TOPIC:

David,

Thank you for this potted digest of service of the Pembroke IY. It is extremely helpful.

I have a few pieces relating to the Company, including this pair of field-glasses, which was presented to Lieutenant Bertie Davies-Evans on his departure for South Africa.
The plates have become rather over-polished, but the inscription reads: "Presented to Lieut. Bertie Davies-Evans By Tenants & Friends on his joining the / Field Force for South Africa 12th March 1900".

These are Zeiss "Jumelle" binoculars, retailed by E. Krauss & Cie., Paris. Serial number # 1185.

Davies-Evans later transferred to the 76th Battery Royal Field Artillery.




..

Born 6th June 1870 at Highmead Mansion, Llanwenog, Ceredigion and died there on 4th August 1930. So a local by my definition.



His father was a Lt-Colonel & Lord Lieutenant of the County. Bertie's 1891 coming of age party occupied nearly a whole page of the local newspaper and two thousand locals gathered in the garden at midday to wish him a Happy Birthday. Two erudite men read out poems they had written - the first in English & the second in Welsh. The latter must have been a bit lost on Bertie as the 1911 Census return shows he could only speak English. Do you possess the teapot & stand presented by "tenants & friends" to his younger brother in 1904 before he returned to S Africa. He was working as a surveyor in one of the Rand mines at the start of the ABW and served in Thorneycroft's MI. He is six down on the attached MR.

4108 Joseph John Mann

When I sort my Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry rank & file database on “Attestation Date” the next in line after the 19 who attested on 17th January 1900 is a loner on the 19th January 1900, with his service number out of order. Closer examination shows he is one of the few who did not attest in Tenby, Pembrokeshire. He attested in Swansea, Glamorganshire and in response to question 15 “For what Corps are you willing to be enlisted” he answered, “Imperial Yeomanry – Glamorgan Troop”. So already we appear to have a second reject from the east or was it that Glamorganshire were more organised than Pembrokeshire and had already filled all their available places? The answer to that appears to be Glamorganshire was about as far advanced as Pembrokeshire, as this article from the Glamorgan Gazette of 17th January 1900 indicates – I have reproduced the whole article as it gives an extra insight into the recruiting process.

“There is every possibility that the local squadron of the Imperial Yeomanry, which is being organised by Major Wyndham-Quin, M.P., will not be surpassed by any Volunteer corps going to the front. All the tests are the most severe possible, no fewer than 20 out of a draft of 47 submitted to medical examination at Cardiff Barracks on Wednesday failing to reach the standard. The practical riding tests have been equally rigorous, and some of the candidates, who cannot be termed horsemen, have been put through the exercise in rough riding on several occasions before being passed. On Friday the Cardiff and district men were tried with the rifle for the first time, skill with the fowling piece served the men in good stead, and a fairly high average standard was reached with seven shots at 200 yards from a standing or kneeling position. A couple of the candidates failed to hit the target at all but as this was a preliminary trial they will be given another chance. Among those who put on most points was Norman Biggs, the famous Cardiff three-quarter back and ex-Welsh International.”

Wikipedia devotes a page to Norman Biggs but the Roath Local History Society is the best and most comprehensive of several on-line write-ups on him and well worth the read:

roathlocalhistorysociety.org/2019/11/23/...by-a-poisoned-arrow/

Returning to the more mundane Joseph – as you can see, he was definitely not too late volunteering for the Glamorganshire Imperial Yeomanry and another newspaper article reports that by the end of January 1900 they still had 10 places to fill. Why they apparently rejected Joseph is a mystery as the recruiting/training team in Tenby obviously thought highly of him because they promoted him to Sergeant during February 1900, he still held that rank when he was discharged in August 1901.

The other mystery is why did he apply to the Glamorganshire Imperial Yeomanry in Swansea in the first place because Joseph came from the far east – he was born in late 1872 in the Norfolk village of Attleborough over 250 miles to the east.

The 1891 Census shows Joseph’s father, also Joseph, was farming Bridge Farm near Attleborough and he and Fanny (nee Myhill) had 8 children. The farm was prosperous enough for them to employ a 13 year old local girl as a domestic servant. The listed children ranged from 1 to 14 years of age but 18 year old Joseph was not amongst them, he was residing in the neighbouring village of Watton.



Joseph’s attestation papers show he was apprenticed to Mr William Kendall of Watton for 4 years.

