TOPIC:

Photo shows wounded Border officers Capt. Vaughan and Lt. Andrews in a horse drawn ambulance at Spion Kop. It is an original press photo with hand written pencil caption on the back. (Copy also below) . In the top right hand corner it has the photo size instruction to the newspaper's photo printing plate maker.Then reads: “Wounded in ambulance after Spion Kop. Capt Vaughan & Lt Andrews of the Border Regt. The officer with the bandaged head was hit the the left jaw with a bullet which passed through under his chin & and into the left (crossed out) right breast & out under his right shoulder blade. He was well in about 3 wks.”
The poor image quality is not due to digital copying, it is because the original was a contact print (I suspect done in the field) on what was known as "printing out paper". With this paper you just laid the negative on top of it in the sun until the image had reached the required density, then fixed it in hypo solution. Unfortunately this resulted in rather "flat" prints, but it cut down the amount of developing kit you needed to carry with you.
The photo has also been retouched ( badly!) with black ink/paint in the areas of the coat of the bandaged officer, and the cap/ eyes of the other man
(Later addition. I've learnt that the photo was taken by the famous photographer Horace Walter Nicholls. I'll post his full details at the end)

I've discovered both officers on the photo were killed during the first year of WW1. Here are their details:

Major Charles Davies Vaughan DSO. Died 25/4/1915 aged 47 with 1st Border. Buried Pink Farm Cemtery. Helles. Son of Mrs. Vaughan, of Brynog, Cardiganshire, and the late Capt. Herbert Vaughan; husband of Dorothy Jean Vaughan, of Crabtree Cottage, Wanborough, Guildford, Surrey.

His career according to The London Gazette:

THE LONDON GAZETTE, DECEMBER 22, 1891 The Border Regiment, Second Lieutenant C.D. Vaughan to be Lieutenant.

Vaughan received 1895 India medal serving 1st Bn . Commissariat transport.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 10, 1901, War Office, September 10, 1901. DESPATCH from Earl Roberts, K.G.,
….. have rendered special and meritorious service. The names are arranged regimentally, by precedence of corps, for the purpose of more ready reference:
The Border Regiment. Captain C. D. Vaughan.

THE LONDON GAZETTE OCTOBER 31, 1902. South 'African Constabulary. To be Companions of the Distinguished Service Order:
Captain (Brevet Major) Charles Davies Vaughan (The Border Regiment).

THE LONDON GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 2, 1910.The Border Regiment, Captain& Brevet Major Charles D. Vaughan, D.S.O., to be Major 15/8/1910

THE LONDON GAZETTE, 16 JULY, 1915.Major CHARLES DAVIES VAUGHAN, D.S.O., Deceased.
All persons having claims against the estate of Charles Davies Vaughan, of Maymyo, Burmah,in India, Major in the Border Regiment (who died on the 25th, 26th, or 27th day of April; 1915, at the Dardanelles, in Turkey, killed in action


Captain Charles George Williams Andrews.
Died 28/10/1914 . 2nd Border Regiment. Mentioned in Despatches. Commemorated on Menin Gate Ypres.

His career according to The London Gazette:

THE LONDON GAZETTE, FEBRUARY 4 1896
4th Battalion, the Border Regiment, Charles George Williams Andrews, Gent., to be Second Lieutenant. Dated 5th February, 1896

THE LONDON GAZETTE, JANUARY 1, 1897
4th Battalion, the Border Regiment, Second Lieutenant C. G. W. Andrews to be Lieutenant.Dated 2nd January, 1897.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, MAY 3 1898.
The Border Regiment, Lieutenant Charles George Williams Andrews, from 4th Battalion, vice G. J. Marsh, promoted.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, NOVEMBER 26, 1901
The Border Regiment, Second Lieutenant C. G.W. Andrews to be Lieutenant. Dated 20th October 1901.
(I don’t understand this, I thought he was already promoted to Lieutenant in the above January 1st 1897 entry?)

