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Alfred Joseph Hancock Stone

Wounded in Action – Rietfontein, 24 October 1899

Trooper, Border Mounted Rifles

- Queens South Africa Medal to 203 TPR. A.J. STONE, BORDER M.R.

Alfred Stone was born on the farm Carnduff Glen in the Ixopo district of the colony of Natal on 18 July 1878 the son of Alexander Stone, a Scottish immigrant and Farmer, and his wife Anne Kennedy Stone, born Hancock who hailed from the Transkei area of the Eastern Cape.
Growing up in the rolling hills of Ixopo in the midlands of Natal immortalised in the book Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, life for young Alfred would have been idyllic with days filled with gruelling farm work tempered by the pleasure of playing with his siblings of which there were many – to wit Agnes Mary Stone (later Gold), William James Blackwood Stone, Robert Cunningham Stone, Alexander Kennedy Stone, John Douglas Stone, Thomas Walter Stone, Charles Cecil Stone, Marian Alice Stone (later Dunning), Annie Ethel Stone (later Wilson), Doris Mildred Stone, Norah Edna Stone (later Whitelaw) and Norman Stone. Twelve in total.


The Stone family at Christmas 1908 - Alfred Stone is top right with his arms folded

There would have been no indication that their world was about to be disturbed as they went about their business in the last year of the 19th century but, in places far away, men in powerful positions were plotting and planning for war. The Dutch-speaking Republic of the Transvaal under Oom Paul Kruger, State President was far from happy with the “uitlanders” – men of foreign birth, primarily British subjects, who had flocked to his country on the discovery of the rich gold deposits on the Witwatersrand and who were agitating for a bigger say in the affairs of a country to which they contributed so much in the way of taxes.

Conversely, the likes of Alfred Milner, Cecil John Rhodes and Joseph Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, were hell-bent on territorial expansion – simply put, they wanted what the Transvaal had to offer and were relishing the prospect of armed intervention which, surely, the British Empire with its vast resources, should win.

Matter came to a head with an ultimatum from Kruger for, among other things, the British to withdraw their troops from the borders of the Transvaal. Allied to Kruger in a pact sealed years before, was the Orange Free State who now entered the fray as well. The ultimatum, as expected, went unanswered and, at midnight on 11 October war was declared. The Boers, who had already anticipated such an eventuality, had begun their preparations early and, with the break of dawn on 12 October their commandos crossed the borders into the Cape Colony and Natal, both British colonies.

The British, although intent on a fight, found that their numbers on the ground were woefully inadequate to stem the Boer tide. The boast that the war “would be over by Christmas” was looking increasingly unlikely. On the Natal front the Boers engaged the British, augmented by Colonial volunteers, at Talana (Dundee) and Elandslaagte as they pressed onwards to Ladysmith where General Sir George White had concentrated his meagre forces.

One of the aforementioned Colonial outfits that had been mustered just prior to the outbreak of war was the Border Mounted Rifles. With its recruitment area covering almost all districts of Natal south of Durban, including Ixopo/Highflats and Umzinto, it was almost preordained that a 21 year old Stone, along with two or more of his brothers, would enlist with them. He was mobilised on 29 September 1899 with no. 203 and the rank of Trooper.

At the start of the Boer War this unit, 286 men strong, was commanded by Major J F Rethman and was based in Ladysmith and Acton Homes. Stone was one of those in Ladysmith as the noose tightened around the town. General Yule, seeing that he was vastly outnumbered, decided to fall back on Ladysmith from Dundee and General White, in an effort to distract the approaching Boer forces, initiated a number of sorties from Ladysmith to keep the Boers from overtaking and overwhelming the retreating army.

One of these became known as the battle of Rietfontein (or Modderspruit to the Boers). This took place on 24 October 1899 between the six commandos of the Free State Army commanded by Mr A P Cronje and a Flying Column dispatched from Ladysmith under the command of White.

The Boer forces consisted of the following commandos:

Harrismith (C J de Villiers), Kroonstad (C Nel), Winburg (M Prinsloo), Bethlehem (H Naude), Vrede (A Lombard) and Heilbron (under Steenkamp). According to General C de Wet (1903, p10), who was present at the battle, the Boers numbered not more than one thousand.

