TOPIC:

I am reseaching my maternal great grandfather HARRY STURGES DIXON. I know that he enlisted with Steinaecker's Horse in Dec 1900, but cannot find out anything else!!!! Can anyone help me with any further information about him? Look forward to hearing news

Many thanks
Paula

Hello Paula and welcome to this forum,
Trooper Dixon joined Steinaeckers Horse on the 3rd of December 1900 at Pietermarizburg according the their nominal roll, part of which is, here, on this site.
The Attestation papers for Steinaeckers Horse are to be found at the TNA Kew in WO126/141 and their nominal roll is there too in WO127/21, both make very interesting reading!
One thing I did notice about this corps was it became more and more notorious as time went on and was regarded with much suspicion by the powers that be, theft of cattle etc, they were raised in October 1900 and gained a very fearsome reputation on and around the Portugese border!
They served in what is now the Kruger National Park, you had not only illness, Boer commando and very unfriendly local natives to deal with, but, Lions and Crocodiles as well!
The other colonial corps were disbanded in 1902, but, because of their geographical location, Steinaeckers Horse was not disbanded until well into 1903, yet their medals do seem uninteresting with often just a single Transvaal clasp on their QSA's, but I like them all!
There pay was twice that of the other Colonial Corps too!
Regards Frank

Thank you Frank, that's a great start. I will follow up these lines and hopefully find out more about what role Harry had in the Boer War. We know he was home by 1905, so he didn't stay in SA for too long after the end of the campaign. I need to work out exactly when he left, but that may unfold as I go along.

Paula

Paula

In Bill Woolmore's book, 'Steinaecker's Horsemen' (2006), there is an unusually short entry for H S Dixon, as follows:

"Trooper n/n [= no number]: Enlisted in PMB on 3 December 1900. No attestation form in PRO. No further trace. Not on SH war gratuity roll."

Perhaps he was with the regiment for only a short time?

I will check the SA National Archives website in case there are any files on him recorded there, but I suspect that this has already been done by Woolmore.

I am sorry that this is such an unhelpful response to your enquiry.

Regards
Brett

Hi Paula,
Where abouts are you? perhaps I can help, Dixons number and date of discharge are not included on the nominal roll.
You joined for six months or three years in 1900 and upon attesting you were actually on probation for the first six months though!
I should tell you that there were a number of dismissals from this unit too, as I said they became notorious as time went by, in fact I've read a number of documents at Kew that implie that certain people wanted to see the corps disbanded.
There is a particularly good one signed by Major Congreve, with a direct reference to Steinaecker himself "No one thinks Steinaecker is an angle! but he has his uses" etc.
The area in which they served was very important and I suppose that because of this, Kitchener and the powers that be did not interfere! you had the shipment of arms coming down through Mozambique into the Republic, so there was much at stake.
Francis Von Steinaecker himself was quite a flamboyant character too, he had been an officer in the Prussian army and had served in the ranks of the Imperial Guides in South Africa in 1899, a number of promotions followed, he actually wrote to L/Col Sandbach, who was General Bullers chief intelligence officer and suggested that "his" own corps should have "his" own name, not bad for a mere Lieutenant!
I mentioned their pay to you, as you can see from their "conditions of service" it was not bad, the chap who signed this was a Sergeant and was on thirteen shillings a day!
Wonderful to talk to you Paula and I wish you good luck with your research.
Sincerely yours Frank

Thank you Brett, it would seem he may have stayed only a short time. It is difficult to find out what happened to him. Sadly, I never met him as he died a while before I was born, so I have no memory of him. We know he was there prior to 1896 as my great aunt was born there and he was back in the UK by 1904. It would be fascinating to fill in more information on those years, who knows I may be able to unfold the mystery!!

Paula