TOPIC:

Neville, unless it is a cleverly parked stolen Boer cart in front of a Blockhouse, you are the proud owner of a picture of the first Armoured Personnel Carrier.

A Raphael Tuck postcard depicting a blockhouse.

"A Souvenir of South Africa / A BLOCKHOUSE on the Veldt / By Day and Night".
Raphael Tuck & Sons' "Empire" Postcard. Series 636.



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Hello,
my grandfather was one of the Royal Engineers, first of B-1 company then 47th Fortress company who was involved in the construction (and possibly demolition?) of the blockhouses at the end of the 2nd.Boer War. We think he went to S.A.in December 1890 and was stationed at Elandsfontein. He was a cabinet maker, assessed as highly skilled. He might then have been making furniture? I went to Middelburg, Transvaal and searched library records in the 1990s.I am trying to research as much as I can about the context and his likely involvement. We have a postcard of the church in Middelburg, Cape with no message or postmark, which has taken some years to identify. I am having difficulty finding very much about 47th Fortress Company except that it was a new one, created to speed up the blockhouse strategy in response to the Boers' guerilla tactics. I would dearly love to know the movements of the 47th, to know where he worked, and the dates of completion of the blockhouses, also difficult except in general terms. I have an enormous amount of information on the blockhouses themselves, including what is in this blog for which many thanks. There seems to be more available on their manning than who built them.
We do not know exactly when he came home. The supposition is 1908. What could he have been doing after the war ended? Also are there any shipping records? I would be grateful for any help with these issues.

Hello SDURSTON

Welcome to the forum. With regard to your Grandfather, is it possible you could supply the forum with a name, place of birth? The more details you can provide the more chance the forum members may be able to help you in your quest.

Cheers

Dave......

Thanks Dave. I will revert in a few days, just checking a few things with my sister who has his army records.

Hi,
I am the granddaughter of Sapper J.F. Clempson whose details are below. I am hoping that someone can help me fill gaps as to his time in the 47th. Fortress Company, R.Es at the end of the 2nd Boer War. The following is the information we have, with main questions in capitals:

JOHN FREDERICK CLEMPSON ROYAL ENGINEERS ANGLO-BOER WAR 1899-1902.
Name: John Frederick (Stroyd) Clempson.
Date of birth: 1st.September 1879
R.E. number 8900
Our Grandpa Clempson had joined Church Lads Brigade and then the 4th. Volunteer Battalion of the South Wales Borderers and is listed as a Private in either H. or I. Company based at the Drill Hall Abergavenny, where he was living at the time. COULD HE HAVE TRANSITIONED AUTOMATICALLY INTO THE VOLUNTEER BATTALION FROM THE LAD’S BRIGADE?

We don’t know when he enrolled or left to join R.Es but he was still in the Volunteer Battalion December 1899, as he is recorded winning a prize at a recruitment event:
“The men were invited to give their names as Volunteers for active service on the field, or garrison duty abroad, as they went forward to receive their prizes, with a most satisfactory result, no less than 37 officers and men volunteering for active service in the field, and 32 for garrison duty abroad. [Distribution of prizes to H and I Companies, 4th Vol. Batt. S. W. B.; Abergavenny Chronicle 29.12.1899]
Following this on Monday 8th January 1900, 3 Volunteers from 4th VOL Battalion and 3 reservists were selected to go to the front. Grandpa Clempson was not amongst them.

We don’t know when he joined the R.Es, but he was transferred from B-1 to 47th Fortress Company 11.12.01 and disembarked 14.1.1902.
WAS B-1 AN R.E. COMPANY OR STATION? (E.G. AT H.Q. OR SOMEWHERE ELSE?)

From "Find my Past":
Clempson F 8900 Sapper From B1 Company 11 Dec 1901.
QSA (2) Tr SA02
TNA ref 158/110

The 47th. Formed on 1.1.00. Sailed to South Africa 15th.Jan 1900. landed at Capetown 3rd. February. Arrived at Elandsfontein July 1900 (according to a letter from a Sapper Shaw who was with them at the time). We think he was at Elandsfontein but not yet as of 6.1.1902 as there is a letter in The Sapper, March 1902 which lists officers and N. C. Officers presently serving with the Company there. IF HE WAS A SAPPER WOULD HE BE CLASSIFIED AS AN NCO? Grandpa is not recorded as present, so arriving mid-January makes sense.

1st. Quarter of 1902 Grandpa’s company (47th.) was involved in the construction of 198 Rice Pattern circular blockhouses, which, along with 19,500 standards and 3,000 coils of wire were despatched to W. Transvaal, and a moveable blockhouse built on a wagon. [From Boer War diaries Folder BW6, accessed at Royal Engineers’ Library, Brompton Barracks in possibly 1998]

47th. Fortress Company was in South Africa 1900-1916. After cessation of the war on 31st May 1902 Grandpa Clempson would have gone with 47th Fortress (NO EXACT DATE) to Potchefstroom (where, in 5.6.1903 he applied for QSA MEDAL 1902 TRANSVAAL-we have this medal), then Middelburg (DATE?), both in Transvaal. My research in Middelburg noted 1904 as the time the troops left, BUT PRESUMABLY THESE ARE THE FIGHTING TROOPS-WOULD THIS HAVE BEEN THE REs ALSO? The 47th. Went to Cape Colony until 1916. [According to Graham Thompson, Assistant Curator, Royal Engineers Museum,13th. March 1998].

I heard that they were stationed in the Cape in Simonstown (a large naval base). IS THIS TRUE?
WE HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT THE 47TH.DID ON THE WAY TO CAPE COLONY (WERE THEY DECONSTRUCTING SOME BLOCKHOUSES, AS I READ THAT THE MATERIALS WERE NEEDED FOR OTHER PROJECTS)? WHEN WOULD THEY HAVE ARRIVED THERE?
We are pretty sure that Grandpa Clempson was in the Cape as we are in possession of a postcard (no writing or postmark) of a church in a certain Middelburg, which we have now identified as the one in the Cape, but WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE WAS DOING THERE OR WHEN HE LEFT. HOW COULD WE FIND OUT? Family folklore has it that he got bored and went off to work in the mines.

He is recorded in the 1911 census living in Abergavenny.

He may have been discharged in South Africa and returned home as a civilian or in UK as he re-enlisted for WW I -No. 72284.

Any help with this would be very much appreciated. I have a lot of info on the blockhouses and the defence strategy itself. Did anyone out there also have a relative in 47th?