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John Rew - a Civilian serving in Roberts Horse 4 years 4 months ago #66607

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John Rew

Civilian Adviser to Field Marshall Lord Frederick Roberts – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Driefontein and Johannesburg to Mr. J. Rew, Roberts Horse

John Rew was an interesting and, as events will show, a well-connected man. Born on 9 July 1868 in London, England, he was the son of a prominent merchant, Quincy Rew and his wife Mary Catherine, born Hewetson. At the time of his baptism in the Parish of St. George, Bloomsbury in Middlesex, on 5 August 1868 the family were living at 23 Chester Terrace in Regent’s Park – a particularly affluent part of London and one suited to the family’s obvious prosperity.

A little more than two years later, at the time of the 1871 England census, a 2 year old John was recorded as staying with his widowed maternal grandmother, 75 year old Mary Hewetson and her 37 year old son, Henry Norman Hewetson in their residence at 24 Russell Square, Bloomsbury. Russell Square was part of the Duke of Bedford’s estate and was very much the domain of the well-to-do. As if to underline this point there were no fewer than six servants ministering to the needs of the small family.

Rew’s mother, Mary Catherine, passed away on 14 April 1872 and was, most likely, ill for some time before that which would account for the presence of her son under his grandmother’s roof. After what was deemed a suitable period of mourning, Mr Rew senior wed for the second time – the nuptials taking place on 28 April 1879 at Christ Church in Albany Street. John Rew was, in an instant, presented with a step-mother. Eleanor Addison wasn’t to keep the small family guessing for long – a step-brother to John, by the name of Henry was born in March 1880.




From 1883 (at the age of 14) until 1887 John Rew was sent to the prestigious Malvern College for his formal education. Here he excelled, being made a Prefect in House IV and taking part in the College Shooting VIII. On completion of this chapter of his life he was sent up to Hertford College, Oxford from whence he matriculated on 28 January 1890 at the age of 21.

Without a steady occupation with which to busy himself, Rew did what most young men of his station in life did – nothing – he became a man about town, enjoying the pursuits of the well-heeled - the fox hunt. A tall man, riding to hounds was ideally suited to his temperament and he was soon numbered among the “inner circle”, hunting with Baron Ferdinand De Rothschild and other luminaries on their estates in Buckinghamshire. It was most likely at one of these hunts – the Rothschild and Whaddon Chase Hunts – that he met and was introduced to “Bobs”, Field Marshall Lord Roberts.

An acquaintance of sorts would seem to have developed which would take Rew away from the comfort of his stud horses and plunge him into the very abyss of war in far-away South Africa.

1899 – the last year of the 19th century saw England and her Empire at her very zenith. Victoria reigned supreme over large tracts of the globe and there was little to challenge the might of the United Kingdom and yet, small but stubborn resistance began to manifest itself in the southernmost tip of Africa. Two Dutch-speaking Boer Republics, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, went to war with the might of the Empire on 11 October 1899 over a variety of issues, not least of which were the persistent clamors by the “Uitlanders” for the franchise and more say in the country to which they contributed so much in taxes.

At first the Boers invaded Natal to the south and east and the Cape to the west, laying siege to the towns of Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking, meeting little resistance as they went about their business. The number of Imperial troops in South Africa, to stem the tide, was woefully inadequate and, had the Boers moved faster, they could well have made it to Durban and the sea. Sir Redvers Buller, that doughty campaigner from the first Anglo Boer War, was given overall command of the Imperial effort and, having arrived in South Africa, decided on a two-pronged approach to relieve the besieged towns and vanquish the Boers in both the Orange Free State and Transvaal.

Taking personal control of the Natal campaign, he began the ponderous drive up from Durban, via Colenso and Estcourt, to relieve Ladysmith whilst the Western Front, the route up from Cape Town and elsewhere in the Cape Colony to relieve both Mafeking and Kimberley, was placed under the command of Generals’ Methuen and Gatacre. Almost immediately headwinds were encountered. During what was termed “Black Week” in December 1899, the British army lost many men in battles at Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso.

Buller was clearly not up to the job and the alarm bells were ringing all over Whitehall. This show wasn’t going to be over by Christmas as many had predicted.

