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I recently acquired this exceptional photograph of a Boer commando. It has no proper caption, just the name "B.P. Geldenhuys" at the bottom of the print. Luckily, it turns out that MC Heunis has a second copy, which has the following inscription in the negative: "Commandant Vrooneman [sic - Froneman] and his Commando / Kopje in front of Landburg [Langberg] Homestead". I assume Froneman is the bearded man, seated in the centre of the second row, looking straight at the camera.
Note the eight OVS Artillerists in the front row.

Langberg is about 5 miles northwest of Magersfontein.

Christoffel [Stoffel] Cornelis Froneman’s Wikipedia entry states that he was commandant of the Ladybrand Commando at the outbreak of hostilities. However, several other sources place Commandant Ferreira in this position. Another site notes, rather improbably, that he started the war as a Burgher with the Senekal Commando. What is clear is that he quickly rose to the position of Senior Commandant for the entire Winburg Military District (with Commandant Haasbroek heading the Winburg Commando itself), and was later appointed Vice Commandant General for the Eastern Free State, and as such was one of the signatories to the Vereeniging peace treaty.

Christoffel Cornelis Froneman’s name is connected with farms at Boschdraai, Cypres, Hogitogi, Kromkuil, Mahemspan, Utopia, Vlakspruit, Wildebeestlaagte and Winburg (all in the Winburg/Senekal district).

So, the question is, which commando is he pictured with in this photograph? It seems that Ladybrand, Winburg and Senekal are all possibilities.

To confuse matters, Froneman’s son, who fought with his father and was captured in 1901, also had the name Christoffel Cornelis. He is shown on this site as having served with the Senekal Commando (which might explain the Senekal attribution noted above).

B.P. Geldenhuys may be Barend Petrus Geldenhuys. The League of Veterans gives his last known officer as General Cronje. He was captured at Koppiesfontein on 15 Aug 1900. However, the original P.O.W. return gives his field-cornetcy as Parys, which is over 100 miles north of the Winburg-Senekal-Ladybrand triangle.

The photograph came with a large 2-plate panorama of a Boer laager and a couple of other images relating to the Western Operations.











.The caption at the bottom of MC Heunis’s copy.






.Four of the eight OVS Artillerists






Langberg Homestead, 5 miles northwest of Magersfontein. According to the caption, the photograph was taken on a kopje in front of the farm, so probably on one of the hills to the east of the buildings (Copyright Google/AfriGIS 2024)












Panoramic photograph of a large Boer laager, possibly belonging to the same commando as pictured in the Froneman photograph. Note the ambulances in the distance in the last detail.



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Farm Map of the Orange Free State, showing seven of the nine farms associated with the name Christoffel Cornelis Froneman (highlighted in green). Winburg is on the west and Senekal on the east side of the area shown.

Ladybrand is some 45 miles to the south, so perhaps less likely to have been Froneman's commando.

Just before the outbreak of hostilities there were three men with the forenames Christoffel Cornelis in the Froneman family, spread across three generations. This might explain the three separate areas of farm land.




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Neville, one of the best commando group photographs I have seen. Besides a General Christoffel Cornelius Froneman (born 1846) there was a Kommandant Philip Albertus Froneman (born 1878), a grandnephew of the General. Although the man referred to in your picture is probably Christoffel, Philip was also very well regarded. He was a Lieutenant in Danie Theron’s corps and later served under Gideon Scheepers before becoming a Kommandant himself. He escaped when taken prisoner by British troops.

Herewith two pictures of the General and one of Philip, the latter unfortunately dates from long after the war.

General C.C. Froneman

Having had another look at Langberg on Google Earth, the height of the small kopje the commando is standing on suggests it is the feature marked on the aerial photograph shown below. It is, indeed, directly "in front of Langberg homestead". All the other hills are much too high.



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.................................Google Earth



According to PHS van Zyl's "Heldealbum", Stoffel Froneman was a commandant, later general and later Assistant Head-Commandant. He was one of De Wet's stalwarts. He was one of the few that escaped at Paardeberg when De Wet created an opening. He fought around Paardeberg, later Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Sannaspost, Rooiwal and again escaped from the Brandwater Basin with General Olivier. If his orders had been carried out to the word he would have captured Kitchener when his train was ambushed. He was with De Wet during the abortive invasion of the Cape and evaded capture but was wounded in the chest at Bothaville. As assistant head-commandant he was in charge of Winburg and some Eastern Free State districts like Bethlehem, Ficksburg etc. He was at the peace negotiations and voted for peace.




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