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Charles Vogt of the Kaffrarian Rifles (ABW) and everywhere else in WWI 4 years 4 months ago #72403
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Charles William Hugo Vogt
Private, Kaffrarian Rifles – Anglo Boer War Private, 7th Infantry (Kimberley Regiment) Private, S.A.V.R. (South African Veterans Regiment) Private, S.A.M.C. (South African Medical Corps) – G.S.W.A. – WWI - Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Transvaal & Wittebergen to Pte. W.H. Vogt, Kaff. Rifles - 1914/15 Star to Pte. C.W.H. Vogt, 7th Inf. - British War Medal to Pte. C.W.H. Vogt, S.A.V.R. - Victory Medal to Pte. C.W.H. Vogt, S.A.M.R. Hugo Vogt was born in Kimberley in the Northern Cape in about 1879, the son of Ferdinand Vogt, a Carpenter of Swiss origin, and his wife Louisa, born Keefer. The German-speaking Vogt family moved round the Diamond Fields of Griqualand, with many of their children being born, like Charles, either in Kimberley or in nearby Barkly West. Charles Vogt’s childhood would have been a busy one with his many siblings keeping him on his toes. That the family set about anglicising their lives in order to better fit into the prevailing landscape was apparent with the names Emma, Bertha, Louisa, Winnie, Ernest, Ida, Rudolph and Charles, being bestowed on their children. Diamonds had been discovered in Kimberley and its surrounds and this is, most likely, what had drawn Mr. Vogt to the area. By the time the end of the 19th century came round, the family had moved to the Stutterheim district of the Eastern Cape and it was from here that Charles enlisted with the Kaffrarian Rifles, an East London-based regiment, on 21 November 1899, for service in the war, being assigned no. 1060 and the rank of Trooper. The K.R. were about 600 strong, and mustered under the Colonial Division, under Brigadier General Brabant. They took part in his rapid and very successful operations in February, which regained possession of the Dordrecht-Jamestown and Aliwal North districts and drove the enemy out of many strong positions they held in the north-east of Cape Colony. On 5th March 1900, at Dordrecht, this corps lost 1 killed and 7 wounded, and on the 11th, at Aliwal North, they had 1 man killed and Captain E Muller severely wounded. A portion of the Kaffrarian Rifles, about four squadrons, took part, under Colonel Dalgety, in the splendid defence of Wepener in April, and one squadron was in the relieving force under Brabant. Vogt didn’t qualify for the Wepener clasp to his medal, the assumption thus being that he was part of the relieving force. The corps afterwards took part in the other work of the Colonial Division, and were several times sharply engaged in the Orange River Colony and Transvaal in 1900, particularly on the march from Zeerust to Krugersdorp in the latter half of August 1900. At Quaggafontein, on 31st August, the Kaffrarian Rifles lost 6 non-commissioned officers and men killed, and Captains P Farrar, Rose-Innes, J M Fairweather, J Donovan, and R H Price, Lieutenant Beswick, and about 18 non-commissioned officers and men wounded. Before Lord Roberts left South Africa the Colonial Division was broken up, and in October 1900 many members of the corps were allowed to return to their homes. On their arrival at East London, on 3rd November, the Kaffrarian Rifles got a magnificent reception. Vogt used this opportunity, time having been served, to take his discharge from the regiment two days later, on 5 November 1900. Having taken part in the hunt for De Wet in the Brandwater Basin, leading to the surrender of most of the remaining Boer forces in the Free State in July 1900, he was eligible for the Wittebergen clasp to his Queens Medal, to go with the Cape Colony and Transvaal clasps he had already earned. For Vogt, active participation in the Boer War was over and he returned home to his civilian pursuits. At some point he married an Emily Maria Paxton and it was to this lady that he was still wed when, fourteen years later, on 4 August 1914, the Great War erupted onto the world stage. By this time Vogt had moved to the small Orange Free State town of Jagersfontein. Soon after, on 9 September 1914, he was back in uniform once more. On this occasion as a Private with the 7th Infantry (Kimberley Regiment) and with no. 3125. His next of kin was his wife of Palmerston