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Berenice recently attracted my attention to Fort Hubberston (Milford Haven), a 17 mile drive from where I live, with her post regarding the death of Trumpeter William Benjamin Thomas Horn, who was born there in 1882. Fort Hubberston, and its sister Fort Popton on the other side of the Haven, was built between 1863 and 1865 to protect Pembroke Dock. A shot was never fired in anger from either Fort.

In investigating W B T Horn I came across the 1881 Census return for Fort Hubberston. It lists 59 soldiers, 10 wives and 18 children (interestingly 12 girls but only 6 boys). I presume some of the living quarters are visible in the photo below.



All the soldiers were members of the Royal Artillery bar a Corporal who belonged to the “Army Medical Corps”. Rank wise the RA soldiers comprised 1 Major, 1 Captain, 1 Lieutenant, 1 Battery Sergeant Major, 4 Sergeants, 3 Corporals, 6 Bombardiers, 1 Acting Bombardier, 37 Gunners, 2 Trumpeters and 1 Unknown owing to damage to the paperwork.

Soldiers serving in 1881 were unlikely to have served in the Boer War of 1899-1902. So initially I concentrated on the 6 sons but there is no evidence that any followed in their father’s footsteps although one became a member of the Salvation Army. Then I noticed the two Trumpeters were teenagers, 14 year old William Gunn Magill and 17 year old Joseph Matthews. I have found the service records of both and we have a hit!

Sergeant, as he had become, Joseph Matthews was still serving when the Boer War started but having completed 20 years service was discharged at the end of January 1900.

William Gunn Magill, as his surname name suggests, was of Irish descent but was born in Montreal in Canada as shown by the 1881 Census Return, his Service Records and an 1892 listing of “Army Births & Baptisms”. He enlisted on 26th July 1880 at Pembroke Dock when he was 14 years and 2 months old, and, despite his youth, he was significantly above the average height of a British male at the time, at 5 feet 8 inches . When it comes to next of kin it starts with “Father – Master Gunner RA at South of Cork” – this has been crossed out in red ink and written underneath in red and a different hand is “Sister – Florence Margaret c/o M E Laye, Solicitor, Cork, Ireland". At first sight I presumed Gunn was his mother’s maiden name but was he actually named after his father’s occupation?

At this stage I wondered what a Master Gunner of the RA might be doing in Canada in 1866 and now know some of the Irish who emigrated to the USA, following the potato famine, formed a society called the Fenians who raised an army and invaded Canada in attempt to conquer it and hold it to ransom in exchange for the freedom of Ireland. They actually put the Canadians to rout in the Battle of Ridgeway put retreated when reinforcements arrived. So, was William’s father involved in fighting his own countrymen?

William enlisted as a “Boy” in the Royal Artillery and given the service number 6441. On 5th March 1881 he was promoted to “Trumpeter”. So, the entry on the 1881 Census Return is correct. Like Joseph he served for 20 years without a break despite having only signed on for 12 years. His complete army career is recorded in some detail in his service records and carrying on from where I left off:

21 June 1882 –“mustered” as a Gunner
26 July 1882 – first Good Conduct Pay Award
2 October 1883 – “appointed” Acting Bombardier
25 March 1884 – “promoted” to Bombardier
Christmas Day 1885 – "Awaiting trial" (he would have been aged 19 at the time)
New Year’s Day 1886 – “Tried and Reduced. Sentence wholly remitted”
2 January 1886 – “Allowed to continue as Bombardier” but forfeited Good Conduct Pay
1 April 1887 – Good Conduct pay restored and promoted to Corporal
20 September 1887 – embarked for India where he was to serve for 9 years and 149 days.
26 July 1889 – “entitled” to second Good Conduct Pay Award
6 May 1890 – promoted to Sergeant (he would have been aged 24 at the time)
26 July 1892 – “entitled” to third Good Conduct Pay Award
14 May 1893 – “Awaiting trial. Tried and reduced”
22 May 1893 – “Forfeited Good Conduct Pay”
22 November 1893 – Good Conduct Pay restored
15 April 1896 – suffered “contusion of fingers” whilst on duty
16 February 1897 – arrived back in GB as a Corporal
20 March 1897 – promoted to Sergeant
26 July 1898 – appears to read “Entitled to GC Pay at 9d”
3 February 1900 – embarked for South Africa
25 June 1900 – arrived back in GB having spent 142 days in South Africa
14 May 1901 – discharged “physically unfit”

