TOPIC:

George Horton Rogers

3rd Class Private, Cape Police District II (Kimberley) – Anglo Boer War
2nd Class Sergeant, 5th South African Mounted Rifles – post war

- Queens South Africa Medal (Defence of Kimberley) to 795 PTE. G. ROGERS. CAPE POLICE
- Kings South Africa Medal (South Africa 1901/1902) to 795 PTE. G. ROGERS. C.P. DIST. 2.
- Permanent Forces of The Empire Beyond The Seas L.S. & G.C. Medal to No. 1897. CPL. G.H. ROGERS. 5TH RGT (S.A.M.R.)
- Mayor of Kimberley’s Star, reverse hallmark date letter “a”

George Rogers was born in the Parramatta district of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on 23 March 1873 the son of George Rogers and his wife Jessie Maria, born Horton. At some point in his life he decided to spread his wings, making for the diamond centre of the world – Kimberley in South Africa. Since the discovery of the first diamonds in the 1870’s, Kimberley had become a boom town with prospectors, fortune seekers and opportunists all scrambling over each other to stake their claims and make their fortunes in the arid reaches of the Northern Cape. This was the era of Cecil John Rhodes, Barney Barnato and the De Beers Corporation where money rubbed shoulders with desperation and despair was a bed fellow to misery in the lives of many.


George Rogers, Ottilia and daughter Matilda

It was into this milieu that a 26 years and 5 months old Rogers stepped, enlisting for service with the Cape Police District 2 (Kimberley and surrounds) on 3 September 1899. Completing the attestation papers, he was duly enrolled as a Third Class Constable and assigned no. 795.

Physically he was a tall man , described as being 5 feet 11 inches in height with brown hair, hazel eyes and a fair complexion. A Draper by occupation, he confirmed that his father was George Rogers and that his mother was deceased (she died on 23 May 1896 at the age of 49).

As next of kin he provided his sister, Mrs L. Cahn, c/o L. Cahn Jeweller, Central Arcade, Sydney, New South Wales. This was Lucinda Newenham Cahn. Tragedy was to strike when her husband Leo Cahn, the Jeweller, committed suicide by jumping off the steamer "Manly" at 9:30 pm on 24 March 1901 in the vicinity of the heads. Their residence at the time was 'Tacan', Edgeware Road, Marrickville, Sydney. (Evening News 25 Mar 1901.)

Kimberley, as has been alluded to above, was not a town for the faint hearted. Life, certainly in the early days, was rough and ready and, although things had become decidedly more civilised by the time Rogers was gainfully employed, there were still pockets in the town where the rule of law was not followed to the letter. He and his colleagues would have had to keep their wits about them if they were to have lasting careers.

Five weeks after he donned his uniform for the first time the Anglo Boer War erupted. This clash between the two Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and her more prosperous neighbour, the Transvaal and the might of the British Empire, commenced on the 11th October 1899 and, as one of the first orders of business, the Boers crossed the Cape Colony border, not very far from Kimberley, and set about investing the town. The siege endured from 14 October 1899 until relieved on 15 February 1900.


Map of Kimberley during the Siege

Two days after war broke out, members of the para-military Cape Police started riding into Kimberley from abandoned outlying police posts, bringing with them two obsolete RML 7-pounder Mark IV guns and some ammunition. Eventually, Cape Police in the town totalled 478 all ranks and formed part of the garrison throughout the siege, taking an active part in the defence.

Although always difficult to say, unless the man is mentioned by name, if someone was in a specific action certain assumptions can be made. We know, from David Biggins’ authoritative work on the subject, that Rogers was part of the 105 men who formed the Dismounted Branch. These men saw, primarily, Barrier and Redoubt duties. Fortunately for us, Rogers was very attached to his sister Lucinda, and wrote to her on a number of occasions during and after the siege. The Sydney Morning Herald of Tuesday, June 19, published a consolidation of three communications he sent her: -

“Trooper George Rogers, of the Cape Mounted Police, writing to his sister, who is a resident of Lewisham, states that he has been besieged in Kimberley, which he describes as being hot, dusty and devoid of vegetation. From the diamond mines mountains of blue tailings are, he says, the chief objects which meet the eye for many miles around. The dust from these heaps are fairly blinding on a hot, windy day.

In a second letter, written from Kimberley on March 19, he says: - “We have had a bad time during the siege. For the last two months we were compelled to kill and eat our horses, to say nothing of the privations we had to undergo through sickness and exposure.

Fortunately I was amongst the lucky ones, not having a days sickness, and although taking part in three engagements, I came off ‘scot free.’ But I had some narrow shaves, like most of our men, and once at Carter’s Ridge a bullet went through the flap of my tunic, which I intend to preserve as a memento of my second engagement. Our corps has lost rather severely during the siege. The military authorities have recognised this, and are now giving us safer work, consisting of mostly escort and convoy work. We have earned the South African medal.