After much hand-wringing it was decided that Buller should be relieved of overall command and large scale reinforcements were sent out from Britain, with the command devolving on Field Marshall Lord Roberts. “Bobs” as he was fondly known, sailed for the front on 23 December 1899 on the RMS Dunottar Castle, arriving at Cape Town on 16 January 1900. For his headquarters staff, he appointed military men from far and wide: Lord Kitchener (Chief of Staff) from the Sudan, Frederick Burnham (Chief of Scouts), the American scout, from the Klondike, and, among others, three unknown and untried civilians in the form of John Rew, David Theophilus Hanbury and “P.B.” Van der Byl.

These last three, all of them volunteers, were attached to Roberts Horse on the personal instruction of Lord Roberts, Commander in Chief, himself. To this day it is unknown as to what exact role they performed but at least 2 of them – Rew and Hanbury, were of the landed gentry, the so-called monied class, in England. The antecedents of Rew, the subject of our story, have been made known – Hanbury, according to the Canadian Biographical Dictionary, was a traveller, geographer and soon to be, a famous author. He was born in 1864 and “between 1898 and 1902 travelled extensively in the Canadian north. During the South African War he joined Roberts’ Horse, and he took part with it in the capture of Pretoria.”

What is apparent from the medal roll on which all three gentlemen’s names appear is that they were present at some of the major battles of the Western Theatre – Paardeberg, Driefontein and, eventually Johannesburg. Rew’s medal is also officially engraved in officer style as opposed to Other Ranks.

Roberts launched a two-pronged offensive, personally leading the advance across the open veldt into the Orange Free State. There were stumbling blocks and victories along the way. The first of these was at Paardeberg. In his despatch of 6th February 1900 Lord Roberts made particular mention of “two other regiments, designated, at the particular request of the members, Roberts' Horse and Kitchener's Horse, which had been formed, chiefly from men who have found their way to South Africa from various parts of the world". Initially these corps were intended to be called 'The second and third regiments of the South African Light Horse', but the names were changed as a compliment to the new Commander-in-Chief and his chief of the staff.

Appended to his despatch of 16th February, written after he had commenced his great movement for the relief of Kimberley and the advance on Bloemfontein, Roberts mentions a list of the troops taking part in the movement, and among these is Roberts' Horse, set down at a strength of 550. On the 18th a portion of the corps were assisting Brigadier General Gordon to the north of Paardeberg.

On the 19th Roberts' Horse did good work in seizing Koedoesrand Drift and the hills south of it, and part of them were at the taking of Kitchener's Hill next day. This was an important position two miles south of the Boer laager, which, if held by the enemy, made it possible for them to send help to Cronje. During that period they had suffered severe hardships: the work had been incessant, and the rations for officers, men, and horses most scanty.

In the despatch of 15th March it was noted that Roberts' Horse had, on about the 2nd March, been put into the brigade of mounted infantry under Lieutenant Colonel Alderson, along with the first and second regiments of regular mounted infantry, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, and Rimington's Guides. At the seizing of the positions commanding Bloemfontein on the evening of 12th March Roberts' Horse had again a prominent place. On their arrival at Bloemfontein the strength of the regiment was 35 officers, 358 men, and 387 horses. But first they had had to engage the Boers at Driefontein – this battle was the last attempt to prevent the British forces from occupying Bloemfontein.

The Boer position in the Orange Free State had collapsed very quickly. Only four weeks earlier their main army had been camped at Magersfontein. It was this same force of 4000 men under General Cronje that had been captured at Paardeberg on 27 February.

A first attempt to stop the British advance had failed with hardly any fighting at Poplar Grove on 7 March. It was in aftermath of the rout at Poplar Grove, that President Kruger had made valiant attempts to rally the fleeing burghers, but only 1,500 of the 6,000 men from Poplar Grove could be convinced to stay. Under the command of Christiaan De Wet, with assistance from De La Rey, the Boers organised a new defensive line at Driefontein.

