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"And they all ran like monkeys" - George Lovemore, Sandflats Town Guard 6 years 2 weeks ago #58493

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George Harrison Lovemore

Private, Sandflats Town Guard – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal to Pte. G. Lovemore, Sandflats T.G.

George Lovemore was of 1820 Settler stock – a category of individual who have, by virtue of being one of the original European settlers to the largely inhospitable and rugged Frontier Country of the Eastern Cape of South Africa, achieved a certain distinction in the history of these parts that sets them apart from those who came later. These were the trailblazers, the ones who brought civilisation to South Africa’s version of the “Wild West” – a people who had for many a year to deal with not only the deprivations of eking out a living in semi-desert conditions for the most part but also to ward off the constant attacks and threat to their livelihood posed by marauding bands of tribesmen intent on their destruction.

George was born in 1861 to parents Henry Robert Lovemore and his wife Dorothya Susanna Crowe. A Lovemore family member, thankfully for those of future generations, penned a work entitled the Lovemore Story and it is to this book we turn to get a glimpse of the early family dynamic:

Page 308 relates that, “ There was little interruption to the growth of the family of Henry Robert and Dorothy Susannah Lovemore. In the six years from the beginning of 1857 and the end of 1862, four were added, all of them born on the farm at Preston Park with two baptized at St. Peter’s Church. First of the additions was Marian Day. Marian was born on 24 February 1857 and baptized on 26 April. Her sponsors were her parents and Classina Catherine Crowe, her mother’s elder sister. Marian Day was to remain a spinster all her life, much of it spent helping others in the Lovemore family. Another daughter, Emily Dorothy, the seventh child and fourth daughter, was born on 13 April 1859 and baptized the following 7 August at the same ceremony as her cousin Ella Sophia. At the ceremony the parents of both girls exchanged places as sponsors.

Henry Robert and Dorothy Susannah were sponsors for Ella Sophia, whilst Robert Henry and Aletta Jane sponsored Emily Dorothy. A fourth son, George Harrison followed Emily Dorothy sometime in late 1860 or early 1861. He was not baptized at Sidbury and neither the exact date of his birth nor where he was baptized have been established.”

So whereas almost all his siblings had their births and baptisms accurately recorded for posterity the same did not apply in George’s case – life carried on nevertheless and a 15 year old George displayed an ability on the cricket pitch which brought him to the attention of the correspondent for the Eastern Province Herald in which newspaper he, on April 21 1876, following a cricket match played at Salem between Salem Academy, where he was a pupil, and the Livingstone Club, had his name mentioned having taken three catches to help his Academy win the match.

To show that he wasn’t just about sports he was mentioned once more in the same publication (the 27 June 1876 edition) when he took part in a spelling bee at the Academy “receiving a consolation prize for being the best loser.”

As was alluded to previously the Eastern Cape Frontier was no place for the faint of heart – from the 1830’s through until the late 1870’s as many as nine Kaffir Wars were fought, with varying levels of ferocity and, on each occasion, the lives and property of the hardy settlers were discommoded to an extent. Initially the Imperial Cape Mounted Riflemen and then other locally raised units entered the fray in an effort to vanquish these tribes and to restore peace to the region and, like most families, the Lovemore’s did their bit.

Once more we turn to the “Lovemore Story” which, on page 412 records that,

“The young of the developing colony needed little encouragement when calls came for volunteers for adventurous undertakings, or for meeting emergencies when security was threatened – witness the ‘rush’ to the diamond fields in the early 1870s, or in the numbers of volunteers who joined up during the frontier wars. For instance, in the first months of 1881, George Harrison Lovemore of Preston Park was keen to enlist when an uprising of Basutos broke out. Thanks to a letter sent to a newspaper, we learn of his determination to do so. A letter signed “Justice” was published in the Eastern Province Herald of May 27; it drew attention to an unfortunate mix-up involving a number of men from the Sandflats area who found themselves facing a civil charge of failing to report for duty after a volunteer unit of which they were supposed to be members was ordered to mobilise.

The reason for not reporting, as explained by the men in court, was that the Sandflats area had been promised, allegedly by the commander of the Cape Yeomanry, that it would have a unit of its own. The unit did not materialise but the men maintained that because there was no unit for them to report to, it was impossible to comply with the order.

George Harrison Lovemore was not one of the group and seems to have been directed to a different unit. He equipped himself, saddled his horse and, according to “Justice”, rode to the frontier area in search of the unit, not once, but twice. On neither journey did he find it. The ‘frontier area’ could mean anything in distance from Preston Park, but he must have covered many miles in his fruitless search. In the event, the threat from the Basutos was short-lived; the charges against the Sandflats men were not proceeded with and the promised unit quietly forgotten.