The British Flying Column, which numbered 5 300 officers, NCOs, and other ranks, was made up as follows, in order or column of march (Watkins-Pitchford, 1964, pp10-12):

The 5th Lancers and the 19th Hussars
The Natal Carbineers
The Mounted Infantry (MI)
The Devonshire Regiment
The Gloucestershire Regiment
[42nd and 53rd} batteries, Royal Field Artillery (RFA)
[10th} Mountain Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
The Liverpool Regiment
Half-battalion, 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
Half-battalion, 2nd Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps

The Colonial Contingent consisted of the Natal Carbineers (NC) under Lt-Col E M Greene, the Border Mounted Rifles (BMR) under Rethman, the Natal Mounted Rifles (NMR) under Maj R W Evans, the Natal Police Field Force (NPFF) and the Natal Volunteer Medical Corps under Maj J Hyslop (Stirling, 1907, pp27-8). The Imperial Light Horse (ILH) was led by Major Karrie-Davies.

The cavalry was commanded by Maj-Gen J French, the colonial troops by Colonel W Royston, the artillery by Colonel Downing and the infantry by Colonel Ian Hamilton. Reveille was at 04.00 with the column 'assembled three miles out', according to Douglas Haig, on the Newcastle road.


Battle Map of Rietfontein showing the Boer positions in Green and the British/Natal Volunteers in Red

The hamlet of Rietfontein lies approximately six miles north of Ladysmith, between the fork in the Newcastle and De Beers Pass roads. In 1899, the farm consisted of a small, modern, three-bedroomed bungalow, built by the then recently departed Mr Walter Pepworth and his faithful partner, Frank Reid, in 1893. There were a number of other buildings on the site, including a 'Voortrekker cottage' built in the 1840s, a fortified kitchen from the 1870s and accommodation for visitors. Before the construction of the Natal Government Railway (NGR) line in 1887, Rietfontein stood abreast of the main Ladysmith to Newcastle road. After the railway was built, the main road shifted about a mile to the east, making the farmhouse something of a backwater. Through Pepworth's influence as a member of the Legislative Council (MLC), the NGR built a railway station on the farm and named it Modderspruit. During the occupation in 1899, the Boers used this station as their main terminal for bringing in men, ammunition, fodder, food and medical supplies. Three miles north of the fork and running from east to west are two features known as Nodashwana, sometimes referred to as 'Swaatbouys Kop' to the left and Tintanyoni to the right. Beyond them and running parallel to the Newcastle road are a series of hills culminating in Jononos Kop.

As General Yule was in the process of retiring to Ladysmith via Van Tonder's Pass, about 850 Transvaal burghers, commanded by General Kock, effectively seized the little railway station at Elandslaagte, ten miles north of Rietfontein, presenting a direct threat to General Yule's retiring force. Early on the morning of 23 October, reports began to arrive at Sir George's headquarters that units of the Free State forces, previously thought to have been in the region of Bester's Station, had taken up positions on and around Rietfontein farm, not only posing a threat to the Newcastle road and the railway that ran parallel to it, but also to General Yule's right flank. The Boer dispositions were as follows: The Harrismith Commando was at the base of Nodashwana with the Kroonstad Commando on the smaller of the two hills making up Tintanyoni and the Winburgers on the higher hill. The Bethlehem, Vrede, and Heilbron commandos were disposed, in that order, parallel to the Newcastle road and NGR line on the line of hills to Jononos Kop.

Leo Amery in his The Times History of the War in South Africa, Volume II, p204, provides a good idea of how the cavalry were deployed ahead of and to the sides of the column at Rietfontein: 'Both the British flanks were protected by mounted troops. The Imperial Light Horse, 5th Lancers and 19th Hussars were on the right, while the Natal Carbineers, Border Mounted Rifles, Natal Police, and the Natal Mounted Rifles were called back to take up position on the left'.

Major Herbert Watkins-Pitchford, Permanent Veterinary Officer, describes the beginning of the action when he records (1964, p4) that, 'about eight miles out of town, as we were cantering along watching the Lancers work over the ground like pointer dogs searching all over, the faint crack of a rifle away upon our left front showed that the game had finished. This was the first shot of the battle. I looked at my watch and saw it was eleven minutes past seven'. Although the arrowhead formation of the cavalry described above by Amery may have been fine in theory, it would, in practice, due largely to the proximity of the railway line on the left flank, have been reduced to single file by the time the leading elements reached Modderspruit Station, with the Imperial units to the fore and the Colonial units just behind.


