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.

"Odd Men" British Cavalry in South Africa 1899-1902 exhibit, OMRS 2022 Gold Medal winner

For the first physical convention since the Pandemic I was pleased to present an exhibit using more data compiled from The Register.

"Odd Men" focuses on officers and soldiers from the regular British cavalry who served in the war but not with their parent regiment. Very often they earned different clasps making those medals prized by collectors. I analysed the clasp entitlements for the regiments, those that deployed and those that didn't to produce a spreadsheet allowing "odd men" to be easily spotted.

The pdf of the panels in the display is here.

The "Odd Men" Identifier - a spreadsheet of regiments, clasp entitlements and more is here.

X-Ray Expert

 In the QSA rolls for the medical services, roll WO100-227 page 134 is simply titled "X Ray Expert".

There is just one name on the page: Eachus, Thomas Eedis.

The X-ray was a very recent discovery made by Conrad Rontgen in 1895. He immediately realised the X-ray could be useful in medicine. From 1896 medical doctors and scientists began developing the X-ray for doctors to use. 

During the war both sides used x-ray machines. There are many hits on-line for "x-ray in the boer war", you can see a picture of an xX-ray machine in use here. Professor JC de Villiers wrote an overview article "The origins and early use of radiology in South Africa" which can be downloaded. However, TE Eachus' name does not figure in these sources or on-line searches connected with the war.

There is indeed a Thomas Eedis Eachus (1878-1931) who was not a doctor but an electrical engineer and I believe is the "X Ray Expert" although no direct evidence has been found to substantiate this. Known as Eedis, he was born in Sydenham, Kent in 1878, his father George Eedes was a civil engineer. Eedes was just 21 when war broke out in 1899. I have not traced his education, the last census before the war in 1891 he is a 13 year old scholar living in Forest Hill, south London. He does not appear to have gained any professional qualifications, nonetheless appears to have been a very competent and successful electrical engineer.

Eedis sailed for the war on 10 March, 1900 aboard SS Avoca with 10 General Hospital, he is described again as "X-ray Expert". He was perhaps working for a company that supplied X-ray machines and was sent out to maintain the machine. He worked in the Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal. The QSA roll is signed at 9 General Hospital, Bloemfontein in September, 1901. Eedis stayed on into 1902 as he earned a King's South Africa medal, his rank on this roll is "X-ray expert". How wonderful if that was inscribed on the medal.

Back in the UK, in December 1903 at the Enfield Church Day Schools Grand Bazaar he gave a "most attractive as well as instructive" presentation on the use of X-ray "in surgical operations, especially in relation to bullet wounds received in war"; something of which he had first hand knowledge. In 1905 he was granted a patent with a George Howard Nash for  "Improvements in Cut-outs for Overhead Electrical Conductors." to make overhead trolley wires safer when they break. Eedes enjoyed sports, he played cricket for Enfield and was a member of the Bush Hill Park Golf Club, Winchmore Hill, London.

By 1911 Eedis is living in St Albans, Hertfordshire working for the Western Power Company. He later worked for the North Metropolitan Electric Power Supply Company. 

In February 1917 Eedes was commissioned Temporary Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve for his electrical skills. In April 1918 he was put to work on hydrophone research and development. Again Eedes was working on new technology, the hydrophone had only been invented in 1914. Once more he was successful in his work and was awarded an OBE in 1919 for "carrying out pioneer work in connection in which his electrical knowledge was invaluable". His report in ADM-337/123/244 noted: "Possess tact and firmness. Has greatly helped development of the Special Trawler Flotillas attached to Southern Patrol Force."

In 1929 be became a Joint Managing Director of the newly formed Young Accumulator Company Ltd. The 1935 AGM reported success of the company's "Super Armoured Battery" for use in electric vehicles, the report noted the batteries could be re-charged overnight; sound familiar?

In June 1918 Eedes married Nancy Lilias Bayford, they had one son, George T Eachus who was killed serving in the Royal Navy in 1943. 

Eedes died 11, August 1931 in East Molesey, Surrey.

