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Arthur Ackroyd

Killed in a Railway Accident – Daspoort, Pretoria – 7 June 1901

Private, West Riding Regiment

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasp Transvaal to 5871 PTE. A. ACKROYD, W. YORK. REGT.

Arthur Ackroyd was born on 12 January 1882 in Leeds, Yorkshire, the son of Cab Driver Alfred Ford Ackroyd and his wife Elizabeth, born Roberts. At the time of his baptism in the Parish church of Leeds on 31 December 1882 the family were living in Camp Road.

Eight years later, when the 1891 England census came round, the family were living at 15 Metz Place, Camp Road, Leeds. This was the house of Arthur’s grandmother, Sarah Ackroyd. His mother Elizabeth had passed away on 28 November 1885, from complications with the birth of daughter Annie Elizabeth who died two days later. Her husband Alfred, 32 years old, had moved into his mother’s house with the children – Frederick (13), William (11) and Arthur (9).

On 17 January 1900, an 18 year old Arthur completed the attestation forms for Militia service with the 4th West Yorkshire Regiment. A labourer employed by Clark’s in Leeds, he was 5 feet 4 inches in height, weighed 117 lbs and had a dark complexion, hazel eyes and dark brown hair. Having been passed as fit by the Doctors, he was assigned the rank of Private and no. 4566.

After only three months in the militia, he joined the 2nd Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment on 19 April 1900 and was assigned no. 5851.

The Anglo Boer War which had been raging for almost seven months before Ackroyd attested for service with the Regular Army, was being waged between the two Dutch-speaking Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State on the one hand and the might of the British Empire on the other.

Having commenced on 11 October 1899 the British forces, helped by the injection of additional troops from all corners of the Empire, along with a strong Colonial contingent, had gradually pushed back the Boer tide and had, by the time Ackroyd reached South African shores, occupied the two capital cities of Bloemfontein and Pretoria. The second, or guerrilla phase of the war was in full swing – this meant no pitched battles but rather “hit and run” tactics employed by the Boers as the noose tightened around their collective necks.

In August 1900, the 2nd West Yorkshire were placed under Smith-Dorrien, along with the 1st Royal Scots, 1st Royal Irish Regiment, and 1st Gordons. They were railed from Pretoria to Belfast, whence the brigade, exclusive of this battalion, moved north towards Lydenburg in order to assist General Buller, who had found a position near Badfontein too strong to attack frontally.

In September 1900, the battalion was withdrawn from their garrison duties on the Delagoa line and placed along with the 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders under Brigadier General Cunningham, who commanded the infantry of a column under Broadwood. The column marched from Pretoria to Rustenburg; the mounted troops did the clearing of the country, and the infantry garrisoned the town and posts.

On 3rd December 1900 two companies of the battalion were part of the escort of a convoy travelling to Rustenburg, which was attacked by a large Boer force. After very stiff fighting the Boers were driven off, but they succeeded in destroying half of the waggons. In this affair the battalion lost 9 killed and 13 wounded. In his despatch of 8th March 1901 Lord Kitchener said the escort made a very gallant stand.

In February 1901, a portion of the battalion was with General Smith-Dorrien in the Eastern Transvaal. Before dawn on 6th February he was very heavily attacked at Bothwell, near Lake Chrissie, by a big force under Botha. On that occasion the West Yorks had extremely hard fighting, and lost 19 men killed and 7 wounded. The battalion accompanied Smith-Dorrien to Piet Retief. They were afterwards brought to the Western Transvaal to do blockhouse work.

The battalion was not again so heavily engaged as at Bothwell, although they were still to see a great deal of marching and not a little fighting. Tragically, Ackroyd was to see none of this, his service in the war was about to come to an abrupt and untimely end. The Warminster and Wilts Country Advertiser of 15 June 1901 carried a brief article which told, indirectly, of his demise. Under the banner “Railway Accident Near Pretoria,” the short piece read:

‘A serious railway accident occurred on the 7th instant in the vicinity of Pretoria on the Pietersburg line. A train full of troops was run into by a train coming from the opposite direction. The latter, travelling at some speed, was rounding a curve at the time, and it dashed into the troop train with great force. A number of trucks were smashed and 9 soldiers were killed and several others injured.’

In an earlier more detailed article, the Gloucester Advertiser of 8 June 1901 carried the news under the header, “Nine Soldiers Killed, 5 Injured”, which read: -

‘Pretoria, Saturday – a terrible railway accident occurred on the morning of the 7th instant between the two portions of the Pietersburg train, which, owing to the heavy traffic, was running in two sections. The first portion of the train had been stopped at the West Yorks camp at Dasspoort, in order to pick up an escort.

The men comprising it were being entrained in an armoured truck at the rear of the train, when suddenly the second portion came round a sharp curve and dashed into the first section, derailing a large number of trucks, and killing nine men and injuring five others. Colonel Wilson of Kitchener’s Scouts was travelling by the train, but escaped with only a slight contusion. A breakdown gang is now at work repairing the line and traffic will be speedily restored.’

The Regimental History, on pages 63 and 64, carried not only more details of the incident, but also the names of those who perished. The entry for 7th June 1901 read thus: -

A terrible railway accident, resulting in the death of nine men and injuries to five others, all of the Regiment, took place at the Camp at 5 a.m. this morning. An escort of 25 men, under Lt. Keppel, 2nd Norfolks (attached), was about to proceed to Nylstroom, and the train had drawn up in the cutting alongside the Camp in order to take them up. Owing to there not being room in the armoured truck for the whole escort, and natives having to be turned out of another truck to make room, there was a delay of some minutes. The men were all just in the train, when the train following rushed round the curve behind and into the rear of the standing train.

The armoured truck was completely telescoped, and several other carriages broken and derailed. A working party of the Regiment was quickly at work, and managed to get out the living quickly, with the exception of Private Shaw, who was under the wreck for two hours. The funeral of the Men was held in the afternoon in the cemetery.


Lce.-Corp. Weston, F Company Private Rodwell, F Ditto Private R. Atkinson F Ditto Private J. Anderson, F Ditto Private D. Hope, G Ditto

So there it was, for all to see, Ackroyd’s young life cut down at the age of 19. His next of kin, surprisingly, wasn’t his father but, rather, his stepmother, Mary, who was named in the Register of Soldier’s Effects maintained in respect of all those who had died.

Today, Ackroyd’s grave is in the Church Street cemetery in Pretoria where it was reinterred. Gone but not forgotten. For his efforts he was awarded the Queens Medal with Transvaal clasp issued posthumously off the roll dated at Frederickstad on 14 August 1901.[/size]


Ackroyd's family in the early 1900's after he had passed away.

The scene at Daspoort in 1901 with the recovery of the rolling stock after the disaster in which Ackroyd and his comrades perished. The phot emerged on a facebook page recently.



Rory