TOPIC:

Hello all,

I wondered if anyone had a copy of Iain Smith (Ed) Siege of Mafeking -2 vols - 2001. It seems to be a limited print run of 1000 copies by Brenthurst - www.brenthurst.org.za/the-brent ... -mafeking/

I’m keen to see the photograph on page 52 which I believe contains a photo of a Lieutenant Walmisley who served in the railway division of the Mafeking Town Guard. Lieutenants More and Buchan are also present in the photograph I believe.

Many thanks again. Any help would be much appreciated.

Plate 67 Officers of the Railway Division: Lieutenant W. H. Walmsley, Captain J. R. More and Lieutenant J. Buchan. More submitted a detailed report on the division after the siege.

That’s absolutely super - thanks so much for posting, really very grateful.

Does anyone know where Lieutenant More’s report on the railway division can be accessed?

Thanks again!

Cheers

Andy

No problem.

I would also like to know more about More's report. No reference is given in Smith's book.

Regards
Paul

Hello again Andy,

More and his wife get a long entry in Walker's Siege register



It seems his and her medals were sold by DNW in 2001 along with his copy of the report for a very reasonable £2000. The catalogue description was:-

Lot 948
Date of Auction: 4th December 2001

Sold for £2,000

Estimate: £2,000 - £2,500

An outstanding Defence of Mafeking family group to Lieutenant-Colonel J. R. More, commanding the Railway Section at Mafeking, his wife Marion More, Nursing Sister at the Mafeking Railway Convalescent Hospital, and their son Lieutenant-Colonel T. V. More, who was born at Mafeking shortly after the lifting of the siege

Four: Lieutenant-Colonel J. R. More, General Manager of the South African Railways

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer, frosted silver breast badge; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Defence of Mafeking (Capt., Mafeking Tn. Gd.); British War Medal (Lt. Col.); Jubilee 1935; together with Cecil Rhodes Funeral Train Medal 1902, silver, in its Spink & Son case of issue, and a Prince of Wales’ Lodge masonic jewel for the Jubilee of 1887, gold and enamels, this last possibly presented to his father

Pair: Nursing Sister M. More, Mafeking Railway Convalescent Hospital

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Nursing Sister); Mafeking Railway Convalescent Hospital Badge, circular gold badge with central red enamelled cross within white enamelled border inscribed ‘Mafeking’, the reverse inscribed ‘Ry. Convalescent Hospital 1900’, 20mm, fitted with gold pin for wearing

Five: Lieutenant-Colonel T. V. More, Director of Transport (Railway)

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal; Africa Service Medal, these four all officially impressed (179995 T. V. More); Coronation 1953, generally extremely fine and a rare group (12)
£2000-2500
Footnote
John Rhys More was born in 1873, son of Mr T. J. More, who was traffic manager of the Cape Government Railways. His first railway experience was as an assistant on the construction of the Vaal River railway bridge at Fourteen Streams, and he was next employed on the construction of the line from Rosmead to Stormberg. He was engaged in the construction of the line from Vryburg to Mafeking and, in 1894, on the Sterkstroom-Indwe railway. Joining the Cape Government Railways in 1896, he became assistant engineer of the Kimberley-Bloemfontein survey and then of the Rosmead-Graff-Reinet railway construction.

In 1899 he was appointed district engineer at Mafeking and, on the outbreak of the siege was appointed Commandant of the Railway Section of the Town Guard with the rank of Lieutenant and later Captain. He was responsible for the construction of the Armoured Train and Ordnance workshop. The first shot fired in the defence of Mafeking was by Railwaymen in the Armoured Train at the 5 mile Cottage, south of Mafeking, on 12 October 1899. At Game Tree on Boxing Day of that year, he commanded the second truck of the Armoured Train:

“The enemy’s fire was terrible, 1lb Maxim shells bursting a few yards beyond the truck, accompanied by a perfect hail of bullets. The Railwaymen I am pleased to say behaved very well, and when the enemy were within range, did good work with their Martinis. Sergeant Lowe and myself managed to keep the Maxim pouring in its deadly fire on the enemy, and Corporal Godson kept the Hotchkiss firing in spite of his exposed position in the half armoured truck, which only protected the lower part of his body. The two B.S.A.P. in the truck with him were told to lie down as the fire was too heavy, and both were slightly wounded by portions of shell.

“It was a terribly anxious time, 850 Boers of the Marico Commando with Artillery, under General Snyman, were pitted against 16 B.S.A.P. and 28 Railwaymen. A grimly contested fight lasting two hours resulted in the enemy having to evacuate his position and fall back with heavy loss, over the crest of the rise, where he was again successfully engaged by Captain Fitzclarence with 2 squadrons of the Protectorate Regiment.” (Extract from Captain More’s report).

After the relief of Mafeking, More returned to his local peace-time duties as District Engineer and was later Resident Engineer for the Vryburg-Bulawayo railway. Upon the death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902, he was in charge of the funeral train which conveyed his body from Cape Town to Bulawayo and received the special medal struck to commemorate that event. After the Union in 1910 he was Divisional Superintendent at Kimberley and Port Elizabeth. During the Great War he commanded the Railway Regiment in South West Africa (British War Medal). In 1918 he was appointed Assistant General Manager and, in 1927, became General Manager of the South African Railways, retiring in 1933. He died at Cape Town on 22 April 1951. Sold with several news cuttings, a copy of his Mafeking report and various extracts from General Orders concerning the Railway Division issued by Colonel Baden-Powell.