This time they fought, and fought well. Lord Roberts organised his forces, including Roberts Horse, into three columns and attacked along the entire Boer line. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Boers managed to hold on all day, but as darkness fell the British had seized the northern end of the Boer line, and were threatening the southern flanks. Once again the burghers fled – De Wet described it as a panic. This time there was no stopping them. Three days later the British captured Bloemfontein without facing any more significant resistance. British losses at Driefontein had been 82 dead and 342 wounded. Boer losses were at least 102 dead and 22 captured.

After the occupation of the capital Alderson's Mounted Infantry, including Roberts' Horse, accompanied Major General Broadwood on an expedition to Ladybrand. Broadwood, thinking the enemy was in too great a force beyond Thabanchu to allow of his small body remaining long so far from a base, decided to retire on Sannah's Post. On 30th March he fought a rear-guard action. On the 31st his camp was shelled from the east or rear at daybreak, and he decided to push on to the west.

In his report he said: "Roberts' Horse and 'U' Battery moved off on opposite sides of the baggage column, which was clearing rapidly out of the shell-fire, and before they had cleared the column came to a deep spruit about 2000 yards west of the bivouac. This spruit was occupied by about 600 of the enemy, who seized five guns of the battery and the convoy, and opened a heavy fire on Roberts' Horse and the main body of the cavalry which was following: these retired out of fire". 'Q' Battery wheeled into action about 1200 yards from the spruit, and the Durham Mounted Infantry formed up on its flank. This checked any intention of the enemy to come out of the spruit.

General Broadwood ordered the Household Cavalry and 10th Hussars to move to the south, crossing Koorn Spruit above the Boers, and to press down the gully on their right flank. The cavalry got across, but do not seem to have made any determined attempt to press or enfilade the Boers. To Alderson's Mounted Infantry, including Roberts' Horse, was allotted the post of honour—that of rear-guard—and to the splendid stand which they made was due the fact that any of the guns were saved. When Alderson was finally ordered to retire he was holding his position with comparatively little difficulty. A regular officer who saw their work that day mentioned that nothing could have been finer than the conduct of Roberts' Horse throughout the trying hours after the first outburst of fire from the spruit.

'Q' Battery had to leave two guns, for which no horses were available; indeed, the guns saved were only got out by hand and with the greatest difficulty. Lieutenant Maxwell, DSO, 18th Bengal Lancers; Sergeant J C Collins; Troopers T Murphy and V D Todd, all of Roberts' Horse, were mentioned by Brigadier General Broadwood. In his telegraphic despatches of 1st and 2nd April Lord Roberts mentions that Roberts' Horse and some regular mounted infantry covered the retirement of the guns, first from the proximity of the spruit and again from the position taken up by 'Q' Battery.

The approximate losses of the regiment were Lieutenant Growler and about 30 men killed, Major A W Pack Beresford, Captain H C Smith, Captain P D Bray, Lieutenant Darley, Lieutenant Kirkwood, and Lieutenant and Quartermaster Hawkins, and about 50 men wounded. About 70 were made prisoners.

Notwithstanding the losses at Sannah's Post the corps was soon in action again, taking part in the operations under Generals French and Rundle for clearing the south-east of the Orange River Colony and effecting the relief of Wepener. On 23rd April, at Kariefontein near Leeuwkop, they were sharply engaged and had some casualties. Several correspondents spoke of the regiment as doing their work exceedingly well and taking a prominent share in the attack on a strong position. On 1st May Lord Roberts inspected the corps and complimented them on the good work which they had done.

Roberts' Horse were with Ridley and Ian Hamilton in the next advance from Bloemfontein to Pretoria. The regiment was now in the 5th Mounted Infantry Corps under Lieutenant Colonel Dawson, along with the 5th Mounted Infantry Regulars and Marshall's Horse. Frequently during the advance Roberts' Horse was heavily engaged and suffered losses. The regiment was in action to the south of Pretoria before the occupation and were present at the occupation of Johannesburg on 1 June 1900. They then marched into Pretoria four days later and occupied the town on 5 June 1900.

This last action was to be Rew’s swan song. He, along with Van der Byl and Hanbury, resigned from the regiment on 6 June – it was to be the last action he saw in the war. His Queens Medal was issued off the roll at Pretoria on 15 July 1901 by which time he had long departed South African shores aboard the Tantallon Castle bound for Southampton, two weeks after he and the regiment had parted company.