His “Proceedings of Discharge” papers form part of his service records and give a more long winded version of his reason for discharge – “having been found medically unfit for further service”. They also show that at the time of his discharge he was serving in 28th Company Western Division of the Royal Garrison Artillery and his service number was now 27595. His service records do not record this change but it was most likely to have occurred when the RGA was created as a separate entity in June 1899. His Queen’s Medal Rolls support this as he appears against service number 27595.

His discharge papers also tell us he was discharged at Londonderry and his future residence was to be “Soldier’s Institute, Stonehouse, Plymouth”. A note at the bottom of the final page of his service records calls it “Soldier’s Home, Stonehouse”.

His service records also tell us he was paid a £10 War Gratuity by the District Paymaster based at Woolwich. One can only hope it was paid promptly because his service records then tell us he died 23rd August 1901. His premature death at the age of 35 is confirmed by his death being registered at East Stonehouse, Plymouth in the third quarter of 1901.

What was his medal entitlement regarding his service in South Africa? His service records and two medal rolls agree his Queen’s South Africa Medal only had one clasp – “Cape Colony”. One of the Medal Rolls, dated July 1901, indicates while in South Africa he was a member of the 17th Company Western Division, RGA and shows he was invalided home. As he died before the conflict was over I doubt if he ever held his medal, if it was ever made.

On lighter notes, his discharge papers tell us, despite his two court-martials, his conduct was considered “Very Good” and during his unbroken 20 years and 293 days service in the Army he had grown another 4 inches and when laid to rest he measured an impressive 6 feet tall.

A 16 mile drive north of where I live, lies the village of Maenclochog where can be found the Tabernacle Chapel. Photo 1996 by Robert Scourfield.



Passing through the village yesterday, on our way back from enjoying some of the delights of North Pembrokeshire, my wife commented as the chapel came into view “I think there is a Boer War memorial in there”. The vegetation growing around the entrance suggested it was no longer used for worship and negotiating entry would be a prolonged matter, so we drove on.

Back home, research showed my wife was correct, she usually is, and the memorial is to Colonel Edward Denman Cropper. The only image I can find of the brass plaque is not worth reproducing here.

There are similarities in the army careers of Edward Denman Cropper and William Gunn Magill. Both served Queen & Country for over 20 years, in India and South Africa. Both were invalided home from the Second Boer War to die prematurely in 1901.

More detail on the life and army career of Edward Denman Cropper can be found on this site using the name search facility but don’t bother looking for William Gunn Magill.

I am 99.9% certain William Gunn Magill is not commemorated anywhere but Edward Denman Cropper is commemorated in 6 different places:

Eton College, Buckinghamshire
Magdalene College, Cambridge
The Welsh National Boer War Memorial in Cathays Park, Cardiff
The Pembrokeshire Boer War Memorial in Haverfordwest
The Tabernacle Chapel, Maenclochog, Pembrokeshire
St Peter’s Church, Fordcombe, Kent

The last because he was born and raised there, although he died living in London. The first two are obviously related to his education. The next two because he served in the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry during the Second Boer War although, If he did have any Welsh blood in his veins, it was a very small drop.

But why was he also commemorated in Maenclochog? We need to look at his mother, the Honourable Margaret Denman, who was the daughter of the 1st Baron Denman of Dovedale and Lord Chief Justice of England from 1832 to 1854. Edward’s father died in 1877 and two years later Margaret remarried to Colonel John Owen (Royal Artillery) who was very much a Welshman and may have had a hand in his, albeit mature, stepson serving in the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry. The 1881 Census shows Margaret & John set up home in the hamlet of Rosebush, which is within the Parish of Maenclochog, and noted for its (now redundant) slate quarry. Helping them to cope with life was a butler, cook & errand boy. It is also interesting to note the enumerator wrote “Honorable” (not my spelling mistake) alongside Margaret’s name. The probates of Margaret & John show they died whilst still living in Rosebush in 1899 & 1900 respectively. Oh dear, the mystery is not entirely solved as they both pre-deceased Edward so who exactly was responsible for the memorial plaque? Maenclogoch here I come in the hope of being able to read every word on the plaque!

