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Frank Boyes Hall

Sergeant, Midland Mounted Rifles – Anglo Boer War
Sergeant, Durban Militia Reserves – Bambatha Rebellion
Private, Natal Light Horse – G.S.W.A.
Sergeant, South African Heavy Artillery – WWI

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State & Transvaal to 223 Serjt. F.B. Hall, Midland M.R.
- Natal Medal (Bambatha) with 1906 clasp to Sgt. F.B. Hall, Durban Mil. Res.
- 1914/15 Star to Pte. F.B. Hall, Natal Lt. Horse
- British War Medal to Sgt. F.B. Hall, S.A.H.A.
- Victory Medal to Pte. F.B. Hall, Natal Lt. Horse/b]

Frank Hall was born on 23 August 1875 in Beverley in the County of York, the son of a well-known and highly respected Newspaper Reporter, Francis Hall, and his wife Jane. He was baptised in the United Parish of St. Mary and St. Nicholas on 24 September 1875 whilst his parents were living in Beverley.

The 1881 England census revealed that the family were still living at 4 Norwood Terrace. Aside from his parents, a 5 year old Frank was joined by siblings Annie (11), Edith (9), Frances (7), Emily (3) and Harry (1). With no servants to help her, Mrs Hall must have had her hands rather full.

Ten years later, at the time of the 1891 England census, the family had moved to 5 Wellington Terrace in Beverley. Mr Hall was described as being an Author and Newspaper Proprietor. This was certainly the case as Frances Hall, having been the Chief Reporter on the Beverley Guardian since 1865 and local correspondent for the Yorkshire Post had, in April 1888, established the Beverley Independent. He was also the School manager for St. Mary’s and St. Nicholas’ and sat on the Board of the Beverley Cottage Hospital.

Annie (21) was now a Shop Assistant whilst Edith (19) was described as “Mother’s help at home”. Francis (18) was a Pupil Teacher in a Church of England School (the family were Wesleyan’s so this must have been a challenge), Frank, now 15 was a Printer’s Apprentice followed by younger siblings Emily (13), Harry (11), William (9), Percy (7) and Lawrence (5), brought up the rear in what was now a very busy house.

By the time the turn of the century came, Frank Hall, following in his father’s footsteps as a newspaper man (albeit on the mechanical side of things), had been sent out to the Cape as a civilian to instruct compositors in the use of the Linotype machine. He was thus in the country when the Anglo Boer War broke out in October 1899. This conflict between the two Dutch-speaking Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal and the might of Great Britain, was initially confined to the northern extremities of the country and few were the number that thought this scruffy lot of Boers would ever make it as far as the Eastern and Southern Cape.

But make it they did and it wasn’t long before Boer Commandos were infiltrating south of the Orange River, the boundary separating the Boer Republic from the Cape Colony. These bands were set on plundering the outlying farms and towns for much needed supplies as well as intent on a mission to recruit sympathetic Cape Boers to their cause. This brought about the raising of a number of local Colonial units, one of which was the Midland Mounted Rifles and it was as a member of this regiment that Hall was to see service as a Sergeant with no. 223.

This regiment came into being in the second phase of the war for the purpose of assisting to expel the aforementioned invaders from the Colony. In April and May 1901 they were often in action, and were said to have done very well on two occasions in the latter month, particularly at Zwagershoek.

On Friday, 10 May 1901 they surprised a force of Boers near a farm at Vaaldraai, getting within 200 yards of the enemy before being observed. Six Boers were killed, four were wounded and twenty horses captured. A few days later, at Doornhoek, on the 13th, they had Lieutenant P E H Coombs and several men wounded.

The first reference in despatches to the corps by name was unfortunately associated with a mishap. In the despatch of 8th July 1901, dealing with the operations against Kritzinger's, Lotter's, and other commandos, Lord Kitchener said: "On the 21st of June a party of 60 Midland Mounted Rifles—a local corps— was surrounded and captured by Kritzinger between Cradock and Graaff Reinet; 9 men were killed and 2 officers and 10 men wounded".

According to the published casualty lists the number of killed and wounded was slightly larger. Captain H J Spandow died of his wounds; Lieutenant A P Robertson was severely wounded. It is satisfactory that the detachment made a very good fight, and that there was no surrender until the losses became out of all proportion to the end to be gained in holding out.

The Midland Mounted Rifles were to get their chance in due time. The despatch of 8th September 1901 deals with the capture of Lotter's commando by Colonel Scobell on 5th September.

In the despatch Lord Kitchener said: "It must also be mentioned that three days previously Lotter's commando had been checked by a party of Midland Mounted Rifles, who killed seven and wounded six of their number, and prevented the Boers escaping by a pass which the patrol was then holding".

