TOPIC:

Ernald Edward Richardson served as a Lieutenant in the Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry (30th Company, 9th Battalion). He was temporarily put in charge when the Company sailed to South Africa in February 1900. On arrival he handed over command to Captain Edward Denham Cropper who had travelled independently to South Africa from South America where he was based when the conflict broke out. Ernald then took over command of Troop 1 whose most notable achievement was the defence of Fauresmith in October 1900. Ernald returned home in May 1901 with the cadre of the Company. He was subsequently awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with three clasps – Cape Colony, Orange Free State & South Africa 1901. He died in 1909 aged 36 of enteric fever contracted during a business trip to Mexico.

His parents were John Crow Richardson (1842-1903) and Teresa Eden Pearce-Serocold (1846-1918). Ernald’s father was one of Swansea’s copper magnates and a short article in Minerva Volume 12, 2004 has this to say about his mother: “Teresa Richardson married John Crow Richardson II, with whom she had three sons. The family lived first in Pantygwydr House, Uplands, Swansea and later in Glanbrydan Park, near Llandeilo. Already acknowledged for her nursing skills, in 1900 she travelled to South Africa, where her son was fighting in the Boer War, and nursed in military hospitals for several months. Again in 1904, she nursed in Tokyo during the Russo-Japanese War. In 1914, aged 68, she nursed in Belgium and later in London throughout World War I. She was awarded the South African Medal, the Order of the Cross of St. John, the Japanese Red Cross Order of Merit, two Greek medals, and the British 1914 Star. Some of her medals can be seen in this photograph. An article about Teresa Eden Serocold was published in Minerva Volume 11, 2003.” I have reproduced the whole of the earlier and much longer article at the end of this account, it makes interesting reading about a “remarkable lady” and includes several quotes from the diary she kept whilst she was in South Africa in 1900.

T E Richardson can be found on a Nursing Medal Roll as having received a QSA without any clasps.

The two photos below are taken from Minerva – the one on the left, where Teresa is sporting her medals, is from the later article and the one on the right, in her “working clothes”, from the earlier article. Minerva’s alternative title is “The Journal of Swansea History”, it is accessible online thanks to the National Library of Wales Online Journal facility, which I have only just discovered, and gives access to several articles regarding the ABW including a 2002 twenty page article entitled “The Pembrokeshire Yeomanry in the South African War, 1900-1902” – would that I had discovered this a year ago.



If having a mother who was awarded a QSAM does not make Ernald unique perhaps the following does. The family were staunch members of the Conservative & Unionist Party. On their behalf in the 1895 General Election Ernald contested the East Carmarthenshire constituency. He was on a loser from the start as his opponent was the popular incumbent, Abel Thomas of the Liberal Party. Ernald duly lost by about 2,200 votes out of total vote approaching 6,500. Rather unfairly local members thought Ernald had not put up a very good fight and so for the 1900 “khaki” General Election looked around for a new candidate although Ernald, before he left for South Africa, had given them permission to put his name forward if the need arose. Everybody they approached turned them down and, in his absence, Ernald, contested the 1900 election and lost by almost the same number of votes. Was there another British soldier who contested the 1900 General Election in their absence whilst serving in the ABW?


The long article about Teresa taken from Minerva, The Journal of Swansea History, Volume XI, 2003. Published by the Royal Institution of Wales.

Pieces the article quotes directly from her 1900 South African Diary or her book about her experiences in Japan I have put in italics.

TERESA EDEN RICHARDSON : A LADY OF COURAGE AND COMPASSION

By R. J. HART

Teresa Eden Pearce-Serocold married John Crow Richardson (the second) in 1866. He was the grandson of the founder of one of Swansea's leading copper-trade dynasties. She was born in 1846, the second daughter of her father's second marriage to Charlotte Vansittart, a niece of Lord Auckland, then the first Lord of the Admiralty and one-time Governor-General of India. Her father, the Rev. Edward Pearce-Serocold, was the son of a Dr. William Pearce, who was Master of the Temple in 1787, and Dean of Ely in 1797; he assumed the additional name of Serocold (his mother's surname) on his marriage. Little is known of Teresa's early life, but she bore three sons: Alfred John in 1867 (who died of typhoid fever while serving in the Army in India in 1887), Ernald Edward in 1869 (both born in Sketty, Swansea), and Robert Eden, born in London in 1872. They lived firstly at Pantygwydr House, Uplands, Swansea, but on the death of John Crow I in 1884, inherited his mansion and estate at Glanbrydan Park near Llandeilo. The earliest newspaper reference to Teresa is in August 1890 on the coming of age of her (by then) elder son, Ernald. A day of celebrations at Glanbrydan Park included a luncheon for 350 people in a marquee on the lawn; many other local people enjoyed various amusements in the Park, culminating in a daylight firework display at 5.00 p.m. Supper was served at 8.30 p.m., followed by further fireworks. In one of the many speeches at the luncheon, reference was made to Teresa's interest in helping local people at times of illness, and that the training she had undergone at hospitals was of great use when the local G.P. could not attend a case immediately. It is plain that she did not have a formal training as a nurse, although no doubt she was well experienced as a hospital visitor locally, where she was renowned for comforting the sick, and for many charitable activities.

