TOPIC:

Bensley Frederick Butterfield was born in late 1867 in the small village of East Bilney about 5 miles to the north of the pleasant market town of Dereham in north Norfolk. He was baptised in the large parish church of St Mary on 17th May 1868. The baptism record and 1871 Census show his parents were both natives of Norfolk and his father was involved in the transport industry as either an ostler or coachman. By 1881 the family had moved south to the edge of Dereham in an area known as Gressenhall and his father was now a “Coachman Domestic Service” which could imply he worked for a well-heeled local family and 13 year old Bensley, the fifth of seven children, would have gained some familiarity with horses. He, along with his elder twin brothers, was augmenting the family income by working as an agricultural labourer.

Although Bensley was christened Bensley Frederick and attested in that name it is obvious he was popularly known as Fred. Quite where the name Bensley came from is open to debate but there is no doubt that as both a given name and surname it gains quite a bit of traction in Norfolk. This is attributed to a Norman family called Bensley being granted land in Norfolk following the Battle of Hastings in 1066. So perhaps Fred’s parents had pretensions.

In 1888 Fred’s father took over the licence of The Three Horseshoes public house in Gressenhall and the five acres of agricultural land attached to the licence. Whether Fred was around to help his father work this land is debatable because the 1891 Census found Fred residing in Walsall, some 150 miles to the west in the “Black Country”. Now Walsall was a flourishing tannery town noted for the production of leather goods but Fred had chosen to follow his father into the transport industry but with a modern twist, as he was employed as a Railway Porter. As railways existed closer to hand it seems an extraordinary move until one notices on the census return that he was listed as a nephew of the head of the household - he was actually living with his maternal Aunt Margaret, her husband (a Coal Merchant) and their very large brood of children.

Fred was to stay in Walsall until the start of the Anglo Boer War and during this time he joined the Walsall Volunteer D Company. His membership of a Volunteer Company could well have dated back to his Norfolk days as the Dereham Volunteer Company held their inaugural meeting in 1859 and were still going strong when Fred moved west.

Fred duly volunteered for service in South Africa in January 1900 and was chosen to be a member of the 1st Volunteer Service Company attached to the South Staffordshire Regiment attesting in Walsall for overseas service on 3rd February 1900. At the same day medical he was declared “fit” to serve in South Africa but he was a couple of inches below the average height for the time at 5 feet 4 inches. His father James, who had given up the licence to Three Horseshoes Inn in 1892 had died in 1896 and Fred gave his mother, Sarah as his next of kin with the rather vague address of “Gressenhall, Norfolk”.

6896 Private Fred along with 3 officers and 112 NCO’s and other Privates, according to the ship’s log, sailed for South Africa on 10th March 1900 aboard the Tintagel Castle. On 31st March they dropped anchor in Table Bay but it was a couple of days before they disembarked and made their way to Green Point Camp. Here they were involved with guarding hospitalised Boer prisoners and digging graves for those who had died – not quite what they had expected when they left had left Southampton a month earlier.

The Walsall Advertiser took a great deal of interest in the Boer War but carried no photographs. On the 10th March 1900 they made an exception and included a supplementary insert bearing this photograph:



The photograph does not entirely make sense to me as only 19 men from the four (A, B, C & D) Walsall Volunteer Companies proceeded to South Africa on 10th March. However, I feel that we can with confidence assume Fred is somewhere in the photo. He was one of the oldest and one of the shortest which allows elimination of many but still at least two possibilities on the back row, one in the middle row and one seated at the front. I presume the helmets received some toning down before they ventured into the field wearing them.

On Good Friday they learnt they were to embark on the Pavonia for Port Elizabeth the following day, 14th April 1900 but as the Walsall Advertiser gave space to six letters Fred wrote home to friends in Walsall I will leave him to tell his own story.

