TOPIC:

Some interesting assumptions made. I haven't trawled through all the contributions but do wonder what, if any, records of similar unnatural or non combat related deaths happened on the Boer side. Apologies if this has been addressed earlier.

One of two recorded casualties being accidentally killed in a fall from cliff.

Private/ Bugler 4594 D (David?) Mcfarlane. 1st Battalion Highland Light Infantry.  Who was reported as dying on the 9th July 1901 at Dordrecht.

Report by Captain RWH Anderson 1st Battalion Highland Light Infantry.

About 11am on the 9th of July 1901, it was reported to me that a body of a soldier had been found.
I wasn't with Sergeant Major Steven's or the stretcher party to the Kloof east of the town, when I found the body of number 4594 Bugler D Mcfarlane at the foot of the rocks. From the mark's on the rock, he must have fallen from the rocks above a height of about 40 feet.
His neck appeared to be broken and his skull fractured and he appeared to have been dead over 12 hours. His watch had stopped at 08.40, bugler Mcfarlane was seen alive the previous evening, so there I presume the accident happened at night, namely 08.40 PM on the 8th of July 1900.

Additional information:-

Bugler Mcfarlane was born in Malta circa 1880?

Father was called David, his sisters were Mary & Margaret also a brother James is recorded as being the recipients of D Mcfarlane's personal effects.  Believed to be unmarried.

Memorial location.
Dordrecht, Chris Hani District Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa

He is also commemorated on the Highland Light Infantry Boer War memorial at the eastern end of Prince of Wales Bridge in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland .

QSA medal clasp entitlement,  Wittebergen, Cape Colony, 1901 date clasp.

Additional notes :- Reference the search party for Mcfarlane. Captain Anderson was mentioned in dispatches. September 1901 Lord Roberts

Sergeant Major Steven's was a DCM recipient for action at Magersfontein, also MID by Lieutenant General Methuen for Magersfontein action.


Courtesy of Find a Grave

Rory, your question about Boers is most interesting.

Prof JC "Kay" de Villiers wrote a wonderful 2-volume book which I love, 'Healers, Helpers and Hospitals - a History of Military Medicine During the Anglo-Boer War' in which he writes a chapter on 'Functional and Psychiatric Disorders'.
Prof De Villiers finds there is quite scanty information about PTSD etc on the Boer side.
His chapter is very detailed, but a couple of good points are:
- Boers often got out of an upcoming battle by getting a sick note or by doing laager duties, if they didn't feel up to it.
- There was almost always a way to escape from a battle, for the Boers - the exception being the laager at Paardeberg, where there was considerable distress. So, in a situation like Spioenkop where the British were trapped, the Boers could go down the hill at any time.

In other sources I have noted that the Krijgsraad meant the burghers had to approve the plan of attack in the first place; and given the voluntary nature of combat among the Boers, the less bold could look after the horses during a battle.

Dave,

Pte D McFarlane is also commemorated on a plaque in St Giles Cathedral, Midlothian Scotland.

Elmarie

Many thanks for this invaluable information.
Very much appreciated.

Kind regards

Dave.......

Hi,

in keeping with the above subject, I was also able to locate an entry in the SAFF Casualty List for Private W. Robertson of the Indwe Town Guard who is listed as killed in action on the 2nd October 1901 by falling over precipce (very steep rock face or cliff) and the place of death is listed as Queenstown. Whilst comparing the entry in, 'In Memoriam' by S. Watt, the place of death is noted as Indwe and a discrepancy in the date of death as 21st July 1901. There is no known place of internment.

I have looked through the Campaign Medal and Award Roll (WO100/281) on Ancestry for the Indwe Town Guard and have not yet been able to locate an entry for W. Robertson.

Not knowing anything about Indwe, I was able to find out that during this period, it was most importantly a location of a coal field which regularly had issues with the Boers destroying the communications and branch line of the railway from Sterkstroom to the Indwe coal fields.


The next soldier is, 1139 Private F. T. Fisher of First City (Grahamstown) Volunteer who was initially severely injured on the 9th October 1901 at Mortimer Station after falling from a railway bridge and later succumbed from his injuries, dying a day later on the 10th October 1901.

The Campaign Medal and Award Roll (WO100/248) for the First City Volunteer's didn't share any more relevant information about Private Fisher.

I was able to find an image online of the final resting place for Private F. T. Fisher who is interred at Cradock Municipal Cemetery, Cradock, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Plot details are - British Military Section No. 36B.


Image courtesy of Find a Grave

Trev