The Boer War began in late 1899, and Teresa at the age of fifty-four decided to visit South Africa. In her own words 'What prompted me to go out was a desire to be near my son, and to be on the spot should my services be required in any way'. Her son, Capt. Ernald Richardson, had been mobilised and put in charge of the 30th (Haverfordwest) Company of the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry, to arrive in South Africa in early 1900. It is recorded that the Yeomanry had several parades on Tenby beach, and were finally addressed by Gen. Sir James Hills-Johnes V.C. a neighbour and friend of the Richardsons, before departing for Liverpool to embark on the Elder-Dempster liner Montrose taking 500 men and 300 horses to Cape Town. Once in South Africa, the 30th Yeomanry were to be under the command of Major Cropper; he later died of wounds received in the war. Teresa's husband, John Crow II, was Colonel-Commandant of the 3rd Glamorgan Volunteer battalion, Welsh Regiment, raised in Swansea, volunteers from which would later reach South Africa. A visit would therefore be appropriate for him also. Aware that she might have difficulty in helping to nurse in military hospitals, Teresa was prepared to pull every available string, and wrote to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) seeking support; she received a hand-written letter from the Prince's Private Secretary, Sir Francis Knollys, on his behalf, commending her plans. Also existing is a note from Surgeon-Capt. Lloyd of the 1st Battalion, Welsh Regiment (address Derwen, Llandeilo he was her G.P.) saying that she had frequently nursed medical and surgical cases for him: she was ‘a very efficient nurse possessing sympathy, tact, enthusiasm, and plenty of nerve'. The Richardsons disembarked from the Dunvegan Castle at Cape Town on 8 March 1900. Teresa at once found, as she had suspected, that she was not welcome to help in any military hospitals. She wrote later:

I quite agree with the views of several eminent men that many women have proved themselves quite unfit to undertake any work in hospitals. The P.M.O. himself told me that visitors had fed typhoid patients with fruit and cakes, thereby endangering their lives, had interfered with the Army nursing sisters, and had even forced their way past the sentries.

She was, however, able to help in a civilian hospital (the Woodstock) at Cape Town. With her husband, she was entertained by Cecil Rhodes at Groote Schuur, and met Mr. and Mrs. Rudyard Kipling at a luncheon party. In April, Ernald Richardson arrived with his unit and, after meeting him, his parents decided to visit Kimberley, entailing a forty-four hour rail journey, and visit some scenes of the recent fighting. Kimberley itself had only just been relieved after the Boer siege. Teresa was allowed to help in a local hospital of fifty beds, mostly caring for British troops suffering from typhoid. At a public concert organised by the King's Own Scottish Borderers her recital of For England was acclaimed. At this point, Col. Richardson left her, on his way back to England.

On 22 April she wrote in her diary: I am staying on with a lady friend for 2-3 days We heard that Paardeburg is only 30 miles distant so we consulted our friends about going there. Our landlord Mr. Glover has promised to drive us over with his four greys. Bad Luck! A farmer has passed through the village and says the road is shocking, that the drifts are high, and that there are small parties of Boers about who may fire on the cart and commandeer the horses so we have given up the expedition.

April 23. Happy thought! Boers don't want to be bothered with women, so we will go by ourselves if we can get a cart, and shall be far safer than if we had a whole regiment of Tommies running after us. I found a loyal Dutch farmer who says he will take us to Paardeburg and back in three days with his Cape cart and four horses. Hurry scurry, off we go, with our cheery Dutchman, Mr. Von Niekirk, and his four shabby little horses: 'Hopley', Wily', 'Diamond', and 'Quickly'. Diamond has been in the wars, and was picked up cheap with a bullet wound in his neck and another in his hindquarters. We were bumped and jolted through rather a deep drift, and arrived at Jacobsdaal at 2 o'clock, where there was nothing to eat but dry bread and a fruit tart covered with flies. Leaving at 4, we drove on to a farm, arriving about 6, and asking for shelter. The farmer, named Guyers, is a disloyal subject, and while fighting with the Boers had a great deal of his property destroyed. However, he offered us an empty room into which the family dragged a mattress, a table, and two chairs. Then 11 of them proceeded to stand round the room and watch. Having at last gently persuaded them to leave, they next took up a position at the window, where the panes had all been smashed; and we had no peace till it got dark, and I had hung up my big cloak as a curtain. We were both very hungry, and enjoyed the frugal meal we had brought with us, of hard boiled eggs and biscuits, and Mr. Guyers kindly gave us some milk. At 8 o'clock we could hear the family singing their evening hymn, after which they all went to bed. We strolled out on the veldt where there was no sound but the chirping of numerous crickets, and the vast expanse of the heavens was spangled with stars, while the great searchlight of Kimberley was slowly revolving, 25 miles distant. What a funny bed, no sheets or blankets, only a bare mattress with our own rugs!

