TOPIC:

We are conducting research into my wife's family. We have established that William Ashton Taylor is her great-great grandfather. He was a Sergeant-Major in the British Army with a regiment known as the Colonial Contingent but were also called the Cape Boys. He dies on 05 March 1900 after being wounded by the Boers at the Brickfields on 03 March 1900 during the Siege of Mafeking. Contemporary reports suggest that he was an important fighter with the British and very brave. We are made to understand that Baden Powell attended his funeral. We are trying to understand how important the Cape Boys were to the British war effort and whether William Taylor himself was an important element in all of this. Please help with any information you may have to help us build this story. Thank you.

Theodore
Attached is a cut concerning your wife's GGF Sgt. William Ashton Taylor in the Mafeking siege. It was taken from Colin Walker's Mafeking Siege Register. "Cape Boys" were/are more properly known as Cape Coloureds and were an invaluable component of the defenders. The fighting in the Brickfields was quite intense at times and I recall reading descriptions of that in Creswicke"s "South Africa and the Transvaal War" Volume four. Which, I believe is available on this site in pdf form by accessing the "books" section in the panel on the left under the title Main Menu.

Regards
IL.

William Ashton Taylor.

Have you got a copy of the well known photograph of the “Cape Boys” or “Colonial Contingent” ?

If you search the London Gazette you will see that he was mentioned for his gallantry.

If I recall correctly he was described as a bricklayer – and he was certainly a very brave man!

A file in the Cape Town National Archives records that the Cape Colonial Government gave his widow a £50 “War Gratuity”.

Interestingly, his son served with the South African forces in France and was unfortunately one of the very last servicemen to be killed.

RobM

Thank you ever so much for this reply and the attachments thereto. My wife and her family will be most pleased. We are both currently retired and living in London so have put our minds to researching our past. My grandfather's two brothers, Stainbank, died in the Great War(WW1). One is buried in Lancashire and the other at Ypres in Belgium. I have yet to visit. His cousin was the magistrate killed in the Bambatha rebellion. This really an interesting way to spend these cold UK winter days. Thanks again and bless you.

Wow Rob!!! Thank you for your reply and the information. We have not seen the photos yet. We will search for online. We had no idea about his son. His daughter married William Klassen. Their daughter, Susan, married a Chinese man, the brother of Sonny Leon(g), the politician and leader of the SA Labour Party. He however wentt by his mother's surname, Wilmot. Susan was my wife's grandmother and I knew her very well. Thank you again.

Theodore

I have found some copied archival documents amongst my files.

Send me your contact details via the “Private Message” system on this Forum platform and I will gladly send you copies and further information.

RobM