TOPIC:

I have started to investigate the life & times of the 44 men on the Pembrokeshire Boer War Memorial in Haverfordwest.

Two are fully accounted for and one has been posted (Civil Surgeon Stanley Whicher). The other a local history society have done a brilliant job on – he served in the 1st Battalion, Welsh Regiment under an alias, for no apparent reason – the family were perfectly respectable and aged 19 he was working as a Solicitor’s Clerk.

I am now on the nephews of the Earl of Cawdor (then owner of the Stackpole Estate in Pembrokeshire now NT). The two brothers Lambton have already expanded into three because a third served and survived.

The eldest was called Alexander Frederick Lambton, served in the 1st Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry and was killed in action at the Battle of Magersfontein.

I have identified up to 13 memorials to him if you allow me to count the rim of his single clasp QSA. As of yesterday I have photos of 9 showing his name – 5 taken by myself.

Two of the photos eluding me are his headstone/grave marker in the West End Garden of Remembrance at Kimberley and the rim of his QSA – can anybody oblige?

He received his education at Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire. I know there is a Boer War Memorial there with 65 names on it – 56 were officers which contrasts interestingly with only 1 officer among my 207 Smethwickians. I cannot find a photo of it, so just wondering if there is an Old Wellingtonian amongst the Forummers who might be able to oblige before I approach the College.

He also went to Sandhurst. I have not been able to find any evidence that there is a Boer War Memorial at Sandhurst but surely there must be although I shudder to think how many names are on it. Does anybody know the answer and even better have some photos?

West End Cemetery, Kimberley

Very many thanks Elmarie.

The Lambtons who took part in the ABW were numerous - besides Alexander there were his brothers Ronald Robert who was killed in action September 1901, George Charles survived the ABW & WW1 but died prematurely in 1927 from "the effects of war". Then you can move on to three sons of the second Earl of Durham who were third cousins and all survived - obviously the lucky branch of the family - one of these was Hedworth Lambton of HMS Powerful & Ladysmith fame.

Ronald Robert Lambton



Vryheid Cemetery


Wales-Castlemartin: Filmstone Chapel Plaque

Elmarie - very many thanks, again.

Flimston (without an e) Chapel is a shrine to the nephews of the 3rd Earl of Cawdor. Today it stands isolated on the Ministry of Defence Castlemartin Ranges but occasional services are held there.



The road that takes the public to the Stack Rocks and Green Bridge, only open at weekends and much of August, has a much less used side road which takes you to the Chapel.



When you arrive the notice on the chapel in effect tells you to get back in your car if you want to look inside and report to the Merrion Camp Gatehouse with its two tanks (British Chieftan & German Leopold) standing outside on ramps. If you proffer up your driving licence they will give you an enormous key, which works and when you have opened the door this is the view that greets you with the marble plaque you posted in clear view.



Whoever took your photograph must have had some steps, I only had a camera last Saturday.

This is a close up of the left of the two brass plaques under the marble plaque



And this is a close-up of the one on the right.



The larger brass plaque on the left is to their soldier father who helped restore the Chapel in 1903 and beyond that is one to their uncle who was also a soldier. The chapel fell out of use a hundred years earlier and is surrounded by the remains of a deserted village which is permanently out of bounds.

Looking at the other side of the Chapel



there are later memorials to two other nephews/brothers - George Charles Lambton who served in both the ABW & WW1, survived both but died prematurely in 1927 due to the “effects” of war & Edward Lambton who died in Cairo in 1916 whilst on “active service” but not in battle.

The small furthest distant plaque tells you the stained glass window is also in memory of the three brothers on the marble plaque by their sister and four brothers.

I need to return to the Chapel on a dull day armed with steps.

There is another nearby but overlooked memorial to the two brothers who were killed in action in the ABW, in Castlemartin Church.



I have had to enhance my photograph to make it legible. Castlemartin Church is no longer in use not even for the occasional service. The tower is a battery, in the wildlife sense rather than the military one, making viewing of the memorial a challenge to the nasal passages and one has to step with care to avoid the occasional dead bat. The churchyard is more pleasant and contains interesting gravestones to shipwreck victims – five in a row to members of the crew of the armed merchant ship, SS Ionian, which hit a mine off the Pembrokeshire coast during WW1.

David (Smethwick and Pembrokeshire)

Regarding Sandhurst, the lecturn in the Royal Memorial Chapel is dedicated and inscribed to F. H. S. Roberts V.C., and there's a stained-glass window dedicated to LIeutenant R. H. C. Coe, K.O. Royal Lancaster Regiment. The searchable database doesn't bring up anything for either of the Lambtons.
www.royalmemorialchapel.com/memorials.htm
Also in that chapel is the smaller Chapel of Remembrance,which is dedicated to the Sandhurst dead in the ABW, but with no names.
www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/18759
There may be unrecorded ABW memorials and plaques in the Royal Memorial Chapel. The easiest way to get access would be to attend a Sunday morning service there.