April 24. Up at 5 and away at 6, leaving on our right a tiny enclosure containing, amongst other graves, those of Kendall and Williamson, Welsh Regiment. It was now nearing 10 o'clock and there was no longer any doubt that we were close to the battlefield, for the air was heavy and tainted and almost intolerable. Nine dead horses were heaped together in a small kopje, as yet untouched by jackals or vultures. On all sides lay oxen and horses where they had fallen.

April 25. Up at 5.30 and off at 6. The little horses seemed tired as they had been turned out for the night on the veldt, but after 2 hours they had a good feed of fresh dewy grass. Strange birds and butterflies were sporting in the sun and little meerkats scuttled by and sometimes sat up to look. But the veldt is loveable in its own way, in the space and the freedom, in the intense purity of its air, in the glorious colours reflected from the setting sun, in the tangle of many coloured flowers, in the solitude which attracts and yet weighs upon the heart of the traveller. Truly it is a land of paradoxes, full of witchery and beauty to those who can find them in these long sandy stretches! The charm and glamour of the veldt still cling to me, as we wistfully watched Mr. Van Niekirk and his team of hardy little horses vanishing in the distance and waved him goodbye.

Back in Cape Town in May she had time on her hands, but was allowed to visit the Woodstock Hospital again on a daily basis. Ernald had crossed paths and gone up to Bloemfontein. On May 24 she was asked to help there urgently: the No. 10 Military Hospital was trying to cope with a serious typhoid epidemic that had broken out amongst the British troops. This meant another long journey of two days and three nights on the train.

May 28. I have begun work at St. Michael's Home, where the Anglican sisters have given up their school buildings to the Military Authorities for use as a hospital. It is attached to No. 10 General Hospital and there are from 80 to 100 patients in the four wards, mostly ill with fever. The camps are reeking with enteric and all the large buildings such as the Raadzaal, Colleges and Schools have been commandeered for the sick. It is sad to see the long funeral trains wending their way to the Cemetery, often as many as 20 men being buried at once in a long trench. There is no time to make coffins, so they are wrapped in canvas with the colours over them, laid in rows in mule wagons, and so borne to their last resting place. Death, indeed seems to be overshadowing the whole town, and I feel the privilege deeply, of having been called, at last, to nurse and comfort our brave soldiers. I am in Sister Caroline's ward, and she is very kind in explaining and putting me in the way of things at first. It is a little puzzling to get the lads' names and direction for each one, but two days' hard thinking has put that right. The morning is employed in taking temperatures, measuring stimulants and medicines, and constant feeding giving out cigarettes to the convalescents and helping one here and there to learn to walk again. After dinner hour the usual routine, with beds to be tidied and often time to chat with the patients. It is hard to have to refuse them food, for which they often crave, but they are on the whole most good and reasonable. Food is still rather scarce, eggs 4/- doz.; and fuel so short that the Landlord can't give us fires, so it's pretty cold at nights; and as paraffin is running out, the shops have to close at dusk. I am the only lady in the Hotel at present, but it's not dull, as so many officers dine here, and several of the Welsh Hospital staff are at my table. They are waiting for the huts and tents to be ready at Springfontein. It is strange at first to wake up at night and hear the tramp of soldiers on the march, or the sound of bugles, but one soon gets accustomed to the novelty of the life.

June 6. Three Nursing Sisters and two orderlies are down with the fever. One of them, Goodwin, is very ill and delirious, and as we are short-handed today there is a good deal to do. No less than 11 orderlies are sick in the wards.

