TOPIC:

This one has a Smethwick link.....

William Henry Walker

Wounded in Action – Horseshoe Hill, Tugela Heights, 24 February 1900

Sergeant, 1st Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal (5) Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal and Orange Free State to 5240 CORL W. WALKER. R: WELSH FUS:

William Walker was born in the Parish of Handsworth, Birmingham in the County of Warwickshire in 1877 the son of William George Walker, a Brass Founder by occupation and his wife Julia, born Westwood. At the time of the 1881 England census the family were living at 50 Wills Street, Aston. William (4) had an older sibling Bertha (5) and a younger brother Arthur Ephraim (1).

Ten years later, at the time of the 1891 England census, the family had moved to 81 Camden Street in St. Paul’s, Birmingham. Other than having all aged ten years, the household was still made up of the same members.

At Birmingham on 16 October 1896 Walker completed the Short Service attestation forms (7 years with the Colours and 5 years with the Reserve) for service with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Aged 18 years and 9 months he was a Clerk by occupation and still living with his family. Physically he was a diminutive 5 feet 4 inches in height, weighed 121 lbs and had a sallow complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. A member of the Church of England, he had no distinctive marks about his person.

Having been declared fit by the Doctor, Walker commenced service as a Private with no. 5240 attached to the Depot at Wrexham. On 8 January 1897 he was posted to the Provisional Battalion which is where, on 20 May 1897, he was promoted to unpaid Lance Corporal. This was altered to paid Lance Corporal three weeks later on 4 June 1897. On 1 December of that year he was posted to the 1st Battalion, R.W.F. and on 17 September 1898 he was promoted to Corporal. A year and two days later, on 19 September 1899, he was appointed Assistant Instructor of Gymnastics at Newport. He was a member of H Company at the time.

He wasn’t destined to serve long in this new role, less than one month later, on 11 October 1899, Britain found herself at war with the two Dutch-speaking South African Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. There had been a long build up to this eventuality with long simmering tensions between the protagonists never far from boiling point.

Walker and the 1st Battalion sailed on the Oriental on 22nd October 1899, and arrived at the Cape about 13th November. They were sent on to Durban, and along with the 2nd Royal Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers, and 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers, formed the 6th Brigade under Major General Barton. Their first engagement was at Colenso on 15 December 1899 but the losses of the battalion were trifling.

When General Buller made his second attempt against the Colenso position the battalion went out with Lord Dundonald to Hussar Hill on 12th February, and again on the 14th when the hill was finally occupied. All through the fourteen days' fighting the battalion took its share. On the 24th the Royal Fusiliers and Royal Welsh Fusiliers were holding some kopjes near Langerwachte under very heavy shell-fire and rifle-fire. On that day the Welsh Fusiliers lost Colonel Thorold, another officer, and 6 men killed, and 2 officers and 29 men wounded.


map of Tugela Heights

Williams was one of those wounded – unusually, his service records indicate that he received “a shell wound in the mouth” – a level of detail not normally divulged and an injury which must have been most uncomfortable.

But what were the circumstances surrounding this action? The fourteen days in February leading up to the relief of Ladysmith are exhaustively covered in any number of books and are known, variously, as the Battle of Tugela Heights or the Battle of Pieters. As previously mentioned, the R.W.F. were part of the Sixth Fusilier Brigade (commanded by Major General Barton), which comprised the 2nd Royal Fusiliers; 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers; 1st Royal Welch Fusiliers and the 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers.

The Handbook of the Boer War, describing the period under question (written anonymously), states that: -

“The failure of the attack (Buller’s second unsuccessful attempt) did not deter Buller from pursuing his plan, and on February 24 he proposed to renew it and to operate against Railway Hill, which stands fourth in the line of hills running in a N.E. direction from Horseshoe Hill to Pieter's Hill; but by Hart's suggestion the movement was postponed, and in the end, abandoned. The greater part of his Brigade was dangerously and densely posted on the lower ground, and when during the night a surprise party of Boers opened fire, there was some fear of a general panic. The situation was precarious. The Boer line had not been pierced: on each side it outflanked Buller and fronted the Tugela loops in which the greater portion of his force was huddled.”


In action at the battle of Tugela Heights

The Times History Volume III contained a detailed account of the action in which Walker was wounded as it unfolded: -

“All the morning of the 24th desultory shell and rifle fire continued along the whole line, the Boers bringing into action two or three more guns sent round from the Upper Tugela positions, where a certain number of burghers were still quite uselessly sitting. Even Buller had now realized that the Boers meant to stand, and that a mere march under cover of flanking detachments was out of the question. But he had not yet evolved any new plan to meet the altered situation, and early in the afternoon determined to repeat the attack on Inniskilling Hill. He, however, improved upon the previous day's plan to the extent of suggesting to Warren, whom he despatched to Hart's Hollow to undertake the general direction of the attack, that Hart should make use of some of the additional battalions now with him in order to direct a simultaneous attack on Railway Hill.

Arriving at Hart's Hollow, Warren arranged with Hart that the latter with two battalions should attack Railway Hill, while Cooper of the Dublins should lead the rest in a fresh attack upon Inniskilling Hill. By the time the necessary arrangements were made it was nearly 4 p.m., and Hart, with the previous day's experience before him, suggested that the attack had better be postponed till the morning. Buller’s assent was obtained to this postponement, and after dark a further message arrived from Buller not to attack till further orders, as he wished to place artillery on Monte Cristo to support the operation.

