Steve,
As you know, I am particularly interested in the Wiltshire Regiment’s service in South Africa, this being my Great Grandfather’s Regiment. My forthcoming book will soon be ready and has a chapter devoted to the disaster at Rensburg Siding. History has apportioned the blame to the commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Molyneux Carter. Conan-Doyle gave his lack of sleep over the previous nights as mitigation for the mistake and he was right, Carter had gone without sleep, but this was due to him routinely personally deciding where to place his outposts and visiting his men in position before retiring himself, always making sure that his men were fed and were adequately equipped for the night. He struggled with delegation and always undertook far more tasks himself than were necessary, but this came from his love for his Regiment and his men. He was an excellent commanding officer who had the respect, admiration and trust of all who served under him, and their safety was his main concern. Of course, as commanding officer and gentleman he took full responsibility, but my research has shown that he was not to blame. Carter knew exactly where his men were on the night of the 13th of February and had given very clear orders to call in his outposts before retiring on Arundel, but his second in command Major Finlay Cochrane Beatson had mistaken the position of D and G companies and ordered a Lieutenant tasked with passing on news of the adjusted time of retirement to turn back, thus preventing the order from reaching Major Francis Richard Macmullen who at that point had command of both companies.
I think that you have acquired a particularly interesting medal here awarded to what research has shown was a popular and respected Sergeant. I can tell you exactly how he died, knowing that his death was described by three men, my own Great Grandfather being one of them and I thought I’d share this information with you and the other forum members.
A section from my book:
A certain amount of confusion began to set in and by now a portion of the mix of both companies began to leave the track and make towards some hills on the right of the road. Others kept straight on and made for some rising ground near the railway lines, thus partially splitting the force. As he hurried the troops on 2160 Sergeant E Walkley of D Company was shot in the right arm, left leg and then head before falling.
The following is taken from a letter written to his wife by 3860 Pte J Amor of D Company:
“I was marching in the front rank of D Company and several of us were sent forwards to act as scouts. My pal Arthur Pressley (2537 Pte A Pressley) was next to me in line then a few yards to my right as we moved forward. Firing started at the rear of us and lines by sections were ordered. We marched on for a while then came the order to double. Then it seemed like more and more men behind me began firing, starting at first with G Company at the rear and eventually all along D Company. As we moved on we seemed to be getting fired upon from several directions. This is when we started to separate, some leaving the railway track making for some higher ground to the right and some of us going straight on. I saw Sgt Walkley hurrying the lads on, then get hit in the right arm, left leg and then head poor fellow, he was a good man and a good Sergeant I had great respect for; seeing his death was horrible and will haunt me for all my life. Then worst of all for me I saw poor Arthur shot about fifty feet away from me and behind me I saw Pte Johnson of G Company (3013 Pte C Johnson) shot too. He was standing defiantly returning fire, shot after shot, he was a good marksman, but was cut down in a hail of bullets. That truly was scary my dear, I literally felt bullets whizzing past my head and body; it made several of us dive on the ground, I saw Pte Swinden get shot (1694 Pte P Swinden) causing three of four blokes to fall over him”.
Pte Amor was taken prisoner and held at Watervaal, from where he sent this letter. He would later die there of Enteric Fever on the 25th of May 1900.
Edward Walkley had ended his service with the colours in 1894 and had become a Police Constable with the Glamorgan Constabulary in the town of Pontypridd and had acted as the Division’s Drill Instructor. On being recalled to the Regiment he was promoted Sergeant in D Company. A fellow resident of Pontypridd was 2190 Private F Potter, also of D Company . He was taken prisoner of war at Rensburg and wrote home to his wife whilst held at Watervaal; he described the 14th of February and of Sergeant Walkley he wrote “P.C. Walkley was either killed or wounded – I don’t know which, but I saw him fall close to me”.
“I was by this time running forward with my pal Isaac Hazzard (5231 Pte I H Hazzard) running next to me. Several of us stopped and turned to return fire before moving on again. We were a mix of D and G Companies by then because we had all bunched up as we were all running and trying to put some distance between us and the enemy; honestly, I’ve never been so scared. As we ran forward some poor bloke got it just in front of me, and Isaac and a couple of other blokes couldn’t stop themselves from falling over him. I saw a chap stop to check if the man was alive, but he wasn’t. I helped Isaac up and we ran on again. We saw our Sgt Walkley in front of us shouting at us all to get a move on and carry on straight ahead, so this is what we did. Then, just as we passed him I saw him grip his right arm, so guessed he must have been shot, then he caught another in his left leg and dropped to his knees, then I saw his head thrown backwards and realised that he’d caught another poor bloke. Bullets were streaming past and amongst us, Isaac’s water bottle was shot through, I had a piece taken out of the top of my boot cutting the laces and another went through the leg of my breeches just above my knee. I saw a bullet rip through the back of the helmet of the man in front of me. He pushed his helmet back down onto his head, and I heard him shout “Jesus!” as we carried on running– 3629 Pte J Heath, D Company.
