TOPIC:

Rothwell Knight Othold Duffy

Corporal, 2nd Brabant’s Horse
Sergeant, 1st Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts – Anglo Boer War
Corporal, 5th and 7th South African Horse – WWI German East Africa

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Wepener, Wittebergen and Belfast to 250 Corpl. R.K. Duffy, Brabant’s Horse
- British War Medal to Sergt. R.K.O. Duffy, 7th S.A.H.
- Victory Medal to Sergt. R.K.O. Duffy, 7th S.A.H.

Rothwell Duffy was certainly saddled with quite a few monikers and it is not known which one was used by his friends, family and associates during his lifetime. For our purposes he will remain simply Duffy.

Duffy was born in the rural town of Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape – this pastoral settlement had seen its fair share of action during the mid to late 19th century during the various Kaffir wars that had been fought in the surrounding area. His parents Edward William Duffy, a Clerk in the Native Affairs Department, and Ellen Duffy had married in nearby Alice on 28 August 1879.

They certainly lost no time in setting about the business of making a family with Duffy being born a tad over 9 months from the date of the wedding. Unusual for the time (most young able bodied men were farmers or pursued a trade of sorts) Duffy was employed as a Clerk, but this is easily explained when it is made known that he suffered from a physical disability, a deformed left elbow, which doubtless impeded his movements and his ability to do manual labour.

That he never allowed this physical setback to limit him was apparent from the fact that he served not only in the Anglo Boer War but also in the Great War that followed, both in a combative capacity.

The Anglo Boer War referred to above burst onto the international stage in October 1899 – fought between the two Dutch-speaking Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State on the one hand and the might of Great Britain and her Empire on the other, it was supposed by some to be of such small import that it would “be over by Christmas” – this certainly proved not to be the case and the small regular army presence the British had in her southernmost African colonies proved woefully inadequate to contain or even curb the Boer forces who streamed over her borders in the Cape Colony and Natal.

This led to a call for the raising of local colonial- staffed regiments to aid in the war effort. Brabant’s Horse was such a unit and it was to their ranks that Duffy gravitated. On 24 November 1899 at King Williams Town he completed the Attestation forms for service with them, initially for a period of three months and “within the area for which the service of this Corps has been accepted”. He confirmed that he was 19 years old and a Clerk by occupation. Interestingly he provided his private address as c/o a Mrs Morris of Alice, perhaps he was in her employ? Assigned No. 250 and the rank of Trooper he joined “C” Company of the 1st Battalion, Brabant’s Horse.

But who were Brabant’s Horse? This corps was raised and took the field in the Queenstown-Dordrecht district of the Eastern Cape and was very soon after being assembled, sent to hold various posts, and when General Gatacre went out to attack Stormberg, on the night of 9th December, 160 of Brabant's were intended to join the attacking force from Penhoek.

On 22nd and 23rd December De Montmorency and his men (under whom the Brabant’s contingent resided) had skirmishes near Dordrecht, in which they got the better of the enemy, who had the stronger force. About this time Captain De Montmorency raised his body of scouts, all picked men, who did some very fine work. On the 28th, with some of his own scouts and some of Brabant's Horse, he was out near Dordrecht, but little was to be seen of the enemy. On the 30th, however, there was quite a stiff little fight, in which a party of the Frontier Mounted Rifles was cut off and only rescued the following day. Captain Flanagan's company of Brabant's was said to have done very well. The corps did an immense amount of patrol work throughout January, and Captain Flanagan's company were the first troops in the Queenstown district to gain touch with the Vlth Division, then approaching the Stormberg country from Cape Town via Thebus.

Lord Roberts had in January 1900 announced the appointment of Brigadier General Brabant as Commander of the Colonial Division, which included the two regiments of this corps (a 2nd battalion had been formed in December 1899), and under that general they did excellent work in the clearing of the north-east of Cape Colony. In the fighting about Dordrecht, in the second half of February 1900, the corps took a very prominent part and were several times very heavily engaged. In Lord Roberts' telegram of 18th February he mentioned that Brabant "had attacked Boer position on 16th. He gradually closed in on laager during the day. Fighting lasted from 9 am till dusk. At midnight Captain Flanagan, 1st Brabant's Horse, attacked and took the laager at the point of the bayonet, capturing the stores". Captain Crallen and Lieutenant Chandler and 4 non-commissioned officers and men were killed, and 5 non-commissioned officers and men wounded.

