TOPIC:

1900 - Kimberley siege day 109 (87%). Ladysmith siege day 91 (76%). Mafeking siege day 111 (51%).
1901 - Modderfontein post captured by Smuts.
1908 - Dr. Jameson resigns.




G W Lines

In Kimberley:

Enemy appear to be making a new work near Carter’s farm.

Heard column guns firing at intervals early this morning. Enemy opened with gun from Smidts farm at train taking convicts to Kenilworth, and engine was derailed.

2 guns of DFA from Kenilworth opened at the enemy’s work making good practice; enemy replied at once, but made indifferent shooting.

About 22 waggons moved Olifantsdam in division of Scholtz’s Nek. 2 shells were fired from Wimbledon ridge into Beaconsfield during the day.

The enemy’s mounted patrol at Dronfield has been much increased. I counted 218 mounted men in it this evening and it moved from Dronfield in the direction of Felstead.

Another mounted patrol of 30 men was seen moving from near Toll Pan towards Felstead.

I sent the following by helio or search light to-day:

“From Int KB to Int MD. Jan 31 No 153. Yesterday’s news enemy sniping at patrols and cattle guards west of town throughout the day. Enemy’s gun Wimbledon fired six shots Beaconsfield during morning and evening. Nordenfelt at Alexandersfontein fired some sixty rounds at Beaconsfield defences during day. No damage done. Mrs Webster wounded during bombardment last week had leg amputated all other wounded doing well.”

“From Kekewich toi Methuen. Jan 31 No 154. Health report Kimberley whites general health fairly good, typhoid fever and infantile diarrhoea prevalent cases about three times as numerous as same period last year. Coloured general health fairly good infantile diarrhoea and scurvy prevalent about five hundred cases latter. Health garrison good, but abnormal percentage sickness Colonial Mounted troops. Three cases scurvy town Guard. Slight symptoms incipient among Town Guard, but doctors consider treatment will prevent same incapacitating men for duty.

I received the following:

“From Lord Roberts to Kekewich. Jan 31st. Your telegram 129 to Methuen. Fully appreciate the very natural feeling of apprehension felt by merchants of Kimberley as represented by you: the resolution by all classes under very trying circumstances in bearing so long and so patiently privations of siege have evoked he admiration and respect of all Her Majesty’s subjects. You can assure inhabitants Kimberley that they are not being forgotten, and that with God’s help all will (be) well ere long.

In Ladysmith:

Again the sky was clouded, and except during an hour's sunshine in the afternoon no heliograph could work. But below the clouds the distance was singularly clear, and one could see all the Dutch camps, and the Boers moving over the plain. The camps are a little reduced. Only four tents are left in the white string that hung down the side of Taba Nyama.

Two parties, of forty Boers apiece, passed north along the road behind Telegraph Ridge whilst I was on Observation Hill in the morning. But there was no special meaning in their movements, and absolutely no news came in. Only rumours, the rumours of despair—Warren surrounded, Buller's ammunition train attacked and cut to pieces, the whole relieving force in hopeless straits.

In the town and camps things went on as usual, under a continued weight of depression. The cold and wet of the night brought on a terrible increase of dysentery, and I never saw the men look so wretched and pinched. When officers in high quarters talk magnificently about the excellent spirits of the troops, I think they do not always realise what those excellent spirits imply. I wish they had more time to visit the remnants of battalions defending the hills—out in cold and rain all night, out in the blazing sun all day, with nothing to look forward to but a trek-ox or a horse stewed in unseasoned water, two biscuits or some sour bread, and a tasteless tea, generally half cold. No beer, no tobacco, no variety at all. To me, one of the highest triumphs of the siege is the achievement of MacNalty, a young lieutenant of the Army Service Corps. For nights past he has been working in the station engine shed at an apparatus of his own invention for boiling down horses into soup. After many experiments in process and flavouring, and many disappointments, he has secured an admirable essence of horse. This will sound familiar and commonplace to people who can get a bottle of such things at grocer's, but it may save many a good soldier's life none the less. I hope to see the process at work, and describe it later on.

Mr. Lines, the town clerk, who has quietly stuck to his duties in spite of confusion and shells, gave me details to-day of the rations allowed to civilians. During the siege there has been a fairly steady white population of 560 residents and 540 refugees, or 1,100 in all. This does not include the civilians at Intombi, whose numbers are still unpublished. Practically all the civilians are drawing rations, for which they apply at the market between 5 and 7 p.m. They get groceries, bread or biscuit, and meat in the same quantities as the soldiers. Children under ten receive half rations. Each applicant has to be recommended by the mayor or magistrate, and brings a check with him. I suppose the promise to pay at the end of the siege is only a nominal formula.

The civilian Indians and Kaffirs number 150 and 300 respectively, and draw their rations at the station, the organisation being under Major Thompson, A.C.G., as is the whole of the milk supply, now set aside for the sick. The Indian ration is atta, 4 oz.; rice, 3 oz.; mealie meal, 9 oz.; salt, 1/2 oz.; goor, 1-1/4 oz.; amchur, 1/4 oz. And those who will eat meat get 8 oz. twice a week instead of mealies. The Kaffir ration is simpler: fresh meat, 1 lb.; mealie meal, 3/4 lb.; salt, 1/2 oz.

