TOPIC:

Robert Sharp

Trooper, Colonial Scouts
Pietermaritzburg Town Guard
Natal Burgher Camps and
Orderly, Imperial Hospital Corps – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Relief of Ladysmith and South Africa 1901 to Tpr. R.Sharp, Colonial Scouts

Robert Sharp was born in Milnrow, Lancashire, England on 15 June 1875 the son of Thomas Sharp, a Woolen Operator at one of the mills in the Butterworth area and his wife Mary Ann. at the time of the 1881 England census the family lived at 1 Belfield Mill - apart from his parents a 5 year old Robert was joined in the house by siblings William (12) and already at work in the mills; Elizabeth (10), George (3) and baby Thomas (11 months)



Ten years later at the time of the 1891 England census the family were still in the same house - Mr Sharp was a Woolen Piece Looker whilst Robert was a 15 year old Woolen Take-in Beamer. According to the family at some stage Robert found religion studying under John Wesley for quite some time. At some point in time he decided to make a home and a life for himself in South Africa where It would seem that he settled on a career in mining and the place to be was the Goldfields of the Witwatersrand. Situated as they were in the epicentre of the Transvaal (or Zuid Afrikansche Republiek) Sharp would have made his way to Johannesburg which, at the turn of the 19th century was where fortunes were being made and lost on a regular basis. It was precisely this that attracted the scrutiny of Oom Paul Kruger and his conservative government. Based 50 miles away in the capital city of Pretoria, Kruger cast a beady eye on the doings of the dreaded “uitlanders” – the foreigners, mainly of British extraction, on whom his country was ever more reliant on their industry and taxes to fill his national coffers.

The “Uitlanders” in turn, pressed for a bigger say in the running of the country, particularly asking for the franchise so that they might vote for their own representatives. Kruger was having none of that – outnumbered, he knew his Dutch Burghers would lose control and that was to be avoided at all costs. Things came to a head in October 1899 when an ultimatum from Kruger to the British Government was unanswered. The two were at war with the Orange Free State, a spectator at this point, honouring its pact with Kruger to support him and entering the war.

This occasioned a flood of refugees from the Transvaal towards Natal and other safer havens. Sharp would most likely have been among this number – making his way to Pietermaritzburg where, on 5 December 1899 he enrolled with “E” Squadron of the Colonial Scouts to do battle with the Boers. Aged 24 he claimed to be a Minister (although this should probably read Miner) providing his address as 270 Loop Street, Pietermaritzburg. The rank structure of the Scouts was an interesting one – the Conditions for Raising Corps of Colonial Scouts states that;

“As each troop of 25 men is enlisted and equipped the men will elect their leader and proceed whither ordered.”
As each 100 men is raised a head leader will be elected, and when 500 men are raised, a chief leader will be elected.”

Sharp never made it to the rank or title of Leader but he was immediately in the field with his comrades. The Colonial Scouts were a unique outfit raised as they were by the Natal Government, members were enlisted as volunteers and any member could leave on seven days’ notice. By 15 December 500 men in 5 squadrons had been equipped, mounted and despatched. The majority were colonials, good riders, true shots and eager to get into the thick of things.

B, C, D and E Squadrons were in the district of Nottingham Road, Mooi River, Willow Grange and Estcourt making valuable captures of livestock. During January, February and March 1900 portions of D and E Squadrons were detached from the Flying Column despatched to Zululand and were stationed at Mooi River under Captain Wood proving of great assistance to the military by keeping an eye on Natal Boers, and patrolling Weenen, Hlatikulu and Riet Vlei.

On 3 January 1900 300 Scouts were ordered by General Buller to attack Helpmekaar and to destroy enemy communications around Wasbank by blowing up a bridge. They were to leave Estcourt the day the troops left Frere. Most of the five squadrons left Estcourt on 11 and 12 January deciding to go across country to Eshowe and Melmoth. For five days the Scouts marched from daybreak until nightfall, through rough and roadless country. On reaching Nqutu they learned that the Boers had got wind of their movements and had virtually encircled them.

With Boers on the left, front, right and rear of them it was concluded that Buller’s plan had failed whereafter the Scouts went to Eshowe where they formed part of the garrison until 14 March when they were ordered back to Pietermaritzburg to disband. Some fifty percent of them re-enlisted in other volunteer and irregular corps. Sharp was no exception – he hadn’t done with the war yet, he took his discharge on 19 March 1900 and promptly joined the Pietermaritzburg Town Guard before transferring to the Natal Burgher Camps as a member of the Imperial Hospital Corps on 2 April 1900.