THE LONDON GAZETTE, NOVEMBER 28, 1905.
3rd (Cumberland) Volunteer Battalion, The Border Regiment
Lieutenant C. G. W. Andrews, The Border Regiment, to be Adjutant

THE LONDON GAZETTE, DECEMBER 8, 1905.
The Border Regiment, Lieutenant Charles G. W. Andrews is seconded for service as an Adjutant of Volunteers. Dated 16th November, 1905

THE LONDON GAZETTE, JULY 7, 1908.
5th (Cumberland) Battalion, Border Regiment;
Lieutenant Charles George Williams Andrews, The Border Regiment, from the Adjutancy of the 3rd (Cumberland) Volunteer Battalion, The Border Regiment, to be Adjutant for the residue unexpired of his tenure. Dated 1st April, 1908.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, JULY 7 1908,
The undermentioned officers who have been transferred from Adjutancies of units of the Volunteer Force to Adjutancies of units of the Territorial Force are permitted to retain in the Territorial Force the temporary rank of Captain conferred upon them in the Volunteer Force:—
Lieutenant Charles G. W. Andrews, The Border Regiment

THE LONDON GAZETTE, MAY 11, 1909.
The Border Regiment, The undermentioned Lieutenants, Adjutants of Territorial Infantry, to be Captains, under Article 26, Royal Warrant for Pay and Promotion, 1907. Dated 13th April, 1909 :—
Sidney H. F. Muriel. Charles G. W. Andrews.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, 25 NOVEMBER, 1910
5th (Cumberland) Battalion, The Border Regiment;
Captain Gerald Arthur Morton, The Border Regiment, to be Adjutant, vice Captain Charles C. W. Andrews, The Border Regiment, who has vacated that appointment. Dated 16th November, 1910.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, 6 DECEMBER, 1910
The Border Regiment, Captain Gerald A.Morton is seconded for service as an Adjutantof Territorial Infantry. Dated 16thNovember, 1910.Supernumerary Captain Charles C. W.Andrews is restored to the establishment. Dated 16th November, 1910.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, 1 DECEMBER, 1911
The Border Regiment, Captain Charles G. W.Andrews to be Adjutant. Dated 2nd December,1911.

I cannot find his “Mention in Despatches” in the Gazette.
I have learnt, by looking at similar photos with identical handwriting on the back, that the photo was taken by the well known late Victorian/Edwardian photographer Horace Walter Nicholls.
Nicholls was born in 1867 in Cambridge and was apprenticed to his father who had a photographic studio on The Isle of Wight. Horace later took a photographic assignment in Chile, before establishing his own studio in Johannesburg. When the 2nd Boer War broke out he sent his family to safety in Capetown before he set off for Ladysmith. He spent the war working for the London based publication "South Africa". He then returned to London where he specialised in sporting and social event photographs for publications like The Tatler and Illustrated London News. During The First World War he worked in Government information, his work including the famous "Women at War" series of photos. He died in 1941 of diabetes.
Fot more details go to: www.johnchillingworth.co.uk/HoraceWNicholls.html or
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Nicholls

Who would have thought a crumpled contact print from Spion Kop was taken by the same man who produced "society" photos for "The Tatler"
Paul

For anyone interested in reading more about Major C D Vaughan DSO who is one of the officers on the photo here are two links to interesting items by Border Regiment forum member “Cockney Tone”:
The Armoured Train incident at Estcourt: www.border-regiment-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=985#p1619
Apparently, this train was sent out again the very next day and part of it was derailed leading to the capture of one of the occupants - Winston Churchill ! Ironic that Vaughan, having apparently helped to previously save the train on the previous day, was later killed at Gallipoli – Churchill’s brainchild!
Also there is also a photo of Vaughan’s grave and an account of the events and action leading up to his death at Gallipoli when he was KIA on 25th April 1915 with 1st Btn Border Regiment: www.border-regiment-forum.com/viewtopic....&t=802&hilit=vaughan
Paul

Paul

Thank you for the link to the 'armoured train incident'. Estcourt was my home town in my teenage years and the site of Churchill's capture was a bicycle ride away from my home. Seeing the memorial there and other such reminders of the Boer War in and around Estcourt were what awakened my interest in the military history of Natal.

Regards
Brett