Tribute Medals: Borough of Barnsley

On eBay a Borough of Barnsley Tribute medal has been sold for £545. This medal is in Hibbard but when he published 1982 only one example was known to a "L-Cpl H Pearson".

The medal sold, the second example known, is to "Pte W Crossland".

The inscription does not identify the unit of the recipient. Hibbard states that  "L-Cpl H Pearson" served in the volunteer company, Yorks & Lancs Regiment. As Hibbard details Pearson's WW1 service in the Army Service Corps one may assume that the tribute medal named to him comes with Pearson's campaign medals.

"L-Cpl H Pearson" was Harry Pearson, 2 volunteer battalion York & Lancaster Rgt. His service number for South Africa was 7047. Pearson was born in Barnsley.

Following this line the medal just sold is to Willie Crossland also of the 2 volunteer battalion York & Lancaster Rgt. His service number for South Africa was 7026. Crossland was born near  Barnsley.

The inscription reads:

 'PRESENTED BY THE MAYOR & CORPORATION OF THE BOROUGH OF BARNSLEY TO PTE W CROSSLAND FOR SERVICES RENDERED DURING THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA AUG 22 1902'

A search of British Newspapers Archive has failed to turn up a newspaper report on the award. It is unknown if all the recipients were from the 2nd volunteer battalion Yorks & Lancaster Rgt or inhabitants of Barnsley.

To estimate the number of this Barnsley Tribute medals I used FindmyPast.  I searched for all men born in Barnsley, Regiment = "York and Lanc*", Service Number = 70*, Year = 1900; there are 23 hits. This is inexact as Willie Crossland is indexed by FmP for "Huddersfield", yet his papers show he was born in Gilroyd Dodson [?], Barnsley.

Bridging the Thukela, February 1900

As the Boers advanced into Natal they destroyed railway bridges and culverts, one such bridge was that over the Thukela (Tugela) river at Colenso.

The besieged town and northern Natal was isolated from railway traffic. The Boers held the Thukela river line as a defensive position from December 1899 to February 1900. British forces under General Sir R Buller VC made three failed attempts before gaining a foothold across the river to the east of Colenso on February 21st, 1900. Ladysmith was relieved six days later on the 27th.

While the battles raged on the hills just north of the river work began to build a railway bridge over the Thukela. Ladymith had been besieged since 28th October 1899 and, after four months, the garrison and civilians were starving, food and medical supplies would be needed immediately the siege was lifted. The river was within range of Boer artillery, yet civilians form the Natal government's Public Work Department, were bought in to do the work instead of using Royal Engineers. As it was the Engineers had built two pontoon bridges across the Thukela here under fire.

Work was begun on February 24th by one sub-overseer and 17 “mechanics”, their names are recorded on the medal rolls (WO100/279p238).  Supplies for the bridge were sent from Durban and work was expected to be completed in fourteen days. The bridge was was 600ft long and 30 ft high. In the end the bridge was completed in 20 days, a searchlight was lent by the Royal Engineers (who used some civilians themselves to operate the light) to allow work to continue at night. On two occasions the Boers shelled the bridge, no casualties or significant damage was recorded.




The first train to cross the bridge on March 19th was the Princess Christian ambulance train.

Each man who worked on the construction of the bridge was sent a congratulatory letter, the transcript reads:

"Public Works Department

Pietermaritzburg 24^th March 1900

Re-Construction of the Tugela Bridge

As you were employed on the re-construction of the Tugela Bridge, I have much pleasure in informing you that in an open letter, COLONEL RAWSON, R.E. was good enough to make the following satisfactory remarks:

“The Bridge was finished in good time to allow the waggons proceeding to Ladysmith to supply the wants of the town as it was relieved, and it was with much pleasure that I conveyed to Mr Rennie and the men working with him, the commendation of the Commander in Chief, Sir REDVERS BULLER on their excellent work.”

I need hardly say That I add my own acknowledgement of your good work, especially having regard to the fact that for some two days you were under shell fire.

