TOPIC:

From "The Gram" Prisoner of War Newspaper / Magazine......





Mike

I've been hoping that someday I’d find /see an image of the ‘Gram’.
Frankland, who did the cartoons on the wall at the State Model School did most if not all of the illustration for the two issues.
This is a quote from Hofmeyr about the production of the paper.
Our greatest excitement, however, came towards the end of our imprisonment. We started a newspaper. Lord Rosslyn was appointed editor, several of us receiving appointments on his staff. We called our paper the Gram. Why? asks the reader. For this reason. In a former chapter I related what sources of information we had. The reader will remember the telegrams we got-the Kaffir-grams, the butcher-grams, the baker-grams, the hospitalgrams, &c. This is why we called our paper the Gram-the name carried so many suggestions, and brought back so many pleasant memories of most exciting experiences.
The production of this paper gave tremendous work to the publishers, and great excitement to the public-the prison public. We had to buy paper and hectographs, and then distribute the work amongst the assistants and thus produce the paper. The first number appeared on the 12th of May, and was really a most creditable production. The illustrations, I make bold to say, will compare favourably with the cartoons and pictures of any published paper I know. Two full numbers of the paper were published, and the third number was well in hand when the memorable 5th of June came-the day whereon Lord Roberts entered Pretoria. I am glad to say that the hard work of editor and writers will not be lost, for Lord Rosslyn intends producing a facsimile of the published numbers. The smartest bit of work in connection with our paper was this, I think, and it says a great deal for the business instincts of the officers. We made our caterer advertise in the paper.
He was the only advertiser, and we gave him a full page for the sum of £5 sterling. And the only readers of that advertisement were the prisoners of war, who knew more than enough about our caterer. The good man, however, tumbled to the idea, when we proposed it and, I trust, has thus immortalised himself.

Adrian Hofmeyr The Story of My Captivity During the Transvaal War 1899-1900, Publisher Edward Arnold 37, Bedford Street, Strand, London, 1900 Printed by: Unwin Brothers, The Gresham Press, Woking And London The Story of My Captivity During the Transvaal War 1899-1900 - Google Books

Rosslyn p. 313 states that Adrian was a cousin of:
Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (1894–1948) - Wikipedia
Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (20 March 1894 – 3 December 1948) was a South African politician and intellectual in the years preceding apartheid. In his lifetime he was regarded as one of the cleverest men in the country, and it was widely expected that he would eventually become Prime Minister of South Africa. He came from a well-known Afrikaner family; his uncle, also Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr but known affectionately as "Onze Jan" among fellow Afrikaners, was a famous figure in the Afrikaans language movement.

Rosslyn , James, 5th Earl of. Twice Captured: A Record Of Adventure During The Boer War William Black Wood & Sons, Edinburgh 1900
Earl of Rosslyn, James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn Twice Captured: A Record of Adventure During the Boer War. United Kingdom, William Blackwood and Sons, 1900. See: Twice Captured - Google Books And: James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn - Wikipedia

Payton,

Just came across these. They are in a scarce book - Surgeon-Major W. Beevor, "With the Central Column" (1903), so I thought you might not have seen them.







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Frankland drew the illustrations on pages 1, 9, 22a, 35, 36, 39 & 41 of "The Gram" (7 of the 18 drawings).

Here are a couple of them. I don't think he was the most accomplished artist in the world ...!

Note the 4th quadrant of the Arms of the Staats-Model-School: "Three officers escapant, fugitant, Commandant rampant searching on roof. Background azure starred proper".






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Thanks for all! We have another image of Mr. John Howard in Haldane's book. It appears to be the same man but again we have the hair color issue.


Image credit to John Bird per Candice Millard's book Hero of the Empire.

The Interview with Mr. Howard. From 'My Early Life
‘I think I’d like to know a little more about this railway accident of yours,’ he said, after a considerable pause.
‘I think,’ I replied, ‘I had better tell you the truth.’
‘I think you had,’ he said, slowly.
So I took the plunge and threw all I had upon the board.
‘I am Winston Churchill, War Correspondent of the Morning Post. I escaped last night from Pretoria. I am making my way to the frontier.’ (Making my way!) ‘I have plenty of money. Will you help me?’
There was another long pause. My companion rose from the table slowly and locked the door. After this act, which struck me as unpromising, and was certainly ambiguous, he advanced upon me and suddenly held out his hand.
‘Thank God you have come here! It is the only house for twenty miles where you would not have been handed over. But we are all British here, and we will see you through.’
Also, My Escape from the Boers
Part 1 Dec 1923 #557 - The Strand Magazine. v.66 1923 Jul-Dec. - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015055410685&view=1up&seq=556&skin=2021

Part 2 January 1924 #24 - The Strand Magazine. v.67 1924 Jan-Jun. - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015...1up&seq=24&skin=2021

I got lucky and found an identified picture of Thomas Frankland. I’ve written up a short biography of him from available online sources and I’m attaching it as a PDF rather than inserting all three pages.
I’d like to ask Neville to tell us what program he uses for facial recognition and maybe run the attached/inserted pictures to see what the results are. I tried to find an online program myself but was not very successful.
I’m using Rob’s picture of the prisoner lineup in Pretoria since it is the best copy I’ve run across. The fact that the man is wearing a helmet may limit our ability to get a definitive result. Maybe that downturned smile will be the key. Hoping for the best!