The fight at Rietfontein

According to Breytenbach (Volume I, p 291), the 19th Hussars came under fire first: 'Everything proceeded well until around 7am when the Free State piquets on the ridge and hillocks in front of Intintanyoni [sic] discovered the advancing British riders which consisted of troops from the 19th Hussars. They were approaching Modderspruit Station at a distance of 1 000 to 1 200 yards. The guards started firing at them with their Mausers, causing the Hussars to retreat. They were, however, quickly reinforced by the 5th Lancers'.

Meanwhile, Maurice (1906), describes the actions of the 5th (Irish) Lancers: 'Pushing rapidly across the Modderspruit, a squadron of 5th Lancers, supported by two others, drove back at the gallop the small parties of Boers hovering in that neighbourhood and themselves ceased and held this advanced position. The remainder of the cavalry, stringing out along high ground, dominated the western bank of the spruit, and facing more to the [east], formed a strong flank guard towards Jononas Kop'.

Contemporary accounts have the Boer artillery opening up at 08.00, but Haig (Scott, 2006, p130) writes that, having fired a second shell, 'the enemy next turned their fire on our Infantry and guns and column of route'. All the sources agree that at approximately 08.00 the Boers opened fire on the main column with their single Krupp 75mm gun at the point where the track leading down to Modderspruit Station meets the main Newcastle road, causing some minor upset amongst the 42nd Battery RFA and wounding a Lieutenant Douglas.

By all accounts, the Boer gunners shot well but did not prime their fuses correctly as later rounds failed to explode. The entire British column went to ground as the two field batteries, pausing only to cut the wire fences protecting the railway line, galloped across the level crossing and took up position in the adjacent field. Within minutes the twelve guns of the two batteries had silenced the Boers. While this exchange of artillery fire occurred, the men of the Liverpool Regiment, concealed behind the railway embankment just beyond Modderspruit Station, and the Gloucestershires, hidden in dead ground behind them, received orders to advance across the open veld and form a firing line up on Rietfontein Ridge, the Gloucestershire Regiment to the left and the Liverpool Regiment to the right.

It is unknown exactly when the Boers took up piquet duty at Rietfontein Farmhouse, but it seems likely to have been on or about 23 October, simultaneously with the occupation of the hills around the area. Joubert had recognised the farm's tactical importance, being just outside artillery range of the Ladysmith Garrison. There were small groups of Boers patrolling and piqueting around the area.

Sir George White gave orders to move the Natal Volunteers from their position adjacent to Modderspruit Station across the railway line, once again cutting wire fences, and to move in the direction of the Rietfontein Farmhouse. The timing of this move is not given, but Trooper D Shaw, Natal Carbineers (personal diary in the Siege Museum, Ladysmith), mentions that, as the Volunteers passed under the two railway culverts on their way to the main farmhouse, they could hear the two field batteries blazing away at the Boers, two hundred yards further up the line, giving the time about 08.45. The Boers in and around the farmhouse were the piquets and patrols sent down from the various commandos positioned on Tintanyoni and Nodashwana.

The ground behind and to the north of the farmhouse rises gently for about 800 yards and then falls off suddenly by about 60 feet, giving a natural crest line which was occupied by the BMR while the NC and NPFF took up position in the region of Mr Pepworth's newly built dam some 500 yards to the east.

The action of the Natal Volunteers, which included Stone among their number, who were on the left of the battlefield, is one of the unsung events of the battle. The official accounts only mention the action in passing, but as will be seen, it was the bravery and the courage of the colonial solders that ultimately caused the Boers to withdraw.

There is no definitive account of the early disposition of the individual units on the left, but, rather, reference to a number of contemporary maps, coupled with eyewitness accounts and the existence of a stone cairn where troopers P Nilsen and S Brown were killed, strongly suggests that the Border Mounted Rifles formed the left of the line. This would suggest a time of about 09.30, when the Natal Volunteers had crossed from the right of the battlefield to the left and taken up position so as to protect the left flank. Trooper Shaw places the Carbineers' horses to the east of the farmhouse.