Signed

JFR Barnes

Chief Engineer

Pub Works Department

To: Mr A Campbell"

Plans to re-build the bridge, and others destroyed by the Boers, were well advanced. British newspapers reported on the plans. The original railway bridge had been constructed in 1877 by the Patent Shaft and Axletree Company located in Wednesbury, a suburb of Birmingham. This company had also built the railway bridge at Frere which the Boers destroyed as well. They were awarded the contract to build a new bridge, an American company also tendered for the contract offering to build the bridge quicker, but the Government decided to stick with the original builders. The Shrewsbury Chronicle reported on the 19^th January that the first span had been completed and inspected and was planned for despatch to Durban in the week. All the spans, five for Colenso and two for Frere were anticipated to be completed in six weeks. The spans would be a total of 735 feet in length and weigh about 740 tons.

Note on Sources

All the men involved in building the trestle bridge can be found on The Register.

Newspaper reports can be found in:
The Scotsman 26-02-1900
South Wales Daily News 24-02-1900
Western Morning News 24-02-1900
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser 22-03-1900 - reported the Princess Christian ambulance train crossed on the 21st March.
Bromyard News 22-03-1900
Bury Free Press 06-01-1900

Image of the destroyed bridge is in the public domain.
Image of the trestle bridge under construction is from With the Flag to Pretoria p458
Image of the Princess Christian ambulance train crossing is from the Digital Railway Images of South Africa

An actual copy of the letter sent to the building crew can be seen on this thread.

Tribute Medals: Holborn Engine Works

A "new" tribute medal has appeared on eBay. The medal is not in Hibbard's Boer War Tribute Medals: The Definitive Work (Constantia Classics (1982)).

 


The tribute was presented to Ralph Charles P Coulthard who served as Sapper 5861 1st Newcastle Volunteers RE attached to 12 Field Company. He was awarded a QSA with J,DH,Bf,CC,OFS,SA01 clasps, I have not noted the medal for sale. His service papers are catalogued on FindmyPast under number 5858.

Ralph Coulthard was born in St Andrew's, Newcastle in 1880 (or 1882 according to census information), the son of James and Sarah Coulthard. He enlisted for Short Service, one year, to serve in South Africa on January 19th, 1900. He was serving in the Newcastle Volunteers RE.
Ralph was working as a fitter apprenticed to G Gray (or Grey), Holborn Engine Works for five years. Holborn Engine Works made ships engines.

There were 52 men from the Newcastle Volunteers who went out in March 1900 to serve with the 12th Field company RE. They served until May 1901, in that time they served in the Cape Colony, Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

Ralph was awarded the QSA with the clasps: Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Belfast, Cape Colony, Orange Free State and South Africa 1901.

Repeated Gallantry: brave veterans of the Anglo-Boer War

During the Anglo-Boer War there were only three gallantry awards available to the Army; Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

78 Victoria Crosses and 2092 DCMs were awarded. The number of gallantry DSOs has not been calculated and they are excluded here.

Thousands of ABW veterans went on to serve in other wars, notably the First World War. The tables below show the gallantry awards subsequently won by ABW veterans.

Further details on these men are available on The Register.

You can see which ABW veterans went on to win their first gallantry awards (and other orders and campaign medals) using the search in The Research Centre.

VC winners - who subsequently won a second VC (1):

Name	Rank	Number	Unit	Remarks
Martin-Leake, A	Surgeon-Captain		South African Constabulary

DCM winners - who subsequently won an MC (50):