Medals "returned as protest, not wanted"

 

In December 1936 a veteran of the Anglo-Boer War and World War 1 returned his medals to the War Office. The reason is not recorded and one can hazard a guess why a veteran would return his DCM (WW1), QSA, KSA and 1914-15 Star trio in December 1936.

 

The veteran was James Galoska (or Gasloska), Sergeant 4125 2nd bn Somerset Light Infantry, later RQMS 20218 6th bn Somerset LI.

 

Born 1875 St Pancras, London, son of Charles and Christina Galoska. His father was Prussian and worked as a commission agent. His mother was from Orkney. He enlisted 08-06-1894 at Devonport, a member of the Devon Artillery Militia. After 12 years exemplary service James was discharged 07-06-1906 at Exeter, intending to live in Toronto Canada at 119 Wellington Street West, Toronto, where his mother and sister lived.

 

AT some stage he returned to the UK and in 1914 enlisted again. He went to France in 1915. In 1917 he was awarded the DCM, "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He has performed consistent good work throughout and has at all times set a splendid example."

 

Demobilised 08-03-1920 in Germany to serve with the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission. On 14-12-1936 the War Office recorded the return of the medals "in protest". They were scrapped on 01-09-1942. The object of the protest is unknown.

 

Note on the KSA roll WO100-323p148. Crown Copyright, The National Archives, London.

 

 

James appears to have worked as a clerk for Lloyd's Bank, King's Cross Branch, London. He died in London in 1955.

The Composition of the British Army's regular infantry regiments in 1899

It appears to be a popular misconception amongst many interested in the war that the regular British Army infantry regiments were as their geographical titles suggest populated by men from that area; Highland regiments were full of Scotsmen, Irish regiment for Irishmen and so on. For some on-lookers they have a false narrative that the war was prosecuted by Irishmen, Scotsmen, and then Welshmen, while the English looked on. Such a view fulfills the simplistic notion that the British Empire simply coerced non-English peoples to do their dirty work leaving drunken aristocrats to enjoy the fruits of war. Of course, the truth is far more complex and, for some, painful if such people took the time to reflect on their own ancestors.

The Victorian Britons were highly mobile, the Empire would not have been formed otherwise. Just as they ventured across the globe so they travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles, some didn't move far at all, but enough did to create cosmopolitan cities and towns. Most travelled for work and a better life, agricultural slumps in the late 1800s sent many men from the south-west of England to the coal fields and steel factories in South Wales. A number of these men enlisted into the Army joining "Welsh" regiments such as the South Wales Borderers. English industrial centres drew men from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The 1881 Cardwell Reforms gave the Infantry its distinctive geographical connections, the regiments converting from numbers to territorial titles. For instance, the 41st Foot became The Welc(/s)h Regiment. While contributing to the famous regimental esprit d'corps the territorial connection did not necessarily increase recruiting in many areas, especially rural areas. This gave the Army a problem, regiments covering rural areas were typically under-recruited and those regiments centred on large and towns and cities were over-recruited. To solve this recruits were sent to under-strength regiments. This means a native of London or Birmingham could and did, get sent to join a "Scottish" regiment. Regiments by their uniforms, mottoes and music gave the impression of being Scottish, Irish or Welsh. But you would as likely find an Englishman in the kilt and feather bonnet of the Seaforth Highlanders as you would a native of Inverness. Anyone who collects campaign medals will know from reading service papers how cosmopolitan the rural regiments can be.

Dr Edward Spiers in his useful book The Late Victorian Army 1868-1902 (Manchester University Press, Manchester 1992 (Sandpiper Books 1999)) illustrates this with figures collected in the General Annual Returns of the British Army (infantry, cavalry, artillery etc.) showing the nationalities of men serving in 1899:

England & Wales	76.60%
Ireland	13.20%
Scotland	8.00%
Other and Not Reported	2.20%

The Army is overwhelmingly English, the Welsh would have made up a small percentage had they been separated out. It would be good to see this data just for the Infantry.