When Joseph attested he was 27 years and 6 months old and gave his occupation as “shop assistant”. At the medical he was found fit for service. He measured 5 feet 10½ inches tall, 11 stone and 2 lbs in weight with a chest measurement of 35½ inches expanding to 39 inches – so Glamorganshire definitely did not have grounds to reject him based on his state of health or physical attributes. As he was not married with children, like reject 4089 Robert Haspery Jeavons before him, that leaves failure to pass their extra stringent, in the view of the Glamorgan Gazette reporter, tests in marksmanship and rough riding or rejection on social grounds. His rapid promotion in Pembrokeshire suggest it was the latter but we will never know for sure.

Joseph sailed to South Africa on 14th March 1900 on the S.S. Montrose (troop ship 93) with the rest of the Company and returned on 8th July 1901 on the S.S. Roslin Castle (troop ship 26) with 43 others of the first contingent – so he served the full term and I think he was Pembrokeshire’s gain and Glamorganshire’s loss.

I am unable to establish which of the four Sections, which the Company was divided into, he served in. One published letter home identifies eight of the members of Section 1 who alone of the Company were involved in the actions at Fauresmith on 19th October 1900 which took the lives of two members of the Seaforth Highlanders and one of the Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry. Thus the likelihood is that he served in one of the other 3 Sections who stayed together throughout their time in South Africa and if so, his war can be appreciated to some extent by reading through the previously posted history of the Company. Hopefully, an as yet undiscovered published letter home might throw some more light on him.

His discharge papers show his intention was to return to his roots and continue his career in the retail trade but there is no evidence of his continuing existence in the UK from census records etc. I think South Africa had got “under his skin” as on 9th November 1908 a 36 year old John Joseph Mann, occupation “Draper”, was initiated into the Freemason Newcastle Lodge in Newcastle, Natal. Others who have studied his life on Ancestry agree it is the same man despite his given names being swapped around – perhaps as his father was called Joseph he tended to be known as John. One of the Ancestry genealogists claims, without providing proof, that he married an Emily Hannah Swinbank Dixon in Durban on 15th May 1910 and died in Newcastle during 1929 when he would have been aged 56 or 57.

If he did return to South Africa he was not the only one of the first contingent to do so and a few elected to be discharged in South Africa so they could pursue a civilian career there.

4082 Corporal William Henry Slocombe - the man who died “three” times – as the Grimsby Evening Telegraph of 11th March, 1976 tells us.



What the article does not tell you - He was the second man to attest for service in the Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry on 17th January 1900 in Tenby. He sailed to South Africa aboard the Montrose on 14th March 1900 with the rest of the first contingent but he returned a month earlier than the full return of the first contingent, having spent about 13 months on South African soil. The medal roll does not list him as “invalided” and the reasons for his early return remain a mystery. Also, I can find no report of him being presumed dead. His discharge papers show it was his intention to return to the family farm – Primrose Hill Farm, Maidenwells near Pembroke. However, sometime after he moved to Worcestershire and during the first quarter of 1910 his marriage to Amy Smith was recorded in the Evesham Registration District. The 1911 Census shows them living in Church Honeybourne a few miles to the east of Evesham with their 5 month old son. It also shows Amy was born just over the border in Warwickshire and William was a “Farm Bailiff”.

The 1921 Census shows the family still living in Church Honeybourne but lodging in The Vicarage with the 64 year old widowed Rev George Bertram Philpott Coopland. I suspect the Reverend gentlemen valued Amy’s presence as she would have had the energy to wash his socks etc etc as she was 11 years William’s junior. This view is reinforced by them all still living together (minus children) at the time of the 1939 Register by when the Reverend was 82 years old.

I have nothing further to add to the above article except to point out that the QSA William is showing his great-grandson bore three clasps – Cape Colony, Orange Free State & South Africa 1901. William's death was registered in Grimsby in the second quarter of 1977 making him 101 years old at the time of his death.

The precarious start to life of the Reverend gentleman merits consideration. The 1921 Census return tells us he was born in Agra in the “NW Provinces of India” – to be more precise he was born inside Fort Agra whilst it was besieged during the Indian Mutiny. His father was a Chaplain to the East India Company who was murdered, along with some officers of the company, by the mutineers at Gwailor about 70 miles to the south of Agra. The mutineers, trying to limit British reprisals, let the women and children go unharmed. His mother Rosa, along with some of the officers’ wives, was pregnant but amazingly they made it on foot to Agra with the journey, according to Rosa’s memoirs, only taking 5 days. The party when it arrived was as large as it had started with one of the ladies, who was badly overweight, dying on the way from heatstroke and being replaced by a new born baby. A fortnight after they arrived at Agra they had to take refuge in the fort and George was born. When the siege was lifted mother and child eventually managed to make their way back to England.

