TOPIC:

You don't see many fragments from Ladysmith. They seem much more common from Kimberley where there appears to have quite a competition to acquire them after they had dropped in the town.


Picture courtesy of DNW.

A large fragment of a heavy artillery shell, fired into Ladysmith during the Siege, with copper band inscribed, ‘Ladysmith’, the fragment secured to a shaped wooden shield, approx. 35 x 28cm., which bears a brass plaque inscribed, ‘Piece of Long Tom Shell fired into Ladysmith Nov. 2nd 1899 from Umbulwana Hill. Picked up by J. B. Bland’, shield appears to have had at one time bullets secured to the upper corners, these now missing; Contemporary large, 63 x 49cm.

David
That board would look good displayed next to the one I have that is adorned with relics from Wagon Hill! Thank you for showing it. The inhabitants of Ladysmith probably matched those in Kimberley and Mafeking as collectors of shell fragments. In his book on the Ladysmith Siege, 'How We Kept The Flag Flying', Donald MacDonald wrote:
"However close a shell might come to a crowd, there was always a rush for fragments as trophies."

The previous owner of the farm on which Spioen Kop is located told me that in the years following the War the road to the summit was lined with shell fragments. Souvenir hunters gradually depleted the supply and after a while there were none to be seen.

Regards
Brett

Only one way to find out, Brett, you should buy it!

Brett Hendey wrote: David
That board would look good displayed next to the one I have that is adorned with relics from Wagon Hill! Thank you for showing it. The inhabitants of Ladysmith probably matched those in Kimberley and Mafeking as collectors of shell fragments. In his book on the Ladysmith Siege, 'How We Kept The Flag Flying', Donald MacDonald wrote:
"However close a shell might come to a crowd, there was always a rush for fragments as trophies."

The previous owner of the farm on which Spioen Kop is located told me that in the years following the War the road to the summit was lined with shell fragments. Souvenir hunters gradually depleted the supply and after a while there were none to be seen.

Regards
Brett

Frank, this sort of item is always tempting (as are many others on DNW lists). However, the Wagon Hill board was an unsolicited gift, and, although I enjoy having it, I decided not to be distracted by similar items, but rather to concentrate on medals and occasional badges. Also, many of the battlefield relics I have seen have been unprovenanced, and that does not suit me. The best relic I saw was the tip of a lance about a foot long which was mixed in with scores of other items from the "battlefields around Colenso and Ladysmith". I felt sure that it must have come from Elandslaagte, but there was no way to prove it.

Regards
Brett

Afternoon Brett,
The best battlefield relic is the one you actually pick up yourself on the particular battlefield in question, members of the British Armies cavalry regiments in the Colony of Natal did carry the lance well into 1900 and they only started to be withdrawn towards the end of the same year and then not completely, it was a very potent weapon when used correctly.
Regards Frank

Frank
I agree about making battlefield collecting a personal matter. Although I believe it is now pointless to leave relics on local battlefields, I have not done any such collecting. The battlefields in Natal have been picked over relentlessly for over a century, and it is now most unlikely that any serious 'battlefield archaeology' could be undertaken.

The contents of my Wagon Hill frame were collected by a man who in the 1970's was involved in the reburial and consolidation of Boer War graves, and in the moving them and memorials into 'Gardens of Remembrance'. He wrote the following about the Wagon Hill relics:

"The damaged .303 Enfield cartridge (bottom right) was found, exposed, on a cattle path on the west side of Wagon Point, in 1972. It was the first bit of battlefield scrap found by me.
In 1974 I returned to Caesar's Camp and Wagon Hill and found a small boot load of stuff. On the board ....... are: spur, found to the west of the 18th Hussar camp site; helmet chain, found on the site of the 18th Hussar camp (east side of Wagon Point); .303 cartridges and spent 7mm Mauser cartridge found in the immediate vicinity of the Digby Jones/de Villiers memorials, where the fighting took place which involved, amongst others, the Imperial Light Horse."

Regards
Brett