TOPIC:

This knife is fashioned from lengths of driving band with 18-groove "hook" section profile. This indicates that the bands come from shells that were fired by one of the R.F.A's 15-pdr BL Mk I guns, with Mk II Rifling.

Wooden box with ink inscription: "This knife was made from a driving band / belonging to a 15r Shell Fired by / 83rd F B R A at Battle of Pretoria 4th. 6th. 1900".

Handle of knife with impressed lettering: "83 F B / 4th. 6th. 1900".

Lid of box with second inscription: "A Portion of one / of Kruger's Pills (warranted) / Ach mine Gute [sic]". "Ach mine Gute" is a misspelling of the German phrase "Ach! meine Gute" ("Oh! my gosh").

Base of box with address (in a different hand): "Mr W Clements / 10 Portland Road / Colchester Ex E[illegible]".

Underneath the blade of the knife is a paper insert, inscribed in ink: "Shall want a 1/2 d for this when I come home / [signed] J. Edwards / wishing you a merry Xmas & happy new year".

It was traditional to give a token monetary gesture in exchange for the "gift" of a knife, as there was a superstition that giving a knife would otherwise sever the friendship between giver and receiver.


















69357 Acting Bombardier John Edwards, served with the 19th Battery R.F.A. He was attached to the 6th Divisional Ammunition Column, which supplied (amongst others) the 83rd Battery. Unlike his 19th Battery compatriots, Edwards was present during operations in the advance on Johannesburg and Pretoria.

His service papers give next-of-kin as his mother, Jael Gooch (née Edwards), living at Thorpe-le-Soken, Colchester.
1901 discharge papers give his intended place of residence as Boxted, Thorington Street, Stoke-by-Nayland, Colchester. Note in remarks column of QSA roll reads: "To England for discharge 23 10/01".
Edwards, like many others, lied about his age when he joined up, adding two years.

The recipient, Mr William Clements was a "Dairyman & Pork Butcher" (b. 23/06/1858; d. 1936), living at 10 Portland Road, Colchester.

In 1871, 12-year old William Clements was living on Golden Noble Hill, just 7 minutes’ walk from the Marlboro Head Inn, John Edwards' mother’s abode and place of work. The proximity of the two addresses might be relevant in terms of William and John's relationship. After his military service, John Edwards became a dairyman, following the same trade as William Clements. Perhaps John worked for William during his three years as a Reservist (1896-1899).

Jael Edwards became pregnant with John in early May 1871, while working as a servant at the Marlboro Head Inn. There is no record of the father.




The description of ammunition as "pills" seems to have been universal in 1900. This pro-Boer poster by French artist Ogé depicts Kruger offering Queen Victoria "Pilules Dum Dum".

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That is an amazing artefact, Neville.

'The 4.7 in 'speaks for itself'
The picture shows how Captain Scott has anchored the gun to check the recoil.'



'See them scuttle!
The 4.7 in throws a lyddite shell into a Boer trench.'

Source: www.angloboerwar.com/forum/19-ephemera/3...-jack?start=72#93574

Here in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, no one accepts a knife without a dollar changing hands to the giver. It's a thing. Also, the 'Pill' reference is so 'of its time'; and the Dum Dum Cartoon ties into WSC's issues with his Mauser C96. Thanks.

The recently added monographs of the OVSAC contain several pdfs that are relevant to this thread:

1. Boer artillery trophies in Australia and New Zealand
2. The Boer Whitworth guns
3. More on Boer artillery trophies in Australia and New Zealand
4. Armstrong RML guns of the Boer Republics
5. Boer artillery trophies in Britain, Canada and India
6. Boer Maxim machine guns
8. Monster guns of the Anglo-Boer War
11. The Boer Krupp guns
13. Artillery of the Jameson Raid
15. Captured British guns in Boer Service
17. Rail mounted guns of the Anglo-Boer War
19. The guns of Fort Johannesburg
22. Hotchkiss and Nordenfeldt guns of the Anglo-Boer War
24. The guns of the battle of Rietfontein

They are available here: www.angloboerwar.com/other-information/1...280-ovsac-monographs

For the upcoming Glasgow International Exhibition, due to open in May 1901, the Lord Provost of Glasgow approached Lord Roberts with a request for war trophies from South Africa. On 14 December 1900, Roberts, while on his voyage home on board the S.S. Canada, replied with an offer of two guns.