Final postscript – Primrose Hill Farm, following barn conversions, is now an upmarket wedding venue.

4115 Private Percy Garton Smith, Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry (first contingent)
288 Lance-Corporal Percy Garton Smith, Driscoll’s Scouts

Dealing with his ABW experience first:

He attested on 26th January 1900 at Tenby to join the Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry (PIY). He was born in Bangor in North Wales in 1879 but neither of his parents were Welsh and at the time he enlisted he was almost certainly living near London and I think he should be regarded as one of the “Londoners” forwarded by Imperial Yeomanry HQ. He sailed for South Africa with the rest of the first contingent on 14th March 1900 aboard the S.S. Montrose. At some stage he transferred to Driscoll’s Scouts and appears on 8th July 1901 medal roll for the first contingent of the PIY (WO100/124) and 29th June 1904 medal roll for Driscoll’s Scouts (WO100/245). These two documents show he was awarded only the “Cape Colony” & “Orange Free State” QSAM clasps for his service with the PIY and his service with Driscoll’s Scouts added “South Africa 1901-1902”. The implication of this is that he joined Driscoll’s Scouts some time before the end of 1901. However the right hand column of the PIY medal roll has “288 Driscoll’s Scouts Feb 1901”. The “288” & “Feb 1901” are additions made by a different hand and pen to that which created the original medal roll. The Driscoll’s Scouts medal roll gives no clues as to when he joined them. Turning to the “Military History Sheet” of his service records against item 4. Campaigns is “South Africa ………….. Prinsloo’s surrender”. As Prinsloo surrendered on 30th July 1900 and Driscoll’s Scouts were definitely in attendance but the PIY were not. Thus, the jury is out regarding his transfer date but my favourite is that the “Feb 1901” is in error but I have to admit the person who wrote it was correct regarding “288”.

His “Statement of Services” sheet tells us he was discharged “medically unfit” on 15th May 1901 and his “Military History Sheet” confirms this telling us he arrived back in England on 8th March 1901. Thus he spent only about 11 months on South African soil and if the “Feb 1901” date is correct he spent a matter of days in the saddle as a Driscoll’s Scout before he fell out of his saddle. I am assuming he fell off his horse as item 9. Injuries in or by the Service has “Dislocation of the Shoulder” written against it – of course there are many other ways one can dislocate one’s shoulder.

I wrote this before I realised that whilst Ancestry only carried his attestation papers & service records (4 pages), FMyP carried two more – his discharge papers. He was discharged at Shorncliffe Barracks, Kent and the reason given for his discharge is “medically unfit for further service”. Neither of his medal rolls claim he was invalided home. The 68 days between him arriving back in England and being discharged is very long for a member of the Imperial Yeomanry and indicates he received medical treatment at Shorncliffe.

One might expect falling off one’s horse would have had a compression effect but it appears to have had the opposite. When he attested on 26th January 1900 aged 22 years and 5 months he measured 5 feet 10½ inches tall but when he was discharged 23 years 6 months old he measured 6 feet exactly – perhaps he was a very late developer.

As for his none-military life – it was a struggle, for me rather than him) from the start! His birth was registered in Bangor in the last quarter of 1879 under the name “Peirce Garton Smith”. When one sees his parents hand written marriage record it becomes immediately obvious this was not a printing error. His mother started out life in Edinburgh as Georgina Emily Garton and her father was named Peirce Lacy Garton, a Professor of Music. (Irish newspaper reports call him Pierce L Garton – although Georgina was born in Edinburgh she seems to have had Irish parents.)

The father of Percy/Peirce/Pierce was William Ives Smith born in Hertfordshire in 1847. He worked as a stone mason, like his father before him. He married a Jane Snelsdon in 1870 and they had a son two years later. However, it would appear the marriage did not work out and they went their separate ways. As Jane lived on and there are no apparent divorce proceedings, it is almost certain that his subsequent 1877 marriage in Ireland to Georgina was bigamous. The 1881 Census shows the family lodging with another stone mason and his wife in Albert Road, Egham, Surrey. The enumerator appears to have written “Peirce” as “Pierce”, but it is hard to be certain, and his age is given as 1.