His force had been frittered away since the 21st in a series of unsuccessful attacks, which had cost over 1,300 men, with practically no results to show for this expenditure. It was now strung out along the river in a chain of thoroughly insecure positions, liable to be cut off from each other, difficult to reinforce, and still more difficult to escape from in case of a reverse. Except that it was even more unsatisfactory, the position closely resembled that of Warren's force on January 23. Here again, as at Tabanyama, all the units had become hopelessly mixed up, while most of the artillery and mounted troops were in positions where they could be least effective. To judge of the extent to which divisions and brigades had been broken up, it is only necessary to consider the dispositions on the night of the 24th. In Hart's Hollow were parts of three different brigades, namely, three and a half battalions of Hart's, two and a half of Norcott's (Durham L.I., Rifle Brigade, and half Scottish Rifles), and one and a half of Hildyard's (7 companies East Surreys, 5 companies West Yorks), the whole under Hart.[/size]


An alternate map detailing the various hills

On the Wynne Hills and along the line of the Onderbroek Spruit were the remnants of Hildyard's and Norcott's brigades, together with two battalions of Barton's (Royal Fusiliers and Welsh Fusiliers) and one of Kitchener's (Composite Rifles), the whole under Lyttelton. Further in rear, from the Onderbroek to the Colenso Kopjes, were Buller's and Warren's headquarters, the whole of the Fifth Division except the Composite Rifles, Barton with one battalion (Irish Fusiliers), and Dundonald's cavalry brigade.”

The Register, a composite report gleaned from various accounts by Meurig Jones has the following in respect of the action wherein Walker was wounded: -

“As the Boer commandos fell back to the north bank of the Tugela River on the 19th/20th of February 1900, in the opening stages of the final British attempt to relieve Ladysmith, the hill was held by the Middelburg Commando under Commandant PF Trichardt on the new Boer defensive line. After the British forces had crossed the pontoon bridge to the north bank on 21 February, Major General Wynne’s 11th infantry brigade pushed northwards on the following day with Wynne’s Hill as the objective leaving Horseshoe Hill on the left flank to be shelled during the advance.

The brigade however came under severe crossfire from Horseshoe Hill and part of Major J Stewart Wortley’s rifle reserve battalion was turned against it. As the Middelburg Commando stoutly defended its position, this small force was reinforced that night by four companies of the 2nd The East Surrey Regiment and on 23rd February relieved by the 2nd Royal Fusiliers and the first Royal Welsh Fusiliers.”

The accounts of the action are almost as numerous and confusing as the order of battle the British brigades found themselves in, suffice it to say, in summary, that Walker was wounded by Boer shell fire from Horseshoe Hill, near Wynne’s Hill.

With Ladysmith relieved on 1 March 1900 a period of rest and recuperation ensued. In April 1900 the brigade was brought round to Cape Colony and concentrated at Kimberley. On 5th May the battle of Rooidam was fought, this battalion of the Royal Fusiliers being in the first line. For their work in the very arduous pursuit of De Wet, in August 1900, the Welsh Fusiliers as well as the Scots Fusiliers were highly praised by Lord Methuen.

Walker’s star was on the ascension – promotion to Lance Sergeant on 28 June 1900 was followed by that to Sergeant (Paid) on 15 July 1900.

At Frederickstad between 15th and 25th October 1900 General Barton had a lot of very severe fighting, in which the battalion again gained great praise from the general and Commander-in-Chief. In these actions the battalion had about 15 men killed and 3 officers and 30 men wounded.

During 1901 the battalion remained in the Western Transvaal and took part in the very successful operations of General Babington. In his despatch of 8th May 1901, Lord Kitchener refers to an attack which was made on 22nd April by 700 Boers under the personal command of General De la Rey upon a convoy passing between General Babington's camp and Klerksdorp; "the escort, however, being well handled, repelled the attack, inflicting a loss upon the enemy of 12 killed and 6 wounded". The escort was mainly from the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers and Colonel Sir R Colleton and two other officers were commended in despatches for their excellent work. One month before, General Babington had captured a Boer convoy and several guns, and on that occasion Sergeant Darragh gained the distinguished conduct medal for, "on his own initiative, keeping a very superior force of the enemy at bay in a most gallant manner".


RWF on operations in South Africa.

On 23rd May 1901 another convoy going to Ventersdorp was very heavily attacked, but the enemy was driven off. A detachment of the battalion again formed part of the escort, and lost 1 man killed and 1 officer and 11 men wounded. Towards the close of 1901 the battalion occupied the northern portion of the line of blockhouses running from Potchefstroom to the Kroonstad district.

For his part in the campaign Walker was awarded both Queens and Kings Medals with the relevant clasps. on 3 February 1903 he and his Battalion returned to England where, at Lichfield on 14 August 1903 he was discharged from the army – medically unfit – after 6 year and 303 days service. Described on his discharge papers as a Clerk and Gymnast by occupation, his Conduct and Character were described as “Very Good – Sober and Regular Habits.” His discharge address was 112 Murdoch Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, his paternal residence.

On 12 September 1904, at the Parish Church of St. Thomas in Birmingham, he wed 20 year old Gertrude Lane of 5 Elm Cottages,, Falconer Road. He was 26 and a Clerk by occupation of 116 Granville Street. His father, a witness to the nuptials, was described as being a (deceased) Manufacturer.

That Walker went on to make something of himself was evidenced by the 1911 England census where, now aged 34, was described as living on Private Means. With him in the house at 204 Addison Road, Kings Heath in the Parish of Smethwick, was his wife, Gertrude.

The 1921 England census recorded that Walker was still at the same address – an Iron and Steel Merchant, he and Gertrude had two children – Henry Westwood Walker (9) and William Eric Walker (7).

Another highly interesting post here Rory. I do like medals and histories to the RWF and cherish the ones in my own collection. Your account has enhanced my knowledge to these.
Cheers Steve