TOPIC:

I think that the wasted effort of the 3rd KRRC was another great discredit for the British high command. Like Acton Homes, it was an opportunity to get the upper hand and it was thrown away and the blood that was shed was in vain.

Brett

Hello Brett,
Agreed, a complete waste of time, but, I doubt if Buchanan Riddell thought that on the 24th!
Regards Frank

Hi everybody

I would like to add to this topic by showing one of my most prized groups from the Boer side.

I got really interested in the historical aspects of the Boer War when we moved to Bethlehem in 1949. I bought Captain Henri Slegtkamp's biography in 1950 and after devouring the book he was one of my childhood heroes. In later years I read up whatever I could find about him and in 1985 I managed to trace his only son. The remarkable outcome of my visit was that I was given Slegtkamp's medals, his Boer War binoculars, his home-made ZAR rank insignia, the gold watch that he received in Holland after the war, a number of original photos, the wall clock that was a wedding gift in 1911 (this now chimes on the half-hour and hour in our bedroom) and his OB badges.








HENRI SLEGTKAMP: THE HERO OF SPIOENKOP
Hendrik Frederik Slegtkamp was born on 19 April 1873 in Beverwijk, Holland. In 1895, after completing his military service and a short period with the Dutch Civil Service, he emigrated to the ZAR as an employee of the NZASM for work connected with the Pretoria – Lourenco Marques Railway line.
During the Jameson Raid he served on the Boer side, thereby gaining full ZAR citizenship. In October 1899 he joined the Middelburg Commando, but within days he transferred to the German Commando under Field-cornet von Quitzow and saw action at Talana and Ladysmith.
He did not feel quite at home with the Germans and re-joined the Middelburg Commando in time for action at Colenso on 15 Dec 1899. When Captain W M Edwards formed his Scout Corps on 19 Dec 1899, Slegtkamp threw in his lot with them.
20 January 1900, during the first stages of the Battle of Spioenkop, was Slegtkamp’s special day of glory, and earned him the title “Hero of Spioenkop”. Lt Blake Knox, in “Buller’s Campaign” (p49/50) gave a contemporary account of De Roos, Hindon and Slegtkamp’s (all three from Edwards’ Scouts) initiative and bravery:




The “Black and White Budget” later also published an additional account with a photo. Henri Slegtkamp carried this cutting in his wallet till the day of his death :




In February 1900, Comd Gen Louis Botha gave him permission to join the Irish-American Scouts (part of the Irish Brigade under Col J Y F Blake) in the OFS and he took part in various skirmishes in the vicinity of Brandfort.
The British advance forced the Boers northwards, and Slegtkamp, having joined Capt Danie Theron’s Scout Corps (TVK) in May 1900, was made corporal in charge of the Hollanders in the Corps. The TVK left for the Free State in May 1900 to disrupt and destroy British lines of communications, and were heavily involved in the skirmishes near Lindley on 26/27 June 1900 (VC action : Pte C Ward, Yorks Lt Infy). On 30 June, he was severely wounded in the hip near Bethlehem and admitted to the local Boer hospital, but managed to flee to Fouriesburg just before the British occupied Bethlehem on 7 July.
After his recovery, Slegtkamp re-joined the TVK in the Western Transvaal. When Capt Danie Theron was killed on 5 Sept 1900, his Scout Corps broke up. Hindon now formed his own Scout Corps with Slegtkamp as 2/IC and up to the end of the war they wreaked havoc throughout Northern, Central and Eastern Transvaal with derailing of trains, attacks on blockhouses, etc. A prime example was the incident on 31 August 1901 near Waterval when a troop train was derailed and Col Vandeleur, Irish Guards, was killed.
Due to a misunderstanding Capt Jack Hindon surrendered to the British on 16 May 1902 and for the last two weeks of the war Capt Slegtkamp was the C/O of the Corps. They laid down arms near Balmoral on 6 June 1902.
In July Slegtkamp was deported to Holland and landed there on 5 August 1902. In Vlissingen, Haarlem and his home town of Ijmuiden he was feted and entertained as “The Hero of Spioenkop”. In Ijmuiden he also received a suitably inscribed gold pocket watch.
He returned to the Transvaal in 1903. After working as a labourer on a farm in the Standerton district, he bought his own farm near Witbank in 1912. In the same year he was also appointed by the Landbank as Inspector for Drought Relief.
Throughout his life he supported the republican ideal and in the late 1930’s he joined the anti-British and pro-German movement, the Ossewa-Brandwag, later becoming General-in-Chief of the Highveld Region. He spent his last years in Middelburg, Transvaal where he died on 2 Feb 1951.

Hi
I added the wrong "Blake-Knox"!!


David : perhaps you can transfer it to my previous submission!

Henk

Hi Henk,

An interesting tale. It's good to also hear the other side.
So a Scotsman and a Hollander stood on a ridge waving a Transvaal Republic flag? No wonder the British were confused.
I had heard of Jack Hindon's deeds as a train wrecker, he was a thorn in Kitchener's side. A pity he didn't blow him up when he had him in the armoured train!
Top right hand side of the book cover; is 6/6 the price?
Wasn't the OssewaBrandwag the SA Nazi Party?

Iain

Brett Hendey wrote: I wonder if the battle is still commemorated somewhere in Lancashire?

Brett

Yes, indeed.

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/13-miscellany...e-of-spion-kop#16270