To provide further evidence directly related to the Anglo-Boer War I used a dataset at my disposal; war memorials. The Victorian and Edwardians were great war memorial builders, a legacy inherited by the Georgians of the First World War. 

The table below shows the number of fatalities for the war for the regiments designated as English, Irish, Scots and Welsh and their "nationality" derived from the location (England, Scotland etc.) of the "geographic war memorial" that they are named on. A "geographic war memorial" is one that links a man to a specific location such as a grave marker, a town memorial, a county memorial and in the case of Wales, the national memorial in Cardiff. I have excluded non-geographic memorials such as regimental and school war memorials. 

War memorials are far from perfect records, some men appear on different geographic memorials; this is a minority though. A man commemorated on a memorial in England may have been born in Scotland. There are less geographic memorials in Ireland than other parts. Not every memorial has been recorded, but over 2,100 have. No one knows how many war memorials were ever put up. The data for Irish memorials is slim. This data is not perfect, but it is the best I know of for this type of study.

Country	Total Fatalities	Total Commemorated	England	Ireland	Scotland	Wales	% “foreign”	% Fatalities Commemorated
England	9157	3757	3641	8	1	107	3	41
Ireland	1154	37	28	4	0	5	89	3
Scotland	1752	235	175	0	52	8	78	13
Wales	609	602	71	0	0	531	12	99

This table tells us that for Welsh regiments, they lost 609 men, 602 or 99% are on a geographic memorial (for many this will be the Welsh National Memorial, Cardiff). Of the 602 men only 12% are not apparently Welsh, they appear on town or county memorials in England. There were only three Welsh regiments less than half the number of Scottish and Irish regiments. This could well explain the large percentage of Welshmen in the three regiments, or the Welsh National Memorial incorrectly claims men as "Welsh".

For the Scots regiments only 13% of fatalities are on a geographic memorial but 78% are apparently not Scottish as they appear on geographic memorials in England and Wales.

Overall I believe this data correlates with that presented by Dr Speirs, only 8% of the Army in 1899 was from Scotland, war memorials tell us that 78% of men in Scottish regiments who died were not from Scotland. And the overwhelming number of fatalities in English regiments were Englishmen. If you know of a dataset to advance this research I would be pleased to learn of it.

But, perhaps the real message is that it is folly to ascribe labels based on assumptions and pre-conceptions and without any real evidence.

Imperial Yeomanry - Table of Clasps

This table only counts clasps to men who first served in the IY before serving in other units. This excludes men who served in other units first earning a clasp, such as Elandslaagte, and then transferring to the IY.

This blogs updates the information in British Battles & Medals (Hayward, Birch & Bishop, Spink 2006 7th edition) which states the IY only qualified for the Wittebergen  battle clasp and, "other 'battle' clasps, [were] granted whilst attached to other units". This is clearly not quite accurate.

The IY only qualified for three battle clasps in unit strength; Diamond Hill, Wittebergen and Johannesburg. The other battle clasps; Belfast, Dreifontein and Relief of Mafeking were earned by "odd men" and further work is required to understand exactly how these men came to earn the clasp.

Cape Colony	28,447
Orange Free State	21,373
Transvaal	20,606
Wittebergen	2,302
Rhodesia	1,025
Johannesburg	575
Diamond Hill	539
Natal	59
Belfast	23
Dreifontein	8
Wepener	3	Relief Force, issued in error
Relief of Mafeking	2
Paardeberg	1	GW Tindall, servant to the Earl of Errol, specially enlisted in the Imperial Yeomanry
Relief of Kimberley	1	GW Tindall
Belmont	0
Defence of Kimberley	0
Defence of Ladysmith	0
Defence of Mafeking	0
Elandslaagte	0
Laings Nek	0
Modder River	0
Relief of Ladysmith	0
Talana	0
Tugela Heights	0

 

The Caroline brothers from Derbyshire

John and Tom Caroline of the 1st bn Derbyshire Rgt (The Sherwood Foresters) both served during the war. They were half-brothers, the sons of Jane Caroline who married in 1877 and is named on their service papers as next-of-kin “Mother Jane Heptinstall, 48 Pitt Street, Eckington, Derbyshire”. The census and family trees available on-line are confused, the clincher are the baptismal records which in both cases name Jane Caroline as an unwed mother. The boys lived with different branches of the family at various times.

