TOPIC:

I was chuffed to have secured this delightful trio to a man who was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" - Jacob, sometimes James, Smith, no. 2159, was taken POW at Rensburg on Valentine's Day 1900.

Does anyone know where these chaps were kept captive and when they were released?

Regards

Rory

Could it have been Watervaal POW camp?
If so, I think the Wiltshire's were released on the 6th June 1900.
Your man returned to England on the 3rd of December 1900.

Not sure Dave - which is why I am turning to the collective brain-power of the forum. Perhaps there are POW records for those who made it out? I seem to remember seeing a list somewhere of the names of all the POW's that were liberated and where they went i.e. to rejoin their units etc.

I'm hoping someone can post the link!

Regards

Rory

Rory,

He is here: www.angloboerwar.com/forum/prisoners-of-...rvaal?start=12#11332

Line 10 of the second block of Wiltshire men (starting with 2269)

Best wishes
David

Now that's what I was talking about!! Thank you David - over the course of time one tends to forget where and when these invaluable posts were placed.

Rory contacted me asking if I had any further information about Pte Smith and actions in which he and the Regiment had fought.

2159 Pte J Smith is not mentioned individually in the regimental records, so without his Service Record nothing is known about this man other than that he served with either D or G Companies who were captured at Rensburg Siding on the 14th of February 1900 and held captive at Watervaal until the majority of the British prisoners were released on the 5th of June 1900.

The regiment’s activity in South Africa is covered on this website, but I will add the following few details:

Upon arrival in South Africa, the Wiltshire Regiment had joined the force commanded by Major-General J.D.P. French, as part of the much needed reinforcements he required to hold the line protecting the Cape Colony from further invasion by the Boer forces. French had his headquarters at Arundel, a railway station in the Colesberg district of the Northern Cape on the railway line from Port Elizabeth through Bloemfontein to Johannesburg. Farther north along the railway line, lay the Boer held town of Colesberg. In-between the two, South of Colesberg, lay Rensburg Siding, a small station and farm on the Naauwpoort to Bloemfontein line and five miles West Southwest of Colesberg lay Maeders Farm, which was near to Rietfontein farm and Coleskop, a one thousand, seven hundred and six metre high hill, with steep slopes and a round flat top, which dominates the town of Colesberg and from which the Boer Artillery commanded the whole area. Hobkirk’s Farm, yet farther North from Maeders Farm was situated among some kopjes that if followed north led to Bastard’s Nek Pass, one of many that led out of the ring of kopjes that surrounds Colesberg.

The Wiltshire Regiment’s first action was as part of a Reconnaissance in Force made by General French towards Rietfontein at Plessis Poort, a pass five miles east of Bastard’s Nek in the Colesberg area. French had received reports from patrols and the intelligence officers and agents operating in the area, that the pass through the hills which ran East and West about six miles north of Colesberg and not far from Hobkirk’s Farm, was either very weakly held or entirely abandoned by the enemy. This pass was tactically important and so, in order to verify this information and if possible, seize the position without engaging in heavy fighting, as instructed by Lord Roberts, he planned a Reconnaissance in Force. The force at his disposal consisted of the 10th Hussars, the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, one battery of the Royal Artillery, one of the Royal Horse Artillery, four companies of Mounted Infantry and four companies of each of the Yorkshire, Essex and Wiltshire Regiments. He gave command of the cavalry to Major General Brabazon of the Hussars and the Infantry to Colonel Stephenson of the Essex regiment.

The Wiltshire’s were deployed as follows:

F Company under Capt Bolton on the extreme left
B Company under Capt Matcham on his right
G Company under Major Macmullen on his right
H Company under Capt a Court on the right of G Coy
Each of the above Companies had ½ a Company in support.
In reserve were 4 Companies, each in two or more lines:

C Coy under Lt Shaw
E Coy under Lt Brown
A Coy under Lt Roger
D Coy under Major Stock

The Boers had been amassing a great force in this area; the generals Schoeman, de La Rey, and Lemmer, together with Commandant Van Dam’s Z.A.R.P’s (Zuid Afrikaanse Republique Polisie) were all known to be in the area, but intelligence had suggested that they were not thought to be near Rietfontein. The enemy numbers were in fact far greater than initially expected. The reserves were called forward as the middle sections were halted almost within bayonet range by a large group of Boers who appeared suddenly from behind small boulders and a thick grassed area. In this desperate fight ten men were wounded and twelve were taken prisoner including Major Stock who had led D Company.