In the hope this gets past the Administrators, there is in effect another memorial to Edward – his divorce papers which are viewable on Ancestry. On 4 June 1874 he married Mary (Minnie) Virginia Shepherd Thornburgh in San Francisco. Whilst there he also won a couple of medals for saving a man from drowning. In 1886 Minnie petitioned Edward for divorce on the grounds of his adultery (twice) with an unknown lady in the Grand Hotel, Charing Cross and his two years desertion of her.

I cannot find a photo of Edward but I can of Minnie who was a follower of the Baháʼí Faith. Photo courtesy Naomi Snider via "Find a Grave".

Thanks to the National Portrait Gallery & French Photographer Camille Silvy, a photo of Edward Denman Cropper with his youngest sister. Not quite what I was after as it was taken in 1862 when Edward was 8.



I am surprised his QSAM refers to him as E D Thornburgh Cropper as he is supposed to have dropped the Thornburgh (his wife's maiden name) when his marriage ended.

And this link should take you to his medals and further info posted by DJB in 2017. It also corrects my statement from "he saved a man from drowning" to "he attempted to save a man from drowning".

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/5-medals-and-...-qsa?start=354#51518

Berenice has also posted photos of the Eton College Memorial in Lupton Chapel, Eton

One of the hooves of Lieutenant-Colonel Cropper's pony "Lion" was mounted as a snuff-box.

Ribbon to front engraved: "I HAVE BORNE ONE THROUGH PERILS WHERE MANY HAVE SEEN US".

Lid engraved with the arms of the Cropper family and the motto "LOVE EVERY MAN FEAR NO MAN". Also: "HOOF OF 'LION' / RIDDEN BY E.D. CROPPER, / Lt. Col. Comm'g. PEMBROKE I.Y. / IN THE GREAT BOER WAR".




Hart's Army List, 1901

Major Cropper served in the Zulu War in 1879 as Orderly Officer to Sir Evelyn Wood, and was present in the engagement at Ulundi (M.I.D., Medal with Clasp). Served in the Boer War of 1881 as Orderly Officer to Sir Evelyn Wood (M.I.D.). Major Cropper has been awarded the Albert Medal of the 2nd class and the Bronze Medal of the Royal Humane Society for attempting to save a man by jumping overboard from the s.s. Idaho on the bar of San Francisco on the 6th August 1878.


Dooner 1903, p. 81

Cropper. — Lieut.-Col. Edward Denman Cropper, of the I.Y., and of the Pembroke Yeomanry Cavalry, died of pneumonia, March 29th, 1901, at 29, Wimpole Street, at the age of 46. He was the only son of the late Edward Cropper, Esq., Swaylands, Kent, and was educated at Eton (Mr. Day’s). He served in the Zulu War, 1879, as orderly officer to Sir Evelyn Wood, and was present in the engagement at Ulundi, being mentioned in despatches, L.G., Aug. 21st, 1879. Two years later he took part in the Boer War as orderly officer to Sir Evelyn Wood, when he was again mentioned in despatches. He was awarded the Albert medal of the Second Class and the bronze medal of the Royal Humane Society for attempting to save a man by jumping overboard from the steamship “Idaho” on the bar off San Francisco on Aug. 6th, 1878. He obtained his commission as captain in the Pembroke Yeomanry, June, 1893, being subsequently granted the rank of hon. major, and since Feb., 1900, had been a captain. in the I.Y., serving with the 9th (Col. Howard’s) Battalion, with the rank of captain in the army. He was advanced to the rank of major and hon. lieut.-col. in the Pembroke Yeomanry in Jan., 1901. Lieut.-Col. Cropper was mentioned in despatches, L.G., Sept. 10th, 1901, and was granted the D.S.O.



.Courtesy DNW

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