TOPIC:

Good morning David,
Sir Godfrey Lagdon was a very deserving medal recipient, with a very fine career, he spent very many years of his life in Basutoland and he ended up as Resident Commissioner there.
He had unequalled knowledge of the kaffir tribes and he was also very experienced in dealing with them.

He later became the Chairman of the South African Commission on Native Affairs and much of his work was published in their Blue Books
He was also the Commissioner of Native Affairs in the Transvaal during the war, with his headquarters in Johannesburg.
He actually worked there with five members of his staff in a large house in Parktown called "Hohenheim" it overlooked a long stretch of veldt and had belonged to Sir Lionel Phillips himself, moreover, he was also a member of Lord Milner's Transvaal Government administration.

I do think however, that his finest hour came after the war ended, he was responsible for disarming the natives after the government had made a decission to take that course of action, I think it was a very bold thing to have done.
The natives had acquired many firearms during the war and many of those were modern ones actually picked up on the battlefields as well as the older ones that they had got from hunters and "gun runners" so it was a rather dangerous situation with so many lonely Boer farms and settlers.
Anyway, I think Sir Godfrey handled it all very well, he had the respect of many headmen in the Kaffir tribes, who held high regard for Britain and had much respect for Queen Victoria.
The government in the Transvaal paid the natives for handing in their firearms, Ten Shillings for an old muzzle loader and up to Six Pounds for a Mauser or Lee Metford/Lee Enfield, at the end, a whopping 300,000 firearms were collected by Sir Godfrey, I do not believe that he ever got the real credit he deserved for doing this.
If peaceful persuasion had failed, there might have been a very bloody war in the Transvaal, moreover, I think Sir Godfrey would have been made a scapegoat too!

Anyway David, I thought this might interest you,
Kind regards Frank

djb wrote: If you want to find Godfrey Lagden's entry in Ancestry you would have to search for 'Sir Goupey Lagden'.

That said, it is not easy to read:

Frank,

That was really interesting Frank as I did not know anything about him, just his name that appears from time to time.

Many thanks
David

A very good recipient, I wish I had his medals!

djb wrote: Frank,

That was really interesting Frank as I did not know anything about him, just his name that appears from time to time.

Many thanks
David

Assistant Commissioner Lewis Wroughton's QSA was sold in the Spink Centenary sale.

There are some interesting descriptions of Basutoland during the Boer War, and the role of the commissioners in the Earl of Rosslyn's "Twice Captured".

Justin

Thank you for that Justin,

Rosslyn's book is available on this site: www.angloboerwar.com/books/76-rosslyn-twice-captured

Regards
David