It was at this point, his three months service at an end, that Duffy took his discharge at Dordrecht only to join the 2nd regiment with the same number a day later. The 2nd regiment was placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel H M Grenfell, 1st Life Guards, and when Colonel Dalgety was besieged in Wepener, the first and a portion of the second regiment were with him, their strength being respectively 345 and 459. And it to the siege of Wepener that we turn as Duffy was caught up in that affair.

Early in April 1900 a portion of the Colonial Division composed of the Cape Mounted Rifles, Driscoll’s Scouts, Kaffrarian Rifles and Brabant’s Horse under Colonel Dalgety crossed the Caledon Bridge at Jammersberg Drift and occupied the town of Wepener in the Orange Free State without opposition. No sooner had he done so when he was surrounded by Boers who made him aware that he must prepare to be besieged. The immediate surrender of the British forces was politely demanded in order to save any bloodshed. Wepener itself was evacuated, but a camp at Jammersberg, three miles away, was formed, entrenchments made and defences constructed. The position, resembling Ladysmith in many respects, was practically isolated but the lines were strong and meat was reported to be plentiful.

The 1st Brabant’s and some Kaffrarian Rifles were ordered to hold the front whilst Duffy’s lot, the 2nd Brabant’s, were ordered to hold the right. The remainder of the Kaffrarian Rifles were to hold the rear. A stirring account of the day’s work on the 8th April by an officer who was present was published in the Globe:-

“As I write we have reached the fifth day of the noisy concert without any appreciable result, except that we have expended most of our ammunition. Not a gun has been dismounted not an inch of our ten mile defensive line has been breached or yielded to the enemy but we are still looking and longing to see the relief columns of Kitchener or Gatacre appear on the horizon…”

On the 8th a commando some 2000 strong laagered five miles out in the direction of Dewetsdorp, and on the 9th Wepener was occupied by the Boers who now numbered about 5000 in total – spread crescent wise around the British position. Their guns began to open fire on the camp. The Boers attacked the C.M.R. position in numbers but were somehow repulsed although with great loss. On Tuesday, 10th April the duelling continued, in the morning with artillery and in the afternoon with rifles. An officer with Brabant’s Horse was quoted as saying:

“We fought all day and all night. The big gun and rifle fire were almost deafening, and as we are entirely surrounded, it was pouring in on all sides, a continuous hail of shot and shell.”

The scarcity of ammunition became a factor as was the air, literally, that men were required to breath – it was contaminated by fumes from dead horses, cows and pigs whose carcases were strewed on the surrounding plains. The tents had been struck and lay on the ground battered by the pouring rain.

The men huddled in their trenches unable to raise their heads above ground for fear of being shot. During the shelling me would sit or lie down under the bank, protected by the trenches. Some of the trenches had hundreds of shells fired into them during the day, and as long as the men kept well down, they got off comparatively lightly.

On Thursday the 12th April – the fourth day of fierce fighting – the Boers kept up their aggression all day – that night the Boers launched another attack but volley after volley was poured into them with such ferocity that they were forced to retire by 4 a.m. the next three days were quiet as the Boers attended to their devotions. After that there was a brief foray against the Boer lines by the besieged force which came to nought but, it has to be said, from almost that moment on both sides spirits were beginning to dampen with the incessant rain and discomfiture that followed.

On the evening of the 23rd April there was some jubilation in the Jammersberg camp. General Brabant heliographed from 14 miles away that there had been a brief engagement with the enemy and that the enemy were retiring. The Boers besieging Wepener began to sneak away and the firing of shot and shell slackened considerably. On the morning of the 25th it was virtually all over – 1700 men, Duffy among them, having for seventeen days and nights in the trenches defended seven miles of entrenchment without giving up a single position.

