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Marshall's Horse served with Ian Hamilton's force in the advance from Bloemfontein and afterwards mainly in the Transvaal.

Tylden says "In 1899, for the S.A. War, the regiment (First City Volunteers), in conjunction with the Uitenhage Volunteer Rifles, raised four companies of M.I., but the initials on the shoulder-straps, "1.C.V.", led to confusion with the "C.I.V." (City of London Imperial Volunteers) and the name of the First City was altered, as far as the M.I. were concerned to Marshall's Horse."


Picture courtesy of Noble Numismatics

QSA (4) Belmont, Modder River, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill (Lieut: T.C.Fryer. Marshall's Horse.) Impressed
[KSA (2)]

Lieutenant T.C.Fryer confirmed on nominal roll of Marshall's Horse. The London Times 25 January 1902 reported that Lieutenant T.C.Fryer of Marshall's Horse was one of the invalids on the troopship St Andrew that left for England on 22 January 1901.

His KSA entry states that he served in the Rhodesia Regiment 28 August to 20 September 1899, Rimington's Guides 26 October 1899 to 25 January 1900 and 1st City Volunteers 25 January 1900 to 31 May 1902.

KSA from 1st City Volunteers.

Having returned to England, one wonders when he came back to South Africa. Did he have the requisite 18 months service to be eligible for the KSA?

Rory,

I presume the dates in the NN write-up are incorrect as they mention 1901 and 1902. He does seem to have continuous service throughout the war according to the KSA page. Were he to have left SA in January 1902, he would have met the criteria for the KSA (still serving on 1st January 1902 and having completed 18 months of service).

A QSA named to Marshall's Horse

From the next City Coins auction, November 2020

Gatsrand, 5 September 1900

On 4 September 1900 in the Gatsrand, near the present Fochville, Commandant Danie Theron was planning an attack with General Liebenberg’s commando on General Hart’s column. Whilst out scouting to discover why Liebenberg was not at the agreed position, Theron ran into seven members of Marshall’s Horse.

Contemporary Boer sources allege that Theron killed three and wounded the other four.

The column’s escort was alerted by the firing and immediately charged up the hill, but Theron managed to avoid capture. Finally, the column’s artillery, six field guns and 4.7-inch naval gun, were unhitched and the hill bombarded. The legendary Republican hero was killed in an inferno of lyddite and shrapnel.

Eleven days later, the body of Commandant Danie Theron was exhumed by his men and later reburied next to his late fiancée, Hannie Neethling, at her father’s farm (Eikenhof, Klip River.)

The SAFF Casualty Roll contains the name of only one man (MacMillan) of Marshall’s Horse: he was mortally wounded in the incident. The “Official History” Vol III, p376 mentions: “Near the scene of the previous day’s encounter the guns fired on a party of the enemy, killing four, of whom one was Commandant Daniel Theron, a well-known captain of scouts.”

QSA (4) CC, OFS, Jhburg, D Hill (943 Tpr. R.W. MacMillan. Marshall’s H.)
A nicely toned medal.

Trooper MacMillan enlisted in Marshall’s Horse on 13 December 1899.

He was slightly wounded in a skirmish near the Johannesburg Waterworks on 31 August 1900 and 5 days later he was dangerously wounded in the Danie Theron incident.

He died of his wounds in Krugersdorp on 8 September 1900 and is buried there.

From today's City Coins auction, 27 November 2020

Rhenoster Valley, 24 March 1902

There is a brief reference to this skirmish in “The Colonials in South Africa”, p147:
“On 24 March at Rhenoster Valley a detachment of Marshall’s Horse was badly cut up, losing 7 men killed and 1 officer and 7 men wounded.”
Further details are in Taffy & David Shearing’s booklet “General Jan Smuts and his Long Ride” p182:

“In faraway Fraserburg (Commandant) Neser ambushed a patrol of Marshall’s Horse at Renostervlei. Jasper Rupping told us that his father was sent to Bakoondkraal to fetch fodder and warned Neser he had spotted four scouts ahead. They were part of a patrol of Marshall’s Horse who were on the Sutherland-Phisanterivier road, climbing up the steep track to Renostervlei. Riding without scouts, they reached the top where Neser and his men lay hidden in the renoster veld. They opened fire and nine men were killed and a further eight wounded. The survivors regrouped, and the fight continued all day. They fled when it was dark. Neser and his men were remounted and rearmed”.

Neser, in his Memoirs (Christiaan de Wet Annale, No. 7), covers the skirmish against Lt Col Callwell’s Column in detail and claims that they took approximately 100 men prisoner.

QSA (1) CC (21408 Pte C.H. von Plaster, Marshall’s Horse)

Claude Herbert von Plaster was born in in Grahamstown on 24 June 1865. He enlisted in Marshall’s Horse at Grahamstown on 28 November 1900 and was one of the unit’s seven casualties at Rhenostervlei. The other two men killed served in the Sutherland DMT.

On the QSA Roll Von Plaster is credited with a later issue of OFS & Tvl clasps, but as is so often the case with casualties these were not fitted to the QSA. Strangely enough, there is no trace on the QSA roll of the authorisation of SA01 & SA02 clasps.