment (apart from crude attempts with electric shock therapy). It was not until the 1970's and 1980's in the wake of the Vietnam war that PTSD was recognised as a mental ill health issue that required proper treatment and support. Thirty years on it appears our veterans are still not receiving the support they need, and deserve.

PTSD is as old as combat, and we who research and collect medals and ephemera to the men and women of campaigns in centuries gone by should spare a thought for what happened to them when the guns fell silent and peace was declared.

A researcher on the AngloBoerWar.com site frequently posts newspaper reports, a number of these relate to suicides of British Boer War veterans. What caused them to commit suicide? We shall never know, enteric is frequently mentioned, could that disease drive someone to suicide or had they witnessed scenes like our correspondent did? This is an area worthy of sustained research.

We, who research and collect, get immense enjoyment from the tales we uncover, and some even make money through buying and selling.

We cannot do anything for those men and women of past conflicts whose history we enjoy so much, perhaps then we should do something for today's veterans so they don't become a tragic suicide story.

Please consider donating to a charity that supports PTSD sufferers. There are many in the UK, here is a simple Google search. For those that live outside the UK, please search in your country.

Thank you.

Naval Service of Canada - a founder sailor

For medal collectors the Second Anglo-Boer War One offers a very rich field of choice. The Naval Brigades – the sailors of the Royal Navy who served ashore in support of the Army are one such example. The Navy provided long range 12pdr and 4.7 inch guns to counter the Boer’s own artillery that out-ranged anything the British Army had. The exploits of the Naval Brigade is the stuff of legend, the Victorians loved their “handy man ashore”. The famous Naval Gun Race of the now defunct Royal Tournament originated from the Navy’s handiwork of turning ship’s guns into movable land based guns.

The joy of collecting medals and researching them is that they often provide unexpected information and knowledge. The War was in many ways the centre of a transitional period and the men and women who served were either veterans or would go on to be part of more history. One such example is Able Seaman 156753 FR Clark HMS Doris, was later in his career was one of the first seaman of the Naval Service of Canada in 1910, retitled Royal Canadian Navy in 1911.

Frederick Robert Clark was born in Stonehouse, Devon in 1875. He worked as a “printer’s boy”, but obviously this was not enough. In August 1890, aged 15 he enlisted for the Royal Navy. He and the Navy liked each other, on his 18th birthday he was made Ordinary Seaman and a year later he was promoted Able Seaman. In late 1897 he married Emily Bellamy in East Stonehouse. Soon after Clark joined HMS Doris in November 1897 on the ship’s first commission which was to be on the Cape Station, i.e. based in Simonstown, Cape Colony. Doris was a 2nd class cruiser of 5,600 tons, amongst her armament were 8 12pdr and 6 4.7inch guns that would prove so useful in 1899. Up to the outbreak of war HMS Doris cruised the west and east coasts of Africa.

On the outbreak of war in October 1899 HMS Doris provided men for the first Naval Brigade (initially without guns) to provide two garrisons in the central Cape. When it was realised naval guns were needed one garrison was withdrawn and equipped with guns to join General Lord Methuen’s Kimberley Relief Force. However Clark did not join a Naval Brigade until January 29, 1900. The first clasp he received for his medal is Paardeberg (February 1900). Clark probably served in “Grant’s Guns” (named after Commander WL Grant, HMS Doris), of which there were two 4.7 inch guns. One gun manned by HMS Doris sailors known as “Little Bobs” (after the army commander Field Marshall Lord Roberts, nicknamed “Bobs”). The other gun was served by sailors from HMS Barrosa.  Grant’s Guns served with Lord Roberts’ army at Paardeberg, Driefontein (March, 1900), the capture of Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria (June 1900) and the advance to the Portuguese East Africa border (September 1900).  In October the Naval Brigade returned to their ships. In January 1901 a large party was landed ashore to counter a Boer attack on Port Elizabeth, the attack never developed and the men returned to ship. HMS Doris returned to England in April 1901. Clark was awarded the QSA with four clasps; Paardeberg, Driefontein,Cape Colony and Transvaal.

In March 1905 Clark’s 12 year service commitment ended and he transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve (RFR). In 1910 plans were laid to create a Canadian navy. A college was set up in Halifax, Nova Scotia and two ships purchased from Britain; HMCS Rainbow (Apollo class cruiser 3,600 tons) based at Esquimalt British Columbia and HMS Niobe (1st class cruiser 11,000 tons) based at Halifax. Niobe had also served in the Anglo-Boer War. Meanwhile, back in England, Clark signed up under the “Canadian Naval Service Agreement” in September 1910 for five years. HMCS Rainbow had been commissioned in August and Doris in September, so Clark came across in Doris and arrived in Halifax on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1910. In March 1911 he re-qualified as a Torpedo Man.

In August 1911 Niobe ran aground on Pinnacle Rock, off Cape Sable NS, HMS Cornwall came to assist but also ran aground. Clark’s service in the new navy did not last five years, his Canadian service papers note “SNLR” – services no longer required, he received a gratuity of what looks like $24.00. In November 1911 he was sent home on HMS Cornwall. Clark re-joined the RFR back in Devonport in December 1911.

At the outbreak of World War I Clark, still serving in the reserve, was sent to HMS Isis, an aged cruiser. Clark was posted ashore in June 1917. His next ship was the newly commissioned HMS Pegasus, a new-fangled sea plane carrier. Clark was demobbed in April 1919, a month before Pegasus sailed to support British forces in North Russia. It is not known what occupation Clark had after he left the Navy. He died in 1926 in Devonport, Devon.