After the conclusion of hostilities, Hall returned to civilian life. His sojourn in the Eastern Cape came to an end, however, as he moved to Durban in the Colony of Natal where he sought and obtained employment with one of the premier daily newspapers, the Natal Mercury. Printer’s ink, it would seem, ran deep in his blood.

But first a trip back to the old country was in order – the Beverley and East Riding Recorder of 8 October 1903 reported, under the banner “Freedom of the Borough” that: -

“The Guild Hall was on Thursday afternoon, profusely decorated with plants etc., the occasion being the conferring of the honorary freedom of the borough upon the second contingent of volunteers who took part in the late South African war. The recipients of the honour on Thursday included chiefly men who served who served with the Imperial Yeomanry. They were: - Lieut. Clive Wilson, DSO, Imperial Yeomanry, Sergt. Frank B. Hall, Midland Mounted Rifles, South African Regular Forces etc.”

The Driffield Times of 14 November 1903 (belatedly) reported that, “The Beverley volunteers who were on active service during the South African war are to have the honorary freedom of the borough conferred upon them in recognition of their services.

This interesting ceremony will take place at a special meeting of the Town Council, the date of which has not yet been fixed. The recipients are twelve in number namely… Frank Boyes Hall etc.”

Natal, post the Boer War was an unhappy place from a financial point of view. Money was in short supply with the Colonial Government’s coffers virtually empty. The war had proved to be a costly undertaking and the authorities were desperate to find alternate and additional sources of revenue to bolster the fiscus.

One of the ways hit upon was the introduction of a Poll Tax – this was to be levied against the head of every male in the Colony aged 18 years and older. This didn’t go down well with the Zulu population who perceived this as yet another tax to pay. Many Chiefs gave a surly and resigned acceptance to the Magistrates who were sent round to collect this tax but others were not as forthcoming.

Enter then Bambatha, a young and unimportant Chief of the Zondo clan in the Kranskop/Greytown area of Natal. This worthy was a born troublemaker and he went about Natal and Zululand fomenting strife and urging civil disobedience among the Zulus. Initially, in February 1906 the first signs of resistance were quelled when the Militia was called out but a far more serious and sinister rebellion took place around April 1906 and the Militia were called out again.

Things came to a head when it was thought that the Zulu King, Dinizulu, had given tacit support to Bambatha – the scene was set for war. The Natal Ministry mobilized the Militia and sent out a call for men and assistance to the Cape and Transvaal, should it be required. On 17 April the Volunteer Force was warned to be ready for service and, in the case of Durban, the Militia Reserves were advised to be on standby. This unit, comprising those able-bodied male citizens of Durban who were not affiliated with one of the many militia regiments that abounded, eventually numbered some 1700.

Having returned from England, Hall fell in with the Militia Reserves with the rank of Sergeant, one of only 16 who held that rank. Only 198 of the Reservists were to earn the coveted Natal Rebellion Medal, Hall with the sought-after 1906 clasp as one of a small number who were called to the front. Many newspapers of the 21st June 1906 carried the article: -

“Durban Militia Reserves Called Up – Durban, Wednesday. One hundred men of the Durban Militia Reserves were called out at midnight, and despatched to Stanger.” Although Hall and his comrades didn’t see the level of action of those who were “in at the kill” at Mome Gorge in Zululand where Bambatha was finally routed and beheaded, they had done enough to earn the medal and clasp.

At some point Hall returned to live and work in the Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape where, on 20 October 1910, he joined the Lodge of Good Hope of the Free Masons. He is recorded as being a Printer by trade. He was of a restless disposition, however, and a “List of Alien Passenger Applying for Admission" to Canada, dated in 1913 contains the entry for:

“Frank Boyes Hall and Emily Catherine Hall (one of his sisters), aged 34 and 31 respectively, a Linotype Operator and Domestic” From here it gets murky with the claim made that Frank Hall was arriving from Australia, the address provided being 18 Regent Street, Paddington, Sydney. What he had been doing there and for what length of time is unknown but it would seem that, certainly in Frank’s case, he wasn’t going to be in Canada for long.

Unbeknown to him and most others, their peace and tranquillity was to be rudely disturbed a few years hence. On 4 August 1914 the world woke up to find itself at war. The belligerents were Great Britain and her allies ranged against the forces of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and his allies. This was to be, truly, a World War – one on a hitherto unprecedented global scale.

South of the equator, South Africa too was to embroiled in the conflict and Hall, now almost 40 years old, was determined to play his part. On 1 February 1915 he attested for service with the Natal Light Horse and was assigned no. 473 and the rank of Private. His next of kin he provided as his father, Mr. F. Hall of 51 Toll Gaul, Beverley, Yorkshire. After being admitted to the Military Hospital at Maitland in Cape Town on 11 March for a “Not Yet Diagnosed” complaint, he was released on 24 March and, embarking for German South West Africa aboard the S.S. “Clan Macbeth” on 1 April, set sail for the theatre of war. Having landed, he and his unit were almost immediately thrust into the thick of things.


