TOPIC:

Alfred Chandley

Sergeant, Newcastle Town Guard – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal to Serjt. A. Chandley, Newcastle T.G.

Alf Chandley was born in Pietermaritzburg in 1860, the son of Benjamin and Rachel Chandley. The first mention of him one encounters is courtesy of his marriage to Bridget Maher a 21-year-old spinster from Pietermaritzburg. This joyous occasion took place in a private residence in Pietermaritzburg on 2 October 1881, Chandley is described as a Mason by trade and also 21 year of age.

On 2 June 1885, his 6-month old daughter, Margaret Alice, passed away with Bronchitis whilst the family were living in Boom Street, Pietermaritzburg. He was listed as a Bricklayer by trade. The trauma surrounding this event could well have been the catalyst which saw Chandley take his wife to Barberton in the Eastern Transvaal – at that time a burgeoning mining town where gold deposits had been discovered. Another daughter, also named Margaret but with “Ada” added to distinguish her from her dead sister, was born to the couple in Barberton on 23 October 1899.

It is supposed that, at some point towards the end of the 19th century, he and other members of his family, moved to Northern Natal where he settled in the Newcastle district. The family farm was named “Shakespeare” and this is where we find him on the eve of the Anglo-Boer War. This conflict between the two Dutch-speaking Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal and Great Britain, erupted onto the world stage on 12 October 1899 and, with the town’s proximity to the Transvaal border, Newcastle was directly in the firing line as the Boers crossed the border into Natal to commence operations.

The town of Newcastle was ill prepared for hostilities, with many of the townsfolk fearing an invasion and its consequences. In 1899 the population stood at 1746 individuals, mostly of English, Scot and Irish ancestry. The farming community of the district was a mixed bag - made up of Dutch farmers who had stayed on in Natal after the Voortrekkers had left in 1842, as well as English-speaking Natalians.


Occupying Boers enjoying a meal in the centre of Newcastle

Fort Amiel had been sold-off in 1882, so the fort was now a farmstead. It is evident that as a military installation it had fallen into disrepair and was inadequate to protect the town from the advance of the Boer burghers and their accompanying citizenry. All British and Colonial forces had been withdrawn to the south, with most of the British and Colonial Forces garrisoned at Ladysmith, a 100 kilometres away. Many residents packed up and fled to relatives and to the towns of Pietermaritzburg and Durban when they heard the news that Newcastle was not to be defended.

On the day after the outbreak of war, reports reached the residents of Newcastle that the Boers were crossing the frontier from the north and west. On the 13th they occupied the small village of Charlestown, crossing Laing’s Nek and descending the Majuba Pass into Natal. Observers noted that the Boer wagon convoy stretched for miles as it slowly descended. Most all of the residents fled, including the Mayor, leaving their homes, farms and shops. The outcome was not to be a pleasant one.
Newcastle stood in the path of the opposing armies. As Sir John Robinson in his book ‘A Life Time in South Africa’ wrote… “Then most of them – the British born, I mean – hastily took flight. First went the womenfolk and the children, carrying with them such portables as they could dispose of, and then followed the men, who held on to their homesteads until the Boers were actually in sight.

Loath, indeed, were the housewives to leave their domestic treasures to the mercy of the Boer raiders. In some cases, things were buried, or hidden in roofs, in cornpits, or plantations. In others they were left just as they were, trusting that apparent confidence would prevent spoliation. Cattle, horses and sheep were in many cases driven off to the deep valleys under the distant mountains…”

When the Boer General Joubert reached Newcastle he was dismayed to see the looting and destruction by his fellow burghers and put in measures to prevent this. There is no doubt that this despoiling and vandalism rested uneasily with Joubert, whose family farm lay just across the Natal border near Volksrust. He would have known many of the local farmers, both British, Colonial and Dutch, and would have received much of his provisioning from the merchants of Newcastle and Charlestown.

On the 15th of October 1899, a commando of triumphant and unopposed Boers under the leadership of General Kock, and Assistant-Commandant Ben Viljoen, swept down Botha Pass from the Orange Free State on their ponies, outpacing the other 5 columns and entered an unprotected Newcastle, where Viljoen raised the flag of the republics. Viljoen headed up the Johannesburg Commando and was second in command to General Jan Kock whose contingent was made up of the already mentioned Johannesburg Commando, the German Corps and the Hollander Corps.

Then commenced several days of vicious looting of the shops, stores and homes of private Natalians. In addition, properties were needlessly vandalised. The farms of loyal Natalians received the same treatment and their livestock and property stolen. The Roman Catholic Church and convent was desecrated and burnt to the ground. All the Stores and Shops were stripped of their goods. White residents were not the only victims to the looting and destruction by drunken Boers, for they set fire to an Indian owned store opposite Duncan Brothers. The few residents who thought they could brave the conflict were treated fairly well by the Burghers and hanger-ons.


Scott Street, a main thoroughfare with the Vierkleur fluttering in the distance.