Some of our men who have a good knowledge of the country will act as scouts to Lord Methuen’s column which will be leaving here this week for the relief of Mafeking. The balance of us are under orders for Bloemfontein, which is four days ride from here. We do not expect much fighting as the country appears to be on the point of surrender. On one occasion, at the storming of Carter’s Ridge, whilst one of our men was firing, a Boer bullet hit the magazine of his rifle, causing an explosion of ten cartridges; the poor chap got such a shock that he lost his reason, and is now in a lunatic asylum.

Now that the tide has turned, and British arms are victorious, notwithstanding Boer treachery and the misuse of the white flag (which I have myself witnessed), the wily Boer is trying to enlist outside sympathy by endeavouring to pose as a Christian martyr who is being persecuted for his love of freedom and Christian principles. I have lived under their rule and know what callous wretches they are. All I hope is that once the Union Jack is hoisted in Pretoria it will remain, and let Britain govern them better than they governed us.”

In a third letter, dated April 3rd, Trooper Rogers writes:- “Once more I am able to write to you after having been eight days on the warpath. In my previous letter I mentioned our destination as Bloemfontein. The route taken by our troops was Smith’s Drift, Barclay, Kuruman, across the border to Christiana. On the whole journey of 120 miles we did not come in touch with the enemy who had vacated his position previously to our arrival. The trip, as usual, was most uncomfortable, we being baked in the daytime and frozen at night, and living entirely on “bully” beef and biscuits, our saddles for pillows and the sky for our roof.”


Men of CPD2 manning a Redoubt

What “sticks out” is the reference to him narrowly avoiding being wounded at Carter’s Ridge. He also refers to other engagements in which he was active. These are not the thing one normally expects to hear from a man on Redoubt or Barrier duties – the role suggests that, like most of the Town Guard, those assigned to these duties would be destined to play a passive role. Not so in Rogers’ case – the men who went out to Carter’s Ridge and, indeed , the many forays beyond the Kimberley defences, were mostly mounted men and yet, he was mustered to the Dismounted branch.

The Carter’s Ridge engagement, according to Biggins’ in his Siege of Kimberley, took place on 25 November 1899 when Colonel Kekewich instructed Colonel Scott-Turner to attack the gun positions being constructed by the Boers at Carter’s Ridge. The mounted force comprising A, B, C, and D Squadrons Kimberley Light Horse, B and C Squadrons Cape Police (this would suggest that Rogers, at some point was part of one of these two Squadrons), and a detachment of the LNLR Mounted Infantry was to depart on the morning of the 25th November. The attack was to come from the side, with the troops first going to Otto’s Kopje and then turning southwest for the 2.5 mile advance to Carter’s Ridge.

As a diversion, Colonel Chamier was to take 900 men in the direction of Wimbledon and 50 Royal Engineers were sent to occupy Otto’s Kopje. The two columns totalled 1,124 men or nearly 21% of the whole garrison. It was to be a bold strike. The misty morning gave good cover to both columns as they left Kimberley at 04:30. En route, Lieutenant Clifford’s scouts came upon a Boer outpost at the Lazaretto and captured the 6 Boers they found asleep there. Before reaching Wimbledon at around 04:45, Chamier’s guns from the Diamond Fields Artillery under Major May, came into action against the Boers they discovered occupying Johnstone’s Kopje and, their presence disclosed, engaged in an artillery duel with the Boer guns on Wimbledon Ridge.

By this time at the base of Carter’s Ridge, Scott-Turner dismounted his two squadrons of Cape Police and ordered them to extend and advance. Awakened by the firing and on their guard, men of the Bloemhof commando who were stationed on Carter’s Ridge opened fire on the Cape Police. Involved in their first action and unaccustomed to war, the Boers disclosed their numbers to Scott-Turner. He guessed they numbered about 50 and decided they should be charged. He ordered a section of the Kimberley Light Horse to dismount and follow him up the ridge in the charge. There are accounts that his men were unaccustomed to using bayonets and made the charge with rifle in one hand and bayonet in the other! The Bloemhof commando quickly disintegrated and surrendered after putting up meagre resistance.

Scott-Turner counted 9 wounded and 24 unwounded Boers in his possession. Meanwhile, Major R G Scott led his mounted troops into the Bloemhof laager which was located 800 yards to the west of the ridge. The armoured train under 2nd Lieutenant Webster was reconnoitring north and south along the railway line. The train was supported by three half companies of the Beaconsfield Town Guard under Major J R Fraser. The train’s presence prevented the Boers from reinforcing Carter’s Ridge from Wimbledon. From his Kamfersdam laager to the north of the action, General Du Toit despatched 100 men of the Wolmaransstad commando to provide support to their countrymen on Carter’s Ridge. These men arrived on the scene and opened fire at approximately the same time as Scott-Turner joined Major Scott on the ridge.

The opportunity for further advance was slipping away so Scott-Turner took the correct decision to fall back on Kimberley. The time was 07:00. As soon as Kekewich could see what Scott-Turner was doing, he called back Chamier’s force. The retirement was effectively completed. In the skirmish, 112 rounds were fired by the artillery and 40,000 cartridges by the infantry. According to the official list, 6 men were killed and 30 wounded. The Boers reported 10 killed and 20 wounded.