The Regiment’s second action occurred at Hobkirk’s Farm on the 12th of February 1900. Hobkirk’s farm is located in the Karoo District of what was the Cape Colony, it was originally known as Nachtschaalsfontein and dates from around 1860. Pink Hill, site of a battle on the 12th of February 1900, lies on the farm. The owner at the time, Mr Hobkirk, a supporter of the British, made his farm available to accommodate officers whilst he and his family stayed in their town house in Colesberg. As a thank you from the British, Hobkirk received a beautiful lantern, which until recently still hung on the veranda. The current owner Cornel Strydom now operates the farmhouse as guest accommodation called Pink Hill Karoo.

Half of E Company were present, so Pte Smith was not. Major General R.A.P. Clements’ left wing suffered greatly that day; the Boers were in great numbers (French had left and taken a large portion of the force with him, enroute to Pretoria). The Australians behaved with great gallantry, refusing to retire until the Wiltshire’s were well away. In so doing they lost five men killed including their brave Major Eddy, who pausing to rally his troops to support the Wiltshire’s was shot through the back of the head by a Boer marksman. Eleven were wounded and a further eleven were taken prisoner.

The Wiltshire’s lost three killed, and nine wounded including Lieutenant W S Brown who had stood up to check the white flag approaching and found himself facing a hail of bullets.

The third action was at Rensburg Siding on Valentine’s Day 1900. Clements was facing a huge enemy force around Colesberg. He altered his plans to attempt to put some distance between his force and the advancing enemy. If he could make an orderly retirement on Arundel, his men might stand a chance of making a stand there.

It was this altered time of arrival that led to a disaster for the Wiltshire Regiment where D and G Companies, out on outpost duty the night before, never received the order giving the revised time of retirement. History says that it was the fault of the Wiltshire’s Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel H.M. Carter and as the commanding officer, he accepted full responsibility and suffered a damaged reputation for a while. In his defence he had gone without sleep for several days, but in-depth research for my book soon to be published in association with The Rifles Berkshire and Wiltshire Museum covering the Wiltshire regiment’s time in South Africa shows that his orders to bring the two companies in had been countermanded by his second in command Major F.C. Beatson, who had acted in error.

The two companies reached the rendezvous point at the time initially agreed and of course found that the regiment had already left. They were quickly surrounded and fought a gallant rear guard action. Major Macmullen was killed along with twelve men, one officer and forty-four men were wounded and of those, thirty-seven were amongst the one hundred and twenty six men taken prisoner. 2159 Pte J Smith was obviously one of them (My own Great-Grandfather 3629 Pte J Heath of D Company was another).

When the British prisoners were released from Watervaal, the Wiltshire Regiment soldiers would become part of the group formed into a Composite Battalion and the Wiltshire Regiment’s Major Stock who had been captured at Rietfontein and Lieutenant Prior of the Royal Engineers Militia who had been attached to the Regiment and captured at Rensburg, were amongst the sixteen officers who led this composite force.

"At Honing Spruit, situated on the rail twenty-one miles north of Kroonstad, an exciting affair took place on the 22nd of June, all the more exciting as those engaged had but a few days previously been rescued from durance vile in Pretoria prison. On the 14th a party of sixteen released officers from various regiments, with some four hundred men, was ordered to Elandsfontein, the station outside Johannesburg, which had been so admirably secured by Colonel Henry’s force.

On the 21st this party was moved on to Katbosh Camp, a mile or so beyond Honing Spruit, where were stationed two companies of the Shropshire’s and some mounted Canadians under the command of Colonel Evans. The officers of the composite force were: Colonel Bullock, of the Devonshire’s, commanding; Major Stock, of the Wiltshire Regiment; Major Carleton, Royal Lancaster’s; Captains Elmslie and Freeth, of the Lancashire Fusiliers; Lieutenants Bryant, Temple, Radice, Smith, Mackenzie, and Gray, of the Gloucestershire Regiment; Jones, of the Connaught Rangers; Best, of the Inniskilling Fusiliers; Prior, Engineer Militia; Colson, of the 5th Fusiliers; and Wood-Martin, of the Suffolk Regiment. These, all of them, had had sufficiently horrible experiences, both during the hardly fought engagements in which they had been taken prisoners, and in the period of incarceration at the Model School, and vowed never again to be caught alive in the trap of the Dutchmen. They then hardly realised how near that trap they were.