From the Walsall Advertiser of 5th May 1900:

FROM ONE OF D COMPANY

6896 Private B. F. Butterflield, of D Company of the Walsall Volunteers, now serving with the South Staffordshire Regiment at the war, writes home to a friend in his company under date March 31, as follows:- “We have had a splendid voyage and arrived here about eight o’clock this morning, and have now got to anchor until Monday. It looks a very nice place from our boat. There are a lot of prisoners round about us, and a lot camping out at the Cape. We heard as soon as we arrived that Joubert was dead, and had Cape papers on board, but there is not much news. We have had a funeral at sea, a young man belonging to the Somersets died on 23rd, and was buried on the 24th.”

From the Walsall Advertiser of 19th May 1900:

HOW WALSALL VOLUNTEERS GUARDED THE BOERS.

Private Fred Butterflield, D Company, writing to a friend in Newport Street from Port Elizabeth says:- “We are getting plenty of work. The first day we were at Cape Town I was with a fatigue party, and we had to walk 4½ miles to the cemetery to dig graves to bury the Boers who had died from fever. We had our photos taken in the graves. They are a rough lot, and by the look of them I don’t think they use much soap. The next day I was on guard at the hospital, where they are bad with fever. There was one big raw-boned fellow I had to take across the square, and I should think he stood 6 feet 3 or 4 inches. You should have seen me by the side of him with my bayonet. He looked as if he could have swallowed me. When I got him back to his tent he said, ‘Sir, give me a drop of milk.’ I had nothing to do with that, as they have orderlies to look after them. I said - ‘Now then, d……n you, get into your tent.’ He soon went in when he saw the steel shining. It was very hot there the first two days, but I have not been so hot since. We had about ten miles route marching on the first day we were out. We went all round the rocks and we had some climbing to do, which gave us an appetite for dinner. We live like fighting cocks, jam twice a week for breakfast and tea, ‘bread and pullet’ for the rest, and 1¼ lbs meat for dinner, so we are able to put some aside for tea. I enjoy it all right, though some don’t think much of it.”

From the Walsall Advertiser of 30th June 1900:

OUR VOLUNTEERS JOIN THE 38TH

30 MILES IN ONE DAY.

Private Fred Butterfield, of D Company at the front, writes to a friend in Newport Street:- “We have been ready to drop down when we have finished marching at night. We have been on the convoy all the way from Springfontein to here, Senekal. We are with the regiment at last (1st South Staffs, old 38th) getting to them on the 23rd of May, and stopping for the night. Then we had a forced march to here on the Queen’s birthday, doing about 30 miles in the sun, and being about all knocked up. They said there was fighting here, but it was some of the blacks looting the stores, and when they were caught at it, they turned round on them and killed six and wounded 26. They were prisoners when we arrived. We are expecting to move on again at any minute, but we could do with a rest for a week or two, after all the walking, close on 300 miles. We are the only Volunteer Company that have marched so far up country. I have not seen any place through which we have been that I should like to stay in. They are nearly all composed of Kaffirs living in huts. Now and again we pass a farm. This seems a nice little town, but we are not allowed to go into it. There was a church parade this morning. I should have gone to it, but Betts gave me a bit of fowl, so I stopped and cooked it for my breakfast. You should see us cooking. We have had dry flour dished out to us, so we had to make our own bread.”

From the Walsall Advertiser of 13th October 1900:

WALSALL VOLUNTEER AT THE WAR.