In Mafeking:

There is one effect of this continual shell fire which is perhaps undesirable, and that is the remarkable degree of selfishness it engenders. There is really nothing to do and no excitement. News is rare, and not always of the best, and with lack of the proper amount of exercise and the frequent ringing of bells, which are almost as bad as the shells themselves, tempers get short, and the solicitude on " No. l's " account increases. However, entertainments like the one organized this evening, go far to relieve our spleen and vary the interminable monotony of the siege. We were warned in the afternoon that our artillery was going to bombard the Boer lines, and from various points of vantage numerous spectators strolled out to look on. Personally, I made my way to the trench running from Ellis's corner to the river, and selected a spot where I was well away from other people, and which commanded a good view of the Boer trench, and, above all, of the big gun, which showed clearly against the white marquees in rear of it. At the time there was no firing going on, and cattle on both sides were being brought home. Absolute stillness reigned, only broken by the lowing of the beasts, the sounds of the poultry yards, and the barking of dogs. These, with the drowsy hum of the insects, made one feel extremely sleepy, and one might well have imagined oneself lolling between two peaceful villages at home. However, at 5.30 p.m. a change came very distinctly " o'er the spirit of the dream." Our guns commenced, three seven-pounders and the Nordenfeldt, and steadily shelled for about an hour, answered by the nine-pounder quick-firer, five-pounder Krupps, and old Creaky, who swung her nose backwards and forwards from one extremity of the eastern defences to the other, making, on the whole, moderate but extremely varied practice. As I had a pair of very strong glasses, a small cluster soon collected around me, thereby inviting the undesirable attentions of their riflemen, who, however, were pretty well engaged themselves, and consequently did not annoy us very much. It was about as safe a performance for the onlookers as could well be imagined. The guns drew most of the fire, and were scattered over a large extent of front. One could plainly see the big gun, and when she fired our way, had ample time to get into the trench. There were no casualties on our side, but after dark the Boers, who had been much upset by this disturbance of their reliefs and feeding arrangements, commenced to shell the town, killing one man outside the newspaper offices, and contriving, in some extraordinary manner, to drop a fragment of shell down the chimney of the headquarters' staff offices. This they continued till past nine, doing no further damage, except to houses. The Boers in the course of the day put a five-pounder shell through a portion of the hospital, and at night fired a volley into the operating room, where a patient was being examined. So we conclude that they must have lost some men during the day, which made them vicious. During the past fortnight they fired upon a flag of truce, deliberately shelled the women's laager, and fired on the hospital.

From the diary of William Watson, Ladysmith, January 1900:

2 p.m. Many shells coming from Bulwan. — The refugees at Funk-camp, seem to be returning by degrees, I don’t think they have had a good time. We, in town, have not been comfortable, but their experiences must have been horrid.

1900 - From the letters writer by Lt Col Park in Ladysmith

We finished our three calendar months of siege yesterday, and it is a week today since Buller’s force had their last fight, and absolutely nothing has happened. There has been no more firing out there, and no messages or information as to his movements have come in, so what he can be doing all this time I can’t imagine. I am beginning to feel rather like General Gordon at Khartoum, as if we were never to be relieved at all. I smoked my last scrap of baccy two mornings ago. They are beginning to issue horse as part of the meat ration, and in place of bread, 1/2 lb. of biscuit a day, i.e. two large biscuits, which is mighty little, especially when the meat is so dry and tough it is impossible to swallow it. I have still got a pot of Bovril and a tin of Brand, also one of cocoa and milk, and I bought about 2 lbs. of home-made peach jam yesterday for 7s. and thought it was cheap. The horses get no food now, except what grazing they can pick up. I believe about three hundred cavalry horses were shot yesterday, and a very large number turned adrift to shift for themselves, as they are already so weak as not to be worth keeping. If someone doesn’t come to our relief very soon, we shall be in a very bad way, and in any case I don’t think the garrison will be fit for any more active service for many weeks, and I should think they might as well send us back to India as keep us here doing no good. We might then get back before the next hot weather sets in. I am beginning to be tormented by a horrible dread, lest if we don’t get out of this beastly country before the end of March, we shall be kept here till September, as it would be too hot to move regiments up country in India during the summer.

1900 - From the diary of Miss Bella Craw in Ladysmith

This is the ninety-first day of our Siege and we seem to be almost as far off being relieved as ever, except for the rumours that we hear. Buller seems to be no nearer. Things are famine prices, 32/6 for a dozen eggs.

Shelling brisk again this evening, 12 from Long Tom this evening in quick succession. Very tired tonight. Another of our Nurses off duty, ill, high temperature and aches and pains. I hope she is not going to be seriously ill. We hear today they are dying at the rate of 53 in three days. It is too dreadful. We hear "Oom Paul" is down here cheering and urging his men on. I suppose they are as tired as we are of waiting for Buller.

1900 - From the diary of Trooper A J Crosby, Natal Carbineers

Slept well in early morning. Feeling better. Temp, again normal. Doctor put me on arrowroot diet which meant ground rice, very musty and no milk. Things are getting more serious each day. Even the nurse declares she is starving. Good night.

Back to those wretched eggs again, they seem to have been a hobbyhorse for Miss Craw, she certainly must have been fond of them.
One is left to wonder just how much, exactly, Oom Paul paid for his?

djb wrote: 1900 - From the diary of Miss Bella Craw in Ladysmith

This is the ninety-first day of our Siege and we seem to be almost as far off being relieved as ever, except for the rumours that we hear. Buller seems to be no nearer. Things are famine prices, 32/6 for a dozen eggs.

Shelling brisk again this evening, 12 from Long Tom this evening in quick succession. Very tired tonight. Another of our Nurses off duty, ill, high temperature and aches and pains. I hope she is not going to be seriously ill. We hear today they are dying at the rate of 53 in three days. It is too dreadful. We hear "Oom Paul" is down here cheering and urging his men on. I suppose they are as tired as we are of waiting for Buller.