Mrs Marion More (née Cloete) was the wife of Captain J. R. More and was in Mafeking at the commencement of the siege. When her husband set up a convalescent hospital in the Railway Camp she volunteered as a Nursing Sister under Miss M. Crawford, serving with Lady Sarah Churchill. In his official report on the siege Captain More gave the following account of the Convalescent Home:

“Owing to numerous complaints of treatment at the Victoria Hospital by our men, I decided to utilize the Railway Institute for Convalescent purposes, thus enabling men just out of hospital to get thoroughly restored to health before returning to the trenches, and the Home proved a great success. The cooking was done by the Railway people in turns, and Mr Crittenden, Rolling Stock Inspector, rendered valuable services as Manager.

“It was afterwards taken over by the Imperial Authorities for General Purposes; Dr Holmden being the Medical Officer, and Lady Sarah Wilson the Lady Superintendent, assisted by Mrs More, Mrs Gemmel and other Ladies. On January 15th a 95-pdr Shell struck the building and completely wrecked the Library, Billiard Room and Billiard Table, necessitating the removal of the Patients to other quarters. None of the inmates I am thankful to say were hurt.”

Thomas Vivian More was born in Mafeking on 2 August 1900, less than three months after the lifting of the siege. He qualified as a Civil Engineer at Birmingham University in 1918 and adopted a railway career. During the Second World War he served with the South African Railway Engineers in East Africa, Egypt and the Western Desert, including appointmeant as Director of Transport (Railways) at Cairo with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Released from Army service in October 1943 he continued his career in the railways, becoming System Engineer in Durban (1945), System Manager in Windhoek (1946), System Manager in Port Elizabeth (1947-52) and finally System Manager, Western Cape. He retired in 1963, entering local government the same year, and died in June 1966. Sold with newspaper obituary and copy service record.

‘It is a common saying among railwaymen that there is not a sleeper or a culvert between Table Bay and the Victoria Falls which one of the Mores does not know.’

A bundle of John More's papers were sold at auction: antiquarianauctions.com/lots/extensive-r...uth-african-railways

Described as:

This remarkable lot is housed in a large lever arch file containing 107 plastic sleeves and as many items - comprising autograph and typed letters, documents, government reports, booklets, notebooks and ephemera. They all relate to the John Rhys More who became the General Manager of South African Railways from 1927 - 1933. The archive/album seems to have been compiled by his son, T.V. More who also became employed by the Railways (or possibly by J.R. More’s wife). The time span covered is from 1897 to 1963 (the date of T.V. More’s retirement).

Here is a potted biography of J.R. More:

More, John Rhys. Railway Engineer, Born 14 August, 1973. Kimberley, South Africa; educated Hereford College, England; joined firm Pauling & Co. as engineer on railway construction in Cape Colony 1893; joined Cape government railways 1976; district engineer at Mafeking 1899; divisional superintendent of South African Railways 1910; director of railways, South West Africa 1914 - 1917; assistant general manager, Bloemfontein 1918, then Durban 1921; General Manager of South African Railways and Harbours 1927 - 1933 when he retired. Died 27 April 1951.

It is difficult to adequately describe the extensive contents of this archive. Of particular interest are:

- Documents and ephemera relating to the Siege of Mafeking (where More was stationed) - these include a small printed programme for a concert on the second day of the siege, 1pp. typescript of extracts from Baden-Powell’s Despatch on the Siege of Mafeking, Printed 40pp. Baden-Powell’s Report upon the Siege of Mafeking sent to Lord Roberts, May 10th. 1900, published as a Supplement to the Mafeking Mail of March 1, 1901; 7pp. foolscap typescript "Reminiscences of Mafeking - Not for publication" by William C. Smith.

- 14 autograph letters signed by John X. Merriman to More, dated from 1907 to 1918 on a variety of topics and varying from one to several pages in length, some very detailed. One extract from the letter dated 25/07 "I am quite sure that someday and the sooner the better that (the) country will be a white man’s country. As far as preaching goes, I always advertise its merits and if I were a younger man I should try my hand…….". Please note that at least 6 of these Merriman letters are in very good condition. The others have varying degrees of fraying and staining.

- One 2pp. als. from General J.C. Smuts to More dated 7 Jan. 1933 "written in great haste". This letter is stained and somewhat defective with a large chip of the one edge.

- A most interesting item is a circa 22cm. sq. handmade booklet entitled "Cape Government Railways. Report of Acting District Engineer, Bulawayo. Transvaal War, 1899 - 1900." This comprises 28pp. of hand typed text with handwritten titles in black ink and underlined in red. Hand signed in ink "Obediently Yours, H.Wallis, Actg.District Engineer". Various military operations are described as is the construction and repair of several bridges. Interleaved are 11 pages with original photographs of military interest including one with Baden-Powell (varying sizes) laid down. These are all hand titled. Tipped into the rear of the book is a lovely folding blueprint map of "Military Operations at Crocodile Pools" – in nice condition. Please note the condition of the book: The paper bound covers are water stained, the staples are rusted and the covers are coming adrift from the rest of the book, Internally the condition is generally reasonable.

- Autograph and typed letters from many other personalities including C.W. Malan (Minister of Transport), Lord Athlone, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, Brigadier General Pierre van Ryneveld etc. - in varying condition.

- A 2pp. official South African Railways document regarding the Royal Tour of 1847 (plus some other paraphernalia re tour.

- In addition to the above there are numerous letters, documents, railway timetables, forms and newspaper cuttings relating to the appointment of More to his various positions. There are also a couple of parliamentary memoranda from 1916 re "The Control and Management of Railways and Harbours".

Altogether this is a most interesting and important archive. BUT - PLEASE NOTE - many (but by no means all) of the items are in poorish condition with frequent evidence of water damage, staining and fraying with a few being defective. The archive is being sold with all faults. I have only supplied selective details and will be happy to answer any requests for further information. I have, however, supplied many images in an attempt to convey the general feel of the archive.

Overall Condition: Variable - Poor to Very Good

The page includes some interesting images.