Private F. Butterfield, of Walsall, serving with the Imperial Volunteers in South Africa, in a letter to a friend in Walsall from Verede, under date September 3rd, writes:- “I expect you have seen, since I wrote last, that we were fighting at Willow Grange and Ficksburg. We were on outpost on the Sunday, and it was our time to go to the camp, but we were fetched in and sent to a kopje on which the Boers had been. Our tea was just ready, but they would not let us stop and have it. As soon as we got to the kopje we had to start to build up sangas. We had left our beds in the camp for the others to bring round to us. Some got them and some didn’t. I was one of the unlucky ones who did not get a bed. It rained and thundered all night, and as I was put on outpost, I could not go and fetch mine, and I lost the bed and everything that was in it. I was like a drowned rat, and the cold was nearly enough to kill anyone, especially with an empty stomach. But never mind, I’ve got over that. We banged at the enemy for about three days, and then they did the bunk. We followed them up and captured five or six thousand at Newport. We met the other draft of Volunteers just outside Ficksburg on the Sunday. We marched from there to Fouriesburg, and had just lain down for the night, when at about ten o’clock they fetched us up to guard about seven hundred prisoners. We enjoyed that all right, going round and pinching their jupatters, as we call our flour and water, and coffee, but we could not find any tobacco. I found a pom pom shell in one of their carts, but I have had it stolen. You can’t keep anything here. From there we marched to Reitz, staying there two days, and from there, last Sunday, to this place. We had a false alarm that the Boers were firing at our convoy, which was bringing clothes, not before they were wanted, I can tell you. I have scarcely got any clothes on. I am wearing my sweater for trousers. Some have got blankets round them, some old bags tied round them, and some with no boots. It would be a sight for English people to see us. One of our officers took a photograph of those who were the worst clothed. I was one of them, and a nice sight we made. I am feeling better than I have for some time. I am cook now, so we get a little extra meat occasionally. We are faring a little better as to food this last day or two, and it’s time we did. Remember me to the boys, and tell them I am alive and kicking yet, as I hope to go on doing.”

Fred obviously struggled with the Afrikaans names for places and for Newport we can read Naauwpoort. The “five or six thousand” captured Boers appears to be a significant exaggeration by Fred but I don’t think we can entirely lay the blame on him as many British newspapers at the time carried the headline “Unconditional surrender of General Prinsloo and 5,000 Boers to General Hunter”.

From the Walsall Advertiser of 2nd February 1901:

Private F Butterfield, D Company, 2nd V.B.S.S.R., has written a letter to friends in this town from Britstown, and the following are extracts from it:- January 5th. “We had our Christmas dinner at De Aar. We had cold roast beef and pickles, a pint of beer, and plum pudding. Some of this we bought, and some we made ourselves, and these latter were a lot the best. We took brandy sauce with them, and a fine treat we had. Everyone, I think enjoyed himself. We could buy beer at De Aar for 4d a pint, but it is dearer here , 1s 3d a half pint of Bass, and 2s a pint, so I haven’t had any. We marched from De Aar on the 28th and got here on the 29th – two days marching. We did 14 miles the fist day and 17 the second, the weather being very hot and the ground very dusty. There was little water to be obtained on the way. There was fighting just outside here on Christmas Day, and two Boers and two of our men were wounded. One of our men has since died – he belonged to the Bedfordshires. I got your tobacco today, and it is a treat. I am just enjoying a pipe. Being run out myself, I had expected I would have to buy some Boer tobacco, which isn’t up to much.”

From the Walsall Advertiser of 16th April 1901:

LINES FROM WALSALL IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS.

Private B F Butterfield, of the first company of the “W.I.V.’s” in writing home to friends on March 10th, from Britstown, Cape Colony, said:- “We had the 3rd Dragoons through here about a fortnight ago, which was just a month from the day they left England, and the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards two days after. It was a good job for us here, as Hertzog was not far away, and was making for the place. I don’t think he could have known the strength of the garrison, or I fancy he would have come and had a try to take us. We had, however, plenty of ammunition and forage. I hear that there was a bit of a scrap a short time ago not from here, and that our men captured about 200 Boers, and surrounded De Wet again. We have heard that he gave them the slip though. I saw Sergeant Buxton when he came through with the others. One or two said they were sick of it, so I don’t know how they’ll be if they have 12 months at it. They said they had nothing but biscuits and bully beef since they left the Cape. We told them they would be lucky if they got that all along. I have just received your tobacco today. You can thank the boys very much for it, and tell them I can’t drink their health, but I am smoking it. I live in hopes of drinking it soon. We have heard today that our lot of Volunteers started on the first of this month, and the Welsh arrived in Cape Town on the 7th. Their captain says he doesn’t think they will be long before they leave here, and we shall leave with them.”