The English-speaking farmers of the Newcastle District had their farmsteads looted and vandalised, and their belongings and livestock driven-off. Their neighbours of Dutch backgrounds joined up with the Boer Forces, some through persuasion but most through co-ercion.

After this most ignoble start to the Boer offensive, the town was presumptuously renamed Viljoensdorp after Ben Viljoen. One can be sure – the loyal residents of Newcastle shed few tears when the Boers were driven out of Natal and suffered similar depredations under the ‘Scorched Earth’ policy of General Kitchener.

On the 29th of March 1900, the Colonist Newspaper reported the following about the Boer retreat… “The Boers in Natal have sent their women and children back to the Transvaal. Deserters report that the commandos intend to retreat with their guns and stores via Lang’s Nek, the pass over the Drakensberg Mountain in north west Natal. One can be sure that many of the possessions of the Newcastle residents and the livestock of the neighbouring farms went north with them.

As the Boers fell back on 14 May 1900, they vindictively destroyed the infrastructure of the colony, blowing up culverts, rail lines and stations, bridges, waterworks and torching official buildings. Among the hundreds of bridges destroyed were those across the Ingagane and Incandu Rivers. The Newcastle Waterworks on the Incandu River were also destroyed. The final act of destruction before retreating out of Natal was the blowing up of the Lang’s Nek Railway Tunnel.

Following the expulsion of the Boers, the Natal Compensation Commission visited Newcastle in 1900 to assess the damage. They reported… “Most of the stores in the town had been fully equipped before the British evacuation, and the haul by the enemy and the rebels was found to have been very extensive. The Convent and the Church had been burned down, and a search among the ruins failed to bring to light any valuables. The Hotels were cleared of all their furniture, and a number of the rooms used as stables. Almost all the private dwellings had been depleted of anything of value.

The Town Hall and the Police Buildings were found, after the Boer retreat, to be crammed with a miscellaneous assortment of furniture, all more or less damaged.” The extensive depredations of the British Army have been well documented and trumpeted, but that of the Boers not. This is a depressing story that is still to be told in full.

The residents were certainly glad to see the Boers out of their town. Captain George Vernon Clarke writes the following in his diary about the welcome he and his contingent got as they reached Newcastle… “It was dusk when we reached Newcastle. it is nearly as big a place as Ladysmith, and much prettier. All the inhabitants turned out to greet us. They were English people who had their best clothes on and sported red, white and blue ribbons all over and displayed home-made Union Jacks.”

From 1900 Newcastle became an important point of collection and dispatch for the British and Colonial Armies. The town and its neighbouring encampment, Fort Amiel became a staging post for military action, and a buffer for any future Boer incursions into Natal. The hills in and around the settlement were fortified with large guns placed on many of these eminences, from where a watch could be kept of the countryside. Local garrisons were tasked with watching the passes into Natal and the cornering of Boer commandos like that of General De Wet who were still in the field.

The presence of such a large host in Newcastle and the movement of the same through the town, added to the town’s finances. Returning residents and businessmen took advantage of the opportunities to provide the necessities of life to the soldiers.



It was in May 1900 that a Town Guard was called into being. The Derby Daily Telegraph of 23 May 1900 reported that: “After the Boers fled from Newcastle a Town Guard was formed, under Mr Muller, an ex-Prussian officer resident here, whom I have already mentioned here as having persistently refused most tempting offers from the Boers to induce him to take the place of Colonel Schiel.”

The same publication, on 4 June 1900, reported that: “General Buller has conveyed to Mr Muller, captain of the Town Guard of Newcastle, his appreciation of the admirable arrangements which he made on evacuation of the town by the Boers, and of the loyal assistance and hearty welcome accorded to the troops by the inhabitants of Newcastle.”

This model had worked well in other areas, most notably in nearby Ladysmith, where the locals who joined the Town Guard took over the day to day guarding of key points in the town along with upholding of the curfew and other related matters; thereby freeing up the regular army soldiers to carry the fight to the Boers.

The medal roll for the Town Guard shows, peculiarly, that they were actively employed on very specific dates – in the case of Chandley, who was a Sergeant in the Town Guard, the dates of 18 to 21 September 1901 and 2 October 1901 are mentioned. This is not to say that the men were not on constant call-out at other times.

Little is known of his life and times after the war – he passed away at the Fort Napier institution in Pietermaritzburg (a Lunatic Asylum) at the age of 76 on 12 March 1945. A retired Carpenter (Cabinet maker), his death was ascribed to Myocardial degeneration.

A very enjoyable read, Rory, supported by excellent images. Many thanks.

Thank You Rory..... You have spoilt me...... One of the things I missed during our shut down was your stories/research, always a great read......

Mike

Thanks Mike - I haven't been very prolific over the last 7 months or so. I have a simple rule - I won't write about a recipient unless I have his medal in front of me. 90% of my purchases since lockdown were in the UK (or Canada......) and all the medals are with my son in London until I get to visit and bring them home.

Regards

Rory