The night was unusually cold, and travelling in coal trucks was scarcely an inspiriting beginning. In the gloom of early dawn the train reached Honing Spruit Station. Some of the officers alighted and exercised themselves to restore circulation—they were numb and weary—and in doing so espied, in the east, the dark outlines of mounted figures approaching. They promptly gave the alarm. Colonel Bullock proceeded in all haste to get the men out of the trucks, and speedily they were formed up round the station. An effort was then made with such picks and shovels as were at hand to dig trenches. But these were a mere apology for shelter. They made, however, according to an officer who scraped his little burrow for himself, a “moral” support. Of other support, it must be owned, they had little. A few officers were provided with Mausers, carbines, and bandoliers of ammunition, but the force for the most part were saddled with Martini-Henry rifles and black powder ammunition—rifles discarded by the Boers, and left by them in the arsenal at Pretoria. These venerable weapons were sighted at 1200 yards—the ordinary range of Lee-Mitford or Mauser may be taken at 1500 to 2000 yards—and were served out of necessity, owing to the insufficiency of ammunition for Mauser rifles. Thus handicapped at the outset in the way of weapons of defence, ragged and tattered, some in boots that were dropping to pieces, some partly in uniform, partly in mufti, garbed exactly as they had been in the prison, they found themselves once again in presence of the enemy. Colonel Bullock, stout-hearted and truculent as ever, at once wired for help to Kroonstad, and with the line cut on both sides of him, and the Boers blowing up culverts as they came along, prepared to make a stand against the advancing foe. Meanwhile bang! bang! went a series of explosions on every side, voicing a vindictive tale and promising unthinkable horrors to come.

According to their slim tactics, and to find out the strength of the party most probably, the Boers now sent forward a man with a white flag, declaring by the messenger, that they had many men and guns, and that if the force refused to surrender they would be annihilated. But the Boers had got hold of the wrong man. The officer who had doggedly held firm in the blood-dyed donga at Colenso till the Dutchmen had threatened to murder the wounded unless he gave in, was not the man to surrender without a tussle. Colonel Bullock quickly sent the messenger and his white flag to the right about, and made preparations for stout resistance till help should arrive. But it was a sorry piece of “bluff.” They were gunless, the old muskets were of little use, and the black powder was objectionable, as it would have betrayed their positions and the smallness of the force. It was therefore necessary to tackle the Boers with extreme caution. “At first,” said an officer who was engaged, “they were only near the line to the north of us, covering the men who were destroying the culverts and telegraph lines, but they gradually worked round to the east, and about 8 or 8.30 down came the first shell—shrapnel—from about 2000 yards away. The train all this time was in the station, and I think they wanted to damage the engine, but their shooting wasn’t good enough. The engine went a little way up the line, but found it cut, and had to return. Shells were pretty frequent now, and bullets too numerous to be exactly pleasant, but Colonel Bullock and Major Hobbs, who was second in command, were walking about seeing to everything in the coolest possible way. No. 1 Company, under Captain Elmslie, of the Lancashire Fusiliers, had made some small trenches facing north, but when the Boers worked round to the east we were, of course, enfiladed, so we got into a ditch running along the side of the line north and south. They peppered us pretty well while we were getting there, but only one man was hit in the arm. Previous to this poor Major Hobbs, who, with the Colonel, had been sitting behind one of our small shelters which did not anything like cover them, was shot through the heart and killed.” (Major Hobbs, it may be remembered, was the gallant officer who was taken prisoner while tending a wounded man in the brilliant engagement at Willow Grange.) “Young Smith, of the Gloucester’s, had been sent down the ditch near the line with seven men to try and get a bit nearer to the Boers who were damaging the culverts. They had rather a warm time, and Colonel Bullock sent Freeth, the adjutant, to bring them back. Poor Smith was shot through the groin, and the bullet went right through him. Two of his men were wounded and one killed out of the seven. Smith got back with Freeth’s help all right, and I found him afterwards sitting up in bed smoking cigarettes and as unconcerned as possible.”