The piquets sent down from the Harrismith Commando's posts on the lower slopes of Nodashwana must have been driven back on their original position, and a protracted fire-fight then ensued which lasted until about 10.00. Shaw gives the composition of the assault group that was to attack the Boers on Tintanyoni, namely: '2.5 Squadron NC, 1 Squad Border Mounted Rifles, NPFF'. Using information provided by Stirling, it is possible to make rough calculations of the numbers involved: With an establishment of 136 men per squadron, there would have been about 340 Natal Carbineers, 136 Border Mounted Rifles and, at a guess, about fifty Natal Police, giving a force of about 526 effectives along with two Maxim guns. Major Taunton led the Carbineers and Major Sangmeister of the BMR.

Sometime before 11.00, 'D' Squadron ILH, not having much to do, made their way up from the railway line and slotted in between the Gloucestershire and the Liverpool regiments. Directly behind the infantry on the ridge, and somewhat to the left was the artillery, initially 42nd Battery RFA on the left, the 10th Mountain Battery in the centre and 53rd Battery RFA on the right.

It was reported from a number of sources that the artillery barrage by the British guns firing on Tintanyoni had caused the dry grass of the veld to catch fire, a condition that continued throughout the afternoon. In the centre of the line, up on the ridge, the British infantry blazed away at the Kroonstad and Winburg commandos, while an abandoned and wrecked Boer supply wagon sat in the valley below. Most of the British infantry remained out of sight, hidden below Rietfontein Ridge, quietly resting while approximately one or two companies from each regiment went up on the ridge to make up the firing line, only to be rotated once the ammunition ran out or the troops became fatigued.

Very little is known of the timing of events on the left of the Rietfontein battlefield. Neither Shaw nor Watkins-Pitchford has much to say beyond mentioning the 07.11 start of the battle. However, Breytenbach provides a somewhat inarticulate chronological account which, when cross-referenced to other actions, helps to construct the sequence of events. According to Breytenbach, the repulse of the Gloucestershire Regiment and the Imperial Light Horse did not go unnoticed by the Harrismith Commando, who, thus emboldened, began to surge down on the Volunteers, only to be thrown back with the arrival of the NMR from their reserve position. Then Col Royston’s Volunteers charged from Rietfontein to take position on the two heights at the foot of Swaatbouys Kop (Nodashwana). From there, they rained rifle and Maxim fire on the commando, firing so heavily that they were in danger of being cut off themselves.

In his personal diary, Trooper Shaw describes the action: ‘We started for the hill nearer the enemy in our direct front, and called out to others to follow. Two or three were up and advancing before I had seen the move and joined on. Soon the whole regiment was advancing. Happily for the fortunes of the day it turned out to be the right thing, just the thing that was wanted. As we approached the intervening fences the bullets began to fall very thickly. I was “hung up” by my equipment in the first of the fences for about a minute. Our wire-cutters had been left behind on the saddles. A man at my side was shot through the leg but managed to reach the foot of the hill for which we were making. Under its friendly shelter we paused for a couple of minutes to regain our breath and then began climbing further up the mountain slope. The bullets were striking all around, like the first heavy drops of a December thunderstorm.’

Then, according to Breytenbach, ‘White, in support of the volunteers, had an additional six guns (then on the left of the line) from the 42nd Battery directing their fire from at least two of its guns onto Swaatbouys Kop’. When the grass caught fire, the commandant of the Harrismith Commando was forced to withdraw his burghers, not only those threatening the British left flank, but also the Kroonstad men on the burning face of Tintanyoni. They were forced to position themselves on and behind Tintanyoni. Having forced the withdrawal of the Harrismith and Kroonstad commandos, albeit through a combination of rifle fire, artillery shot and veld fire, the surviving members of the Volunteers’ assault group then had an opportunity to make their way across the 500 yards or so of flat ground to the base of the western edge of Tintanyoni.

