TOPIC:

Corporal T W Hope, Imperial Light Horse


Thomas William Hope was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne in about 1878.

He and his father, Robert Hope, settled in the Transvaal and were amongst the “Uitlander” refugees who arrived in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, during September 1899, shortly before the start of the Anglo-Boer War.

Robert Hope enlisted as a Natal Government Railways Bridge Guard, but left to join the Colonial Scouts. When the Scouts were demobilized, Robert joined the Natal Carbineers. After the end of the Natal campaign, he enlisted in the Commander in Chief’s Bodyguard, but left after two weeks and returned to Johannesburg, where he died in 1904.

Thomas Hope had a much more settled military career. He enlisted in the newly-formed Imperial Light Horse on 23/9/1899 (No. 219), thereby becoming one of the “First 500” of this illustrious regiment. His age was given as 22 years. He was discharged 480 days later on 16/1/1901. His discharge certificate records that he took part in the following engagements:

Elandslaagte
Defence of Ladysmith
Biggarsberg
Relief of Mafeking
Operations – Pretoria
Operations – Barberton
Frederickstad

Hope re-enlisted in the ILH on 21/5/1901 and served for a further 204 days until 10/12/1901. His second discharge certificate records the following service:

Operations with Colonel Hickie, WesternTransvaal
Operations with General Dartnell, Orange River Colony
Operations with Lieutenant-Colonel Briggs, Orange River Colony.

He was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with the clasps:

Relief of Mafeking, Elandslaagte, Defence of Ladysmith, Transvaal.

A late-issued South Africa 1901 clasp was not attached to the medal.

No record could be found for the award of the Orange Free State clasp, which was earned during Hope’s second period of enlistment.

Replacements for the lost South Africa 1901 clasp and the unissued Orange Free State clasp have been added loose on the ribbon of Hope’s QSA.

After his service with the ILH, Hope returned to Johannesburg, where he was a gold miner. He lived in Denver, where he married Catherine Cogeen. They had three children; Edith Ethel (born 1907), Robert William (born 1908), and Catherine Martha (born 1909).

On 30/10/1911, Thomas Hope drew up his ‘Last Will and Testament’ in which he named his wife, Catherine, as sole heir. It is likely that by the time the Will was drawn up, Hope had symptoms of the disease which was then wreaking havoc amongst miners of the Witwatersrand – Miner’s Phthisis, specifically silicosis.

This disease was caused by poor ventilation in the mines and the inhalation of silica dust by the miners. Variations of this disease are found amongst miners of coal (black lung) and asbestos (asbestosis). Silicosis significantly increases the risks of miner’s contracting tuberculosis (TB), which may be the diagnosed cause of death.

Thomas Hope died on 2/5/1917, aged only 39 years and 5 months. The inventory of his estate included a payment of £10 from the Phthisis Board, an indication that Hope had suffered from this incurable disease.

21/5/2011

A well-researched medal as always, Brett.
I had a quick look at the QSA roll and see there was a Tpr Thomas Hope who served in the JMR, 2ILH and then 1ILH with no less than five different numbers. I see that the main issue of OFS & TVL clasps to the 1ILH seems to be on WO 100/250 [pg 116 for 2980 Tpr T Hope] dated 31-12-1902 at PMB. I wonder if this may have been the cause of some confusion and resulted in 219 Cpl TW Hope being missed.

Cheers,

Mark

Mark

Many thanks for your comments. The research on Corporal T W Hope was made much easier by the presence with his medal of his two ILH discharge certificates. These are the only such certificates that I have seen.

I had high hopes for Hope's diary, extracts of which are given under David's 'January 6th' thread, but it proved disappointing. It was kept only during the period of the Ladysmith siege, when Hope had time on his hands. Hope was clearly not well educated and his diary entries are interesting only insofar as they reveal the thoughts of a young soldier, who had been in uniform for a very short time.

Regards
Brett

Brett,

Frustrating that it doesn't reveal more but still a valuable record of the Siege. The ILH discharge certificates are most interesting. I've never come across any. Just finding the discharge section of an attestation paper complete is usually something to rejoice about but a complete discharge certificate would certainly be a most valuable mine of info on any ABW soldier.

Cheers,

Mark

Shown below are photgraphs of Hope's first discharge certificate.

Hope's second discharge certificate.