1900
Pretoria, Thursday.......
....Gen. Pole-Carew and the rest of the Guards have arrived here, including the detachment whose train was thrown off the line near Pan railway station.
....Every wound which the men received in that affair was caused by expanding bullets and some of them are terribly severe. The head of one soldier who was killed was smashed to pulp. In another case a large portion of the back was carried away, while another man had his knee smashed to atoms.
The Western Times, Saturday 6th October 1900
1901 -
A letter from George McInnes, 32nd (Lancashire) Company Imperial Yeomanry.
....The following letter has been sent to his friends at Ramsbottom by Trooper George McInnes, 22,647, 32 Company, Imperial Yeomanry, from Klerksdorp, Transvaal, under date October 4th, 1901. - We have had some very hard work before us. Several of us fellows have been out at night, patrolling and have lost their way on the veldt through their horses going lame. They have been pounced upon by the Boers who stripped them of their clothing and sent them naked into camp. We have had several instances of this description. At Parys, Transvaal, we had a splendid capture. We had just arrived from Wredeford, and crossing the Vaal River we noticed on one of the islands some Boers. Our officer, the company's director, two corporals and myself at once stripped and swam across the river to the edge of the island. Here we crawled on our stomachs through brushwood and thorns, our bodies bleeding awfully with the prickles. At length we got within fifty yards of the Boers, eleven in number, our officer gave us the signal to charge them which we did in no half-hearted fashion. I was the first up to them, and grabbed a Mauser rifle from one Boer Corporal. The other ten threw up their hands and admitted they had been fairly surprised and said we were brave fellows. On searching the Island we found it well stocked with meat and mealies. We found also the hut where they lived completely hidden from view by boughs. At the extreme end of the Island we discovered a boat which they had used for crossing the river. They said they had lived in the Island for the last twelve months. So I think I have done a fair share in the war. The Mauser rifle which I captured, I don't suppose I shall be able to take home. In the column we have no church services but On Sundays we generally sing a few hymns. I have several times sang solos for the Colonel and officers. You will be pleased to know I have sung sacred solos at the following Soldiers' Homes: Orange River, Springfontein, Bloemfontein, Kroonstadt, and also for the wounded in hospital at Springfontein. I saw a report in the paper where Lord Kitchener hits the Yeomanry a severe blow. He says the majority of them have lung disease. True enough, there are several fellows here who have bad health, and are good for nothing. But it is hardly fair the whole lot should be condemned on account of a few. Our company is supposed to be the best lot of Yeomanry out here, so the Colonel tells us.
The Haslingden Guardian , Friday 1st November 1901