A small tin house at the station was used as a hospital, and a Red Cross flag was improvised with difficulty. It was composed of a pillow-case with red bands made from strips of a Kaffir blanket discovered in the house. This was mounted on the shaft of an uptilted cart, but the Boers affected not to comprehend its meaning, and sent in a man under a white flag to ask an explanation. Here the wounded were tended by Mr. Cheatle who, by a stroke of luck, happened to occupy a saloon carriage in the “held up” train. There was no other doctor. This well-known surgeon who had gone out, con amore, as it were, with Sir William MacCormac, was on his way home, thinking his errand of mercy was over. He came quickly in action again, bringing his brilliant wits to meet a somewhat desperate situation. His bandages were made from ladies’ under garments found in a wardrobe, from the bed sheets in the train, and for antiseptic powder he had recourse to the carbolic tooth-powder in the possession of some of the officers. When this came to an end he utilised boiled rags, and persistently attended to the nerve-shaken wounded, who all the time were torn with bodily agony and horror-stricken by the continual howling of shells against walls and ground.

Meanwhile the Boers plied their guns, shelling at the same time from north and east—an antiphonal duet of most appalling description. One shell broke through the saloon carriage, another buried itself in some bales of wool which luckily protected the veranda of the hospital. To this the only return that could be made was a persistent peppering with the ancient Martinis, a peppering which was carried on for several hours. The officers worked hard with their Mauser carbines. The one before quoted said he fired off fifty-five rounds, but did not know with what result, except that some Boers, exposing themselves on the skyline, very quickly got down flat on the grass after he had taken a “steady pot” at them at about 1400 yards’ distance. He went on to say: “The Boers must have known how we were armed, as it is quite against their custom to expose themselves at all. At last we saw some men coming over the hill to our right, and thought it was the relief force, but they turned out to be Boers in khaki, some of whom, I believe, had helmets, probably taken from the convoy they collared a week or two ago, somewhere in this neighbourhood.”

The telegram for help was despatched to Kroonstad about 7 a.m., but the reinforcements did not arrive till nearly 3.30 p.m. The Boers early became aware of their near approach, however, and began cautiously to remove their four guns, two of which—15-pounders—were part of their capture at Sanna’s Post. Meanwhile the small force, who had been straining every nerve and muscle for many hours, and meant to die in the last ditch rather than surrender, were anxiously looking towards the south for succour. Then, at last, the friendly scouts were seen coming over the hill. Oh! the relief of it! The welcome rumour of help gave energy to the men, who, after their long inactivity, had been suddenly thrown, vilely armed, into vigorous action, and were by now well-nigh exhausted. Away flew the hostile hordes, but not without having done a fair day’s work of destruction—line, telegraph, and culverts being wrecked, one officer and three men killed, and one officer and seventeen men wounded!

While this gang of Boers were worrying the Honing Spruit party, another had attacked the Shropshire’s and Canadians at Katbosh Camp, and thus deterred them from going to the assistance of their brothers in distress. But it was owing to the splendid fighting of the Canadians that the Dutchmen had found it impossible to close in round Honing Spruit, and the party at the railway station were enabled to hold out till the relieving force arrived. After the Boers left, the troops still remained in the trenches, and strengthened them as much as possible; but the Argyll and Sutherland Militia and some Mounted Infantry and a battery arrived from Kroonstad, and the battery shelled some kopjes three miles away, where the Boers—some 700 to 1000 of them, with three or four guns—were collecting. It was said that the Boer loss was six killed, and that they took away three waggons full of wounded, but this, of course, could not be verified.