June 7. I was on duty all day, watching Goodwin, who passed away quietly at 10 minutes to 5. Temperature 107.4 but before he died I was alone with him behind the screens and hoping he would regain consciousness but he just fell asleep, like a tired child. R.I.P. Plenty of work with patients, constant sponging to reduce temperatures, and careful watching with so many bad cases. The Town seems full of troops, and very few civilians have been allowed to come up from Cape Town. I went off duty at 4 one evening and helped Mrs. Murray Guthrie and Lady Henry Bentinck at the Station Tea Room, and we served about 300 soldiers. Another evening I recited at the Soldiers' Recreation Room at Miss Brooke-Hunt's request but found it was too tiring after nursing all day, so I have given up all visiting and evening engagements. The Dean is very pleasant, and his wife, Mrs. Vincent, young and pretty, and I had supper with them one Sunday, but was much too sleepy to enjoy it. Bed at 9 and 10 hours sound sleep suits me best and then I am fresh all day to look after the 'Boys' in hospital.

Nursing typhoid fever then was primitive, and a risky occupation for the nursing staff. One day she herself felt ill and must have been worried for a while, but soon recovered.

June 11. Nursing Sister Clayton died yesterday and was buried today. I am so thankful that the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry have been sent to Smithfield and are out of the way of this unhealthy atmosphere though it has been a disappointment not seeing Ernald. It was such a pleasure having a surprise visit from Sir James Hills-Johnes time wasn't half long enough for all we had to say. He has promised to look me up again on his return from Pretoria. No hope of getting to Pretoria. I tried a carrier who has a wagon with eight mules, and he was inclined to take me amongst his goods and do the journey in ten days but we find Lord Roberts' orders are as strict by road as by rail, so it is given up. Perhaps just as well, because if the farms refused to put me up, it would be cold this time of year sleeping in the mule wagon or in the small tent I should have taken in the cart and pitched at nights. Besides which, there's plenty of nursing to be had here for the present.

June 18th. More orderlies have fallen sick, only 6 out of the original 25 are now on duty. Windle is very bad, temperature 106, and he has to be constantly watched, as he is so restless and delirious. I have cancelled my passage in the Briton, as (my husband) is going into Camp and can spare me till the middle of August. We are very busy just now, and I have been moved into Nursing Sister Ainsworth's wards where there are 45 patients. She is charming to work with, and everything goes quite smoothly.

Gradually the epidemic subsided.

In early July: A wire from Ernald asking me to come and see him, and nurse at Rouxville. I stayed for one night at Springfontein and slept in a tent at the Welsh Hospital. It was bitterly cold, a sharp wind blowing and there were several degrees of frost.

She was met by Ernald at Alival and drove twenty-two miles to Rouxville but, finding little nursing work was needed, she decided to leave for home after about a month there:

I close this journal on 6 September with (my husband) and I once more together in our lovely valley. Home Sweet Home.

To digress slightly, Capt. Ernald Richardson and the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry, having at one time thought they might be sent back to England without seeing any action, saw plenty later in the war. At Fauresmith, south of Kimberley, Ernald related: The day before yesterday I had a narrow shave. They spotted me as being the officer whilst out on patrol, and rained bullets all round me. One went through my hat, and carried it off my head, and another went between my two arms. But I got through safely without a scratch. The Boers for the present have cleared from the district, and as there are two flying columns after them, and reinforcements have come here, we shall, possibly, not see them again. I am glad No. 1 Troop have seen fighting. We shall have had about as hard a three days as anybody would wish for, especially in the trying experience of having to ride right up to 'kopjes' to draw the enemy's fire. But there was no hesitation on our part and on several occasions some of us were within 50 yards of their position before they fired. It seemed a miracle that we escaped. Francis did a very plucky thing when communication was cut. He rode right through the Boer lines with a message. He had a very narrow escape.

Ernald survived the war, only to contract typhoid fever whilst returning from a business trip to Mexico in 1909; he died at Glanbrydan Park.

In her diary, Teresa does not mention the controversy that had arisen over the medical arrangements for the troops in South Africa. The Times newspaper had published several reports on some appalling deficiencies, in particular at Bloemfontein, about the time that Teresa was there. On 20 July 1900 a letter from her was printed in the Western Mail defending the medical authorities, and her attitude subsequently was very much on the side of the 'Establishment'. In November 1903 Col. J. C. Richardson died unexpectedly in London, though he had been in poor health for some time. Possibly Teresa needed a change of scene; at any rate, in April 1904 she was in Tokyo. The Russo-Japanese War had just broken out. She had arranged with Viscount Hayashi, the Japanese Ambassador in London, to join the Japanese Red Cross Society, which qualified her to nurse in that country. In her book In Japanese Hospitals during Wartime, she later wrote:

