TOPIC:

Arthur Curry's story is the first in a trilogy of brother's who served with the Natal Government Railways in the Boer War - each having an important part to play.

Michael Arthur Curry

Ganger, Engineer’s Department – Natal Government Railways
Bridge Guard, Natal Government Railways & Rifle Association
Imperial Government Railways – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal to A. Curry, Natal G.R.

Arthur Curry, for thus was he known to all and sundry, was born in Durban in the Colony of Natal in 1868, the son of an Irish immigrant, John Curry and his wife Louisa, born Adams. Louisa was the daughter of a Colonel John Adams, an early Durban resident whose house, and the one in which Arthur and his many siblings were born, stood in central Durban on the very spot where the old Durban Station was erected.


Arthur and Katie at a fancy dress ball in 1909

Arthur was the second-born to the couple, following on the heels of John (who now departs our narrative having emigrated to Canada at an early age). Next came Patrick William, the Station Master at Van Reenen’s Pass during the Boer War, George David, the man who claimed to have been with Churchill either in the run-up to the Frere armoured train incident or to have been the Driver of the train with which Churchill made his escape from Pretoria over the border to Delagoa Bay. All of these brothers worked for the Natal Government Railways before, during and after the Boer War. The next sibling was a daughter, Mary, followed by Thomas who died young after service in World War I, and then Joseph who died young.

All told the Curry family had the makings of a dynasty but it is with Arthur we confine ourselves in this work. Family legend has it that the Curry’s returned to Tipperary in Ireland towards the latter half of the 19th century to assist in the rescue from financial ruin of a dairy farm belonging to them. No shipping records to substantiate this claim have been found; suffice it to say that they all seem to have been back in Natal by the time the Anglo Boer War broke out in October 1899.

Working for the Railways in Victorian times didn’t carry with it the stigma so often associated with it in the modern era and so it was that most of the Curry brothers found themselves employed by the Natal Government Railways in various capacities. Arthur was no exception and was employed as a Ganger and then as a Driver as he progressed in experience. The war now a certainty it fell to the N.G.R. to transport both men, stores and equipment across the length and breadth of Natal – wherever the line would take them in order to assist the Imperial troops in the war effort.

Arthur, it is assumed, was the R.A. Curry (sic) mentioned in the Official History of the Durban Light Infantry, Volume I, by A.C. Martin where, on page 63, an account of the Colenso Armoured Train Incident where a young Winston Churchill was taken prisoner by the Boers under Louis Botha is provided. The applicable portion reads as follows:-

“The Times History states that stones were placed between a guide rail and the outer guide rail. The Historical Record supports this view. Burleigh states that the Boers had removed the fish plates and propped up one of the lines with stones. R.A. Curry, driver of a light engine which piloted the train as far as Frere, is emphatic that bolts were removed and had to be replaced by the platelayers. As he was in close touch with the railwaymen, his testimony has weight.”

History has recorded for posterity that Charles Wagner was the driver of THE train and that Alexander Stewart was his Guard but Arthur Curry appears to have been the man who drove the train as far as Frere before handing over to Wagner thus playing a small but important part in the drama that was to unfold.

Arthur next turned his attention to Bridge Guarding – an essential if boring function undertaken by N.G.R. employees and in collaboration with the N.G.R. Rifle Association. The task at hand was as the role described – literally guarding the many railway bridges spanning the line from Durban through to Estcourt (the last train had left Ladysmith at the beginning of the siege and any bridges etc. in that vicinity would have been under Boer control) with a view to prevent the Boers from sabotaging them. Although onerous the job had its dangers.

After the war in Natal was, to all intents and purposes, over in about July 1900 Curry still thirsted for adventure joining the Imperial Military Railways as a Platelayer (whether this was secondment or not is unknown) – the I.M.R. came about as the result of a union between the Orange Free State and Transvaal Railways and was operational in those two territories once they had been occupied by the Imperial forces during the war. According to the medal roll he resigned from their employ on 30 April 1901 and, although eligible for a Queens Medal with Transvaal clasp for his efforts, this was, according to a List of Unclaimed Queens South Africa Medals and Clasps, never issued to him.

Instead he contented himself with the medal issued to him off the Natal Government Railway roll.

The war over Curry joined his brother George in the Ladysmith district which had seen so much recent activity. Stationed at Willow Grange (the scene of a battle on 15 December 1899) he was still employed by the N.G.R. now 35 years of age he decided to tie the marital knot with a 26 year old Katie Leahy (Catherine Francis Leahy) from Ladysmith. The marriage took place at Ladysmith under the auspices of Father Soby, O.M.I. on 8 September 1902 with his brother George and his wife as witnesses.

After a while his career took him to various places in Natal – in 1918 he was resident at Port Shepstone which is where he compiled his Last Will and Testament on 28 January 1919. He had progressed in his career and was then a Permanent Way Inspector of the South African Railways (the amalgamation of all the various Railways’ in South Africa taking place in 1910 after Union)

His marriage to Katie produced two daughters, Lilly Kathleen who married a Mooi River farmer, Richard Charles Quin, on 17 January 1931 and Louis Mary Ellen Curry. His wife Katie passed away at the age of 65 years 7 months on 14 April 1941 by which time the family had moved to 24 Sea View Road in Durban. Curry himself passed away at Addington Hospital in Durban on 18 November 1948 at the grand old age of 82 years. A relative recalls how his daughter Lillian who was then living in Harrismith, Orange Free State, travelled down to Durban by train to arrange her father’s funeral only to be told that the Bishop had ordered that he not be given a Requiem Mass. What had occasioned this fall-out with the Church is not known but it was an unfortunate end to a man’s long life.


At his home in Sea View in 1941 at the time of his wife's death

Arthur Curry left behind a substantial (for the times) estate – numbering some £2914 – most of which comprised the value of his home in Sea View. Louisa, being the only unmarried daughter got the lion’s share of the estate.

A fantastic read. Many thanks, Rory.