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I have, many years ago, featured this group of medals but, in the light of plenty of new information that has been made available, I have rewritten the Mathew Pereira story. Medals to the Farmer's Guard are hard to come by on their own, what then the chances of one with a WWI pair and an interesting history which mirrors South Africa's tortuous past, to boot!

Matthew Isaac Frank Pereira

Trooper, Farmer’s Guard – Anglo Boer War
Corporal, 1st Cape Coloured Labour Regiment - WWI

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Orange Free State, South Africa 1901 & 1902 to 9 Tpr. M. Perreira, Farmer’s Guard
- British War Medal to 743 Cpl. M. Pereira, 1 - Cape C.L.R.
- Victory Medal to 743 Cpl. M. Pereira, 1 - Cape C.L.R.

Mathew Pereira was a product of his times. Born in Kroonstad in the Orange Free State on 12 December 1884, he was the son of Antonio Pereira, a Portuguese immigrant and Green Grocer by occupation, and his Dutch-speaking wife, Johanna Maria, born Hennecke. The first sight we have of him comes courtesy of the Certificate of Baptism, issued from the Cathedral Church of St. Andrew and St. Michael at Bloemfontein – whence the family had repaired for the baptism – on 11 January 1885. Baptised Matthew Isaac Frank, Pereira was to be known as “Mathew” for the remainder of his long life.

Tragedy struck the family when his father passed away in 1889 at the age of 40. Mathew was a mere lad of 5 years and the oldest of the children, being followed by Theodora Mary (3 years and 5 months), Henry (1 year and 9 months) and baby Louise (only 12 days old when their father died.) Mrs Pereira was left to raise the children on her own, which was no mean feat in those days.

Unbeknown to most, war clouds were gathering on the horizon and they were soon to burst when, on 11 October 1899, war was declared between the might of Great Britain and her Empire and the two small and reasonably impoverished Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. On the commencement of hostilities all Burgher’s of both Republics were required to saddle up and, together with their rifles and ammunition, report to the town nearest to them, for duty. Each town was divided up into separate Wards, to which each Burgher belonged. These Wards were under the command of a Veld Cornet – the Boers had a very democratic military system – the Burghers would be divided up into various Commandos and would, through a voting mechanism, elect their leaders.

Being Kroonstad-born, Pereira was already a Burgher and, already 15, almost 16 at the time hostilities commenced, would have been liable for service with a Commando. Whether or not he was conscripted or commandeered is open to conjecture as no papers have been found indicating what happened to him in the early stages of the war.

Initially the war went well for the Boer forces but gradually, as the Imperial troops were augmented with an influx of new men, the tide of the war turned against them. With precious little in the way of resources of any magnitude to rely on, they were steadily and remorselessly driven into a corner by a much better resourced and, certainly after the first few months’ debacle, a much better led army.

As the capital cities of first Bloemfontein and then Pretoria fell, the Boers resorted to guerrilla style hit and run tactics with the British countering this renewed mobility with a scorched earth policy designed to cut off any logistical support to the Boer Commandos, aimed at bringing about their capitulation. Another British tactic was to erect hundreds of Block Houses in an effort to hem the Boers in and make their capture more likely. As the Boers began to surrender in large numbers and hand in their arms they were shipped off to Bermuda, St. Helena or Ceylon as Prisoners of War leaving their womenfolk alone on the land with young children and no means of defence. This gave rise to the creation of, at first, a Burgher Police, a body of men comprised mainly of surrendered Boers who now had the task of guarding their own folk at the behest of their former antagonists.



The Burgher Police evolved into a Farmer’s Guard which was formed in November 1901 from surrendered burghers who had to enlist for a 3 month period at a pay of 5/- per day. They were, in turn, like their forerunners, responsible for the safety of surrendered burghers who were farming in the so-called “protected area” surrounding Bloemfontein. This was a zone created for the Boers so that they might continue their farming pursuits without being harassed by the remaining Commandos – always on the scrounge for food, clothing and men to enlist.

This was by no means their only function – safeguarding the “volk” on the farms meant that they were often pitted in combat situations against their own flesh and blood and, treated by their own as “verraiers” (traitors), their lives couldn’t have been easy. One such instance where they were in conflict was reported in the Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic edition of Saturday, February 15th 1902. The article read as follows:

“Death of General Du Toit – Bloemfontein, Wednesday

The Farmers Guard yesterday captured Field Cornet Combrinck and nine of Du Toit’s men. Du Toit himself, who was wounded last month, died on the 30th.”

The Scotsman of March 10, 1902, under the banner heading “Capture of a Laager” reported that,

“Three of Bester’s men surrendered today in the central district of the Free State. Colonel Western surprised a laager on the 4th instant. Two Boers were killed and one was captured.”