Sergeant Buxton was one of two Walsall brothers who served in the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards.

Whilst still garrisoning Britstown, Fred and his comrades eventually received orders to proceed to Cape Town and home. I presume the journey from Britstown to Cape Town was mainly done by train, even so Port Elizabeth > Springfontein > Senekal > Willow Grange > Ficksburg > Naauwpoort > Fouriesburg > Verede > De Aar > Britstown all seems to have been done on foot meaning Fred marched at least 1,000 miles whilst in South Africa.

The Walsall Advertiser tells us that 2 officers and 98 NCO’s and Privates embarked on the Idaho which docked in Southampton on 20th May 1901. All the NCO’s & Privates were discharged at Lichfield on 27th May 1901. Taking into account the dozen and a half drafts that had been sent out in May the overall attrition rate of the 1st VSC was only 25%. Five died of disease, maybe Fred did not refer to them in his letters home as none of them were members of the four Walsall Volunteer Companies. None died as a result of battle and as far as I can ascertain none even made the casualty lists as a result of wounding.

Before Fred had been discharged he received another mention in the Walsall Advertiser of 25th May 1901:

“It is a tribute to the sturdiness of our Walsall youths that they have braved all those hardships, and come back, most of them, plump and smiling. A few of them have brought back with them some novelties. Private Silk, of Wednesbury had purchased a monkey at St. Vincent; several of them had ostrich feathers, parrots and paroquets, and skins and one an ostrich egg. Private B F Butterfield’s watch was a choice sample of the soldier’s ingenuity. He somehow broke the glass and part of the small hand last October. Watch glasses are not plentiful on the veldt but he found the lid of a Van Houten cocoa canister, and by snipping out a small portion of the rim of the lid, he made it fit over the front. The watch (which was from Sheppard Bros.) is still going well, with its unique half case of tin – a fact which may be interesting to the ladies and gentlemen who subscribed to the watches with which the men were presented on going out.”

Fred received the Queen’s South Africa (QSA) Medal with the Wittebergen, Cape Colony, Transvaal & South Africa 1901 clasps attached.

Fred appears to have returned to civilian life as a labourer in Walsall and continued his membership of the D Company as the 2nd V.B.S.S.R battalion orders published in the Walsall Advertiser of 29th June 1901 tell us he has been promoted to Corporal.

Then the Walsall Advertiser of 19th October 1901 tells us “Corporal B F Butterfield, of the Walsall Volunteers (a member of the first Active Service Company) has undergone a four weeks’ course of instruction in field cookery at Aldershot, and been awarded a second class certificate. This is considered very good, seeing that the usual army course of cookery for sergeant cooks occupies three months. Butterfield, however, acted as company’s cook for about eight months on the veldt in South Africa.”

We have to look further afield for the next mention of Fred in the newspapers of the Midlands to the Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth & District Daily Circular of 20th January 1902:



Allowing for a misspelt name or two, full military paperwork can be found for all of the above with one exception (Arthur Toney). They all attested in Warwick on 17th January 1902 for service in the Imperial Yeomanry. They were all then posted to Aldershot where they were assigned consecutive regimental numbers running from 41207 to 41223 with the exception of 41222 which presumably belonged to Arthur Toney whose paperwork cannot be found.

Fred, now 34 years and 3 months old, was given the regimental number 41210. Since he last attested, two years earlier, physically he had allegedly lost three-quarters of an inch in height (presumably a measurement error) and, much more likely, lost 18 lbs in weight. The most noticeable difference was in the “Distinctive marks” box – blank in February 1900 but in January 1902 bearing the remark “Portion of last joint of ring finger of right hand”. Presumably the word “missing” was missing and in the ensuing 2 years Fred had incurred a minor but unpleasant injury, possibly whilst in South Africa.

