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Frank Walter Taunton

Trooper and Lieutenant, Natal Carbineers – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasp Natal to 873 Tpr. F.W. Taunton, Natal Carbineers

Frank Taunton was born in Pietermaritzburg in the Colony of Natal in about 1877 the son of Charles Edmund Taunton and his wife Clara Annette (born Hinds). Taunton senior was a leading light in late Victorian Pietermaritzburg society and was a successful Broker and Agent. He was also a serving Major in the Natal Carbineers.

After an uneventful childhood Frank was sent up to Hilton College, a prestigious boys’ Boarding School just outside Pietermaritzburg which is still, to this day, modelled on the English Public School system. Taunton began his school career at Hilton at an early age and, according to a newspaper article in 1895 quoting the then Headmaster “had been a long time with them; in fact, if he might be allowed to use a schoolboy expression, since he was a chicken.”

Taunton was to excel at school both academically and sporting-wise. He made his first appearance in the headlines in 1889when he was listed under Junior (Boys) who achieved second-class honours in the Oxford Local Examinations. In that same year he was to feature in the “Married vs Single” cricket match where it was mentioned that “We had a devilish good match” The Bachelors just pulled the chestnut out of the fire, and that was all the margin being just six runs on the first innings, all the responsibility resting on the shoulders of Master Taunton, who, seeing that he was not much taller than the willow he handled, may be taken to be very much “single”. Being short in stature was something that followed Taunton his entire short life. In a team photo a few years later he is to be seen standing on a stone to increase his height.



This initial batting prowess was to blossom into full bloom later on but first it was back to his academic accomplishments – at the 1891 school prize giving he was awarded a Certificate by the His Excellency the Governor General (who happened to be the guest speaker at the event) for attaining a distinction in English. 1892 was to be no different with Taunton garnering a 2nd Class Honours pass in the Oxford Local Examinations. On the cricket pitch he “played well” for his 12 against Lion’s River.

In 1893 he was a successful natal candidate in the Cape Matriculation Examination coming 114th in a field of several hundred. Cricket-wise, against the Standard Club he “carried his bat throughout the innings, and had contributed 72”. This total he easily surpassed in the second innings notching 84. The correspondent reflected that “Frank Taunton batting for Hilton deserves special mention, and the College victory is largely due to his fine performance in the first innings.” With the advent of 1894 Taunton was already a Senior – achieving 3rd Class Honours in the Oxford Local Examination. But it wasn’t only on the cricket pitch that he excelled – in 1895 he was also a frequent player for Hilton College’s 1st XV playing at three-quarter. It was also in 1895 that he was recognised and rewarded for his on and off the field achievements by being named Head of School and Captain of Cricket. At the prize giving that year, “on entering within the enclosure Lady Hely-Hutchinson was presented with a beautiful bouquet by the head boy of the school, Mr F.W. Taunton.”



Mr Ellis, Headmaster, in his address mentioned that, “At the examination of 1894 and among the senior boys in the Oxford Local Examination was their head boy, F.W. Taunton, who had won, he was proud to say, the gold medal for the highest in honours in the senior locals (Applause). They would all regret losing him. He had made an excellent head boy, and he had shown a conscientious self-reliance which few boys had shown in his place.”
Another perspective of Tauntons’ tenure as Head Boy at Hilton came in a later article written on the disciplinary system employed at the school. The writer mentioned that,

“Incidents inevitably arose in which a boy's personal popularity over clouded the school's sense of justice. On one occasion, during the headship of Frank Taunton, three boys were concerned in a fight which took place, as was customary, with bare fists, in the wattles below the square. The challenge had come from an overgrown new boy to two younger boys who had resolved, by petty persecution, to teach him the humility proper to a 'new poop'. Though the odds were heavy against the new boy, his general unpopularity was such that there was little sympathy for him in his discomfiture, which was severe enough. Ellis when he heard of it was naturally indignant.

A quiet word followed to Taunton and the two younger boys were soundly spanked.

The monitorial system obviously depended on strength of character in the senior boys. Ellis was following Dr. Arnold's principles when he used it as a training ground in self-government. School discipline was at its best under head boys of the calibre of Cyril Robinson, Huntley Fyvie, and Frank Taunton. Rule-breakers there will always be at every school, but the influence of these three successive head boys - kept the general body of prefects loyal to their duty. It was by no means easy to control the escapades of colonial boys who had been accustomed to much freedom.”




The day dawned when Taunton, recently matriculated, took his leave of the school. He seems to have studied to be an Engineer but was still active in cricket at club level in Pietermaritzburg, turning out for the Old Boys on a number of occasions. These were idyllic days but they weren’t destined to last forever. War clouds had long been gathering between the two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State and Great Britain on the other. This finally spilled over into open warfare on 11 October 1899 and the militia units and other Colonial Regiments in Natal were mobilised to counter the threat. With his father already serving as a Senior Officer in the Natal Carbineers it followed that Taunton would follow suit. This didn’t happen immediately, however, and it wasn’t until much later that he donned a uniform.

What was the cause of the delay in enlisting? – no-one is sure but it could have been for two reasons, one of them extremely tragic, in that his father, Major Charles Taunton, was shot through the heart and killed in action in one of the first incidents of the war, on 3 November 1899. His death could have caused his mother to appeal to her only son to remain out of things. The second reason was that he could have been finishing his engineering studies.