A number of field pieces were stowed on the Canada, and were due to be landed at Southampton in early January 1900. Of these, Lord Roberts decided to send a 155 mm Creusot and a 75 mm B.L. Krupp gun to the Glasgow Exhibition. Both pieces had been appropriated by Roberts for his personal collection. The “Long Tom” was the destroyed gun, found abandoned near Komati Poort, which Louis Changuion (2001) has named “Wonderboom Tom”. The Krupp was one of the guns captured on Cronje’s surrender at Paardeberg.

Lord Provost Chisholm took delivery of the two guns, along with 240 Mausers, on 2 April 1901.

The trophies were mounted on either side of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery entrance, and remained there until the exhibition closed on 9 November 1901.

A plaque was placed in front of the Creusot, which read: "GUN CAPTURED from the BOERS / Loaned by Field Marshal Earl ROBERTS / This “Long Tom” was one of the four 95 pounders used by / the Boers against us from the commencement of the War. / It was first brought to bear on the 11th Division at / Pienaars Poort to the East of Pretoria two days / before the fight at Donker Hoek (now called / Diamond Hill) and subsequently at Belfast. / Its remains were taken on Sept 24th 1900 by the / 11th Division on the hill to the East of Komati Poort".

In November the guns were sent to Woolwich Arsenal, where they remained until Roberts purchased Englemere House, Ascot, in 1903. His entire collection was refurbished before being installed there in 1906. Here the guns remained until the dark days of WWII, when Countess Roberts offered her father’s trophies to the nation as part of the salvage scheme. Nearly all the pieces, including the Creusot, were smelted to make armaments in June 1940. The sole survivor appears to have been one of the Elswick Battery guns, which is now in the collection of the National Army Museum, London.



Kelvingrove Art Gallery, photographed during the Glasgow International Exhibition. The light blue arrows indicate the positions of the two Boer guns, the Krupp on the left and the Creusot on the right.





























Greenock Telegraph, 7th January 1901

GLASGOW EXHIBITION NOTES.

Lord Provost Chisholm has received a letter from Earl Roberts in reply to a request for war trophies for the Glasgow Exhibition. The letter, which is dated “S.S. Canada, at sea, 14th December, 1900”, is as follows: “I am desired by Lord Roberts to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram asking for war trophies for your exhibition. He is sending to you on loan the broken “Long Tom” taken at Hector Spruit, a smaller gun, a stand of 240 Mausers, and 60 other rifles of various kinds. There were no bandoliers or flags at Cape Town which his Lordship could send to you”.


Nottingham Evening Post, 7th January 1901

EARL ROBERTS AND THE GLASGOW EXHIBITION.

Earl Roberts has communicated an intimation to the Glasgow Lord Provost that he is sending to the forthcoming Glasgow International Exhibition a broken “Long Tom” taken at Hector Spruit, 240 Mausers, and sixteen other rifles. He adds that there are no bandoliers or flags at Cape Town which he could send for exhibition.


North British Daily Mail, 7th January 1901

War Trophies.

