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Zeederberg of the Commander-in-Chief's Bodyguard and the S.A.M.I.F. 4 years 9 months ago #69732

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John Daniel Zeederberg

Trooper, Commander-in-Chief’s Bodyguard
Corporal, South African Mounted Irregular Forces – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal to 25170 Tpr. J. Zeederberg, C.IN C. BDY.GD
- Kings South Africa Medal with clasps South Africa 1901 & 1902 to 25170 Tpr. J. Zeederberg, C.IN C. BDY.GD (self-awarded and not entitled to)

John Zeederberg was directly related to the famous Zeederberg brothers who ran stage coaches and a transport service from South Africa into Rhodesia in the latter quarter of the 19th century. John was born in about 1882, the son of Johannes Roedolf Zeederberg, a Cape Town Book Keeper, and his wife Annie Antoinette, born Vogel.

As was the case in Victorian times, the family was a large one and John didn’t lack for playmates – being joined in the house at 114 Sir Lowry Road, Cape Town, by siblings William Roelof Rogers Zeederberg, Henry Charles Zeederberg, Maude Maria Gertrude Zeederberg, Violet Johanna Susannah De Wet Ada Zeederberg, Lilian Sybella Catherine Zeederberg, Melt Roux Richard Zeederberg, Cornelius Arnott Zeederberg, Muriel Barbara Isabella Zeederberg and John Hewat Zeederberg. As can be ascertained from the plethora of names each child was given, the family had mixed Dutch and English heritage – something very common in that part of the Cape Colony.

John would have received an education suited to the times in which he lived and, at the age of 17, had begun a career as a Junior Assistant (Telegraphist) with the General Telegraph Office, a department of the Post Office Establishment, on 10 November 1899 earning an annual income of £75. Civil Service jobs were hard to find in those days and he must have been counting himself lucky to have secured a position, setting him on the road to security and prosperity.

The two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State had other ideas, however. For a variety of reasons animosity between themselves and the United Kingdom had been brewing for some time. This spilled over into open warfare on 11 October 1899 and, suddenly, South Africa woke up to find itself at war. The two British Colonies of Natal and Cape, as subjects of the Crown, were required to side with Britain and the local chaps, some with conflicting loyalties occasioned by their mixed heritage alluded to earlier, joined one or other of the regiments which were being raised to assist the British war effort or, in some cases, fled the coop and became Boer Rebels.

Zeederberg opted for the first course and, on 3 December 1900, at the age of 18, completed the attestation papers for service with the Commander-in-Chief’s Bodyguard – he was assigned no. 25170 and the rank of Trooper with “E” Squadron. This fine body of men had been proposed as long ago as the 15th January 1900 by Lord Roberts, who announced the intention to form a bodyguard from picked Colonials, to be commanded by Major Laing.

Nothing much happened until November 1900, when Lord Roberts issued an order empowering Major Laing to raise a fighting regiment, 570 strong, with 2 guns, 2 pom-poms, and 2 machine-guns, to be called 'The Bodyguard'. So great was Laing's popularity that he almost at once got over 1000 recruits. The corps took the field in the Orange River Colony. Unfortunately, the first reference to them in a despatch was in connection with a grievous mishap which took place on 3rd January 1901.

In his telegram of 6th January Lord Kitchener said: "From reports of some wounded who have arrived at Heilbron, it appears that a detachment of Bodyguard 120 strong, belonging to General Charles Knox's force, came in contact with a superior number of the enemy near Lindley. I regret to say that Lieutenant Colonel Laing, 2 officers, and 15 men were killed, 2 officers and 20 men wounded. No details have been received from General Knox of this action". The fighting was of the most severe character, and the casualties in the rank and file turned out even larger than the numbers stated by Lord Kitchener. It is not known whether or not Zeederberg was involved in this action.

In February and March 1901 the corps were several times engaged in the Orange River Colony, Lieutenant L H Harding being mortally wounded and, in April, May, and June, the Bodyguard, 1000 strong, under Colonel Chesney, was in a column which operated in the Eastern Transvaal under Brigadier General Bullock, and in July under Brigadier General Spens. They had no very serious fighting while the Bodyguard was in the column, but towards the end of July they had skirmishes in which Captain O'Flaherty and 1 man were killed and several wounded. Not long after, on 30 June 1901, this the corps was disbanded, many of the officers and men joining other regiments.

Zeederberg was, ostensibly, granted furlough just prior to this date – a remark, scrawled across his attestation form, states that he was “re-engaged” but that he “did not return from furlough, he is employed in S.A.M.I.F. evidently.” Retaining his number of 25170, Zeederberg transferred to the South African Mounted Irregular Forces on 1 July 1901. It was with them that he earned the Cape Colony clasp to his medal.

The S.A.M.I.F. were a strange bunch – the jury is out as to whether they operated as an independent unit (there were medals issued off their roll), or whether they were a combination or conglomeration of several Colonial units lumped together, in the latter part of the Boer War, under the umbrella name. The fact that Zeederberg’s number remained the same inclines me to the latter option where, despite being disbanded, the CinCBG were alive and well in the embrace of the S.A.M.I.F.

The war over, Zeederberg settled down to more mundane pursuits but, as the years passed by, his name was mentioned in a number of unsavoury incidents, the first of which was in 1913 when he was involved in a criminal case along with a James Minty Cruikshank, both of whom were charged and tried with forgery and uttering a forged instrument. It is not known what the outcome of this “white-collar” crime was.

He was back in the dock in 1923 when a fellow by the name of Antonie Petrus Roux laid charges against him for damages and, in 1936 he was in hot water again – on this occasion in an opposed application with one Fanny Reeves.

After a rather full life, John Zeederberg passed away in Ramsgate , near Port Shepstone on the South Coast of Natal on 1 December 1955 at the age of 73 (the death certificate states that he was 70 and born in 1885). It was recorded that he was receiving a Boer War Veteran Pension and that his death, caused by a Coronary Thrombosis, had been instantaneous. He was survived by his wife, Ethel May, who passed away on 16 July 1967. His final resting place is Stellawood Cemetery, Durban.