Some circumstances attending the brilliant resistance of the Colonials are almost heroic. Lieutenant Inglis, with eight men of the Frontier Police on worn-out ponies, were sent from the Katbosh Camp to reconnoitre. They were suddenly surrounded by Boers, but fought furiously, with the result that they made their way through, with the loss of four, to an embankment which offered shelter. Fifty Boers then came within short range and fired on them. A response from the British remnant followed. There were presently only four of them, commanded by Corporal Morden, who, Lieutenant Inglis being disabled, took his place. Here, in the face of these terrible odds, the Corporal sent off Private Miles to inform Colonel Evans of his plight. The messenger executed his errand, and returned to assist his comrades. He was hit, but still persisted in “having a go at the enemy.” Then Corporal Morden dropped with a bullet through the brain. Miles, wet with his own gore—fainting—supported himself against a tussock and continued to direct the firing of his brother and Private Kerr. Eventually the Boers made off, but not before Kerr had been killed by a parting shot. Finally the relief party arrived, and carried the few remaining heroes back to camp. Among the day’s casualties were: Major H. T. de C. Hobbs, West Yorkshire Regiment, killed; Second Lieutenant H. H. Smith, 1st Gloucester Regiment, severely wounded; Lieutenant W. M. Inglis, 2nd Canadian Mounted Infantry, severely wounded. The total casualties amounted to thirty-one”- Louise Creswicke – South Africa and the Transvaal War.

The regiment’s fourth action was at Elandsfontein (Orange Free State) on the 4th of July 1900. The Column paraded at six am on the 4th, having received word from the mounted troops that the enemy were now clinging to new positions which commanded the road on which the Column must proceed and were offering greater opposition. Clements ordered the Wiltshire’s and Worcester’s to take this position.

On this occasion the enemy were outclassed and outnumbered, and the position was relatively easily cleared, however No 1035 Pte P Flannery of D Company was dangerously wounded. His comrades remained at his side and provided cover for a stretcher party from the dressing station which had been established to the rear where he was treated immediately. Flannery was subsequently invalided home; he was attached from the 5th Liverpool Militia Regiment, appointed to the Wiltshire Regiment on 23 April 1900 under Sec 14(2) of the Reserve Force Act on being called up for permanent duty with the Regular Forces. He had only been with the Wiltshire’s since arriving in the draft from England on the 27th of June.

The fifth action took place at Bethlehem. De Wet commanded a force of over five thousand at Bethlehem; General Roux had joined De Wet’s Free-Staters with his burghers and together they were determined on keeping President Steyn and his government safe and had been moving them around from place to place ahead of the British and were now at Bethlehem.

On the 7th of July 1900, the Boers opened with guns at daybreak, shelling the transport returning to Camp; one shell fell without exploding in the middle of F Company’s piquet, much to their relief! An artillery barrage commenced but caused few Boer casualties.

The Royal Irish Regiment supported by the Wiltshire’s D, E & I Companies moved forward to the attack. They gained a ridge overlooking the enemy’s position and poured in a murderous fire, which the resolute Boers returned.

It was here that De Wet had escaped. Despite the great number of British troops gathering at Bethlehem, the cordon had not been complete. His Commandos withdrew in a southerly direction to Retiefsnek, to where President Steyn and the Government had already fled. Camp was made at Bethlehem.

De Wet and the Commandos of the Orange Free State had retreated into an area called the Brandwater Basin, a large valley behind the Roodebergen mountain range extending from the Caledon River on the Basuto frontier to Slabbert’s Nek, then stretching away to Witzeshoek, where it again touches Basutoland. There are a few passes over this wild mountain range called Commando Nek, Witnek, Slabbert’s Nek, Retiefsnek, Nauwpoort and Witzeshoek. The mountains provide no other areas where wagons or horses may cross and there are long stretches where they are impassable even to men travelling on foot.

In the centre of the basin is the village of Fouriesburg from which all the roads and tracks in use at that time radiated. One road goes south-west to Commando Nek; another goes north and branches into two roads to Slabbert's Nek and Retief's Nek; and a third goes east across the Slaapkranz range - the watershed of the Caledon and Little Caledon rivers - for about ten miles (16km) after which it forms two branches. The one road turns north to Nauwpoort Nek, while the other goes east to the Golden Gate pass. Another road, a by-path, joins the latter road some miles further on towards the Golden Gate.