It may be asked how it came about that my services were accepted during the whole of the war. The explanation is that, although not a professional nurse, I had received a medal for services during the war in South Africa, and I came to Japan for the purpose of giving help where it was most needed I undertook to be entirely responsible for my own expenses. I am also able to speak French and German, the latter being almost indispensable at that time. Many Japanese surgeons had studied in Germany, or had a knowledge of the language to read German textbooks. She spent some months at the Shibuya Hospital in Tokyo, nursing wounded soldiers. She described some of her work in her ward at the hospital: Besides massage and helping with surgical dressings, there were several helpless patients who required a great deal of attention. Hot drinking water was being constantly called for, nails required trimming, crutches had to be fetched, ice brought for headaches, tobacco jars emptied, and meals served. Patients in bed often required feeding, though they liked to be independent, even those who were blind preferring to hold the spoon themselves.

Late in 1904 she was invited to accompany the Superintendent Nurse of the Red Cross Society on a tour of hospitals in Southern Japan, and visited some of the big cities. She was able to visit a camp for Russian prisoners of war on Matsuyama:

The Japanese treated them more as honoured guests than as prisoners The rations of the officers consisted of a daily allowance of 1 lb. of meat or fish, ½ lb. bread, about l½ lbs. vegetables, butter, tea, sugar, pickles, etc. The men had comfortable mattresses on the floor, with plenty of blankets, white sheets, and soft pillows.

By the Second World War, things had changed!

Christmas back in Tokyo found her feeling homesick:

I thought of the old home in Wales, of my children, their little ones and of many dear friends'. In the new year she moved to a hospital in Hiroshima, where most of the Japanese wounded were taken first. One young soldier who died in our ward had been shot through the lungs, and his laboured breath became more and more feeble his mother arrived just in time to see him die she collected his little treasures, folding them up in a handkerchief. I longed to comfort her, and as we clasped hands, East and West seemed to be united in sympathy, for I too had lost a soldier son.

She was able to travel to the Port Arthur area on the Asiatic mainland on a hospital ship, visiting the scenes of many hard-fought battles, before returning to Tokyo and sailing to Vancouver on her journey home. While in Japan she had been introduced to the Empress and Crown Prince a few times, and also met Admiral Togo, the victor of the battle of Tsushima Strait, one of the great naval battles of all time.

Details of the rest of Teresa's life are much more sparse. In 1909 she suffered the death of her elder son, Ernald, as already related. By 1912-13 she had spent six months in Athens nursing men wounded in the Balkan War, between Greece and Turkey, but no records of her service there survive. About this time she wrote two novels, published in London. On her return from Japan she had written a short story based on her experiences, which was serialised in The Carmarthen Journal in 1906. In 1914, aged sixty-eight, she went to Belgium on the outbreak of the First World War. British Red Cross records show that she was engaged by the Joint War Committee of the Red Cross and Order of St. John, from August 1914 to March 1918, with the rank both of Matron and Lady Superintendent. At first she nursed at the Hospital of St. Jean, Brussels, moved to Antwerp when the capital fell to the Germans, and finally escaped down the River Scheldt in a coal barge loaded with refugees, being one of the last Britons to leave, in October 1914. In 1915 she nursed at the Princess Christian's Military Hospital, Kenwood, and the following year at No. 2 London General Hospital, Chelsea.

Teresa died at the Grand Hotel, Bath, two days after the Armistice in November 1918. This location has not been explained perhaps she was en route to visit relations or friends. It was said that the privations she had suffered during her escape from Belgium had affected her health, but she was aged seventy-two. She was taken back to Caledfwlch Church, Manordeilo, to be buried alongside her husband. An obituary notice said:

A magnificent sum was given by Mrs. Richardson towards the endowment of the new parish, and a few years ago she gave another sum of £500, the interest on which is to be devoted to 'Upkeep of church services'. Her love for the church could not be excelled. She acted as deputy organist here during the whole of her stay at Glanbrydan Park, and was at the head of a most flourishing Bible class.

For her we may, with full hearts, thank God. None who needed help appealed to her in vain. It was her mission in life to comfort, to guide, to enhearten, and most nobly she fulfilled the task.

During her life she had been awarded the South African Medal, the Order of the Cross of St. John, the Japanese Red Cross Order of Merit, two Greek medals, and the British 1914 Star. Her tombstone says simply: Teresa Eden Richardson Born June 21, 1846 Died November 13, 1918 She was truly a remarkable lady.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to thank two descendants of John Richardson, viz. Mrs. Susie Storey of Selborne, Hampshire, and Mr. Peter Richardson of Washington D.C., for help and information in preparing this article. I am also grateful to Mr. Edward Pearce Serocold, Mr. Thomas Lloyd, and Mr. Fred Sharf of Boston, U.S.A.