TOPIC:

I have mentioned this "dairy" in some of my previous posts, and it is the writer of this personal account, A. Attenborough, to whom it is believed my Webley belonged.

The volume itself is bound in brown canvas, with an elastic fabric band along with with a leather band with a small buckle to keep it closed. The first two pages on wither side are decorated with multi-coloured paper. The back cover has a storage position for black transfer paper sheets, of which some has been used throughout the book to copy some of the written information down. The pages of this book are most definitely designed to be used for dispatches, as you will see in the photographs. The grid on the pages are designed to be as a map grid if necessary, to a scale of 4 inches to one mile. This book was made in 1901.

It would seem like Attenborough did not have much to write about, as only a few pages have anything written on them. He writes about his movements to and from Volksrust (It would seem that he was an English colonialist resident of Volksrust in Natal), including a water-soaked visit to a block-house.

The first written page is a written "permanent pas" allowing Attenborough freedom of movement through English lines and through the local "Burgher refugee camp" ( Concentration camp). This pass refers to Attenborough as a guide, and was issued on the 20th November 1901 by the Field Intelligence office of Volksrust, and written by intelligence officer Captain A.L. Powell.

This is followed by a printed page detailing the specifics of the book.

The next written page following the printed page, is a written request for the increase of Attenborough's payment. In this request it is said that the writer of the request considered Attenborough to be one of his best men in Natal. It is even mentioned that general Hildyard thought highly of him. This request was approved.

The rest of the book consists of brief logistical and personal accounts.

The last page was written on the 2nd January of 1902, and details the surrender of a S van Dyk after a battalion of the 8th Hussars spotted some horses in the bush.

Why he stopped writing is unknown.

I have attached photos of all the written pages, photos of the exterior of the books, and a photo of a blank dispatch page.

Thank you;

J.I.W

Here are the last few photo's.

I forgot to add this one.

A very interesting relic. To judge from the National Archives of SA's online inventory, and FamilySearch, he was probably Arthur Attenborough, who was a civil servant in the Transvaal after the war. He served i.a. as assistant registrar of births and deaths in Piet Retief (1902), then as clerk of the court there (1904) and later in Volksrust (1905) and Pretoria (1906), and was seconded to Carolina as court interpreter (1909). He died of pneumonia at Bethal in 1931, aged 59.