Whatever the reason it wasn’t until 25 April 1900, after the Siege of Ladysmith was lifted, that Taunton attested for service with no. 873. Initially given the rank of Trooper he seems to have been commissioned as a Lieutenant almost immediately thereafter. The Natal Carbineers, at this point in the war, were sent for a month-long well deserved recuperation at Highlands near Estcourt where they remained until 5 April attracting a total of 111 new recruits.

Thereafter they returned to Ladysmith to rejoin Buller’s army as part of the Voluntary Mounted Brigade. They then went to Buys’ Farm near Elandslaagte (which is where they were joined by Taunton) remaining in comparative idleness until 7 May when Buller resumed his drive to rid Natal of the Boers near Helpmekaar.

The regiment entered the plundered village of Helpmekaar on 14 May and pressed on to Dundee the following day in the vanguard of Buller’s column. From there it was on to Newcastle on 18 May where the brigade set up camp at Mount Prospect, north of Newcastle, for the duration of four weeks in what was to be the Carbineers’ final bow in the formal phase of the war. It was also to be Taunton’s final bow – his young life which had held such promise was snuffed out by a bout of Enteric Fever on 14 June 1900. Just prior to his death the Carbineers had been little more than spectators at the battles of Botha’s Pass on 8 June and Alleman’s Nek on 11 June, which finally evicted the Boers from the Colony.

In an address to his old school a few years later, the Headmaster said,

“One more name I must recall—a name that is lovingly enshrined in the hearts of all the boys of his day, poor Frank Taunton, who died of enteric fever June 14th, 1900, while serving in the Natal Carbineers during the late Boer War.

He was a fine athlete, a model—physically and morally—of what a Hilton boy should be—manly, unselfish, loyal, absolutely fearless. Dear “Old Chicken was beloved by all, by his comrades who admired and copied him, by his masters who respected and trusted him, alike. As Head Boy he ruled the school with tact and ability, none the less wisely because he no doubt remembered a time when, without the responsibilities the position of Head Boy entails, he was as ready as any to join in the merry pranks and jokes of his schoolfellows.

When these new benches were, by Mr. Ellis’ orders, placed on the football ground, what an eyesore they were to the boys! Benches without a name or an initial cut deep on seat or back, and which seemed to the indignant boys almost to flaunt their immunity. Among the first to attempt to remedy this were Frank Taunton and Hubert Walton. How beautifully they carved their names; how carefully the capitals; were designed and the flourishes added; how clearly and distinctly each letter stood out on the, until then, bare surface of the bench. Alas! Their opinion of their work was not shared by Mr. Ellis.

“Cave ” came upon them just as the last flourishes were being dexterously put in, catching them in the very act, and severely ordered them to supply another bench, or at once reverse the one whose bare surface they had, in their own opinion, so elegantly decorated—his, I fear, defaced. And, it had to be done; but should anyone care to look for them on the reverse side of one of the benches of the Hilton football ground— those two names, carved side by side by boyish hands seventeen years ago, may yet be read.”

There is some dispute over exactly where Taunton died – one report states his death to have occurred, as mentioned above, in Newcastle, whilst another claims that, gravely ill, he was brought back to Pietermaritzburg where he passed away at the Assembly Hospital. This last appeared in the Natal Witness of Tuesday, 21 June. The article also contains the only mention of his age, 23 years old. His estate file confirmed an amount for distribution of £1 266, the amount so recently inherited from his late father.

Today he is memorialised thus, “Three of the memorial windows promised in connection with the All Saints’ Church, Ladysmith, have arrived and are now in place. They are all lancet windows, and are situate on the south side of the nave. A peculiar point in connection with their arrival is that they were ordered from England two months after some plain glass windows had been ordered from Durban, yet they are the first to arrive. The central of the three windows is a reproduction of the figure from Holman Hunt’s famous picture, “The Lights of the World,” representing Christ knocking at the closed and ivy-grown door. This was presented by Mrs. Taunton, and bears the following inscription:-—

“ ‘In Thy light shall we see light.’ In loving memory of my husband, Charles Edmund Taunton, Major in the Natal Carbineers. Killed in action near Ladysmith during the siege, 3rd November, 1899. Also of our only son, Frank Walter Taunton, Natal Carbineers, who died on the 14th June, 1900.”

It is a peculiar coincidence in connection with this window that the first weekly service held in the church after its erection should be held on the anniversary of the death of Mr Frank Taunton, who died of fever on June 14th, 1900. On each side of this window is another, one representing the angel Michael and the other Gabriel. The former shows the angel with but one wing, because he was the messenger of justice and God is slow to execute justice; and on the latter is seen Gabriel with two wings, because he is the messenger of mercy and God is quick to show mercy.

A posthumous Queens Medal with Natal clasp was awarded to recall his service and the ultimate sacrifice made.

Great piece of research Rory..... Enjoy the photos of him as a young man......

Also good single bar medal......

Mike

Rory
I echo Mike's comments! It is a story of Old Natal well told, but, sadly, it will be much less admired locally than it would have been by earlier generations.
Regards
Brett

A photo of the memorial to the dead, Hilton College, Pietermaritzburg. Taunton's name appears under the Boer War category.