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August 31st 12 years 2 months ago #5307

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1901 - Train wrecked by Boers near Waterval.
Dr David Biggins

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August 31st 3 years 2 months ago #78306

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1900 - The return to Burrough on the Hill, Leicestershire, of Harry Ashton, 6th (lnniskilling) Dragoons.

....On Friday evening, August 31st, a hearty welcome was accorded by the inhabitants of Burrough to Mr. Harry Ashton upon his return from active service in South Africa. The Church bells rang merry peals, the village was gaily decorated with flags, and a good many people assembled to do honour to one who has passed through nearly a year of danger and privation in the Free State, and who is now to enjoy a well-earned rest of two or three months. On Thursday, our Somerby correspondent had the pleasure of an interview with Mr. Ashton, and we publish below a brief outline of the incidents which have fallen to his lot as a soldier since the declaration of war in October last. Trooper Ashton sailed from Queenstown in the "Persia" on the 28th October, 1899, as a 1st class Army reserve man. During his period of regular service with the colours, he had been a trooper in the 1st Royal Dragoons, but upon rejoining after the declaration of war he was drafted into the 6th lnniskilling Dragoons—a regiment which had fallen considerably in war-strength in point of numbers, and whose ranks required filling up to a much greater extent than the 1st Royals. The voyage did not proceed without mishap, for when in the latitude of Cape de Verde, the "Persia" developed a defect in her engines, and became unmanageable. The vessel was taken into the harbour at St. Vincent, and a delay of sixteen days occurred, the troops on board (consisting of the Inniskilling Dragoons and a portion of the Royal Army Medical staff), being compelled to await the arrival of another transport. Permission was given to the soldiers to land in parties, and Trooper Ashton went ashore three times during his stay at St. Vincent. The voyage was continued in the Union Liner "Goth," which was conveying a portion of the siege train for the front. Including the stoppage at St. Vincent, the voyage from Queenstown to Capetown occupied forty-two days. After four days' waiting at Capetown, the regiment was hurried up to Arundel Station, a position which at that period , represented "the front" upon the Free State side of the war operations. Here the Cavalry regiments, of which the Inniskillings was one, came in touch with the Boers almost every day. Rensburg was next occupied, and on the 31st December a night march was effected, with the result that on New Year's-day, at daybreak, our mounted troops were able to threaten the enemy's right flank. After an artillery duel, lasting about four hours, the enemy's guns were put out of action, or rather silenced. During the afternoon of the same day, Trooper Ashton's regiment—which had been sent out to reconnoitre and to act as a kind of target or decoy to draw the enemy's fire, in order that our artillery might discover their exact whereabouts—was fired on repeatedly. On the 4th of January, two days before the disaster to the Suffolks, the lnniskillings were again engaged, this time in the neighbourhood of Colesberg. A party of Boers had, unobserved, crept to within three hundred yards of a squadron of horse on outpost duty, Trooper Ashton being one of those engaged. General French, on seeing the advance party of Boers on the kopje being reinforced by others, who advanced by small bodies across an open space at the rear, gave orders for the Inniskillings to charge, evidently being under the impression that not merely a squadron but the whole regiment were assembled at the threatened spot. The cavalry rode through the Boers and back again, but during the lost eight killed and twenty-eight wounded. Only twenty-one unwounded horses could be mustered in the squadron after this incident. The Artillery then shelled the kopje, and the whole regiment, together with the 10th Hussars, then charged again, clearing the Boers out of their position and taking twenty-four prisoners. An officer named Lieut. Gibson here had a remarkable escape. He received five wounds in the body, and had three toes shot off his right foot. Those who saw him considered that he could not live half-an-hour, but Trooper Ashton has since learned that he recovered, and is now apparently quite well again. The Boers shelled our cavalry as they returned over the open, but in consequence of the greater part of the shells failing to explode, only one man was killed. Trooper Ashton considers that, although the range and direction of the enemy's artillery fire were very accurate, not one shell in thirty exploded at this stage. The whole of the operations just described occupied about four or five hours on Jan. 4th, 1900. A few days' halt was then made to enable the cavalry to procure re-mounts, after which Coles Kop was occupied—a position from which it was possible to drop shells into Colesberg, although the latter place was eight miles distant. Several wagers were made by the troops as to the possibility of getting guns to the top of Coles Kop—a lofty eminence shaped like a sugar-loaf. The