John was born in 1874 in Mosbro, Eckington and Tom (shown left) was born in 3rd February, 1877 in Rotherham, south Yorkshire. They enlisted within a week of each other in August, 1894 at Chesterfield, Derbyshire. John was 20 and Tom 17 (he claimed to be 18 on enlistment), they were both colliers. John was given number 4773 and Tom 4793. They were both posted to the 1st battalion in Dublin. John was posted the 2nd battalion in 1895 and went off to India and served on the North-West Frontier in the Tirah and Punjab Frontier campaigns of 1897-98. In October 1899 the 1st battalion was stationed in Malta, they received orders to embark for South Africa which were cancelled but then re-instated on October 31st. In the meantime the 2nd battalion had arrived from Aden and were in quarantine. On the 10th November John was posted to the 1st battalion joining his brother. The 1st battalion sailed from Malta on the 21st November.

In South Africa they would part company. Tom was selected to act as servant to Major-General Sir HL Smith-Dorrien, an officer of the regiment, now commanding the 19th Infantry Brigade (later promoted to command the 8th Division). Tom was with Smith-Dorrien throughout the campaign, serving at Paardeberg, Driefontein and Johannesburg.

The 1st bn had a fairly quiet war serving at Johannesburg and Diamond Hill. All would change in 1901 when they went on column in search of the Boers. Two companies of the regiment were part of Colonel T Dixon’s column when on 29th May they were attacked. The Boers set the veldt on fire and used the smokescreen to capture two guns, a bayonet charge by the Derbyshires and Kings Own Scottish Borderers recovered the guns but at a high cost, the Derbyshires lost 19 killed and 59 wounded. John was amongst the wounded, recorded as severely, fortunately he was able to return to duty.

Four months later the same column, now commanded by Colonel RG Kekewich (the defender of Kimberley), was in camp at Moedwil, western Transvaal. On the morning of 30th September they were attacked by about 1,000 Boers. The fighting was very severe, outlying picquets were quickly overwhelmed. Of one picquet of 12 men from the Derbyshires eight were killed and four wounded. Six men from the nine gun Maxim gun team were hit, one of the unwounded, Private W Bees, ran the gauntlet of Boer fire to get water for the wounded. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry. Col Kekewich was wounded and command fell to the Derbyshire’s commander Col HC Wylly. After about two hours of intense fighting the Boers retired. The Derbyshires’ lost 17 killed and 44 wounded. Amongst the wounded the regimental history records “Pte 4793 T Caroline”, he is not listed in the Official Casualty rolls. Tom, though, was apparently elsewhere as Major-General Smith-Dorrien’s servant. Tom’s service papers do not record his wound. However, on John’s service papers he is recorded as wounded at Moedwil, so he was wounded for a second time in the war. John was invalided to England on the 8th October, 1901. He recovered quickly and was back in South Africa in early May 1902.

In September 1902 both were transferred to the Reserve to complete their 12 year enlistment. Tom stayed in South Africa, he took his transfer in the Marico district of the western Transvaal. John returned home to England in April 1902.

John returned to the mines, on the 1911 census he is recorded as a “coal hewer” boarding in Eckington. He may well have served in WW1 as Pte 3144 and 240917 1/6th bn Notts &Derbyshire Rgt, earning the 1914-15 Star trio. He died in 1929.

According to the Ancestry Family Tree Tom became a policeman in Bulwayo, Rhodesia. He married an English born lady in southern Africa before they returned to the UK in 1904. On the 1911 census he is a “colliery deputy (below ground)” living at Killamarsh, Derbyshire with a wife and adopted son. They went on to have four children, including a son called Horace Lockwood Smith Dorrien after his boss in the war. Tom died in 1949. 

The splendid picture of Tom is reproduced here courtesy of Cyril Michael Knight.