Their discharge papers show they all served in the 153rd Company of the 34th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry. At Aldershot they spent nearly four months training and proving their effectiveness at rifle and horse control. On the 14th May 1902 the 33rd and 34th Battalions of the Imperial Yeomanry set sail aboard the Assaye for South Africa where they arrived on 2nd June 1902! So Fred was denied adding the “South Africa 1902” clasp to his QSAM for want of a few days less training! All the other “Warwickshire” men not having served in South Africa before did not even receive a QSA Medal and there is no medal roll for the 153rd Company.

The doings of the 34th Battalion IY (consisting of the 151st, 152nd, 153rd & 154th Companies) in South Africa have not been lost in time owing to the writings of 44559 Trooper Thomas Charles Wetton of the 151st Company:



A copy of the book was sold in 2016 by Stella & Rose’s Books and their website allows us to peep inside. The text on page 150 reads:

“……of this conversation, simultaneously raised their right hands, grunted audibly, and with much gravity made deep obeisances and articulated afresh, which subsided as with great deliberation and solemnity they squatted in a semi-circle just behind their chief. Several Zulus, principally the elder and less active men, who had been unable to keep up the pace set by their chief, and who arrived after the conference had begun, stood behind the colonel, and performed the same routine of hand-raising, gruntings and obeisances before squatting with the others.
“The conference lasted for some time, and at its conclusion the chief suddenly faced his dusky subjects and harangued them with great animation for some minutes. When he had made an end of speaking, his audience, with one accord, rose to their feet, again raised their right hands, and all loudly grunted in a variety of octaves, which produced a weird discord. Whether these oral sounds were indicative of approval or disapproval it was hard to determine.
“The result of the conference was quite satisfactory, and the chief promised to do all he could to make his men work for the Boers, even going so far as to say he would punish them himself if they did not.
“Few of us who were witnesses of this amusing and interesting scene could keep a straight face, but the grave, dignified countenances of the Zulus betrayed no such outward sign of mirth. Evidently they considered the conference and the proper performance of their ……”

Alongside this page are two photographs, the upper entitled “Colonel Roch interviewing Zulu chief Khambi” and the lower “Zulu Warriors near Ngomo”. Two other photographs are viewable, the upper entitled “Scott Street, Newcastle” and the lower “The morning after the storm”. Unfortunately the quality and content do not warrant the trouble of posting them.

The newspapers of the day made numerous mentions of the 34th Battalion but the information given is at times contradictory. However, there is no doubt regarding where their commanding officer, Colonel T J Roch, learnt his soldiering - as a member of the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry – I have met him before when he was a Major and involved in raising the 30th (Pembrokeshire) Company, 9th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry in January 1900. His intention was that the 34th Battalion would be entirely Welsh but he was over-ambitious - the 151st Company was largely made up of Devonians although Wetton was a Londoner, and the other three Companies whilst having a significant Welsh presence came from hither and thither.

The 34th Battalion won praise for their “considerable service on the Zulu Border and were instrumental in keeping the natives quiet at a very critical time”. They seem to have spent most of their time in South Africa headquartered at Newcastle.

They arrived home in three batches, the first in October 1902, the majority in late November 1902, including Fred, and the remnants in early December 1902, including Thomas Wetton. Thomas Wetton was also awarded a QSA Medal as he had previously served in South Africa in the RAMC only arriving back in England in mid-February 1902 and two months before he set off again with the 34th Battalion – thus he was also awarded the KSA Medal. He went on to serve in WW1 before emigrating to Canada where he married a Canadian. Both he and his wife have military headstones to their graves for reasons not apparent to me.

