TOPIC:

Could someone please enlighten me as to the differences between the above?

Whilst researching a group of medals to a recipient in the CGA I turned to Gunners of the Cape by Neil Orpen only to find that there is nary a mention of the CGA within its voluminous interior.

Aside from the well-used section in Stirling is there any other publication or work that would reveal more about them?

Regards

Rory

Rory, they were two different units.

Cape Field Artillery, as they were known until their recent renaming as 'Nelson Mandela Artillery Regiment', were formed in 1857. At the time of the ABW, they were called 'Prince Alfred's Own Cape Artillery'.

Cape Garrison Artillery were formed in 1879 as the Cape Town Volunteer Engineers, They added a coast artillery battery in 1889, and changed their name to 'Garrison Artillery & Engineer Volunteer Corps'. When the artillery were reorganised in 1896, the GAEVC gave up engineering and changed their name to 'Cape Garrison Artillery'. They disbanded in 1958 and their name was later given to an anti-aircraft unit.

Unfortunately, there's no single published history of the CGA, but snippets of info about their ABW service can be found in Stirling and in contemporary publications such as the SA Volunteer Gazette, whose 1899 and 1900 issues gave details of the movements of the volunteer units. In the case of the CGA :
- 450 members on active service in December 1899,
- stationed at Fort Wynyard and Simon's Town in Dec 1899,
- 124 members transferred to Kitchener's Horse in Jan 1900 - apparently became E Squadron,
- strength was 566 in Feb 1900 and 700 in May,
- E Sqn KH in a 4-day firefight with De Wet's forces near Riet River, surrendered on 13 Feb and sent to Pretoria as PoWs,
- by March 1900, 50 members were stationed in Walvis Bay,
- combined CGA and CT Highlanders continent sent to O'Okiep in March;
- by May, CGA "gradually getting away from Cape Town in driblets" : 100 escorting Boer PoWs to St Helena, 75 in Walvis Bay,
- by July, CGA detachments in Bethulie and K*ff*r River (OFS),
- the OC, Lt Col Abraham de Villiers, described in October 1900 as "a shepherd without sheep" as his unit was split up - now also had detachments at Christiana, Kraaipan, Belfast and in Ceylon (as interpreters in the PoW camp), some attached to Army Service Corps, RAMC and other British units.

I thought I would use this topic to post something that I may have "discovered"..... everyone knows that there is no list of those CGA men who were in the O'Okiep siege. Sources tell us that there was a detachment of 12 of them. That said, let me move on to the following scenario:

I acquired a QSA to Sergeant Master Tailor W.B. Sayer of the CGA and, on researching him, came across the newspaper article attached below. It is a long stretch but there are +/- 12 men mentioned in the CGA detachment under Lt Tregaskis (not TREGASTON as in the article)

Beaconsfield Camp outside Kimberley is mentioned as where they are stationed, along with others, on 28 December 1901. Is this relevant? My question is - were these the men who went on to O'Okiep and were there in April 1902 when the place was besieged?

What do fellow forum members think? I have looked at the medal rolls iro some of the CGA members listed and, as we already know, they don't tell us anything or help us develop any trend.

Regards

Rory

Hi Rory,

Good to chat this morning.

A silver O'okiep medal awarded to Captain Borcherds is known. Privately engraved, but in the same fashion as the similar known medal awarded to a recipient of the CTH.

Hope this helps.

RobM

Rory,

I have recently acquire the Defence Orders for the O'okiep period. I will look through those and see if there is any mention and come back to you

Is there anything in Brian Kieran's book on O'okiep?