TOPIC:

Hi to all!

Thanks for accepting me.

I am the Stilbaai (Stilbay) Tourist Forum Chairman.

Just outside of Stilbay (17km)there was a clash between Boer and some colonial forces at a place now called Soebattersvlakte (pleadersplain).

About 10km after turning off from the N2 to Stilbaai you’ll find a memorial at the location of the most southern battle of the Anglo Boer War. The battle took place on 12 September 1901. Commandant Jan Theron’s Boer commando clashed with the District Mounted Troops and Riversdale Town Guards of Lieutenant Smalberger and a unit of British troops under the command of Major Kavanagh. The Boers were on the hills North-West, West, South-West and South-East of the valley. Two Boers, field-cornet J.A. Van Biljon from Kroonstad and R.C.H. Tiell of Johannesburg, were injured. They recovered and got banned. The British troops incur numerous incidents, but exact numbers are unknown.

We want to add some more info in our museum, but the data on the skirmish is very limited and not easy to verify.

If anyone has any info on what happened and info on any reference material please be so kind as to share with me.

Thanks to all
Arrie Combrinck

Hi Arrie

From the Western Daily Press, Sept 12 1901, the Evening Telegraph 11 Sept 1901 and the Gloucester Citizen 14 Sept 1901.

Regards

Adrian
Johannesburg

Hi Adrian we have the same name Adriaan in Afrikaans!!!

Thanks for the reply! Where and or how do you get the info from the newspaper clips.???

Apparently there was a skirmish where the English took some casualties?? Or there never was???

Thanks

Arrie

Hi Arrie

You can subscribe to British Newspaper Archives.

Then just use good search words,that will lead to relevant results (like Kavanagh), filter by relevant date (Sep 1901) , and read the articles.
The advantage is that they are then the original news reports, and whilst they may not actually be perfectly accurate, they often contain information like names etc, and observations that could be removed later by authors of books etc.
For example, would you have ever have known that there was a "blinding rainstorm" during the battle !

Regards

Adrian

Hi Adrian

Thanks a lot I will do that.

Should there not be a record (war record or diary) from Kavanagh??

Thanks