engineers, however, succeeded in getting up two 15-pounders, the ammunition being conveyed to the top by means of an improvised wire rope railway, the cases of shells travelling on pulleys through mid-air. Trooper Ashton states that a couple of shells were dropped into the middle of a Boer prayer-meeting from the summit of the Kop! After a delay of some weeks, the British troops advanced, driving the Boers before them through Rensburg and Colesberg, and in due time crossed the Orange River at Norval's Pont. At Slingersfontein, the Inniskilling Dragoons took the place of some troops who had been drafted off to Modder River. During the five or six days' halt made there the regiment lost seven or eight more men killed and a good many wounded. Trooper Ashton relates that at Slingersfontein his squadron, accompanied by a number of Australian scouts, were retiring at a gallop over some broken ground, when the horsemen plunged unexpectedly into a donga (or dry river-bed), with the result that five horses (including his own) broke their necks almost at the same moment, whilst one of the Australians' horses broke its legs. The "wastage" of horse-flesh in the general advance through the Free State was something terrible. Horses had to be ridden until they dropped dead from sheer exhaustion. The horses taken from England were the first to go ; Argentine and Basuto ponies then had to be requisitioned, the latter being the most sure-footed, and best adapted to the country. A "mount" only lasted as a rule for about three weeks. Horses and men were often for days and weeks upon very short rations ; in fact, after Cronje's defeat at Paardeberg only a quarter of the regular food supply was served out, a large convoy of provisions, intended for our troops, being taken to feed the thousands of Boer prisoners who fell into our hands at that time. By the time Lord Roberts commenced his march upon Bloemfontein, the Inniskilling Dragoons were so crippled in the matter of horses that they were obliged to act as the rear-guard to the main army. The entire route passed over by the main body, and afterwards traversed by the rear-guard, was strewn with the bodies of horses and mules, which had succumbed to the hardships of the march. Trooper Ashton reached Bloemfontein about the end of April, having bivouacked nightly for months under the scanty cover of one blanket and one waterproof sheet, lying under the lee of his horse, in order to escape the cold night airs and the drenching thunderstorms which frequently occurred. Arriving, as they did at Bloemfontein, in rags and thoroughly worn out, a rest of some weeks was absolutely necessary. At Springfield, about ten miles N.E. of Bloemfontein, Trooper Ashton was seized with enteric fever, due, he believes, to being compelled to drink water from sources which had been polluted by the Boers—the enemy having cut off the regular supply from the waterworks. From Springfield he was removed to No. 8 General Hospital, Bloemfontein, and, after remaining there in a precarious state till May 12th, he was transferred to Wynberg, Capetown. With regard to the treatment he received at the hospital in Bloemfontein, Trooper Ashton states that he believes the doctors, nurses, and hospital attendants did all in their power to alleviate suffering, but that they were thoroughly overworked, and cruelly handicapped by the lack of sufficient medical supplies; but with only a single line railway from Capetown to Bloemfontein, the rapid transit of supplies was well-nigh impossible. At Wynberg. where Mr. Ashton had a most dangerous relapse and second attack of enteric, the doctors and nursing sisters "could not have been more attentive had the patient been a lord or a duke." Trooper Ashton left Capetown on July 25th, on board the liner Gascon, and reached Southampton on August 16th. After a brief stay at Aldershot (Cambridge Hospital), he was granted a sick furlough of two months, with a probable extension of another month, and we trust that he will be speedily restored to complete health and strength by his stay at the beautiful little village of Burrough. Mr. Ashton, although in action on many occasions, escaped unhurt, with the exception of a bullet-graze on the wrist. His khaki jacket, however, was shot through in two places on one occasion. He was obliged to leave the whole of his kit, with many curios, at Bloemfontein, but he brought home with him a quaint silver snuff-box, still containing a little Boer snuff, which he found in a farm-house deserted by the enemy.
Grantham Journal, Saturday 8th September 1900.......Harry Leonard Ashton was born in early 1871.

Trivia note : The racehorse, Burrough Hill Lad, was so-named because its owner was born and bred in Burrough on the Hill.


1900 - A Mafeking argument in Burnley.

BURNLEY BOROUGH COURT. — Saturday—Before A. Strange and L. Brotherton, Esqrs.
....Mafeking Again.—John Cowley, blacksmith's striker, and Thomas Garritty, factory operative, were charged with fighting.—P.C. Heeds stated that on the previous night the prisoners were fighting in Bridge-street.—One of the prisoners told the Bench that they were only having an argument as to the day on which Mafeking was relieved.—They were each fined 10s., including costs or seven days' imprisonment.
Burnley Express, Wednesday 5th September 1900

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