Back on home soil in England, Rew’s return was noted by the gossip columnist of the Leighton Buzzard Observer who wrote, on 17 July 1900 under “What the “Buzzard” Hears” that:

‘Mr Rew, a London gentleman, popularly connected with the Rothschild and Whaddon Chase Hunt, who was a member of the disbanded Roberts Horse, has just returned home from South Africa. That last Thursday he was at Linsdale, where he has a stud of hunters in charge of Mr H. Briggs. That he took part in the capture of Johannesburg and Pretoria.




Back in civilian life, Rew returned to his hunting pursuits. The England census of 1901 revealed that whatever bad blood there had possibly been between him and his step mother was dead and buried. The return noting that he had, at the age of 32 and still unmarried, moved back in to 23 Chester Terrace with his 55 year old step mother. There would appear to have been no end to the family’s affluence – aside from step siblings Henry (21), Eleanor (19), Catherine (17), Edward (15) and Mary (12) – in residence were a Cook, a Housemaid, a Parlour maid and a Kitchen maid – all there at the beck and call of the family.

Now 41 years old and his biological clock ticking, Rew took a bride for himself in the form of Gladys Gray at Maidenhead in Berkshire in June 1909 by which time he had taken up residence in Whitchurch, a parish covering nearly 1,717 acres, including 336 acres of arable land, 1,267 acres of permanent grass, and only 6½ acres of woods and plantations. The village, which was large, occupied a central position in the parish skirting the London main road between Aylesbury and Buckingham.

Whitchurch House, Rew’s residence, was described as “an interesting 17th-century house, also having the lower story of stone. Inside are the remains of the original open timber roof.” The other name for this charming edifice was “Yew Tree Cottage” and it was within its confines that Rew and his wife were to be found at the time of the 1911 England census. Living on Private Means, he was not about to go without creature comforts and was waited on by two servants – a Cook and a Housemaid.

Life for the couple was interrupted, pleasantly, with the birth, in June 1914, of their only child, aptly named John after his father. To keep himself occupied Rew threw himself life and soul into the arranging of the various Hunts in his locality and became a leading light in all of them, occupying positions of either Secretary or Chairman.

We next meet with him at the time the 1939 register was compiled. Nothing much had changed other than that he and his wife had now employed the services of not only an army of servants but a Butler in order to manage them as well. But this scene of idyllic bliss was to be rudely shattered by the outbreak of World War II and all that went with it. The Buckinghamshire Herald of 19 March 1943 broke the dreadful news to the residents of Whitchurch in an article that read as follows:

“Death of Major John Rew – The death is announced, having been killed in action earlier this month, of Major John Rew, of the 16th/5th Lancers, attached to the North Irish Horse. He was 29 years of age and the only son of Mr and Mrs John Rew, of Whitchurch, and is survived by his wife Felicity Mary Rew. Major Rew was well-known in this district. He had hunted with the Whaddon Chase Hunt whenever home on leave, and had ridden to hounds from the time he learned to ride as a boy. His father is a member of the Hunt Committee.”

What terrible news this was for an aging man – Rew senior was now all of 75 years old – to bear. But Rew was made of sterner stuff and others had lost children in the war. He soldiered on until, on 12 October 1958, he passed away at Whitchurch House, Aylesbury leaving the handsome sum of £17 671 to his widow.

A man who had rubbed shoulder with “Bobs” and ridden to hounds with Rothschild was no more.



Whitchurch House is now a residence for senior citizens









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John Rew - a Civilian serving in Roberts Horse 4 years 4 months ago #66617

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Rory,

That is a fascinating account of John Rew.

Very unusual to see a medal engraved in this way too.
Dr David Biggins
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John Rew - a Civilian serving in Roberts Horse 7 months 1 week ago #91680

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The Tatler seldom disappoints and they have done it again with a photo of John Rew, his wife and only child, published on 20 October 1920. I'm beginning to think that John was camera-shy - I have only tracked down two shots of him and in both his face is concealed from view.

The little boy, John Rew junior, was 6 at the time the photo was taken - he was killed in action as a Major in 1943.



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Rory
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