Many years ago I was lucky enough to sight and transcribe the Digest of Service of the 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment during the Second Anglo-Boer War, which of course formed the basis of ’War on the Veldt. The Anglo-Boer War Experiences of the Wiltshire Regiment’.
This document (and of course the original) are available at the Rifles Berkshire and Wiltshire Museum, Salisbury.
I have recently done the same with the Digest of Service of the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) and this document includes the accounts of the two Mounted Infantry Companies.
Again, this document (and of course the original) are available at the Rifles Berkshire and Wiltshire Museum, Salisbury.
I am also pleased to say that recently I was able to transcribe a document containing an account of the 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) during the Second Anglo-Boer War written by an unknown officer.
Working on this document has not only given me an insight into how the Regiment operated during the Boer War, but also into who might have written it. The document was clearly written by an officer in 1903. The author often uses the pronoun "we" indicating that this is a memoir of a man who served in the campaign himself. After working on this document I feel that it may have been written by a senior officer perhaps as notes for an intended published account. The document is beautifully written but has clearly been penned over a period of time and sometimes the writing reveals a rushed approach. The author uses the word "propinquity" as an alternative to proximity, a Latin phrase "Nil Desperandum" and a French phrase "Qui Vive" so is clearly an educated man. Most interesting and supportive of my theory is that when describing the loss of Officers (Lieutenants), Non-Commissioned Officer and men whom he clearly knows personally, he speaks of them as being promising young soldiers, indicating to me me that he is an officer of the rank of Major or above. I might hazard a guess at Major Sprot, who was a great Regimental Historian.
This is a hugely important document and I am very pleased to have been given the opportunity to see and transcribe it.
This document (and of course the original) are available at the Royal Dragoon Guards Museum, Edinburgh.
All of these documents are singularly incredibly important. The Wiltshire document describes a whole varied campaign. The Berkshire document describes work on the Lines of Communication and the huge ‘drives’ between the Blockhouse Lines to capture the Commandos and the Carabiniers document gives an incredible account of a Cavalry Regiment during the war.
So many hugely important historical documents sit in museum archives because they don’t have the resources to make them accessible.
I find unit histories are always so incredibly detailed and can often correct official histories or the work of well regarded authors. The information is out there, we just have to look for it.