The officer quoted earlier wrote:-

“We were relieved today at last, and march tomorrow. We have gone through an awful time and some of the men look quite ghastly. They dragged their wasted forms from the trenches today at a crawl to the camp, which had been repitched.”

Wepener having been relieved Duffy, now promoted to Corporal, and his comrades continued on advancing northwards, and in the operations preparatory to the surrounding of Prinsloo, the corps was very frequently engaged. In the Hammonia district they had an immense amount of difficult scouting, and several times, in the latter half of May and in June, they had encounters with superior forces and rather heavy losses. On 29th June Lieutenant J S Orr was severely wounded, and other casualties were suffered in an action in which the enemy had to be driven across the Zand River.

On the 6th to 8th July at the capture of Bethlehem, on the 16th near Witnek, and on the 23rd, 24th at Slabbert's Nek, Brabant's Horse were in the forefront and gained distinction, but, as a matter of course, had to pay the price. 'The Times' historian points out that it was some "adventurous scouts" of Brabant's Horse who, by discovering on the night of the 23rd a commanding summit to be unoccupied, enabled Clements to seize the ridge at daybreak—the corps being entrusted with this task.

The 2nd Regiment was ordered to the eastern Transvaal in August, to take part under General Button in the movement from Belfast to the Portuguese border, crossing some of the most difficult country in South Africa. In November they were operating about Frederickstad in the Central Transvaal with General Barton. They had skirmishing very frequently, and on 11th December had 1 man killed and 3 wounded.

A detachment of Brabant's Horse remained in the Orange River Colony in August. On the 27th of that month Sergeant Major Rutters of the 2nd Regiment was killed, and Corporal Abernethy was wounded at Winburg. During the last quarter of 1900 a portion of the corps was with Bruce Hamilton in the Orange River Colony. In the despatch of 8th March 1901, dealing with the events for the preceding four months, Lord Kitchener said that when, in November, it became apparent that De Wet was to attempt to invade Cape Colony, he (Lord Kitchener) railed certain forces from the Transvaal to the south of the Orange River Colony; these included the 2nd Regiment of Brabant's Horse.

Duffy took his discharge from Brabant’s Horse in October 1900 but not with the intention to return home. After a few months recuperation he enrolled, on 1 March 1901 with the 1st regiment of Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts at Johannesburg with No. 1315 and the rank of Sergeant.

Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts was another of those units that saw plenty of action – they had been fortunate in getting in Colonel Colenbrander - a leader widely known and thoroughly respected as a fighting man in South Africa. In the despatch of 8th July 1901, appendix, both regiments are referred to. The 1st regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Wilson was, in May 1901, 417 strong and was employed in the Pietersburg district, far north of Pretoria and very far from the small town in the Eastern Cape from whence Duffy hailed.

In the despatch of 8th May 1901 Lord Kitchener, after detailing General Plumer's operations in that district, said that a commando had been reported at Klipdam, 15 miles north of Pietersburg, which was said to be under General Beyers.

"Lieutenant Colonel Grenfell, whose regiment, KFS, had been sent by rail to Pietersburg, was, therefore, directed to clear up the situation. Starting on the night of the 26th April, Lieutenant Colonel Grenfell discovered the enemy's laager at Klipdam, and attacked it at dawn on the 27th with complete success, with the loss of only one man wounded. Seven Boers were killed, 41 were captured, besides which he obtained possession of the enemy's camp with 26 horses, 10 mules, many waggons and carts, and 76,000 rounds of ammunition. Information having been obtained that the enemy's last Long Tom was at Berg Plaats, about 20 miles east of Pietersburg, on the road to Haenertsburg, I desired Colonel Grenfell to make every effort to capture the gun. He moved at once, and at daylight on the 30th occupied Doornhoek, thence pushing on to Berg Plaats. On his approach the enemy opened fire at over 10,000 yards' range, but after 16 rounds they blew up the gun, while Colonel Grenfell's men were still about 3000 yards distant, and retreated in a north east direction.