By 1 June 1902 there were as many as 5 464 Boers in the employ of the British – a large increase over the 3 963 reported on the 27 April 1902. The largest number, 1 533, were employed in the Orange River Colony of which 609 were members of the Farmers Guard including Pereira.

Initially there was only one Battalion of Farmers Guards – divided into “A”, “B” and “C” Companies or Squadrons. Shortly thereafter, owing to the increase in the number of those Boers taking up the British offer of enhanced compensation, a second Farmers Guard battalion was constituted. It was to the latter that Pereira belonged with no. 9 and the rank of Trooper. He was issued with a Queens Medal with the clasp Orange Free State and bars 1901 and 1902 for his efforts. But were these enough for a man who would have been vilified everywhere he went by those “bitter einders” who had stuck it out to the end?

The Boer War a thing of the past Pereira went about his business but a run-in with the law was on the cards next. On 10 November 1906, one Walter Frederick Bufe, the Chief Constable for the district of Adelaide (Cape Colony) provided a sworn statement in front of the Resident Magistrate, Mr C.R. Vaughn, which read, in part, as follows:

“I am the Chief Constable for the district of Adelaide. On the 7th November 1906 I received the following telegraphic message from Pountenay in Kroonstad:

‘Arrest two men arrive in Adelaide with motor bike and side-car. Necessary papers to follow post. Names are Holford and Pereira.’

I asked if the necessary criminal warrants had been issued and what the charge was. To this I received the reply, per wire, that warrants for the apprehension of the two men had been issued by post – the charge against them? – Theft by Conversion (occurs when a person lawfully obtains possession to the personal property or funds of another, and then converts the property into funds for their own use and without the person's permission.) The men having arrived in Adelaide, were arrested by me and have been admitted to bail by me.”

What then followed was a lengthy debate around jurisdictional issues – it must be remembered that Kroonstad, where the crime had been committed and where the extradition of the two was requested from, was in the Orange River Colony and they had been taken into custody in the Cape Colony. This was pre-Union and each territory had its own rules and regulations. The S.A.C. escort who had been sent to fetch Holford and Pereira were told to wait until the matter was resolved.

How this unsavoury episode was resolved is unknown; as is whether or not Pereira “did time” for his crime.

At some point thereafter, Pereira decided to move to Port Elizabeth which is where we find him when the peace that had reigned since the Boer War, was rudely interrupted on 4 August 1914 when the German Kaiser decided to wage war against the land of his mother’s birth. Britain was at war once more but on this occasion on a far larger scale. South Africa, many citizens of whom had only twelve years before been at loggerheads with Britain, now found themselves aligned with her against Germany.

Perreira, olive-skinned and, most likely, of a darker hue than most Anglo Saxons, enlisted with the Cape Coloured Labour Regiment for service in France as opposed to the regular infantry or artillery regiments. The Evening Telegraph and Post of Wednesday, June 14th 1916 carried a small article which read thus:-

“Cape Coloured Labour for French Ports – Cape Town, Tuesday:

In the House of Assembly General Botha, replying to a question, announced that the government approved of the raising of a thousand Cape Coloured labourers for dock labour in French Ports.”

All that exists in the South African Defence Force Archives pertaining to Pereira’s service is a card informing us that he had attained the rank of Corporal on enlistment with no. 743 on 17 July 1916 and that he had fought in France from 1 September 1916 until 21 July 1919. He was discharged on return from England at Rosebank in Cape Town on 14 September 1919. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Imperial-issue Victory Medal – the C.C.L.R. was regarded as an Imperial and not a South African unit.

His medal register confirms that his address was 99 South Union Street, Port Elizabeth. This particular page of the medal register commencing with number 736 and ending with number 755 appears to be a register of those from P.E. who attested as all the addresses hail from that quarter.

Back in Port Elizabeth he resumed his civilian occupation and, in the Baptist Church on 28 February 1926, and at the age of 41, he wed 25 year old Jessie Elizabeth Morley. A Motor Lorry Driver by occupation, his racial classification, always a thorny issue in South Africa, was described on his marriage certificate as “Coloured”, whereas his wife was described as “Mixed Race” (meaning almost the same thing).

Mathew Pereira passed away at the age of 75 at his residence, 3 Anderson Street, South End, Port Elizabeth, on 20 May 1960. The cause of death was recorded as being “sudden” and by Vascular Catastrophe associated with Hypertension. He was still a Lorry Driver when he died. The final irony was that, on his Death Certificate, he was classed as White (European) – his “conversion” from Portuguese/Dutch to Coloured and back to White, had come full circle