By this time the guerrilla phase of the Anglo-Boer War had been reached with the British intensifying their land-clearance and scorched-earth policy. This policy involved removing the civilians, i.e. the Boer women and children and the black population, from farms in the former Boer republics, and concentrating them at points in major towns, with easy access to railroads. The aim of this policy was to prevent the Boer families and labourers from supplying the burghers on commando with food, shelter and information. The hastily erected concentration camps were overcrowded, with inadequate accommodation, meagre rations and poor sanitary conditions. These factors resulted in a high death rate.

To relieve the pressure placed on the overcrowded concentration camps in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, it was decided to move some of the following groups of Boer women and children to newly erected concentration camps near Durban: those whose husbands were still on commando; those who were considered to be undesirables in up-country camps because of their pro-republican attitude, and those who were prepared to go voluntarily.

The first concentration camp to be erected in Durban was the Merebank Concentration Camp, about 12,8 km south of the city, on the south coast railway line. This, the largest concentration camp of the Anglo-Boer War, with its more than 8000 inhabitants, was developed on wet and marshy land which was condemned by the Fawcett Commission. Despite their recommendation that the site be moved to another location, it was allowed to remain. The Merebank Camp, which received its first inhabitants on 13 September 1901, was divided into three sections known as Grasmere, Windermere and Hazelmere.

Inhabitants were provided with accommodation either in tents or in wood and corrugated iron huts. Bath-houses and wash-houses were also erected in each of these sections, and the water for the camp was supplied by the Durban Corporation. A hospital and a school building were also provided.
The camp was administered by the Camp Superintendent, H M. Bousfield, under the auspices of the Natal Burgher Camps Department. He was assisted by a team of administrators including doctors, a hospital matron and staff, a camp matron and staff, storemen, sanitary staff, clerks, camp police, teachers and many other officials.

At some point he took his discharge from the I.H.C. only to re-attest for a further three months at Pietermaritzburg on 5 February 1901 as an Orderly. He provided his wife Mrs Helena Sharp of 282 Loop Street, Pietermaritzburg as his next of kin and claimed to be a Cynider (a Mining trade) by occupation.


Sharp with his wife and children

The British Medical Journal of 16 June 1900 described the Orderly’s of the Imperial Hospital Corps as “a mixture of very good and very bad. The latter have been eliminated.” Quite which category Sharp fell into we do not know. His wife, Helena Henrietta, passed away in the Transvaal in 1945. Altogether the couple had 6 children. Robert Talbot Sharp born on 3 January 1899 in Pretoria, Rayne born 1900 in Pretoria; Ian born 1902 in Natal; Vaughan 1903 in Natal; Gwen in 1904 and lastly Hazel in 1906.

For his efforts he was awarded the Queens Medal off the Colonial Scouts roll with clasps Relief of Ladysmith and South Africa 1901.

In later years he took to politics where he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Benoni in the early 1920's

Rory
Regarding the Colonial Scouts, it is interesting to see that Stirling has it that five squadrons were formed and commanded by Col. Addison and the unit was disbanded in 4/00. However, the medal rolls (WO100/242) only differentiates between men of B,F and G squadrons. There are many pages of men with no notation regarding squadron. I assume they were members of either A,C,D and E squadrons. In any case, alphabetically speaking, the Colonial Scouts had six squadrons. Stirling does comment that, upon disbandment, the majority of the volunteers joined other irregular units - "G squadron practically became "F" squadron of Bethune's MI under Major Menne". Perhaps that is where the "five squadrons" came into things?
My interest in the Colonial Scouts stemmed from the encountering many years ago here in OZ of a QSA single clasp RofL to "n/n Tpr. T.C.Pennington" (medal issued to an address in Sheffield, England). Happily, I was able to ascertain he was a member of "G" squadron - commanded by Major Menne. Clearly, my man did not choose to continue his service elsewhere.
Regards
IL.

You are quite right IL. I picked up my man's Squadron from the Nominal Rolls - they seem to be more specific.

Regards

Rory

Hello Rory, I'm not sure if you picked up my earlier post but I would like to correspond with you. I am Robert's grand daughter, living in Port Elizabeth SA. My mother was Helena's daughter Gwendoline. There were 4 boys and two girls. I have more info on the family to share with you. my email address is [email protected]. You may be interested to look up Anne Talbot on this site. She and one of her sisters nursed at Ladysmith and other POW camps. Her mother had a nursing home just down the road from Robert and Helena Sharp. I grew up with the understanding that Robert was in his youth a lay minister in the Wesleyan church and that Helena was a midwife. He was a very interesting man and i wish I knew more about him.

I would be delighted to make your acquaintance and have e-mailed you to facilitate this.

Sharp's granddaughter got in touch with me and has proved very generous with both information and the photographs I have added to his story.

Regards

Rory