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Hi Meurig

Thanks for the info on Colin Pritchard. I tried finding something in the London Gazette but came up with nothing. You have given me something to go on. My father, Michael, who went to Sandhurst, seemed to think that Colin was with the Royal West Kent Regiment.

Colin did leave the army at the end of hostilities. In 1902 he married Mary Eliza Round, who had come out to SA from England especially to marry Colin. They were married at St. Thomas' Church in Durban. Colin took up an administrative position based in Randfontein/Krugersdorp where they had three children, Elsie, Joyce and Aubrey (my grandfather).

Aubrey was baptized on 12 June 1908 in the parish church of St. Peter in Krugersdorp. Whenever I go to Krugersdorp on business (I am a solicitor) I stop at the little chapel for a moment and it gives me sense of great satisfaction which I cannot explain. Something to do with nostalgia I guess.

Philip

Philip

This has been an excellent thread. Thank you for starting it and making such interesting contributions to it. The transcribed letter is particularly interesting.

I wonder if Colin did manage a return visit to Spioenkop? I have a friend who lives locally who used to own the farm on which Spioenkop is situated. He inherited a 'visitor's book', which contains the names of the people who visited the battlefield in the years following the war. I will ask him if I can search the book for Colin's name.

Regards
Brett

PS The photos below are of the ILI memorial on Spioenkop.

Hi Brett

I also wonder if he ever revisited the battlefield. It would have been a surreal experience for him because, as I'm sure you know, it is a very tranquil place. I have cycled from Johannesburg to Durban several times and I find that part of Natal particularly beautiful. (Cycling, as opposed to driving, really allows you to absorb your environment.)

Attached is a photo that my wife snapped of me sitting on the battlefield with my little son, Zac just after having seen the memorials in your photos and some other memorials erected by parents who had lost their sons and then come to the battlefield. I recall thinking that every young man, Boer and Briton, who died on that hill was once a cherished little fellow like Zac. Its only when you have children of your own, especially sons, that you can really begin to comprehend the grief that the loss of the soldiers caused to their parents.

I got a weird feeling looking at the I.L.I memorials (I seem to recall that there are two of them) because I realized that I might easily never have been born because of this hill.
Philip

Sorry, I'm still getting the hang of this. Please scroll down.

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Attached is a photo of my father and me looking in southerly direction towards the place where Warren's forces crossed the Tugela River at Trichardts' Drift. The river has been dammed in recent times, hence the expanse of water visible in the photo. It gives a good idea of the elevation of the hill. I would hate to have to dig a trench anywhere up on the hill. The ground is virtually solid rock.