TOPIC:

Charles Oscar Halverson

Constable, Cape Police – pre Anglo Boer War
Private, Kimberley Town Guard
Trooper, Kimberley Light Horse – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal (Defence of Kimberley/Orange Free State) to 71 PTE. C.O. HALVERSON. KIMB:TN: GUARD

Charles Halverson was born in Norway on 7 January 1863. In 1865, according to Norwegian records, the family lived at 222a Maridalsveien in Oslo. His father, Nils Halverson, was a Labourer, married to his mother, Ellen Karrine, who according to the old practice has retained her maiden name, ”daughter of Johannes”- Johannesdatter. Halverson senior passed away on 12 March 1881 at the age of 54. Leaving a 16 year old Charles in the care of his mother.

At some point in the next few years Halvorsen decided to leave the colder climes of Norway, replacing them with the sultry sunshine of South Africa where, on 5 January 1886, at the age of 23, he enlisted at Kimberley with the Government of the Cape of Good Hope, as a member of the Police Force for a period of 12 months. Providing the name of his mother, Karrine Halverson of Christiana, Norway as his next of kin, he was recorded as single, 5 feet 7 inches in height, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair.

Assigned the rank of Constable with no. 25, he was sent out to patrol the streets of Kimberley which, diamonds having been discovered there in recent years, was a bustling, thriving town, full of prospectors out to make their fortunes and mingled with those who had already lost everything they possessed and were now praying on their fellows or drowning their sorrows in one of the many bars and saloons that dotted the landscape. Crime was, of course, rife and it took a very strong and able constabulary to stem the tide, maintain the peace and keep the population on the straight and narrow.

Was Halverson such a man? Seemingly not if his record of service is anything to go by. On 29 April 1896 he was charged with being “Absent when required for duty and under the influence of liquor at 5.30 p.m.” To the first charge he pleaded Guilty but Not Guilty to the second. The findings were that he was Guilty on both counts and sentenced to a Reprimand.

Suitably chastised, one would think that this would be the end of his transgressions but, on 20 September of the same year, he was charged with contravening Section 20 Article 12 of the Act. I have been unable to determine what this charge entailed but it must have been severe in nature as he was found Guilty by the Police Magistrate and sentenced to a fine of £10 or 3 months Hard Labour. Whether or not what followed was the automatic outcome of the sentence is unknown but, suffice it to say, the Cape Police had decided to part ways with Halverson before his 12 months service was up – dismissing him from the service the following day – 21 September 1896.

After this Halverson disappeared from the scene although it can be speculated that he moved away from Kimberley, busying himself as a Miner on the Randfontein diggings. He had found love and, at Krugersdorp on 13 October 1896, at the age of 33, he married 24 year old Gertrude Ernestine Hemingway, who had been born in Brussels, Belgium. Gertrude was a daughter of Edward Hemmingway, Assistant Purveyor to the Forces, who had emigrated to New Zealand to set up shop.

At some point, Halverson returned to Kimberley, but without his wife who appears to have sailed to Australia and new Zealand, which is where we find him on the eve of the Anglo Boer War. This war, between the might of the British Empire and the two Dutch-speaking Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, was long in the making. There had always been serious discord and enmity between the parties but this accelerated after the failed Jameson Raid of 1896. All of this culminated in the outbreak of war on 11 October 1899. The Free State Commandos, already prepared for this eventuality weeks in advance, crossed the border into the Cape Colony and invested the town of Kimberley. That their arch-enemy Cecil Rhodes was holed up in the place was an added incentive to bring the town to its knees and a siege commenced on 14 October, effectively cutting the town off from the rest of the world.


Schmidt's breastworks

With only a small Imperial presence on hand in the shape of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, with supporting structures, it fell to the town fathers to raise men for their own defence. Units such as the Diamond Fields Horse and Diamond Fields Artillery were already in place but what was called for now was a massive recruiting drive among the male civilian population, the majority of whom worked for De Beers. A Kimberley Town Guard was called into being, doing duty along with the Kimberley Horse and the Kimberley Volunteers. All were put to work manning the various Redoubts and defences that dotted the outskirts of the city.

Halverson put his hand up as well, although it has been challenging trying to determine in which units he served and when. His Defence of Kimberley Queens Medal was issued, very unusually, to 71 Pte. C.O. Halverson, Kimberley Town Guard. Medals to the TG were normally always issued without a number – indeed the KTG were not assigned numbers. We know, thanks to the nominal roll entry, that he served with the same number, 71, as a Trooper with the Kimberley Light Horse, attesting with them on 17 October 1899 (which would make this his first unit) and being dismissed (no reason supplied) from their ranks on 18 December 1899, after two months service.


Map illustrating position of the breastworks in relation to other defensive positions and the town itself

It can be assumed that this is when he joined the Kimberley Town Guard where he served at No. 2 Schmidt’s Breastwork. This defensive spot was to the south west of the town, just north of the Reservoir, and attracted, especially, the interest of the Bloemhof (later Lichtenburg) Commando who were deployed to that part of the approach to Kimberley during the siege.

