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Ellison Ephemera part 5, (penultimate post on the subject.) Among the items recovered from a display box was a train schedule set to be used by the personnel of the ZASM for the line between Volksrust and Glencoe. It is unusual in that it is for March 1900 and that it concerns a ZAR-controlled railway line in Natal. By definition only few of these schedules were produced and this is undoubtedly a rare survivor.

With the schedule came a picture of a stoker (?) and a first-class train ticket, possibly used by Ellison, for a journey from Durban to Standerton. At the back it lists the date of the journey (September 14, 1900) and (for the members who collect these things) carries a stamp consisting of a D within a circle.
The box also contained what probably was the first design for the Chevril Resurgam “Iron Horse” label. Chevril Resurgam was a nutritional extract produced from horsemeat, used to make soup. Ellison states that he received the design on the day of the relief of Ladysmith from Colonel Ward, Senior Supply Officer in Ladysmith during the siege. For comparison I include a final version of the design as found on the internet.
To explain how this dreadful concoction came into being, please find following an extract from the Gutenberg Ladysmith project.
“We were shot at rather briskly all day by the enemy's guns. The groups of wandering horses were a tempting aim. The poor creatures still try to get back to their lines, and some of them stand there motionless all day, rather than seek grass upon the hills. The cavalry have made barbed-wire pens, and collect most of them at night. But many are lost, some stolen, and more die of starvation and neglect. An increasing number are killed for rations, and to-day twenty-eight were specially shot for the chevril factory. I visited the place this afternoon. The long engine-shed at the station has been turned to use. Only one engine remains inside, and that is used as a "bomb-proof," under which all hands run when the shelling is heavy. Into other engine-pits cauldrons have been sunk, constructed of iron trolleys without their wheels, and plastered round with clay. A wood fire is laid along under the cauldrons, on the same principle as in a camp kitchen. The horseflesh is brought up to the station in huge red halves of beast, run into the shed on trucks, cut up by the Kaffirs, who also pound the bones, thrown into the boiling cauldron, and so—"Farewell, my Arab steed!"
There is not enough hydrochloric or pepsine left in the town to make a true extract of horse, but by boiling and evaporation the strength is raised till every pint issued will make three pints of soup. A punkah is to be fitted to make the evaporation more rapid, and perhaps my horse will ultimately appear as a jelly or a lozenge. But at present the stuff is nothing but a strong kind of soup, and at the first issue to-day the men had to carry it in the ordinary camp-kettles.
Every man in the garrison to-night receives a pint of horse essence hot. I tasted it in the cauldron, straight from the horse, and found it so sustaining that I haven't eaten anything since. The dainty Kaffirs and Colonial Volunteers refuse to eat horse in any form. But the sensible British soldier takes to it like a vulture, and begs for the lumps of stewed flesh from which the soup has been made. With the joke, "Mind that stuff; it kicks!" he carries it away, and gets a chance, as he says, of filling—well, we know what he says. The extract has a registered label.
Under the signature of Aduncus Bea and Co. acute signallers will recognise the official title of Colonel Ward.”

Ellison ephemera part 6. Two unrelated items are featured in this final post on the Ellison display boxes.
The first item is a telegram sent on Majuba Day 1900 by Buller to Francis Clery in which he forwards a message received from Lord Roberts about the British victory at Paardenberg. Buller must have been in two minds about the message as the animosity between Buller and Roberts had by then already reached fever pitch and, although Buller must have been pleased about the military progress made, the message is smug (“hope her Majesty’s Government will consider this event satisfactory’) and with a certain “see what can be achieved when things are done properly” feel to it.
Ellison wrote on the message:
“Received on hill above Tugela about 11.30 am on 27.2.00 as Genl. Lyttleton, Colonel Bruce Hamilton and I were waiting for Sir C. Warren’s attack on Boer left near Pieter’s station to develop”
A message with similar content was written in the left margin as well as at the back.


The second item is another coded pigeon mail from Ladysmith on wafer-thin paper. There is some handwriting at the top indicating it was sent on November 15, 1899.
The clear text states:
Commandant Durban. Please wire following from Sir George White to General Officer commanding troops south of Tugela river and repeat to G.O.C. South Africa Capetown.
Ladysmith 16th of November 18999 [Sic]
Signed XX, Colonel XX

No 10 P Ladysmith 15th of November:



Given the date and the fact it was coded the message was probably important. Perhaps the decoded version of the mail survives somewhere or perhaps someone has access to the decoding key (Anyone?.)

Everhard,

Here is another example of a truce communication, this time received from the Boer Forces during the Battle of Pieter's Hill.

Sadly, Commandant du Preez's pencil message is now illegible. Luckily, however, someone had the foresight to transcribe the contents before they were lost for ever. General Hart's subsequent communication to the Chief of the Staff has not faded too badly.

Framed with engraved brass plaque: "PIETERS HILL / THE ARMISTICE, SUNDAY FEB: 25TH 1900".



Officer Commanding
British Forces
Tugela.

Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that I will move your wounded and dead to a Point mentioned to officer Bearing Flag of truce.

I have the honour to be
(Signed) J.S. du Preez
Commdt.



Chief of the Staff

The above is the answer to Sir Redvers Buller's communication to the Boer Commandant in my front.
The work on our part was commenced forthwith. I will signal to you when it is quite completed and will take care that fire is not re-opened here before a proper and reasonable margin of time is passed, so that no combatant advantage can be unfairly taken of the suspension of Arms agreed upon.

(Signed) A. Fitz Roy Hart,
Major General,
Commanding at Right Front.

25th Feb: 1900.

One enclosure.









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Hi there! Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful artifacts. I actually run a military pigeon blog ( www.pigeons-of-war.com ) and online community (@MilitaryPigeons on X and www.instagram.com/military_pigeons/ ). I'm currently working on an article about the use of pigeons in the Boer War, and am thrilled to have stumbled across this treasure trove of documents.

I'm especially curious about the despatch written on skin. Do you think it's really human skin or perhaps onion skin? The fact that the skin was obtained from a hospital suggests it was human skin, but the medium itself resembles onion skin. If you have still have the message in your possession, can you confirm whether it feels like human skin or paper? Also, I highly recommend getting in touch with a local museum, if you haven't already. Those despatches are an important part in the history of military pigeons---it was the first time the British Army actually used pigeons in war!

Pigeons-of-war. Congratulations on your website about avian airmail, very informative. With regard to the pigeon mail in my collection purportedly on human skin from the Ladysmith hospital, I have only reproduced what Ellison wrote in the accompanying note. From close inspection it seems like some thin photographic paper that was applied to a support that could be human skin or something else. Ellison glued the ensemble onto cardboard. If you want to include photographs of my pigeon mails into your section about the Boer War, please feel free to do so. If you require higher definition pictures, you can contact me via the private message option available on this website. Your remark about museums is very relevant, I intend to address that in a new topic as your remark extends well beyond pigeon mails.

It seems the concept of pigeon post had captured the imagination of the British public to such an extent that jewellers found it worthwhile making brooches like this one.