TOPIC:

I recently posted on a QSA to FJL Dillon, who having served with Nesbitt's Horse, went on to the South African Constabulary where, and this is the query part, he was detached to the Farmers Guard.

I always thought that the Farmers Guard were an entirely separate unit - not part of the S.A.C.

Has anyone any info on them? They seem to be shrouded in mystery.

Regards

Rory

Hi Rory.....

By being detached he was still on the books as serving in the SAC but was sent / lent to Farmers Guard for temporary duty.....

Possibly he has some special knowledge of the area where they were employed or the FG had been given a job where a policeman was required to be in attendance......

Mike

PS: In my service even though I was navy I was detached to an army unit for a period of time.....

No mystery whatsoever, from memory, the founder members of the Farmer's Guard were originally attested as members of the Orange River Colony Volunteers, but, for purposes of administration, their pay and so forth, they came under the control of the Officer Commanding the ORC Division of the SA Constabulary.
They were all wretched Joiners, moreover, a number were also Hensoppers too, as a result, only a portion of medals were actually claimed.
They were organised into three Troops, A, B and C, it really was a matter of simple expediency and really very little else, why put your own all over the veldt, when you can have someone else do it for you.
Although, I am sure almost all were subsequently hated by their own after Vereeniging, when the true scale of their loss had become very clear indeed.
Their medals were officially impressed to the Farmers Guard and whilst they do turn up, they are certainly not common, many were officially renamed and some "found their way out" after being returned to Woolwich in 1907.
If you are looking to buy, unless it is merely to represent the unit, try and get an example that was actually claimed, was issued to a founder member and was not an example that was officially renamed, as here, whilst they are rare, they are certainly worth having.

Rory wrote: I recently posted on a QSA to FJL Dillon, who having served with Nesbitt's Horse, went on to the South African Constabulary where, and this is the query part, he was detached to the Farmers Guard.

I always thought that the Farmers Guard were an entirely separate unit - not part of the S.A.C.

Has anyone any info on them? They seem to be shrouded in mystery.

Regards

Rory

Hi Rory
A very short snippet about the unit:

The Farmer’s Guard (formerly known as the Burgher Police) was formed in November 1901 from surrendered burghers who had to enlist for a 3 month period at a pay of 5/- per day. They were responsible for the safety of surrendered burghers who were farming in the so-called “protected area” surrounding Bloemfontein.

They did not have anything to do with the Orange River Colony Volunteers : the ORCV was the Free State equivalent of the National Scouts in the Transvaal.

Henk

Thank you Frank and Henk

My query related to this chap whose post you have already probably seen.

angloboerwar.com/forum/5-medals-and-awar...hed-to-farmers-guard
Regards

Rory

Hello Henk,
I have to stand by my post and all it's content, although, I certainly think that I should have perhaps used the phase "attested in the manner of" rather than "as" however, notwithstanding the memoranda that I had read at Kew some two and a half decades ago, I do remember some snippets in both the Dominion Office and Colonial Office series that went into some detail regarding both their initial formation, their terms and conditions, in particular, the issue of their proposed payment and subsequent "claims" made by some of their number upon HM Government after Vereeniging.
I was very interested to hear that they were all surrendered burgers, that makes me look upon those in my collection in a whole new light, I always thought a very high proportion of them were, but, I had no idea that they all were, every last one of them
May I ask where that particular information came from?
Kind regards Frank

Henk Loots wrote: Hi Rory
A very short snippet about the unit:

The Farmer’s Guard (formerly known as the Burgher Police) was formed in November 1901 from surrendered burghers who had to enlist for a 3 month period at a pay of 5/- per day. They were responsible for the safety of surrendered burghers who were farming in the so-called “protected area” surrounding Bloemfontein.

They did not have anything to do with the Orange River Colony Volunteers : the ORCV was the Free State equivalent of the National Scouts in the Transvaal.

Henk