Thus, Fred arrived at Southampton on 27th November 1902 aboard the Arundel Castle. He was discharged at Aldershot on 3rd December 1902. His discharge papers indicate he had decided to forsake Walsall as a future home and he gave his future intended address as that of his sister Annie who lived in Leytonstone, Essex with her husband, a railway worker, and their six children.

Eventually Fred returned to his roots and in the summer of 1903 aged 36 married a Norfolk lass, Lucy Jane Barker, in Norfolk. Their first daughter arrived a year later and their second another two years later. The 1911 Census found the family living in Dereham with Lucy’s mother. The return shows Fred had returned to the transport industry and was working as a “Carter”.

In the summer of 1912 tragedy struck when Fred died at the young age 45 from unknown causes. Lucy went on to marry again and passed away in 1953.

To me old soldiers from the Boer War do not seem to have entered the “conspiracy” of silence practiced by returning soldiers from the two World Wars. Rather they used their yarns of far of places and strange people to earn their next pint down their “local”. I wonder if Fred had a tin box he kept under the bed containing a medal, a beaten up watch, a photo of him ready to sail, another of him digging graves and a third wearing the wrong sort of trousers. Was it brought into use for the embellishment of bedtime stories which he later regretted when his sleep was disturbed by one of his daughters having a nightmare about a strangely adorned Zulu Chief arising out of his grave.

Thank you for posting this account of Pte Butterfield's life. I have had this framed Cape Town certificate hanging next to my computer for over 25 years.



The QSA is correctly named to 6896 Pte B F Butterfield Vol. Coy S. Staff. Regt.
Butterfield seems to have added an Orange Free State clasp to which he was not entitled between the Wittbergen and date clasps, probably when he had the separately issued South Africa 1901 clasp added. His grave is pictured on the Find a Grave website at
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2283467/memorial-search?firstname=&middlename=&lastname=butterfield&cemeteryName=East+Dereham+Cemetery&birthyear=&birthyearfilter=&deathyear=&deathyearfilter=&bio=&linkedToName=&plot=&memorialid=&mcid=&datefilter=&orderby=r&page=1#sr-51508897

The voyage of the Tintagel Castle is well documented in this very rare book ( previously listed by Julian Roberts Fine Books for £3000! ) by the explorer E H Shackleton before his career as an explorer had begun. In 1900 Shackleton was the Third Officer of the ship and this was his first book. There are numerous photos of the troops on board but sadly not including any of the South Staffordshire Regiment.



The book does include a nominal roll of all the troops on board. Butterfield is listed in the left hand column.

Paul - many thanks for your two brilliant responses which have sent my brain into overdrive.

The weekly Walsall Advertiser pulled one over on its rival the Walsall Observer when they recruited a "special correspondent" who was an un-named (unless I have missed something) NCO serving in the 1st VSC. Nearly every issue from 5th May 1900 contains a report from him occupying up to two columns. In the 12th May issue he gives a nearly daily account of the their journey out on the Tintagel Castle and concludes with these extracts from the ship's log:



I did not have Fred down as a clasp falsifier. Lt Crompton and 8 of the rank and file did have a legitimate OFS clasp because they were hospitalised during the relevant period to earn the Wittebergen clasp. From more than one article I have read there was some discontent with the clasp system and some of the anomalies it created. As Fred spent so much time in the OFC I wonder if, aided and abetted by some of his comrades, he decided to right what he saw as an injustice not being aware of the rules.

I have now downloaded all available sets of attestation papers - the entire company (including drafts) less the 5 who died of disease and 10 where the paperwork has apparently disappeared into the ether. Examination of them, including signatures, shows that several on the list you have supplied are misspelt - will need to check my database but two that immediately jump to mind are 6904 - his name was Dimbylow rather than Dimbelow, 6932 - Whitton rather than Witton. Witton, 6923 Bayley, 6925 Gilbert, 6949 Hadley & 6956 Pegg were all Smethwickians.