Lord Roberts promises a captured “Long Tom”, amongst other war trophies, for the Glasgow Exhibition. It may be that in some cases the exhibition of such trophies is associated with feelings of vindictive exultation on one side and a bitterness on the other. This, however, will not be one of those cases. The “Long Tom” will be a witness to Boer skill and resource, as well as British bravery. The way in which the Boers handled these monsters, more particularly in Natal, was a revelation. We have learned a good deal from the enemy, whether Boers or hired experts, and have been taught more about big guns than we ever knew before. The utmost we can claim, so far as artillery is concerned, is that honours were divided. The “Long Tom”, therefore, when on view, will be an honourable memorial of a brave and resourceful enemy; and the same may be said of the smaller gun, the Mausers, and the other rifles, which are also promised. These will be very different relics as compared with the curiosities gathered at Omdurman. The latter exhibit is a positively pathetic light the ignorant courage of the dervishes, some of whom actually met our machine guns and Lee-Metfords with ancient flint-locks. There is no such pathos about the deadly Mauser of the “Long Tom”. These will bear witness to the fact that our troops have had to meet foes armed with weapons equal to, or better than, our own. We only trust that by the time the Exhibition opens the war will have so far subsided as to allow visitors to look upon such trophies with equanimity. It is something to be thankful for that the trophies are coming in this direction. In the early stages of the war, when the Boers were confident of winning, the burghers were, we believe, appealed to by Dr Gunning, the amiable curator of the State Museum at Pretoria, to preserve relics for the exhibition to future generations in that institution, alongside the trophies of Bronkhorst Spruit, Krugersdorp, and other reminders of past triumphs over the rooineks. Dr Gunning – a simple-minded good-natured little man, according to Mr Winston Churchill’s description of him – was ruthlessly commandeered to go to the front. We only trust he has got back safely to his beloved Museum – in which some alterations may possibly be made – and we might very well make him welcome to all the relics he wants, provided neither he nor his compatriots grudge us our share.


Edinburgh Evening News, 12th January 1901

GLASGOW EXHIBITION ARRANGEMENTS.

The Executive Committee of Glasgow International Exhibition, 1901, met yesterday. Lord Provost Chisholm announced that the Prince and Princess of Wales would open the Exhibition, and stated that he was to see Sir Francis Knollys on Wednesday first to arrange as to the date. His lordship also read Lord Roberts’ offer of war trophies. Ex-Bailie Shearer added that he had received from General Hector Macdonald a case containing a number of Mauser rifles, a bandolier, and three Orange Free State flags, all captured from the enemy.


Greenock Telegraph, 16th February 1901

The “Long Tom” Creusot, and hexagonal guns, Mausers, rifles and other trophies captured from the Boers by Earl Roberts and General Ian Hamilton have now reached Southampton, and will be despatched to Glasgow, where they are to be shown in the Historical Section of the Exhibition.


Bolton Evening News, 27th February 1901

“Long Tom”, the gun taken from the Boers, and now in the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, is to be sent to Glasgow Exhibition.


Edinburgh Evening News, 3rd April 1901

BOER RELICS FOR GLASGOW EXHIBITION.

The pom-pom guns captured from the Boers by Lord Roberts and lent by him to the Glasgow Exhibition, arrived at Kelvingrove yesterday. Lord Roberts, in addition to the pom-poms, is also forwarding a number of Mauser rifles and bullets taken from the enemy.


Nottingham Evening Post, 16th February 1906

LORD ROBERTS’S WAR TROPHIES

At the present time there are in the Ordnance Department at Woolwich Arsenal a number of war trophies belonging to Lord Roberts which are of great historical interest. They are undergoing repair before being removed to Lord Roberts’s new country mansion [Englemere] at Ascot. The trophies include two 9-pounder guns, with carriages and limbers, captured from E Battery, R.H.A., and recaptured by Lord Roberts at Kandahar in 1880; one 15-pounder B.L. gun, with carriage and limber, formerly belonging to the ill-fated 66th Battery, R.F.A.; and one of the guns in trying to save which from the Boers Lieutenant Roberts lost his life; one Krupp gun, carriage, and limber taken at the time General Cronje surrendered; the “Long Tom” from Ladysmith; a full battery of 12-pounder 12cwt guns, presented to the country by Lady Meux during the South African war [the Elswick Battery]; one bronze gun and carriage, dated 1596, engraved with the names of Phillip II of Spain and his Captain-General of Artillery; and four small brass cannons.




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