Natal Light Horse on parade in Pietermaritzburg before their departure for GSWA

The Natal Light Horse was a unit specially raised for the campaign. The O.C. was none other than “Galloping Jack” Royston, a man known more for his courage than his intellect. Much has been written about what is widely regarded as the seminal action of the entire German South West campaign which took place at Gibeon on 27 April 1915 and I leave it to Gerald L’ange in his book “Urgent Imperial Service” to recount the event itself and the actions leading up to it.

But first there is a need to contextualise it – a large section of what remained of the German army had retreated to a small railway siding known at Gibeon and were intent on boarding the train there along with all their men and supplies in order to travel north and away from the advancing South African forces. They were under the impression that they had plenty of time and wholly underestimated the time it took a determined S.A Brigade to get there before the train departed and blow up the track to the north of the station in order to block any escape attempt.

“Royston had deployed three squadrons of the Natal Light Horse on the railway embankment with fourth squadron in reserve. Because Royston had placed his men so near the station it wasn’t long before they were encountered by the patrols that Von Kleist had been sending out continually ever since learning that the line had been blown up. In fact Royston was still getting his men into position at 2 a.m. when a patrol arrived on the scene and the Natal men were forced to open fire, alerting Von Kleist to the arrival in his rear of more than a sabotage party.

The Germans quickly brought up reinforcements with artillery and machine guns and, from the cover of the culvert and the draining ditch, they poured a heavy fire into the Natal men. Caught out in the open they were soon being cut up by shrapnel and machine gun fire.

Shortly before dawn they found themselves surrounded and had to surrender. Royston withdrew his force three miles to the east of the railway to await daylight. When Royston withdrew and the trapped N.L.H. men surrendered the Germans assumed that they had defeated the main South African force and celebrated joyously. But there joy was short-lived McKenzie was already moving up with his main force…….”

The battle then raged and “shortly afterwards, however, the 1st Natal Carbineers and Lieutenant Colonel Park Gray, who had collected a handful of his men – the N.L.H. – released about 70 of these prisoners.”

Whether or not Hall was one of the “70” will never be known as no official records were kept and they were held “prisoner” for not much more than a couple of hours. Suffice it to say though, the N.L.H. were, of all the outfits present in the theatre, the one that saw most of the action. The Germans having surrendered at Otavi on 9 July 1915 the South African troops were returned to the Union.

Hall had by now returned to live in Durban where he had resumed employment on the staff of the Natal Mercury. He went about his business for the next few years but, with the war still showing no signs of abating in Europe, he decided to don a uniform once more. Lying about his age (he claimed to be 40 whereas he was 43), he completed the attestation papers for the South African Expeditionary Forces in Durban on 31 July 1918.

His father having passed away in 1916, he now used his mother as next of kin. Confirming that he had prior service with the N.L.H. and the Boer War and Zulu Rebellion, he stated that he was a Linotype Operator with the Natal Mercury and was still unmarried. Physically he was described as 6 feet and ¼ inch in height, weighed 174 pounds and had a fresh complexion, brown eyes and grey hair. By way of distinguishing features he had a birthmark on his right thigh. Having been passed as Fit for service by the Doctor at Potchefstroom on 16 August 1918, he was ready for the next chapter in his military career.

Assigned no. 2793 and the rank of Gunner, Hall was mustered to the South African Heavy Artillery and, although destined for France, never left South African shores. Still based in Potchefstroom for training, he was promoted to Acting Corporal on 25 September 1918 until becoming an Acting Sergeant just prior to his discharge on demobilisation. This took place on 24 January 1919. His Proceedings on Discharge forms confirmed that hi Military Character had been Very Good and he was allowed to credit 178 days of service.

By the time he claimed his medals in 1920, his address had changed to the Umkomaas Hotel, down the South Coast of Natal. He tied the marital knot for the first time at the age of 45 when, at nearby Umzinto on 5 October 1920, he wed Kathleen Edith Macbeath, a 40 year old widow and owner of the Umkomaas Hotel (this would account for that having been his return address for his medals).

On 26 November 1932, having been widowed, Hall took another wife - at the age of 57 he married Aletha Catherina Martha Visser, a 36 year old spinster living at the Esplanade Mansions in Durban. He was residing at the Berkshire Hotel in Durban and had retired from his employment.

Frank Boyes Hall passed away on 25 October 1955 at the age of 80

What else can one say ? Very good research , Rory.
Nice group !