TOPIC:

Can I ask for help with a Ladysmith question please?

Does anyone know the name of the Boer officer mentioned by Baden-Powell in April 1900? BP wrote in his diary that 'Sir George White had given up a wounded Commandant to be treated by his friends'.

I do not think this is related to Elandslaagte. There were not many occasions when Sir George White was in this position. Rob D (thank you, Rob) thought it may be linked to the 6th January attack.

As context, BP was endeavouring to transfer the wounded Captain McLaren from the Boer Hospital to care in Mafeking. BP had tried several times for this transfer without success. The story of the Boer Commandant may have been fiction, invented to gain agreement from General Snyman.

Many thanks
David

This is a long shot.

Veldkornet Pretorius (often referred to as a kommandant), who was severely wounded at Elandslaagte, appears to have been allowed to return to the Boer lines after recovering sufficiently from the amputation of his left leg. However, Sir George White's involvement was tenuous to say the least, as he sent Pretorius down to Wynberg Hospital, and it was from there that the veldkornet was released.

Referring to the aftermath of the Battle of Elandslaagte, Nursing Sister Katherine Louisa Hill wrote in her memoirs:

We had one Boer Commandant (Pretorius by name) who came in with a fractured leg. They sat him in a chair & put his bad leg on another chair until he could be attended to. The man must have fallen asleep, suddenly we heard a -- - - - awful roar. This man’s leg had fallen off the chair. You can imagine what agony it was.
He was blessing the British in Dutch language; he was a big powerful man; they hurried him into the operating room & attended to his leg. Some months later he had his leg amputated in Cape Town & went back to duty. He often told the doctor, on account of the latter’s size, he would make a good target; he was very fond of coffee, as they all are, but he had his special brand; he was an educated man & spoke English fluently.

Sister Hill arrived at Ladysmith Town Hall hospital on 25th October, remaining their until the establishment of the neutral camp at Intombi Spruit in early November. A drawing of Pretorius being landed at Cape Town appears in Part 1 of With the Flag to Pretoria (published on 6 March 1900).

Although Sir George White did not personally return Pretorius to his family, I can find no record of him (Pretorius) in the POW lists, and Sister Hill's statement that he "went back to duty" implies that he was allowed to re-join the Boer forces. I don't know how long an amputation takes to heal, and whether this could fit with a pre-April timeframe.

SEE: South African Military History Society, Oct 2001



.From the album of Emilie Chamberlain (niece of Joseph Chamberlain).

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If it concerns VC Pretorius identified by Neville:

Van Zyl writes in Die Helde Album (page 21, translated from Dutch)

Fieldcornet Carel Pretorius of Johannesburg was previously employed by the NZASM. He was a pleasant, worthy and courageous man. lord Roberts ordered him to be released to Cronje’s Laager at Modderrivier after his leg was amputated while POW. “I have no wish to detain longer a brave soldier who has suffered so severely” wrote Lord Roberts to the ZAR Government on the occasion of Pretorius’ release.

Carel Pretorius died in 1937 at Johannesburg

Thank you Everhard,

If released to Cronje's laager, that would fit with the pre-April timeframe. However, Lord Roberts's involvement makes it less likely that this is the commandant referred to in BP's diary. Quite a journey though - captured at Elandslaagte, sent by White to Cape Town, leg amputated at Wynberg, released to Cronje's laager at Modder River.

Neville, David
Van Zyl wrote his book in 1944, 7 years after Carel Pretorius died. Memories fade, stories get enhanced. Unless the "Roberts letter" survived, I would take authorship and/or contents with a pinch of salt.

The release of Pretorius was reported in the UK press as an instance of Lord Roberts's kindness.


Nottingham Evening Post, 24th October 1899

Ladysmith, Sunday [22 Oct], 7 p.m.
Commandant Pretorius, son of the old Pretorius, is here a prisoner, having been captured and wounded at Elandslaagte.


Horncastle News, 25th November 1899

Cape Town, Tuesday November 14.
A batch of eighty-seven Boer prisoners who were captured at Elandslaagte arrived today by the Steamship Patiala. Many of the men were wounded. The most serious cases, numbering a dozen, were landed and despatched to the camp hospital at Wynberg. The others were taken to Simons Town to join their comrades who are detained on board the Penelope.
I conversed with some of the wounded, including Commandant Pretorius, who is shot through both legs, and with three members of the Johannesburg detective force enrolled in his commando.


The Scotsman, 23rd December 1899

TREATMENT OF THE WOUNDED.
NOTES BY SIR W. MACCORMAC.

I asked Commandant Pretorius (seriously wounded) if “he felt fairly comfortable under the circumstances and was receiving all the attention he expected at the hands of the military medical staff”. “Yes”, replied he, “they are treating myself and all my wounded friends splendidly”. He has a bad wound in the left knee, a broken patella, and three other flesh wounds.


Yorkshire Post, 5th February 1900

COMMANDANT PRETORIUS TO BE RELEASED.
LORD ROBERTS’S KINDNESS.

Cape Town, Saturday.
A correspondence has taken place between Lord Roberts and the Boer Commandant-General at Pretoria concerning the release of Commandant Pretorius, who was wounded and taken prisoner, and whose leg has been amputated. Lord Roberts, in writing to the Commandant-General, says he has no desire to detain so brave a soldier, and proposed to set him at liberty. He asks where it is the desire of the Commandant-General that Commandant Pretorius should be sent.
The reply states that the Commandant’s wife desires to thank Lord Roberts for his kindness, and asks him to send Commandant Pretorius to Lord Methuen’s head-quarters, when General Cronje will arrange for his conveyance to the Boer lines.


Western Daily Press, 17th February 1900

RELEASE OF COMMANDANT PRETORIUS.

Cape Town, Thursday.
Commandant Pretorius, who was wounded and taken prisoner, and whose release was promised a short time ago, has left here for Modder River, where, as arranged, he will be handed over to the Boer Commander.


North British Daily Mail, 20th February 1900

BOER WOUNDED PRISONERS.
COMMANDANT PRETORIUS RELEASED.

Arundel, Feb 18.
Commandant Pretorius and three other prisoners were handed over to the Boer commandant here today. They were sent from Arundel in an ambulance, a messenger having previously gone out with a flag of truce to arrange the hour at which they should be given up. The ambulance was met half-way by one from the enemy’s camp. The prisoners before being handed over had a cordial interview with General Clements.






Cape Town, Wednesday, November 15. The Boer wounded brought here by the Patiala were carried ashore by men of the Scots Guards. These fellows could not have performed their task more gently had the Boers been their own brothers. This batch of wounded include Commandant Pretorius. Philip Blignant – the well-known athlete, who competed in the African team in England last year – and two Cape natives (Liverpool Mercury, 21st November 1899).

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