There is also mention on the aforementioned nominal roll, of prior service with not only the Town Guard but also Diamond Fields Horse. When exactly this transpired is difficult to gauge but it does indicate that Halverson had a very busy war. To further complicate matters his name, under the same number 71, appears on a list of members of Kitchener’s Horse although it was with the K.L.H. that he earned the Orange Free State clasp, which would have been for actions after the siege of Kimberley was lifted on 15 February 1900 – this supposes that he returned to their ranks after having been dismissed previously. He must then have had prior and post siege service with the K.L.H. with a stint in the Town Guard in between.



After the relief of Kimberley, the Kimberley Light Horse and Diamond Fields Horse troops were amalgamated under the title 'Kimberley Mounted Corps'. According to the despatch of 21st May 1900, para 24, the KMC were at this time 600 strong.

The corps, under Lieutenant Colonel Peakman, operated with Lord Methuen in the Boshof district of the Orange Free State. On 5th April Lord Methuen was successful in surrounding a detachment under Colonel Villebois de Marueil. The kopje on which the enemy had taken up a position was, after shell and rifle fire, assaulted with the bayonet. The enemy lost 7 killed, 11 wounded, and 51 unwounded prisoners. In his report of 6th April Lord Methuen spoke in terms of praise of the way the troops worked, and mentioned Lieutenant Colonel Peakman.

The corps continued with Lord Methuen chiefly about Boshof during April, and frequently had skirmishing. At the end of that month they moved west to join Colonel Mahon's column, which was to start from Barkly West on 4th May for the relief of Mafeking. It is suspected that, by this time, Halverson had taken his leave of the K.L.H. – he was not known to be part of the Relief of Mafeking exertions.

According to his entry in the Record of Deceased Soldiers’ Effects, Halverson died in service with the Kimberley Light Horse on 22 April 1902 with £5 being charged against the Vote in Cape Forces 11/02. This would have been an amount allocated to his widow. His death notice, oddly enough, claimed that he was unmarried and was born in Switzerland. He died in the Kimberley Hospital from Fibroid Phthisis and was 39 years old at the time, leaving £22.14, a pocket book and some papers behind. We know this to be incorrect on the first two counts.

This prompted a letter from his widow, writing from Cambridge, Coogee, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on 1 June 1902 to the Registrar, Kimberley High Court as follows: -

‘Dear sir

I hear you hold a small sum of money (£22) belonging to my late husband, Charles Oscar Halverson, and handed to you by the Kimberley hospital authorities, might I ask you to continue to hold the same until my arrival in South Africa, some six weeks hence – when I will give you the necessary copy of my marriage certificate in order for the money to be handed over to me – would you also give me a certificate of my husband’s death, he was 39 years of age the 7th January last and a native of Christiana, Norway, but late of Krugersdorp, Transvaal.

A letter addressed as follows will reach me six weeks hence as I anticipate leaving here on 20 June in order to fulfil a government appointment.

Mrs. G. Halverson
c/o Mrs Hoskings
Somerset House, Somerset Road
Cape Town.’

Gertrude Halverson, a teacher by profession arrived in South Africa, along with other Australian teachers, ex SS "MEDIC", on 24 August 1902 but resigned her appointment in the government service on 30 September. She was liable for a refund of her passage money.
The fact that Halverson’s death certificate reflected the fact that he was single still occasioned problems for his widow long after his death. This is borne out by the contents of a letter she directed to the Master of the Supreme Court, Kimberley. Dated 20 December 1906 it read as follows:


‘On the publication of my Banns of marriage, the Rector here informed me that, being a widow, I should require a Certificate from the Master of the Supreme Court at Kimberley where my husband died, to the effect that his estate was legally settled, or if no estate a certificate to that effect.

He had no estate to settle, neither were there any children of the marriage, and there is no impediment whatsoever to my remarrying.
My husband, Charles Halverson, died in the Kimberley hospital on 22 April 1902, but in the death certificate he was erroneously described as single – no doubt a mistake on the part of the hospital authorities (I, on account of the war, being at home). Before his death he particularly informed the De Beers Co. of my address, as you will see by enclosed letter.

After his death I visited Africa and called on you September 1st 1902, with Mr Robinson the then Director of Education for Kimberley, and on the production of my marriage certificate, you handed me over my late husband’s pocket book etc. and authorised the Supreme Court of Pretoria, (where I then resided) to hand me the money in his possession at time of death.

I shall feel greatly obliged if you also kindly send me the necessary certificate, (with the enclosed letter)

Yours faithfully
Gertrude E. Halverson’



Mrs Halverson, having obtained the required proof of her husband’s death, married Harry Geerton Barker in Cape Town in 1906. He passed away in 1943 making her a widow for the second time. She passed away in St. George’s Strand, Port Elizabeth on 27 November 1951 at the age of 80.

Sources:

Lars Ahlkvist for the Scandinavian Census and other data
Adrian Ellard for Cape Police Service Register
Halverson's estate file in the Cape Archives
Mrs Halverson's death notice on Familysearch
Dr David Biggins book on Siege of Kimberley for maps