The sortie at Carter’s Ridge - a romanticised version which does not depict the actual battle

Rogers mentions that he was “in three engagements”, naming only one – Carter’s Ridge. The Cape Police participated in all of the many skirmishes and forays into enemy-held territory and it would be unprofitable and mere speculation to decide in which of these he fought. He did, however, become something of a celebrity with a letter he sent to a friend in Sydney being “syndicated” and appearing in a number of Australian newspapers. One such, the Macleay Chronicle of Thursday, 28 June 1900 reported thus: -

‘An amusing story is posted to a friend in Sydney by Trooper Rogers of the Cape Mounted Police (South Africa). It runs thus: - “A Boer prisoner was talking to Tommy Atkins one day, and the former became boastful that his side would ultimately be victorious because, ‘The Lord was with them.’ ‘Garn,’ said Thomas ‘you’ve no show; we ‘as three blooming Lords with us!’”

In an earlier letter to Lucinda, published in The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, N.S.W.) on the 19th June 1900 under the banner “First Sensations in Action” – Rogers was quoted as saying: -

“Trooper Geary (George) Rogers, of the Cape Mounted Police, writes a chatty letter to his sister in Sydney, to whom he sends the Queen’s gift of a box of chocolates. After describing the siege of Kimberley, its privations and its dangers, he expresses the opinion that in action a man is usually nervous at first, but he gets more comfortable after a bit. In one action a man’s rifle magazine was struck by a Boer bullet and exploded. The man was not seriously injured physically, but lost his reason from the shock.”

It was around this time, on 2 July 1900 to be exact, that Rogers blotted an otherwise unblemished record – he went AWOL (Absent Without Leave) on that date and was duly Reprimanded by Sub Inspector Elliott on his return (date or time not provided in his service record.)

His Sick Leave register indicates that he was in a reasonably fit state – there are no entries for the duration the siege was underway but, before the war commenced and in his first week of service he had Influenza for three days (September 12-14, 1899) – this was followed by a 4 day long bout of Diarrhoea (September 24-27) and, hot on the heels of this (something in his diet was proving disagreeable) a five day bout of the same (October 4-8). Perhaps unsurprisingly, he went down with Diarrhoea for three days, a month after the siege was lifted (March 11-13, 1900)

As he alluded to in his letters home, he was one of the men sent on to Bloemfontein, which had been liberated by Roberts in mid-March 1900. It is therefore strange that he wasn’t awarded the Orange Fee State clasp to his Queens Medal – the rolls confirming only the Defence of Kimberley clasp.

Rogers, the war over on 31 May 1902, continued on in the service of the Cape Police. In 1912, after Union and the subsequent amalgamation of the various Colonial police forces into one, he became part of the Permanent Force, 5th South African Mounted Rifles (the 5th regiment being based in Kimberley) and was posted to many of the outlying police stations that abound in the area. Whilst based at Klipdam he wed a 20 year old waitress – Matilda Kathleen Baum – at the Magistrate’s Office on 4 June 1910. He was a 36 year old Policeman. Intriguingly, despite being named Matilda on her marriage certificate, her real moniker was Ottilia, a lady of German descent.

Taking no part in World War I, which erupted onto the world stage on 4 August 1914, Rogers was, instead, busy with police work in his chosen area of operation. On 1 January 1917 he was promoted to the rank of Corporal (his force number had changed to 1897), and on 13 September 1918 his award of the Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Long Service and Good Conduct medal was Gazetted.
A final promotion, to 2nd Class Sergeant, came his way on 17 March 1919. The application for the aforementioned medal included a physical description of him. By marks about his person, it was mentioned that he had a “surgical scar on back and through centre of his right hand” and a scar between forefinger and thumb.”


The newspaper advert Rogers placed for his change in names

Something of interest that had clearly been bothering him for some time happened in 1918 – he had enlisted with the Cape Police all those years ago as “George Rogers” but was now intent on adding “Horton” as one of his Christian names. Procedure demanded that he pay for an advert to this effect in a newspaper and then send this to Headquarters as evidence of his intent. This was duly done, the Diamond Field Advertiser (Kimberley) carrying the advert on May 28th, 1918 when he was stationed at Griquatown.

George Horton Rogers, after a life of service, retired to East London in the Eastern Cape which is where, at the Frere Hospital on 26 October 1945 at the age of 73, he passed away from heart failure and chronic enlargement of the prostate with back pressure on kidneys and heart.

He was survived by his wife, Ottilia, and two children, George Michael and Matilda Ethel. His residence at the time of his death was Flat 4 “Granard”, Muller Street, East London.

Acknowledgements:
- Dr David Biggins - Siege of Kimberley (Account and roll) for Carter's Ridge detail and CPDII information
- Trove Australia for newspaper reports/letters home from Rogers to a friend and his sister
- Various Internet sources for maps and photographs
- Ancestry for medal rolls, census data and photo of Rogers' family
- Adrian Ellard for Rogers' CP Service Register
- SANDF Archives (Dewald Nel) for LS&GC medal file and SAMR file