TOPIC:

Hello everybody.
I'm trying to follow four of my relatives who took part in the 2nd Boer War.

One of these was in 3rd Bn Imperial Yeomanry under Lord Methuen. I was following their progress during the 1st De Wet hunt, and I came across a discrepancy, I thought.

AmeryTimes04 describes an action at Leeuwfontein (P424).
However Ancestry Casualty reports put this action at a place called Rietfontein.
Wilson describes the action as near Buffelshoek.P44
Only Maurice Vol III p347 mentions Rietfontein, only as a rendezvous, but even he describes the action starting at Leeuwfontein.
All on the same date.

Eventually I found a likely Rietfontein (amongst several others) on eGGSA, where it is described as 'Rietfontein 441 IQ'. It is about 10 km north of Buffelshoek (which also had to be located - It is on the road from Potchefstroom to Parys).
The map in AmeryTimes04 (oppP432) is difficult to read (not least due to the orientation), but Methuen's route is marked with the dates, and it looks like he was at Leeuwfontein Aug 8, and a bit further north on Aug 9, which puts him just about where I found Rietfontein.

So, it looks like the action started at Leeuwfontein, but covered enough distance doing the pursuit to reach Rietfontein.

That all took me several days to work out !!

Does anyone know what is the significance of the number that eGGSA attaches to this Rietfontein

Welcome to the Forum, Jimbo09.

Researching some of the smaller places that witnessed actions can certainly be time consuming.

I do not know what 144 IQ means. I thought it could be a grid reference? Do you have a URL for that page please?

graves-at-eggsa.org/main.php?g2_itemId=76002

Hi Jimbo09,

So, I had to do some further research to find what we needed to know to assist, which is that South Africa is subdivided into provinces and these provinces are further subdivided into magisterial districts, which refer to court jurisdictions.

My understanding is that 'Rietfontein 441 IQ' is a sub-district that falls within Potchefstroom Main Seat of Tlokwe Magisterial District. I have circled the point of interest on the map below that you are trying to reference.


Welcome to the ABO Forum

Trev

Thanks,
I was pretty sure that this was the right place, but seeing so many other Rietfonteins around the same area, I cannot really be sure.

Now I find I'm thrown again by an image in memorials and monuments on this site which records the re-interment of Lt AM Knowles from Rietfontein 555. He and three other Yeomen were killed that day, and all four are on that memorial stone.
Perhaps it is this Rietfontein that I should be looking for - but I can't see it on this map

Aaaargh

Hi,

Have a look at this link as there has been previously a discussion on this forum of Lt. A. M. Knowles (Lieut. A. M. Knowles, 12th (S. Nottingham) Coy, IY - k.i.a. Rietfontein 9.8.1900) and some memorials attributed to him. Another option might be If you can find the names of the three other Yeomanry soldiers who were also killed on this day and work backwards and attempt to find a location where they were killed and interned.

I hope this will give you a place/location to pin down that you will be happy with as I had no luck either in locating a place named, 'Rietfontein 555'. I see this location is listed in Steve Watt's 'In Memoriam' book, but I'm not sure if this is a period location or a more recent named area.

Trev