Records do indicate that a George Harrison Lovemore from Preston Park joined the 3rd Regiment, Cape Mounted Yeomanry (3rd CMY), A Troop of which was based in Uitenhage – although young when he enlisted he was not without support from close friends. In the same regiment were Leonard William and Gustavus Chabaud Bean, relatives of Eugene Bean, husband of his sister, Classina Henrietta.

Needless to say Lovemore received no medal for his efforts to find the action and he returned to his farming pursuits. The last of the Kaffir Wars behind them the region and its inhabitants co-existed side by side. There was now time for romance and in 1889 Lovemore married Elizabeth Stuart Douglas. Elizabeth was to bare him four children – Dorothy Marguerite Douglas Lovemore, Zema Beryl Lovemore, Eric Douglas Lovemore and Thelma Marjorie Lovemore.

By all accounts George Lovemore was quite a character – in another anecdote, this time from a relative, James Lovemore, the following was said of and about him:

“Uncle George Lovemore had a little farm, I think it was called Elva Heights. It’s just the other side of Paterson (or Sandflats as it was called in those days). His neighbours were a Knoesen family who were renowned poachers. Old Mrs Knoesen was actually the worst poacher of the whole lot. Late one particular afternoon he saw the Old Girl in his veld, so he put a shot in her direction and when she ran, he let off a few more shots. Anyhow they then had him up in court for attempted murder. They produced an old Martini Henry bullet, but it was all green. You could see that it had obviously been lying outside for a helluva long time.

They said that they had prised it out of the door post at their house, to prove that he had shot at them in their house – they weren’t doing anything – he’d just shot at them while they were in their house. They told this story to the Magistrate. Of course the Magistrate could see that this was an old bullet that hadn’t been fired recently. Anyhow when he had to testify, Uncle George said that he was sitting out on his porch one afternoon when he saw the Old Girl in the bush, so he put a shot behind her. He wasn’t going to go after her so he put a shot behind her, but there were actually more of them “and they all ran like monkeys”. At this stage the Old Girl piped up in court: “Ons is nie ape nie!” (We’re not monkeys), which just proved to the Magistrate that she had obviously been there. The Magistrate immediately threw the case out of court.

Another story about Uncle George is that he used to like his drink and used to visit the Sandflats Hotel on a regular basis. He and a friend of his could be found drinking on their own in the pub on many occasions, while the barman and the rest of the local yokels were out in the street. They’d thrown them all out and nobody dared to stop them!”

But the rustic environment which characterised life in the small farming community close to Alexandria was not immune to what was to come. October 1899 saw the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War – this conflict, long in the making, was primarily centred around the Transvaal, Northern Cape and Natal and few thought that it would have any impact on the Eastern Cape – how wrong they proved to be! Having been frustrated in their backyard the Boers focused their attention south of the Orange River where foraging parties wound their way into the region in search of conscripts among the local Dutch farmers as well as badly needed supplies to sustain their faltering war effort.

Small and isolated towns quickly raised Town Guards to defend themselves and their property against any Boer Commandos who might head their way. The small community of Sandflats was no different raising a Town Guard under Lt. James McQuat (later the Station Master at Rosmead) and George Lovemore, at the age of 40, volunteered to assist and would have been issued with a rifle and ammunition – his horse he would have had to supply himself. Being in reasonably close proximity to Port Elizabeth there was always the potential for the Sandflats area to come into contact with Boer patrols although no such action is recorded. With the advent of peace on 31 May 1902 the Town Guards were stood sown with the men returning to their occupations. George Lovemore was one of only 30 men to be awarded with the Queens Medal for his efforts with the Sandflats Town Guard. The same medal roll records the name of one William Knoesen as a fellow Town Guardsmen – most likely of the family of poachers he had shot at!

But there is still an anecdote involving George which James Lovemore likes to relate. He stated as follows:-

“I also remember when the Group Areas Act came in. they moved a black church that was in the white area of Sandflats into the Black location. The ground on which the church was built, had actually been given to the Blacks by Uncle George and had later been incorporated into the municipal area. At the time of the removal of the church the old Pastor sought out my Dad, Wallace Edward Lovemore, to ask him if he couldn’t prevent them from moving the church because the piece of land it was on had been given to them by Mr George Lovemore.

The preacher was an old man and my Dad asked him if he had known Uncle George. He said he remembered him – although he was just a youngster then, he remembered that he (Uncle George) used to hammer the Hares (Afrikaners) with his fists and that he was very handy with them!”

George Harrison Lovemore passed away on April 30, 1916 at his farm in Nanaga (Ward 4 in the District of Alexandria) at the age of 52 years. His occupation was provided as Ostrich and Cattle Farmer and his intended place of burial as the family plot on the farm Preston Park. He had died from inflammation of the kidneys from which he had been suffering for more than 6 years.