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I seem to be assembling quite a number of medals to the I.L.I. - not enough to make a platoon but then that is not my intention. Ernest Hemsworth saw service with the I.L.I. and the I.H.C. before calling it a day.

Ernest Hemsworth

Private, Imperial Light Infantry and Imperial Hospital Corps – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Tugela Heights and Relief of Ladysmith to 658 Pte. E. Hemsworth, Impl. Lt. Infy.

Ernest Hemsworth was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1873 the son of George Henry Hemsworth, an Engine Centerer by trade and his wife Emma.

According to the 1881 England census an 8 year old Ernest was at home at 15 Rural Street in Leeds together with his family. Aside from his parents were older sister Charlotte Ann (16), brother Henry (14) and younger brother Samie (5). Henry was already at his young age employed as an Errand Boy – a sign of the times in working class Victorian England where employment was scarce and the need for education secondary to putting food on the family table.

Perhaps it was a thirst for adventure or perhaps a need to find some form of work security that drove Hemsworth south from the smog on Industrial England to the wide open plains of South Africa but, whatever the case may be, he was in the country at the time the Anglo Boer War broke out in October 1899. The protagonists in this conflict were the might of the British Empire on the one hand and two almost nondescript Boer Republics on the other. Trouble had been brewing for quite some time and eventually, negotiation having been exhausted, spilled over into war.

Within days the Boer forces had moved south into Natal - over the Drakensberg and via Vryheid into the north of the Colony. The Imperial Forces on hand to counter this threat were woefully inadequate in number and the call went out for local outfits to be raised to assist. Men in their thousands enlisted either with the regular regiments’ already in existence or with new ones that sprung up in abundance. The Imperial Light Infantry was one of these, raised in Natal its members were largely recruited from those who had lost their employment through the outbreak of hostilities. It was to the I.L.I. that Hemsworth turned to “do his bit” joining their ranks on 20 November 1899 as a Private with no. 658. His attestation form, completed at Durban has survived and provides us with a glimpse of the man. Physically he was 5 feet 10 ½ inches in height and weighed 150 pounds. 27 years of age he had a light complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. His shoe size was a “7” small for his height.

The command of the I.L.I. was given to Lieutenant Colonel Nash (Border Regiment) and by the end of December 1899 the regiment was ready for active service. The Imperial Light Infantry had comparatively little training and almost no fighting until they were thrown into the awful combat on Spioen Kop on 24th January 1900. This was to be their finest hour, about 1000 strong, they paraded at 10 pm on 23rd January, and, as ordered, took up positions from which they could reinforce General Woodgate, who commanded the force detailed to capture the hill.

Sir Charles Warren visited the regiment early on the morning of the 24th, and asked the officers if they had seen anything of a mountain-battery which he was expecting. He requested that 2 companies be sent forward to a specified point to be ready to escort the battery to the summit when it arrived. The companies of Captains Champney and Smith moved out at 6 am and waited as ordered for the battery, but about 9 am a staff-officer told them to reinforce immediately on the summit. The 2 companies advanced and reached the top shortly after 10 am.

At this hour the enemy's fire was appalling, the hail of bullets and shells being ceaseless, but these untried volunteers are said to have pushed up to the shallow trench and the firing-line beyond it without flinching. They at once commenced to suffer very severe losses. These 2 companies were the first reinforcements to enter the firing-line, and their arrival proved most opportune, some Lancashire companies being very hard pressed at this time and at this part of the position.

About mid-day Colonel Nash was ordered to reinforce on the summit with "every available man". About 2 pm he reached the top with his remaining companies, who at once bolted out from the rocks at the head of the ascent and fed the firing-line, pushing forward fearlessly across the open.

Throughout the afternoon and evening the firing was unceasing, and often at very close quarters; after dark it had died away. The regiment having been collected, fell in and marched off. They had barely gone 200 yards, however, when an officer said to Colonel Nash, "Where are you going?" The latter replied that he had been ordered to take down the regiment. The other officer then said, "I am Colonel Hill of the Middlesex; not a man or regiment is to leave the hill". The officers of the Imperial Light Infantry then said to their men that a mistake had been made, and the column 'about turned', marched back to the place they had come from, put out pickets, and lay down among the dead and wounded. The worst feature of this very trying experience was the ceaseless crying of the wounded for water: there was none on the hill. During the night a staff-officer informed Colonel Nash that he had better bring down his men before dawn if no fresh troops or orders came up. Between 3 am and 4 am the regiment was again collected and finally left the hill. No Boers had ventured on to the hill up to that time.

Licking their wounds, tired, thirsty and pretty much out for the count Hemsworth and his comrades were left to try and regain their strength and spirits – they had been exposed to and participated in one of the most trying and costly battles the British forces had experienced for a very long time.