Colonel Grenfell captured 10 prisoners and 35 rounds of Long Tom ammunition, our only casualties being two men wounded. As the result of a careful search on the farm, Berg Vlei, adjoining Berg Plaats, 100,000 rounds of Martini-Henry ammunition were discovered and destroyed. Other prisoners were brought in by Lieutenant Colonels Colenbrander and Wilson of KFS, and on his return to Pietersburg, on the 6th May, Colonel Grenfell reported that altogether he had accounted for 7 Boers killed, 129 prisoners, and 50 voluntary surrenders: 240,000 rounds of ammunition were destroyed".

In May Grenfell commanded an expedition to Louis Trichardt, 100 miles north-east of Pietersburg. His force was 600 men of KFS, the 12th MI Regulars, 2 guns, and four companies of the Wiltshire Regiment. The column left Pietersburg, and two days later Colenbrander with the advanced force occupied Louis Trichard. About the 20th Colenbrander, "by a well-planned night march, surprised a laager on the Klip Spruit. Field-Cornet Venter with 72 Burghers, 68 rifles, 18 waggons", and a large amount of ammunition and many cattle, were captured. On the 25th May Grenfell received the surrender of Commandant Van Rensburg and about 150 men. Shortly after this Colenbrander, in the Buffels district, had some skirmishes, "killing seven and capturing a maxim. A detachment under Major Knott overtook a commando under Barend Viljoen and captured 79 prisoners". Lord Kitchener said, in his despatch of 8th July 1901, that this expedition did much to secure the pacification of the Northern Transvaal. While Grenfell was on this expedition, Wilson, with a wing of the KFS, two guns, and two companies 2nd Gordon Highlanders, was, in conjunction with Major Micking's column, doing most excellent work in the Nylstroom district. On 19th May 79 Burghers and 100 rifles, 33,000 rounds, 66 waggons, some dynamite were taken. On the 21st Wilson attacked another position and took 18 prisoners, 48 rifles. On 2nd June a detached force drove the enemy on Wilson, who, after a stubborn fight, took 40 prisoners, 70 rifles, 8000 cattle, besides ammunition and dynamite (see despatch of 8th July). Of course all this could not be accomplished without loss.

On 1st and 2nd June the regiment had 7 killed and 20 wounded.

On 1st July, at Hopewell, Grenfell surprised another laager, killing 1 and capturing 93 prisoners, 100 horses, much stock and ammunition.
During August and September 1901 many other expeditions were undertaken by the corps, but the results of these were meagre compared to the splendid successes previously obtained, and to those obtained in October, November, and December. In the despatch of 8th November Lord Kitchener said:

"In the Northern Transvaal Colonel Colenbrander, KFS, has traversed the Water Berg between Warmbaths and Magalapye on the Rhodesian Railway, a district hitherto unvisited by our troops". Leaving Warmbaths on 6th October, Colenbrander visited many "Boer supply depots, carefully located beforehand, and during the march captured 45 prisoners of war, 67 rifles, nearly 4000 rounds of ammunition, and a very large number of waggons and cattle".

In the same month the column of Colonel Dawkins, formerly Grenfell's, did excellent work, capturing 97 prisoners.

In the despatch of 8th December 1901 Lord Kitchener said that Colenbrander, on his return march to Warmbaths, captured 54 prisoners and much stock. About the end of November Colenbrander and Dawkins were out again. On the 27th 200 of KFS pushed out through the Zand River Poort. The enemy retreated; for two days "the pursuit was not relaxed, and on the 29th Colonel Colenbrander, with half of KFS, pressed on ahead of the remainder of the column upon Baden-horst's traces, and following them closely till the morning of 3rd December, Colonel Colenbrander, after a long and exhausting chase through an almost waterless region, came suddenly upon the enemy and captured 15 prisoners, with all the waggons of the commando". The remainder of the Scouts were successful "in killing 3 and capturing 17 Burghers, while 60 stragglers, driven into the hills near Sterkfontein, were cleverly secured by the 12th Mounted Infantry of Colonel Dawkins' column. The total results of these well-planned and carefully executed operations were 104 prisoners", many waggons, cattle, etc.