Regarding the certificate - it is in an amazingly good state of preservation without even a crease apparent, also his under the bed tin-box must have been a bit bigger than I had imagined. Deciphering the wording it would appear it was presented to him when he left South Africa which at first sight makes the date a bit odd but I presume the original was created in anticipation of the first volunteers leaving for home. I wonder if "Volunteers" included the IY, even so several thousand must have been handed out.

Regards, David.

Paul – Update 1 (of several) on the life & times of Bensley Frederick Butterfield:

A letter I overlooked because the scanner had misread “Butterfield” for “Hutterfield”:

From the Walsall Advertiser of 27th October 1900:

WALSALL IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS AT THE WAR.

MORE FIGHTING.

Private R F Butterfield, of the Walsall Volunteers, attached to the 2nd South Staffordshire (38th) Regiment, now serving in South Africa, writes home to some friends from Harrismith, as follows:- “Life is different now to what it was six weeks ago. I wish we could stay here a little while, but I understand that we are to take a convoy from here again this week. We got to Senekal on Saturday, September 15th, and found that there were some Boers on the other side, so we fired some shells at them, and they did the same to us, but they soon moved off. We had to go after them again on the Monday. We went 27 miles and captured 30 Boers and 22 wagons with ammunition, but the rest of the enemy got away. It is said De Wet was with them. We marched back again on the Tuesday to Senekal, and then to Bethlehem, where we left the division. We brought an empty convoy here, and they have got it about that we are taking another one out again this week, but I hope not, for we can do with a rest. We are getting splendid weather here now, and I hope it will keep up. The trees which are in full bloom, look beautiful. Whilst the veldt, in the parts where it had been burnt, again is nice and green. Our captain says he thinks we shall be on the road home by the middle of next month. If so we shall be all right for Christmas.”

I think I now have a continuum of letters as the starting point of each one seems to be the finish point of the previous one. I have also discovered from another source that the 1st VSC “detrained” at Springfontein which reduces Fred’s possible marching itinerary to:

Springfontein > Senekal = 196 miles
Senekal > Naauwpoort = 241 miles
Naauwpoort > Ficksburg = 296 miles
Ficksburg > Fouriesburg = 29 miles
Fouriesburg > Reitz = 62 miles
Reitz > Vrede = 57 miles
Vrede > Senekal = 134 miles
Senekal > ???? = 27 miles (see above letter)
???? > Senekal = 27 miles (see above letter)
Senekal > Bethlehem = 43 miles
Bethlehem > Harrismith = 56 miles
Harrismith > De Aar = 411 miles
De Aar > Britstown = 31 miles
Total = 1, 610 miles

Almost certainly the move from Harrismith to De Aar was done by train which reduces the possible marching total to 1,199 miles. (The mileages are based on present day shortest road routes as given by AA Planner). Hopefully I will be able to firm up on this itinerary when I have got my head round all the reports by the “Special Correspondent” in the Walsall Advertiser.

I have now identified the Special Correspondent as 6882 Sergeant Harry Middleton because he was presented with a purse of money at a celebratory dinner once they were back home – the purse of money was provided by the proprietor of the Walsall Advertiser in thanks for his efforts whilst in South Africa. I suspect, being below average height, he was the left (as you look at it) of the two Sergeants in the WIV photo.

The closing sentences of Fred’s letter above are interesting in that he expected to be home for Christmas 1900 by when he would have been away for only 9½ months when he (and all his comrades) had signed up for at least a year overseas. The Walsall Advertiser of November 1900 was full of reports that they were on their way home as General Rundle had decided he could dispense with the help of his volunteer forces. This lasted until a local JP, who was the father of the 1st VSC commanding officer (Captain Harry Denton), contacted the Walsall Advertiser during December saying he had received several letters from his son and the last contained the news that the return home order had been countermanded. In the event Fred set foot again on the soil of England on 20th May 1901 along with most of his comrades in arms.