The following is an extract from a letter written home to Penrith, Cumberland, by William Robert Turner, which was published in The Westmorland Gazette, 1.2.1902. Can the first three despatch riders be identified?
"Corporal W. R. Turner, of the 24th Company Imperial Yeomanry, writes from Jackals Kop on December 17th [1901] : Nine despatch riders attempted to reach us with despatches; five got through, and three were shot, while the ninth got through safely, but with great difficulty. We have had engagements with nearly all the commandos in the colony. With regard to these despatch riders, I may say that there is a small farm outside Sutherland, and the first three riders asked to be allowed to stay in the shed of the farm overnight, to which the farmer agreed, but during the night the Boers appeared on the scene, and the farmer told them of the whereabouts of the three riders. The Boers requested them to come out, but they refused, and in order to get them out of the shed the Boers set fire to it. When the three riders attempted to escape, two were shot dead and the third was shot through both legs, splintering the bones, owing to the Boers having used explosive bullets. He, however, managed to creep to the river side, where we found him two days later, and the farmer refused to give him anything to eat or drink. We searched the farm and found a rifle and ammunition, and then took the farmer prisoner. He is to be tried at Sutherland for murder, as the rider has since died. Three more were murdered about a mile away. A Penrith lad, named Tinkler, and I were going to Cosack Post, and we found where they had been buried in a kraal, with only about half an inch of soil over them, on which were lying some big stones. The odour was terrible, and there were hundreds of maggots about them."
