TOPIC:

1901 - Smuts surprised and attacked at Grootvlei. Sir G. Lagden appointed Commissioner of Native Affairs in the Transvaal.

My GrandFather Thomas Kermode was in the action at Grootvlei and won a DCM there, he was in the 5th/6th South Australian Imperial Bushmen's Contingent. He also was promoted to King's Corporal "in the field of battle".

I have some interesting documentation regarding his part in proceedings, as follows:

1) the medals (DCM, King's Sth Africa medal, and his IBC "badge")
2) his spurs
3) a letter to Thomas from his "boss" Col de Lisle, dated 7 October, 1938 telling Thomas that he (de Lisle) had written a book which included the story of how Thomas got his DCM
4) the extract from de Lisle's book re the DCM
5) a letter to Thomas from Prime Minister Jan Smuts's Private Secretary concerning one Johannes Petrus Naude (Field Cornet) who was wounded /captured during the Grootvlei action
6) a letter of "safe passage" written by Naude before he escaped from custody/hospital, for the use of Thomas K should he (Thomas) ever be captured by the Boers
7) Thomas K's brief general reminiscences of his Boer War experiences (but nothing re his battle involvements)
8) a newspaper account by Thomas of his part in the Battle of Graspan/Reitz, which is a great story in its own right ....

I am writing a book on Thomas's Boer War experiences, incorporating the above plus whatever research snippets I come across. He also fought in WW1. And I have 80 letters he wrote back from overseas (UK) to his wife May. This also will be in the book. If any forum member is interested in helping me with advice on factual matters to do with the Boer War, please let me know.

EdK(ermode)

Hi, I have a diary/account book kept by an officer who was with the mobile column at Grootvlei, and gives an account of the action there and other bits of info that might help. regards

Hi Saxon

Thanks for that. Would that be by Captain Jack Watts diary? If so, I have found a copy already. If not, I would be very interested in any other one.

Can I ask - what is your particular interest in the Boer War?


regards from

EdK

Hi EdK, This is an account by a Lt H.K. Brasewell of operations in a column operating around the area of the mine, and surrounding areas. It gives other mentions of captured Boers, and Boers that have taken up arms, and various Boer commandoes in the area, it is a useful guide for small amounts of information on their whereabouts.
My own interest in the Boer War stems from the fact that my Grandfather was a medic, and I was given some of his medical equipment, and medals. I have since enlarged my collection to include many pieces of equipment, including uniforms, and medals, but I have a passion for letters written home, which I think give a very personal account of every day life and ordeals that they faced. Regards Saxon.

Hi Saxon,

thank you for your reply and my apologies for my tardy reply, yours was the only one I received. Your interest in the Boer War is obviously personal, like mine, with both of us having grandfathers that were right there.

re the unit that was based around Grootvlei, that you mentioned - what is it's name and when was it there? My Grandfather was just passing through and gave General Smuts a surprise "hurry up". So I suspect your Brasewell diary might be "red herring" for me? I don't know, I'm just feeling my way with all this Boer War stuff at the moment.

One thing I want to find out and haven't got any Google success to date is who has copyright over the Fred Edwards diary, as I am probably going to borrow heavily from it, as Edwards and my GF were in the same Unit (broadly speaking) together ie the 5th IBC of South Australia. So (again broadly) where Fred went, so did my GF. The Edwards diary is on www.bwm.org.au/site/Frederick_EdwardsNDD.asp but I seriously doubt that they would have the copyright, I reckon it (the diary content)would have been got by them from a library or archive somewhere. Can you or other forum members help with this? Maybe there is NO copyright ownership and therefore maybe I can use whatever amount I need and nobody's permission is required?? I am anxious to do the right thing. Should I start a new thread on this?

regards from EdK