The summit after the battle

The relief of Ladysmith came on 1 March 1900 and, shortly thereafter, the decision to disband many of those regiments raised for the purpose of defending Natal was taken. Hemsworth took his discharge on 27 April 1900 – the nominal roll noting that he was Medically Unfit – and after a short hiatus betook himself to the Imperial Hospital Corps which he joined on 3 May 1900. Posted to No. 15 General (Howick) Hospital he seems to have spent his entire service stationed there until taking his discharge, at his own request, on 10 January 1901. This hospital served both Boer and Brit alike as it was adjacent to the Boer Concentration Camp - the hospital opened in July 1900 with over 500 and had double this number by September of that year and was thus a thriving place by the time Hemsworth was employed there.


Howick Hospital

After this spell Hemsworth took no further part in the war. He was awarded the Queens medal for his services.

After the war he returned to Johannesburg and the Rand and, as was most often the case, walked in to a house which was in a condition which was a far cry from the way he had left it. Invariably houses belonging to the British families (the Uitlanders) who had fled from Kruger were ransacked by either the Boer forces or those of the British persuasion – one was never entirely sure. The British Authorities set up mechanisms for the dispossessed who were allowed to claim compensation and were, if approved, reimbursed at the rate of two-thirds of the assessed value of the damages. Most claims exceeded what the Authorities were prepared to pay but the relief was welcomed in most quarters.

Hemsworth claimed a total of £151 and, after assessment was awarded of £107. The forms he completed for this purpose on 18 September 1902 are revealing of what had happened to him since before the start of the war. He gave his residential address as Village Main Reef Gold Mining Company Ltd., Box 1091 Johannesburg and confirmed that he was an Engine Driver in the mine’s employ. As references (a requirement) he provided the names of H.B Murgatroyd of the Albion Hotel in Market Street, Johannesburg and Mr A.J. Strong and Mr W.M. Epson of the Village Main Reef Mine. The assessors report on investigation showed that he was “not married” but supported his father, mother and younger brother. His military service was confirmed as being with the Imperial Light Infantry and the Imperial Hospital Corps “together 14 months” and his claim was for furniture and effects, the portion of his goods stored in his cottage on Village Deep Gold Mine.

Referring to what was looted he claimed that “all was looted except some photos” including an overmantle, couch, double bedstead, washstand and chair. The comment was also made that “there is no evidence as to who did the looting except that the Boers were manufacturing shells on this mine and their workmen living in the cottages”. The cottage referred to was 4 rooms “fairly large” and an outhouse. A Mr Lowe had been living in it after occupation (the British forces had occupied Johannesburg) and Hemsworth was adamant that he had “screwed and nailed up the doors and windows before leaving” a Mrs Richmond, described as being a neighbour and very old friend of the family, stated that she knew the belongings of the claimant “almost better than he does” and the house was comfortably furnished.

In a further report mention was made that Hemsworth had left the Transvaal on 3 October 1899 and returned on 13 January 1902 and that he was “very respectable and reliable”. Apropos the furniture – mention was made that a large portion of it was purchased nine months prior to the war and that the rest had been bought second hand and was in use for eighteen months. Hemsworth also claimed for a piano which had been bought new (a Collard and Collard bought new at Handle House) six years ago “for eighty guineas and which was supposed to have been taken by a man named William’s (Caretaker at the mine) whose whereabouts cannot be traced.”

A letter from the Refugees Aid Department dated 25 July 1903 informed Hemsworth that his cheque was ready and that he had to claim it in person. A note in the file states that Hemsworth “had a lodging house at corner of Fox and End Streets and removed to the Village Deep about two months before the war, this is the reason they had so much furniture”

Hemsworth was never destined to live till a ripe old age – he passed away at the age of 42 years and 10 months on 9 August 1915. Still occupied as an Engine Driver he was resident at 56 Janie Street, Jeppestown, Johannesburg which is where he passed away. He was survived by his brother Fred of 367a Main Street, Fairview

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Good heavens, another one!

Very nice, Rory. It is time you got down to writing a history of the ILI.
Regards
Brett

I'm almost over my current preoccupation with the I.L.I. Frank.

My next rendition will be a Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry man - all they have in common is Spioenkop!

Regards

Rory

Yes, Thorneycroft's were raised the month before as a mounted regiment, that certainly made absolutely no difference whatsoever whilst on that wretched hill of course, but, I think the original members of the ILI had really drawn the short straw and there were an awful lot of them, although, their existence was rather shorter, I actually do like both regiments.

Very nice, Rory. It is time you got down to writing a history of the ILI.
Regards
Brett

I must get down to writing something constructive and instructive after all this time Brett.

Regards

Rory