Street, Jagersfontein. The Kimberley Regiment embarked upon the Armadale Castle for German South West Africa, and arrived at Luderitzbucht on the 1st October 1914, forming part of the 2nd Infantry Brigade of Brigadier General Duncan Mackenzie. They proceeded at once to Kolman’s Kop, where the battalion to which they were attached, occupied the advance position of the Brigade. Amongst important work undertaken by the Battalion was the reconstruction of the railway line between Aus and the Base, destroyed by the enemy in his retirement. Vogt wasn’t to see out the war with the Kimberley Regiment, he was transferred to the 5th Mounted Brigade Train on 1 February 1915, with whom he saw service until 28 April when he was transferred to the South African Medical Corps. He saw service with the S.A.M.C. until 7 August 1915, a month after the German surrender, before being transferred to the South African Veteran’s Regiment (S.A.V.R.) on 8 September 1915. This outfit were tasked, in the main, with providing guards for German Prisoners of War, escorting them back to South Africa for internment. Having fulfilled this role until 24 October 1915, Vogt was then transferred to a relatively unknown unit – the Special Police. They too, it appeared, had to do with Prisoners of War. Most of the volunteers who had entered German South West Africa had by now been long repatriated and had moved on to either home or to another unit, of which there were many, raised for service in German East Africa or the Western Front. Vogt, now that he had been discharged, opted to head for Jagersfontein and home. That he was still in this little town in 1925 was made known by the sad death of his 2 year old child, Clemetz Royce Vogt. The coroner declared that, on 20 April of that year, little Clementz had perished the verdict being, “Death by misadventure due to arsenical poisoning, probably contained in sweets purchased locally.” This must have been a devastating blow to Vogt and his wife. In 1949, after years of marriage, the two divorced, freeing Vogt to remarry. This he did, taking for his bride a divorcee, one Catharina Susanna Van der Walt, born Jansen Van Rensburg. The couple married in Germiston in the Transvaal whence he had moved. He wasn’t lucky the second time round either and, on 13 April 1955, before Justice Ludorf in the Witwatersrand Local Division, Vogt found himself divorced once more. On this occasion he was the Plaintiff. The settlement involved the donation of the property, 64 Klippoortjie Agricultural Lots and all its household contents, to the defendant, in full and final settlement. Freed from the shackles of matrimony, Vogt deemed it no doubt prudent to not marry again. He passed away at the General Hospital in Pretoria eighteen months later, on 19 December 1956 at the age of 77 years six months. His residential address at the time was 94 Moulton Avenue, Waverley, Pretoria and he was a Change Room Attendant at the time of his death. Of children he had many, being survived by Violet Eugene Vogt, Lydia Ruth Kritzinger, Charles Keefer Paxton Vogt, William Vincent Harold Vogt, Verner Maud Van Staden, Robert Kitchener Vogt, Douglas Haig Vogt, Sybil Grace Perkins, Thelma Veronica Muir, Jessie Myrtle Anastassiou, Evelyn Claude Garvie Vogt and Maureen Olive Hackett. 
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Charles Vogt of the Kaffrarian Rifles (ABW) and everywhere else in WWI 4 years 4 months ago #72404
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Charles Vogt of the Kaffrarian Rifles (ABW) and everywhere else in WWI 4 years 4 months ago #72405
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Charles Vogt of the Kaffrarian Rifles (ABW) and everywhere else in WWI 4 years 4 months ago #72406
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Rory,
Thought you might like this page from the Attendance Register. It shows that your man enlisted on the 21st November 1899 and Discharged on the 5th November 1900. Cheers 
Part time researcher of the Cape Police and C.P.G Regiment.
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Charles Vogt of the Kaffrarian Rifles (ABW) and everywhere else in WWI 4 years 4 months ago #72407
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Charles Vogt of the Kaffrarian Rifles (ABW) and everywhere else in WWI 4 years 4 months ago #72408
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