Trooper Shaw recalls (in his personal diary): ‘Our R.S.M. and three or four of us simultaneously reached the furthest practicable point up the mountain-spur. From this point we commanded the reverse of the hill on which the main body of the enemy was assembled. Their saddled horses were in great numbers. The RSM then asked for four volunteers – others by that time had arrived – to descend the hill and carry up the Maxim gun which we could see the crew was too exhausted to bring any further. Four of us went down and after many tribulations returned with the gun, tripods, and belts. While fixing the gun in position one of the tripod’s feet slipped; the tube striking a stone was bent, and the gun was useless. From our position we found we were still as important as before to do damage to our proper section of the enemy, but for enfilading the enemy’s centre the position was ideal and very soon our rifle barrels were hot with the heavy firing. A few of the enemy were using black powder and they must have had a very warm time for as soon as they fired everyone would mark the spot. The damaged Maxim gun was replaced by that of ‘B’ Squadron and the effect was all that could be wished. It was played upon the Boers and upon their horses. We could see the latter falling, and, anon, Boers in parties of twos and threes withdrawing from the hill. In the excitement of the moment we were most anxious to change and occupy the position, but the bullets from the unit on the hill above us were altogether too plentiful for our arbour.’

This, the climax of the battle, probably took place at about 14.00. There were veld fires scattered over the battlefield along with dead and wounded men and horses, spent artillery shells, broken wagons and Maxim guns. Then the heavens began to open with the onset of a thunderstorm.

It had always been the primary objective of the Fighting Column to prevent the Free State and the Transvaal armies from either singularly or collectively becoming a threat to Yule’s Column of 4 000 or so troops withdrawing into Ladysmith. The objective achieved, and under cover of the guns, the infantry was withdrawn.

Major Watkins-Pitchford, who served in a supporting capacity, says (1964, p8) that the Volunteers began their withdrawal at about 15.00 and that it was covered by the Natal men who were the last to leave the field.

According to Lt B W Martin, Durban Volunteers, part of the BMR (personal diary, Siege Museum, Ladysmith), ‘Orders to retire from our position were received at 4.00pm. When we reached the place where our horses had been linked I found that my mount had broken away from the rest, when the linked animals were shelled by the Boer artillery, and had galloped back to town. Our route back to town took us through the farm of Mr Walter Pepworth, which had been hurriedly evacuated by its owner.

Assumptions can also be made as to the order of the withdrawal of the Volunteers by reference to Trooper J B Nicholson’s personal diary in the Siege Museum, Ladysmith. The Natal Carbineer trooper writes: ‘After about four hours the whole force withdrew having driven the Boers off one kopje and silenced his artillery, but not defeated them as they still held the ridge. We then got to Rietfontein where two or three volleys rather surprised us, but it was only the NMR covering the retreat. The Border Mounted Rifles were having a fine old tuck in at base, fruit, etc, at Wally Pepworth’s house, and we got mighty little. We then covered the retreat from a small kopje and then retired into Ladysmith amidst pouring rain and thunder.’

Alfred Stone was one of the ten Border Mounted Rifles casualties – he was Wounded in Action with a gun shot wound to the head. Having recovered from this he was evacuated to Intombi Hospital with fever at a later stage, as the hardships of a poor diet began to tell, and was liberated, along with the remainder of the garrison, when Buller’s final push resulted in the lifting of the siege on 28 February 1900. That he had recovered sufficiently from both his wound and fever to continue the fight is borne out by the additional Laing’s Nek and Transvaal clasps to the Queens Medal he earned.

Like most Colonial troops in the Natal theatre, he was discharged and sent home after October 1900 when Buller’s army had finally expelled the Boers from Natal. He was kept, nominally on strength until the cessation of hostilities on 31 May 1902 but saw no further action.

Returning to farming life, he met and married 20 year old Beatrice Wilson from the farm Sterling in the Polela district, taking her for his wife on 25 November 1903. After a long marriage Beatrice passed away on 11 May 1945. She had borne him three children – Trevor Cedric Stone, Sylvia Kathleen van der Watt and Deidre Priscilla Evans. He sought and obtained legal permission to marry again, on this occasion to Cora Angela Westrey (born Camp). He was farming at Belmont in the Donnybrook district of Natal at the time. This marriage took place in the Roman Catholic Church at Park Rynie in the Umzinto district on 3 August 1946. He was 68 at the time whilst his wife was a 58 year old Widow.

Alfred Joseph Hancock Stone passed away from a Cerebral Haemorrhage at his farm Belmont on 8 December 1953 at the age of 75.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Witness to Rietfontein 24 October 1899 - Part One and Part 2 by John Hawkesbury
- Ancestry Medal rolls
- Private research
- Natal Field Force
- Familysearch. Org for death notices and marriage certificates