TOPIC:

Johannes Gotlieb Welgemoed

Cape Rebel

Burgher, Smithfield Commando – Anglo Boer War

- Anglo Boere Oorlog Medal to BURG. J.G. WELGEMOED

Johan Welgemoed was not only a “bitter einder” – someone who fought right through to the end of the war without surrendering – but also a Cape Rebel, one of those most despised by the British side, of all Boer fighters – a man who, despite being a subject of the Crown, committed treason by throwing his lot in with the other side.

Born on the farm Zevenfontein in the Tarkastad district of the eastern part of the Cape Colony on 2 July 1881 he was the son of Francois Jacobus Welgemoed, a Cattle (Stock) Farmer, and his wife Margaretha Aletta (born Jordaan). Growing up in the rarefied atmosphere of the Groot Karoo, a young Gottlieb would have lived an idyllic but lonely life. Lonely as the first born that was, but he was soon joined by his many siblings as the years rolled by. These were Wilhelm Johan (born in 1883), Margaretha Aletta (born in 1884 and named in the Dutch/Afrikaans way after her mother), Aletta Johanna Elizabeth (born 1886), Elizabeth Catharina (born 1888), Francina Jacoba (born 1889), Wilhelmina Hendrina Johanna (born 1890), David Johannes (born 1891), Maria Elizabeth (1892) and Jacobus Marthinus (1894). Nine siblings in total of which three were male.


Boer War era map highlighting locations where Welgemoed lived and fought

As war clouds gathered over the land in the last year of the 19th century, the Welgemoed’s were still farming in the dry Tarkastad area, a geographic region which, despite being an integral part of the Cape Colony, was populated by a majority of Dutch-speaking Boers. Quite naturally, it could be assumed, these hardy farmers sympathised with their fellow Boers when war between the Orange Free State and the Transvaal was declared on 11 October 1899. For many their allegiance lay with their kinfolk to the north.

As the Boer Commandos infiltrated the borders between their territories and the colonies of Natal and the Cape, most Cape Boers remained neutral, accepting that any move they might make to join the ranks of the enemy would be regarded as treasonous – punishable by death if caught. Many, however, were prepared to take that chance – two of these were Gottlieb and his father Francois – together they left the family farm in the hands of the womenfolk and younger sons and brothers and headed off to Smithfield in the southern extremity of the Orange Free State where they threw their lot in with the Smithfield Commando in early November 1899.

Fortunately for the researcher applicants for the Anglo Boere Oorlog medal awarded to those who took up arms for the two Dutch Republics were required to complete a Vorm B which detailed not only with whom a recipient fought but, more importantly, in which battles and skirmishes he participated. There were checks and balances built in – a Burgher couldn’t merely claim to have been in an action without providing the signature of an officer and other comrades as witnesses to corroborate the claim.

In the case of Gottlieb Welgemoed he listed the following actions in which he took part:

- Koppiesfontein – 27 March 1900
- Dwarshoek – 20 May 1901
- Springfontein – Bethulie District
- Beestekraal – Rouxville District
- Donkerpoort – Philoppolis District
- Holfontein - between Smaldeel and Kroonstad etc.

That he was where he claimed to be was attested to by Veld Kornet Furstenburg and Burgher Van Biljoen of the Boksburg Commando. Welgemoed’s medal application was one of the early ones – awarded on 22 February 1922 – not long after the award of the medal was first authorised by the Union Government.


Welgemoed's Vorm B - detailing where and with whom he fought.

Almost all the actions listed by Welgemoed took place in the Orange Free State or northern part of the Cape Colony with many of them being near to the border to the two territories. It was at Donkerpoort that a combined commando of 2500 men from the Philippolis, Smithfield and Bethulie Commandos mustered before crossing the border into the Cape Colony near Aliwal North in November 1899 – the month in which Welgemoed joined up.

By 13 March 1900 Roberts had entered Bloemfontein. This would normally have spelt the end of the war once a nation’s capital had been occupied. Not so with the Boers, they merely moved their capital elsewhere – wherever the President was, albeit in a railway carriage at a siding in the middle of the veld – that was what became the seat of government.

At around this time Welgemoed returned to his native Tarkastad to be adopted into the Dutch Reformed Church there.

By the end of August 1900 the second or guerrilla phase of the war had begun. Here small, highly mobile Boer Commandos would swoop down on largely unsuspecting patrols and convoys, loot and pillage what they could in the way of food, arms and ammunition, and gallop off before reinforcements could arrive on the spot. These tactics proved highly successful and sustained the Boer campaign until the end of the war – despite the scorched earth policy adopted by Kitchener and the blockhouse policy and sweeping drives which did their best to stitch the Boers into a corner thus occasioning their surrender.

After peace negotiations the war came to an end on 31 May 1902. For the thousands of “bitter einders” still in the field under arms this meant that, once they had signed the oath of neutrality, they could return to their farms (for those who had something to return to). This was not so for the Cape Rebels of which Welgemoed was one. They were treated far more harshly – they had, after all, committed treason and taken up arms against their fellow British subjects.


Extract from the Anglo Boer War Museum (Bloemfontein) site

A series of trials were conducted, principally in the eastern parts of the Cape Colony. Men who had surrendered their weapons, having never been taken captive, were brought before Military Tribunals. Welgemoed appears on the “List of Persons surrendering at Hopetown since 12 April 1901” – Hopetown is in the Cape Colony. His entry claims that he was of the farm Zwalous Kraal in the Cradock district. He handed in his rifle, 2 bandoliers, 85 rounds, 2 horses and a saddle and bridle.

According to the Rebel Record by Taffy Shearing, Welgemoed laid down arms to Colonel McCracken of the Berkshire Regiment in Hope Town on 7-6-1902 and was sentenced under Proclamation 100 of 1902 at Hope Town. [AG2116; AG2062 Part 2] – what his sentence was is unknown but most Cape Rebels had their sentences commuted to the payment of a fine after the war was over.

Welgemoed returned to farming. Unlike the fate that had befallen his Free State comrades, the farms of Cape Rebels were not raised to the ground or destroyed by the British forces. On 23 March 1903 he wed Catharina Susara Maryna De Klerk at Cradock. He was described as being a Stock Farmer of 21 years of age and farming “Palingkloof.” His bride was 19 years of age.

At some point the Welgemoed family moved from the Orange Free State to Boksburg in the Transvaal. It was here, on 21 August 1925 that his father and fellow Rebel passed away at the age of 65 on the farm Driefontein.

On 13 September 1932 Welgemoed, now a widower, married widow Catharina Johanna Liebenberg, born Fritz, (38) at Boksburg. He was 51 years old and pursuing the occupation of Miner. He passed away at the age of 77 on 4 August 1958 at the Boksburg-Benoni Hospital from Hypertensive Cardiac Failure, Uraemia Obesity. He was in possession of an “Oud Stryders” (Old fighter’s) pension at the time of his death.