TOPIC:

A railways medal of special distinction


Picture courtesy of Noonan's

DCM VR (1727. Pte. C. Godfrey. 58th. Regt. 28th. Jany. 1881);
SAGS (1) 1879 (29/1727. Pte. C. Godfrey. 58th. Foot.);
QSA (0) (Mr. C. Godfrey. Natal Govt: Rlys:)

DCM Recommendation submitted to the Queen 10 January 1883. The original Recommendation states: ‘Remained with Major Hingeston when that Officer was wounded and not withstanding the heavy fire refused to leave him till he had been carried down the hill and taken to the ambulance.’

A fuller account was published in the Natal Mercury: ‘In the engagement at Laing’s Nek on 28 January 1881, when the Regiment reached the most advanced position to which it was able to attain, many of the officers were shot down. Amongst the number was Major Hingeston, who was mortally wounded. This officer was lying several yards in front of he line exposed to a heavy fire from the Boers, as well as our own line. Private Godfrey, seeing this crept to the front on his hands and knees, took up Major Hingeston in his arms, and carried him through the ranks to the rear. At this time the Regiment was ordered to retire, but Private Godfrey remained with Major Hingeston under fire, refusing to leave him until the engagement was over, and he had conveyed him to the hospital in the rear.’

The Battle of Laing’s Nek

On 28 January 1881 Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley’s Natal Field Force, comprising 1,400 men, an 80-strong Naval brigade, artillery and Gatling guns, advanced on the strategic pass in the hills on the Natal-Transvaal border called Laing’s Nek, the aim being, through a series of cavalry and infantry charges, to break through the Boer positions on the Drakensberg mountain range to relieve their garrisons. The British were repelled with heavy losses by the Boers under the command of Piet Joubert; of the 480 British troops who made the charges, 150 never returned. Furthermore, sharp-shooting Boers had killed or wounded many senior officers.

Total British casualties were 84 killed and 113 wounded, with the bulk of these suffered by the 58th Regiment of Foot, who lost 74 killed and 101 wounded, around a third of their total strength. Boer losses were 14 killed and 27 wounded. For his gallantry in bringing casualties down from the hillside, Lieutenant Alan Hill, 58th Foot, was awarded the Victoria Cross. This was also the last occasion that a British regiment took its Colours into action; with heavy casualties, four officers in succession were shot down whilst carrying both the Regimental and the Queen’s Colour.

The Armoured Train Affair, Chieveley, 15 November 1899

Godfrey was discharged from the Army and remaining in South Africa was subsequently employed as a Ganger by the Natal Government Railways. He saw further service during the Second Boer War, and was one of those railwaymen involved in the Armoured Train affair at Chieveley on 15 November 1899, when an armoured train which had been sent out on patrol was intercepted by the Boers and three carriages were thrown off the line. These vehicles lay between the rest of the train and the track over which it must travel on its homeward journey, and until they were removed the train, the engine and its escort - about 150 men - were exposed to a severe converging fire of rifles and artillery from the surrounding hills. The sole means by which the line could be cleared was the engine, which moving to and fro butted at the wreckage until after about 50 minutes' work it was heaved and pushed off the track. The heroic deeds of the driver of the engine, Charles Wagner, and by the fireman, Alexander James Stewart, were ultimately recognised with the award of the Albert Medal, ‘and other railwaymen involved in the affair included C. Godfrey, A. Branley, W. Yallup, and J. Welsh’. When the engine and tender arrived back at Estcourt with the survivors and examination of the engine showed that it had been hit three times by shell, and the tender had 63 bullet marks. The whole affair was famously presided over by the young Winston Churchill, who was at the time a reporter for the Morning Post - Churchill himself showed great gallantry in this action, following which he was captured by the Boers, ensuring his popular fame six weeks later when he made good his escape. Details of the whole affair were subsequently published in Churchill’s autobiography, My Early Life.

Queens South Africa Medal no clasp (T. UNDERWOOD. C.G.R.)

Thomas Lewis Underwood aka Lewis Thomas Nutt Underwood. Born Southwark, London 14.3.1874. Train Driver Cape Govt Rlys in theatre of war. Also, Cradock Town Guard. Died Luderitz, Namibia 11.1.1960