Name	Rank	Number	Unit	Remarks
Acraman, WE	Colour-Sergeant	3070	Grenadier Guards
Axten, S	Sergeant	3172	Cameron Highlanders
Beckett, AC	Corporal	27995	Engineers, Royal
Bell, WC	Lance-Sergeant	6380	Fusiliers, Royal
Belt, CB	Quartermaster Sergeant	2814	South Staffordshire Regiment
Boast, ST	Quartermaster Sergeant	1989	South Lancashire Regiment
Bradley, SGL	Colour-Sergeant	328	Middlesex Rifle Volunteers
Brown, A	Sergeant-Major	2623	Dorset Regiment
Burke, J	Sergeant-Major	43	Dublin Fusiliers
Carney, TP	Drummer	5748	East Yorks Regiment
Chalmers, J	Sergeant	4978	Scottish Rifles
Clarke, AJ	Sergeant	3012	Norfolk Regiment
Collier, A	Sergeant	3513	18th Hussars
Croydon, AC	Colour-Sergeant	4401	Lincolnshire Regiment
Dakin, E	Colour-Sergeant	4649	Royal Lancaster Regiment
Downing, S	Sergeant	2689	Devonshire Regiment
Dunn, JC	Trooper	8376	Imperial Yeomanry
Finney, W	Colour-Sergeant	3154	Manchester Regiment
Forbes, HN	Sergeant	4216	5th Lancers
Harford, CE	Regimental Quartermaster Corporal Major	1284	Royal Horse Guards (The Blues)
Harris, CB	Sergeant	2481	Horse Artillery, Royal
Hazelgrove, A	Drill Sergeant	1703	Grenadier Guards
Hazelwood, J	Colour-Sergeant	4588	South Staffordshire Regiment
Hodgkinson, C	Sergeant	3496	Worcestershire Regiment
Hudson, J	Colour-Sergeant	398	Irish Guards	also awarded bar to DCM
Jones, TA	Colour-Sergeant	3871	Sussex Regiment
Langrish, W	Sergeant	3433	Scottish Rifles
Leavens, FC	Sergeant	3254	East Surrey Regiment
MacWhinnie, NH	Sergeant	5177	King's Own Scottish Borderers
Marsden, WH	Lance-Sergeant	4956	Shropshire Light Infantry
Moncrieffe, JA	Sergeant	252	Imperial Yeomanry
Moore, J	Sergeant	4204	King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Nicholl, RA	Corporal	26794	Engineers, Royal
Parker, EA	Sergeant-Major	1726	Welsh Fusiliers, Royal
Pepper, AL	Colour-Sergeant	2624	Norfolk Regiment
Percy, HJ	Colour-Sergeant	3046	East Surrey Regiment
Reid, W	Quartermaster Sergeant	3479	Inniskilling Fusiliers
Richardson, JT	Quartermaster Sergeant	2547	Norfolk Regiment
Roberts, FG	Colour-Sergeant	4930	Scots Fusiliers, Royal
Ross, T	Sergeant-Major	8322	Scots Guards
Rouse, AW	Sergeant-Major	5365	Berkshire Regiment
Routh, PG	Sergeant	314	Strathcona's Horse
Scaife, J	Corporal	2622	Gloucester Regiment
Seaton, W	Colour-Sergeant	4440	Derbyshire Regiment
Shea, JPL	Colour-Sergeant	4236	Durham Light Infantry
Simpson, W	Colour-Sergeant	6867	King's Own Scottish Borderers
Watts, AF	Sergeant	87933	Field Artillery, Royal
Wenham, E	Sergeant	9283	King's Royal Rifle Corps
White, EO	Colour-Sergeant	2877	Border Regiment
Withers, J	Corporal	3250	Leicestershire Regiment

DCM winners - who subsequently won a bar to the DCM (16):

Name	Rank	Number	Unit	Dated Bar
Boyd, W	Private	3493	Middlesex Regiment	'14th JUNE 1915'
Burley, JE	Lance-Corporal	4	West Australian MI
Carney, TP	Drummer	5748	East Yorks Regiment
Cownie, S	Private	6411	Royal Scots	Also won an MM
Howells, A	Private	5771	South Wales Borderers
Hudson, J	Colour-Sergeant	398	Irish Guards	'10th -11th AUGUST 1915', also awarded MC
Hudson, WG	Sergeant	2208	Devonshire Regiment
Lawn, JW	Private	5516	King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry	'29th SEPTEMBER 1915'
MacDonald, A	Drummer	4938	Hampshire Regiment	'19th OCTOBER 1914'
MacKie, JD	Colour-Sergeant	1980	Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
MacKinnon, A	Sergeant	2541	Cameron Highlanders	'25th-27th SEPT. 1915'
McIntyre, WL	Colour-Sergeant	2794	Highland Light Infantry	'30th JULY 1915'
Noble, A	Colour-Sergeant	3042	Durham Light Infantry	'31st JULY 1915'
Shields, W	Gunner	95011	Garrison Artillery, Royal	'28TH JANUARY 1916'
Skinner, J	Colour-Sergeant	4853	Seaforth Highlanders
Wing, FW	Sergeant	3802	5th Lancers

DCM winners - who subsequently won an MM (3):

Name	Rank	Number	Unit	Remarks
Cownie, S	Private	6411	Scots, Royal	Also won a second bar to the DCM
Donnelly, JP	Private	3269	East Yorks Regiment
Holmes, W	Sergeant	5433	Dublin Fusiliers

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".