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Morning David,

Your list looks to be a lot more comprehensive than mine. My list came from the published and inaccurate SAFF casualty rolls plus Steve Watt for this killed.

Best wishes
David

David - “my” list may appear more comprehensive but it also contains errors.

One thing that can definitely be ascertained are those who were killed in action or subsequently died of the wounds they received in the engagement. The memorial that still stands on what is sometimes called Worcester Hill lists them as follows:



The comments column on the QSA Medal Roll of the 2nd Worcesters tells us which of these men were killed in action and which died of wounds. Based on this source all but Captain Thomas and Privates Bennitt (the 1904 newspaper report above has mis-spelt his name), Wheeler & Crumpton were “Killed in action”. Crumpton has “Deceased” against his name while the other three have “Died of wounds”.

Later newspaper reports tell us that Private Wheeler died of his wounds on 21st February and Private Crumpton died of wounds on 12th April. I cannot find a report of Private Bennitt’s date of death – he is bit of a mystery from the start as he is named as Bennitt on the Memorial, Bennit on the Medal Roll and Bennett in contemporary and later newspaper reports.

One wonders at the order the Privates are listed on the Memorial as it has no logic beyond the three who died of wounds being left until last.

In the days following the engagement confusion obviously reigned and lots of errors were made in the published casualty lists and some of these false reports appear to have been picked up by Steve Watt and/or become incorporated into the SAFF records.

I am still sorting out the wounded who survived and those who were taken prisoner.

The Officers Killed in Action.

“The Last Post” by Mildred Dooner:

Lieut. Col. Charles Coningham, 2nd Batt. Worcestershire Regt., was killed February 12th, 1900, in action at Rensburg. He was the youngest son of Lieutenant General Henry Coningham, of the Madras Light Cavalry, and was born at Bangalore in 1851. His brothers were all in the army. He joined the 103rd Foot in 1872, being promoted Captain 1882, Major 1891, into the Worcestershire Regiment, and became Lieutenant Colonel December 1899. In 1892 he married Constance, youngest daughter of Admiral Henry R Foote, who died in 1896. He took part in the operations of the Soudan Frontier Field Force in 1885-86, receiving the medal and the Khedive's star. Lieutenant Colonel Coningham went to South Africa in command of his battalion in December 1899, and on arrival was sent to the north of Cape Colony. At Rensburg there was some heavy firing, and he rose to look for the enemy and also to see that his men kept under cover. Some of his officers implored him to lie down, but he was struck shortly afterwards. As he fell he said "Don't trouble about me, men". The Boer who killed him was shot by one of the men of E Company. Lieutenant Colonel Coningham and Brevet Major Stubbs, with fourteen non commissioned officers and men, lie buried on the Worcester kopjes, where they fell.

Capt. and Brevet-Major Arthur Kennedy Stubbs, Worcestershire Regiment, was killed in action at Rensburg, February 12th, 1900. He was the eldest son of Major General F W Stubbs, Royal Artillery, of 2 Clarence Terrace, St Luke's, Cork. Major Stubbs was born in December 1867, at Meerut, and educated at Mr Tottenham's School at St Leonards, and afterwards at the Oxford Military College, whence he passed into Sandhurst. He entered the Worcestershire Regiment in March 1889, being promoted Lieutenant December 1890, Captain May 1899, and brevet Major on July 1st of the same year. He served in the operations in the Niger Territories in 1898, including the Benin Hinterland and Siama Expedition (wounded), being mentioned in despatches, and receiving the brevet of Major and the medal with clasp. Major Stubbs accompanied the 2nd battalion of his regiment to South Africa in December 1899, and on arrival was then sent with it to the North of Cape Colony. At Rensburg the key of the position was a group of three kopjes held by three companies of the Worcestershire Regiment, and here the Boers made a fierce attack "in the cold misty light of dawn" on February 12th and got possession of some sangars. They could not, however, advance any further owing to the accurate fire of the Worcesters, and a desperate fight then ensued. The right kopje, with a front of about three quarters of a mile, was held by Major Stubbs and his company, and he was killed while leading and cheering his men on in a forward rush to drive the Boers out of the north-east edge of this kopje. Lieutenant Colonel Coningham, who had come up to the point of danger in the first alarm, was killed close to Major Stubbs. Captain Thomas, who had been sent with his company as a reinforcement, was also severely wounded, and died eight days afterwards. The action lasted the whole day and with darkness the Boers retreated. A cairn was erected over the graves of Lieutenant Colonel Coningham, Major Stubbs, and those of the Worcesters who fell in this action.

All I can do to add to that is to provide their photos (neither in uniform) as published in The Graphic, point out they both died without issue and report they were posthumously awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with a single clasp, Cape Colony – the 2nd Worcesters had only arrived in South Africa a month earlier.



In the first of her write-ups Mildred wrote “Lieutenant Colonel Coningham and Brevet Major Stubbs, with fourteen non-commissioned officers and men, lie buried on the Worcester kopjes, where they fell.” If her fourteen is correct it means two of the sixteen non-commissioned officers and men killed in action were not buried where they fell. Personally I feel she was in error on this point. As you can see from the memorial below their remains now lie in Colesberg Cemetery nearly 10 miles NW of where they fell. Shame about the spelling mistakes & presumably the unknown soldier is Private J Morris.