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From the "Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Redditch Weekly Messenger," dated Saturday,10th March, 1900:

"DEATH OF A STOKE HEATH MAN AT SLINGERSFONTEIN "
"It is with regret that we record the death of 2884 Private John Tolley, son of James Tolley, of Stoke Heath, near Bromsgrove, which occurred at Slingersfontein, on January 30th. The deceased belonged to the B Company 2nd Worcestershire Regiment, with whom he sailed for South Africa in December. Soon after arriving at the Cape, however, he became ill, and he succumbed to pneumonia as above stated. As late as January 27th, he sent a letter to his parents at Stoke in the following terms:-
"Dear Father and Mother, I now take pleasure in writing a few lines to you hoping they will find you in the best of health. I am sorry to say I am in hospital here with a touch of fever, but hope I shall be able to say I am all right the next time I write to you. We had a splendid voyage out, and we had three days ride by rail after we got to the Cape. We had a fine time of it, being the only regiment sent straight to the front. It is very slack here at present, but I expect we shall have a 'budt-up' presently, as we have been under fire 2 or 3 times, but we have no casualties at present.We expect to be in the Orange Free State in a few days, as we are only about 12 miles from it. We are anxiously waiting to have a good set to with them, and our troops are getting right round them. So no more this time, hoping to hear from you soon."

The 'bust-up' was to come on 12th February when the Worcesters defending what was to become known as Worcester Hill at Slingersfontein faced a force of Boers outnumbering the Worcesters seven to one by some estimates!
Alas, John had died nearly a fortnight before the set to.
He is Interred at Colesberg Military Cemetery


Above is a screenshot of 2884 Private John Tolley's single clasp QSA, which currently resides in my collection.