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Corporal W Ferry, Mafeking Town Guard 7 years 10 months ago #46798

  • Wade Grimbeek
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Hi Wyatt, William Henry Ferry was my Great Grandfather who was married to Mary-Anne Ferry ( nee Crement). My Aunt (his Grand-daughter) can confirm what you have written, excepting that William's father was not a railway man. His father was in the army (his diaries are in the possession of Gerald Ferry Jnr). My Aunt is the only person still living who knew him personally.
During the Seige of Male king thein supplies were cut-off and they had to eat horse-meat as it was the only source of food.
William was the driver of the Rhodes Funeral Train and told of how people were waiting at each stop to place flowers on the train. They would stop a little way further and throw the flowers off so that there was room for more flowers to be placed at the next stop.
He was also the driver of the dynamite engine (train truck) which was driven into the Boers. He never mentioned whether any Boers were injured or not.
On Sundays they would stop fighting and play a "game" against each other (war stopped on Sundays).
She has a photo of him somewhere. If she finds it, I will attempt to upload it for you.
Now is a good time to ask her questions. Is there anything else you need to know?
Best Regards,
Wade Grimbeek

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Corporal W Ferry, Mafeking Town Guard 7 years 10 months ago #46805

  • wyatt
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Hello Wade

Thank you for this. It seems ages since I submitted the original message.

You are of course right in saying that William was not the son of a railwayman. The obituary notice I referenced was for Gerald Ferry not William as incorrectly stated. Since the post I have managed to find out that William was born in County Kildare, Ireland about September 1876. His father was Patrick Ferry and his mother Kathelene Ferry. He married Mary Ann Crament (not Crement according to his death notice in the Cape Archives) in Bechuanaland and had four children - Frederick, James, Gerald, Iris and Maud and he died 17 October 1944.

I have confirmed that William shunted the dynamite truck out of Mafeking on 13 October 1899 and have a description of this episode from the diary of Edward Ross the Mafeking Town Auctioneer and Photographer. I also located a reference to William driving Rhodes funeral train in a book by the South African journalist Michael Green entitled "Around and About: Memoirs of a South African Newspaperman". This book also refers to William as having been a driver on the Cape Town - Simonstown line.

There is also a reference in the Mafeking Siege Register to a civilian girl nurse named Miss M A Ferry - I assume this is William's wife?

I would certainly welcome a picture of William. Also anything extra you might know about his life in general - for example his father's regiment, when he came to Africa as a child, how he ended up in Mafeking, what he did in later life. Also what exactly he did during the siege beyond driving the dynamite train.

I do not know how William's medal came on to the market. I bought it from a UK collector who had acquired it from City Coins, Cape Town.

I look forward to hearing from you and thank you for making contact.

Wyatt

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Corporal W Ferry, Mafeking Town Guard 7 years 7 months ago #48116

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Wade

Are you yet in a position to reply to my earlier response?

Regards
Wyatt

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