Percy (keeping it simple) was to have a younger sister, called Helena, who he gave as his next of kin as “Miss Lena Smith, Cassio Villa, Egham” when he enlisted in January 1900. She was born on New Year’s Day 1882 in Windsor, Berkshire. So William Ives definitely liked to move about a bit – his marriage record to Georgina gives his and his father’s occupation as “Sculptor”. This might be a bit of affectation to impress his Professor of Music father-in-law or could indicate he was an ornamental stone mason moving about the country helping to decorate notable Victorian edifices.

None of the family are findable on the 1891 Census and the answer might lie in the response Percy made to question 6 when he attested in Tenby. Question 6 asked if he had resided outside his father’s house for three years etc – his response was “Yes” and written underneath is “Yukon British Columbia”. Although I can find no definite proof of it, I suspect the family emigrated to Canada but had returned by the start of the ABW. On the 1901 census, held whilst Percy was still in in Shorncliffe Barracks, his parents can be found living in Leverton Street in the St Pancras area of London. 19 year old Helena is lodging with a 65 year old widowed “needlewoman”, Sarah Buxton at No.3 Crown Street, Egham and her occupation is given as “Schoolteacher”. Also lodging there is her spinster aunt of “independent means”, Helena Garton (who witnessed her parents wedding) plus another “Schoolteacher” who is only 17 years old. I should add here that when Percy attested he gave his occupation as “Schoolmaster”.

When Percy was discharged he gave his future occupation as “Schoolmaster” and his future residence as “Cassio Villa, Crown Street, Egham”. Then the trail runs entirely cold – I cannot find him on the 1911 and 1921 Census returns or the 1939 Register. Unsurprisingly there are lots of “unidentifiable” Percy Smiths’ who died in the following years. I have managed no better with his parents but I can give you chapter and verse on the rest of Helen’s life. She married a Civil Engineer in 1908 which meant she had to give up school teaching and by 1921 they had a 4 year old daughter whose given names were Diana Delacy Sherwood. Was the Delacy a throwback to her musical great-grandfather?

I could supply a photo of Diana Delacy Sherwood Tyler in old age but prefer one of Marthinus Prinsloo in old age. What I really want to know is did Percy emigrate to Canada before the war, did he witness the surrender of Prinsloo and did he have a long and fulfilling life after putting his life on the line???

4105 Private Joseph Crowley, Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry, 27/01/1900 - 07/09/1901
342 Trooper Joseph Crowley, Bushveldt Carabineers / Pietersburg Light Horse, 12/09/1901 – 14/03/1902

Joseph was born in Middleton, County Cork, Ireland. When he attested in Tenby on 17th January 1900 he gave his age as 31 years and 1 month, which if correct, would make him born late 1869. His attestation papers show his father had lived in the St Pancras area of London but he gave a Mary Crowley, presumably his mother, as his next of kin and living at Kingsbench, Queenstown (now known as Cobh). Middleton is about 10 miles by road to the NE of Cobh. He gave his occupation as “telegraph operator and signaller”. He measured 5 feet 9 inches tall & weighed 10½ stone and could expand his chest by 3 inches. I suspect there could be an interesting story as to why he applied to join the Imperial Yeomanry in Pembrokeshire but he sounds like a good man to have on your side.

Joseph sailed to South Africa on 14th March 1900 as part of the first contingent of the Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry, who during late February had been designated as the 30th Company, 9th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry. His service records show continuous service in South Africa until he transferred to the Bushveldt Carabineers (BVC) in September 1901. As the first contingent officially went home in July 1901, Joseph would have first transferred to the second contingent or, using the parlance of the local newspapers at the time, from the “Old” to the “New” Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry.

But the Pembrokeshire Herald & General Advertiser of 21st June 1901 bore the following short article: “Trooper Cowley who went out as a signaller with the first batch of the 30th Company Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry has returned to the town.” As the report appears in no other of the local papers I suspect it was a case of mistaken identity at best and possibly a “reject” trying to cause a bit of trouble.

There is no doubt that Joseph did transfer to the BVC as the two pages below show.



I believe that Joseph joined the BVC just after the actions that lead to the controversial execution of Lieutenants Morant & Handcock.

I suspect after the war ended Joseph stayed on in South Africa as I can find no evidence that he returned to the British Isles.