TOPIC:

English newspapers of the day reported the following casualties for 24 October 1901 near Smithfield:

Worcester Regiment Mounted Infantry: Killed – 3439 Private E. Wright; Severely Wounded – 4416 Private Bentley and 3624 Private E Bayliss.

Scottish newspapers of the day lamented the loss of Lieutenant Alexander Crossley Cunningham the son of Mr & Mrs C. J. Cunningham of Muirhouselaw who had been killed in action near Smithfield, South Africa on 24 October 1901.

The Graphic provided a mugshot of the latter amongst those of other fallen officers.

Presumably it was one and the same skirmish – not sure whether two KIA’s & two severly wounded, who both seemed to recover to fight another day, makes it a serious skirmish but definitely a significant one but the newspapers of the day apparently have nothing further to say about it. This site makes no mention of it but 24 October 1901 features more than once owing to a skirmish at Kleinfontein some 350 miles north of Smithfield.

Smithfield is 80 miles south of Bloemfontein which fell to Imperial Troops some 18 months earlier.

Can anybody please point me in the right direction regarding what happened near Smithfield on 24 October 1901?

Some more about Alexander Crossley Cunningham – he was 24 years old when he died and a member of of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders but was attached to the 20th or Fife & Forfar Light Horse Company of the 6th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry when he died.

His parents held a memorial service for him on 3 November 1901 in Kelso Parish Church and there was a large attendance. Prior to joining the army he had attended the Loretto School in Edinburgh followed by the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester. The Loretto School is reputed to be the oldest boarding school in Scotland. He, among with other old boys, is commemorated in the school chapel. The plaque consists of very finely carved wood but a forum member does not seem to have discovered it.

Here is his Graphic mugshot:

Hi,
Found the following info for the events at Kleinfontein (located in the Western ZAR), on 24 Oct 1901, that may be of help:

"The Battle of Kleinfontein (near the present-day Groot-Marico):
Lt Col. S.B. von Donop's convoy sets out for Zeerust with Yeomanry on both flanks, a pom-pom in the vanguard, the infantry with about 100 wagons in the middle and the field-guns travelling with the rear. At ~7:00am, at Kleinfontein or Driefontein, as the convoy is passing a clump of beech trees, a small group of burghers under Genl. Lemmer is sighted to the front and the pom-pom brought into action. Simultaneously, Genl. Kemp, with ~500 burghers in three successive lines, attacks along the entire length of the convoy. Their charge centred on the wagons, cuts right through the column, drives the yeomanry into the clump of trees. While some of the burghers attempt to remove as many of the captured wagons, the rest wheels towards the column's rear and they attack the guns, overrun and capture them. Kemp is unable to remove the guns, as their teams have been shot down. De la Rey's burghers, who are supposed to attack from the rear, have laggged too far behind and at 09:00 with the British rallying in the bush and preparing to counter-attack, Kemp disengages.
The British lose ~30 KIA, 54 wounded, 15 wagons, and 300 horses and mules before the Republicans break off the fight with ~20 killed and 31 wounded (incl.; Commandant Oosthuizen)" (Source: The Anglo -Boer War - A Chronology; Cloete, Pieter G.; 2000).

I hope the above is of some help.

Smithfield

Unfortunately, Kleinfontein was 250 miles north of Smithfield but your post does help explain why the "skirmish" there, with a British death toll off 30, overshadowed the one on the same day at Smithfield with a British death toll of 2.

This is the only photograph I can find of the Loretto School Boer War Memorial. The name Lieutenant Alexander Crossley Cunningham can be made out about halfway down the right hand panel.



There are 10 names in all, listed below as on the memorial – in brackets and not on the memorial, their date, place & cause of death. Dooner has a write-up on all eight officers, some with fuller account of their deaths.

JOHN JAMES CHISHOLME, COLONEL, IMPERIAL LIGHT HORSE
(Killed in action at the Battle of Elandslaagte, 21 October 1899)

WILLIAM MACFARLANE, CAPTAIN, BLACK WATCH
(Killed in action at the Battle of Magersfontein, 11 December 1899)

ALAN SIEVWRIGHT WINGATE, CAPTAIN, GORDON HIGHLANDERS
(Died of wounds received at the Battle of Magersfontein, 11 December 1899)

HAROLD PERCIVAL PATON, LIEUTENANT, BORDER PROTECTORATE REGIMENT
(Killed in action at Game Tree Hill during a sortie from Mafeking, 26 December 1899)

ARTHUR WILLIAM SWANSTON, LIEUTENANT, 6TH INNISKILLING DRAGOONS
(Killed in action near Ermelo, 16 October 1900)

ALEXANDER CROSSLEY CUNNINGHAM, LIEUTENANT 3RD BATTALION, ARGYLL & SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS
(Killed in action near Smithfield, 24 October 1901, whilst attached to the Imperial Yeomanry)

DAVID ERNEST GUTHRIE, LIEUTENANT, IMPERIAL YEOMANRY
(Died of enteric at Mafeking, 2 February 1902)

ALEXANDER DAVID KINLOCH, TROOPER, HOTCHKISS VOLUNTEERS
(Killed in action whilst defending Ladysmith, 6 January 1900)

HENRY ALEXANDER BROWNE, TROOPER, KITCHENER’S HORSE
(Died of disease, Bloemfontein, 25 May 1900)

After the usual giving precedence to officers, something I do not agree with as we are all equal in death, they are listed in chronological order of death.

Nobody seems to have posted about any of them based on a title search only, whether their medals are extant I cannot say.

David

Having checked out the information in Watts In Memoriam. Your 2 chaps Cunningham and Wright are recorded as being killed at Smithfield near Stoppoort. Additional notes for the above record Erfdeel. Erfdeel could pertain to a drift or possibly a farm. Bayliss and Bentley are also recorded as being wounded at Stoppoort. So your starter for 10 is, where the hell is Stoppoort? In my humble opinion your 4 chaps were probably together out on patrol on that fateful Thursday in October 1901, and were engaged in or around the Smithfield area.


Dave....