The Wiltshire Regiment’s sixth action took place at Slabbert’s Nek. General Rundle’s 8th Division had crossed the mountains at Commando Nek in the South and on the 23rd and 24th of July 1900, Clements’ and Paget’s forces attacked Slabbert’s Nek in the North. Hunter’s force fought to a standstill at Reteif’s Nek, whilst Hamilton and MacDonald were fighting at Nauwpoort Nek. At Slabbert’s Nek, the Wiltshire’s lost two killed and fourteen wounded. It was here that Lt-Col Carter was first wounded.

The seventh action was at De Jagger’s farm on the wild rocky heights known as Slaapkrantz ridge, situated some eight miles to the south-east of Fouriesburg on the 28th of July 1900. It was here that Lt-Col Carter was wounded for the second time, more severely, requiring hospital treatment and a period of time recuperating in England.

The fighting was heavy and maintained until dark, but the attack was pressed home with no further casualties in the Regiment. During the night the Boers evacuated their position which was occupied unopposed by the Scots Guards and Leicestershire Regiment. The Wiltshire casualties were one killed and eight wounded.

August the 19th 1900 saw the Wiltshire regiment transferred from Clements’ command to that of General Paget and the welcome return to the Regiment of the men of D and G companies, who had been held prisoner at Waterval. They were underweight and gaunt, but all were ready to rejoin the fighting. Ironically, hours after these men rejoined the Regiment, the whole force marched to Waterval, where now under different circumstances, they would spend the night and take the opportunity to tell their comrades the details of their confinement.

The eighth action occurred on August the 20th 1900. Paget’s force marched to Hammanskraal, a station on the Pretoria to Nylstroom line, with Major Kirkwood in command of the Wiltshire Regiment. The march took the force into dense bush country north of Pretoria. Paget had been ordered to take the town of Pietersburg and secure the Railway line North of Pretoria between the two places. A Boer Commando led by General Grobler was operating in this area at that time and lay in wait in the Bush Country. The bush was so thick that it was impossible to see more than sixty or seventy yards and progress was slow. The enemy fired from the branches of trees wounding Captain Bolton in the shoulder as he led F Company forward. C, D, F and G Companies were the advance guard and quickly became the firing line. The thick bush and smokeless ammunition used by the Boers made locating the enemy extremely difficult. I Company was escorting the 5 inch Guns. Major Kirkwood ordered a flanking movement by A, E and H Companies to try and locate the enemy whilst the firing line attempted to keep the enemy engaged. In this action, the Wiltshire’s had four men wounded.

The next and ninth action involving members of the Wiltshire regiment occurred on August the 31st, the Boers under the notorious Captain O.J. (Jack) Hindon, blew up and attacked a Train six miles South of Hammanskraal in a deep cutting. This was the worst train accident that has occurred on the Northern Line. There was a deep cutting here and the Boers were lining each side of it. By means of an observation mine the armoured truck was blown up. Immediately a terrific fire was opened on the train and in a few minutes the train was boarded by the enemy. The troops on the train were unable to inflict any loss on the enemy as they were down in the cutting and the enemy had perfect cover above behind stones. A draft of the West Riding Regiment en route to join from England behaved with great gallantry, but was powerless to drive off the enemy who numbered from one hundred and fifty to two hundred men with a pom-pom gun. Very heavy casualties were suffered, with men of many regiments involved. Of the Wiltshire Regiment, No 4980 Sergeant Master Tailor A.E. Smith of A Company and No 4370 Drummer G.W. Prior of E Company were both shot through the head as the Boers ran through the carriages shooting everyone in sight. Major Beatson is reported to have displayed great coolness and courage and it was little short of a miracle that he was not killed as he walked about outside the train while this terrible fire was being poured in until being slightly wounded himself. All three men of the Wiltshire Regiment had been wounded before. The attack was particularly brutal, all officers on the train being either killed or wounded and all the men except nine. The Officers kit, all the cash and some liquor was looted from the train.

The 10th action involving the regiment occurred at Pretoria during the Court Martial of Breaker Morant, of which several of the regiment’s officers were involved. A force of Boers attacked Pietersburg on the 24th of January 1902 and incredibly the prisoners of the Bushveldt Carbineers were briefly released and armed to assist the garrison in repelling the attack. Afterwards, they were returned to their cells.

These are the actions in which the Wiltshire Regiment were involved. Full accounts will be included in my book.