It is supposed that Duffy took part in all the actions described above. He took his discharge from Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts at Pretoria on 29 November 1901 and, having fought a long and hard campaign with two crack outfits, was awarded a Queens Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Wepener, Wittebergen and Belfast. The K.F.S. roll also reflects the award of the Transvaal clasp to him.

For Duffy the war was over and he returned to his civilian occupation. But the world wasn’t destined to be a peace for eternity. On 4 August 1914 the Great War erupted – this was a war on a far larger scale than that 12 years before and involved many more players. South Africa was prevailed upon to enter the fight on the side of the British Empire and Duffy, having done his bit previously, put his name forward once more.

In the intervening years the Duffy family had left the tranquillity of rural Alice in the Eastern Cape and had moved to the bustling city of Johannesburg in the Transvaal where Mr Duffy purchased a house at 60 Park Street, Jeppes Town. Duffy, who never married, lived with his parents and was employed as a Miner on one of the many Gold Mines that littered the Witwatersrand.

On 12 April 1916 at Roberts Heights outside Pretoria he completed the Attestation forms for service with the South African Expeditionary Forces in East Africa. Now 35 years old he confirmed that he had Boer War service and that he was physically, 5 feet 10 ½ inches in height, weighed 160 pounds and had a fresh complexion, grey eyes and black hair. He was a Wesleyan and had the deformed left elbow mentioned earlier by way of distinguishing characteristics.

Having been passed as Fit by the Doctor he was assigned to the 5th South African Horse, 2nd Mounted Brigade with the rank of Private and No. 3903. He embarked for German East Africa aboard the “Laconia” on 18 May 1916 disembarking at Kilindini on the 24th. The day of his departure was marked by his promotion to Lance Corporal; this was followed by a series of promotions which had him as an Acting Sergeant by 9 November 1916.

On 11 August 1916 he was Wounded in Action – page 241/242 of James Ambrose Brown’s book “They Fought for King and Kaiser” relates in a chapter entitled Smuts’ Drive in the Eastern Mountains that:-

Friday, 11 August, 5.30 p.m. Have been busy entrenching and strengthening the position that we hold. The enemy shelled the hospital this morning and put three shells through the church, also killed Lt. Pole of the 5th S.A. Horse and wounded two or three others of that regiment.” One of these would have been Duffy.

Like almost all other European troops Duffy succumbed to the ravages of Malaria whilst on campaign. Having been transferred to the 7th S.A. Horse in early 1917 he was shipped back to South Africa aboard the H.M.T. “Aragon” – a hospital ship – disembarking at Durban on 11 February 1917 whereafter he was discharged Temporarily Medically Unfit on 17 May 1917. Having served for one year and 36 days with a Military Character of Very Good he was awarded the British War and Victory Medals.

Returning home to his parents he once again resumed his pre-war occupation. In a Last Will and Testament signed by him prior to his death he bequeathed all to an Agnes Grace Maclennan nee Quarterman although it is not known where this lady featured in his life.

Rothwell Knight Othold Duffy passed away at his sister’s house, 75 Diering Street, Kenilworth, Johannesburg on 21 July 1939 at the age of 58. He was survived by a brother, Clarence Duffy and his sister Mrs R.J. Tillett.

Rory,

I am fully immersed in Wepener research at present so this account was both very time and very interesting to read.

Many thanks
David

Thank you David

I am not alone in saying that the end product is eagerly awaited.

Rory

Rory
I am always amazed at your very detailed research!
I picked the Duffy group out of a tray at Kaplan in 1980, but only extracted his "paperwork" from the archives. You have written up the story of his life.
Henk
PS Do you work in the day and write up medals at night??!!
H

I have been going through the Brabant's Horse roll for quite a few days now and have just come to page 193 where I met a now familiar name.

I might have known that a quality group like Duffy's had once been in your collection Henk! My chief regret is that I didn't start collecting much earlier in life.

Apropos the research - much to my wife's dismay far too much spare time is spent researching and writing up medals - I just find it so enjoyable.

Regards

Rory