TOPIC:

Albert Lewis Braybrooke

Prisoner of War, Tweefontein (Groenkop), 25 December 1901

Private, 36th Coy. (West Kent), 11th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry – Anglo Boer War
Company Quartermaster Sergeant, Royal Engineers – WWI

- Queens South Africa Medal (CC/OFS/TVL/SA01/02) to 28775 PTE A.L. BRAYBROOKE. 36TH COY IMP. YEO.
- 1914 Star (with 5TH AUG – 22ND NOV 1914 clasp) to 14481 CPL A.L. BRAYBROOKE
- British War Medal to 14481 T.C.Q.M. SJT. A.L. BRAYBROOKE R.E.
- Victory Medal to 14481 T.C.Q.M. SJT. A.L. BRAYBROOKE R.E.

Albert Braybrooke was born in the Parish of St. Margaret’s, Borstal, Kent on 25 February 1882 the son of Charles Henry Braybrooke, a Prison Warder, and his wife Mary, born Miller. Making his appearance too late for the 1881 England census, out first exposure to him came courtesy of the 1891 version where, aged 14, he was at home with his parents and many siblings Lilly Mary (20), Ada Maria (19), Frederick J (17), Arthur L (14), William Edward (7), Hetty Ariadne (6) and Frank E (4). The family were living in the Borstal Prison Warders Quarters.


Braybrooke and Rose in 1966 just before his death.

As the 19th century neared its end Great Britain found herself at war with two Dutch-speaking Boer Republics in faraway South Africa. Hostilities had been declared on 11 October 1899 and, despite the expectation that the mighty Imperial Army would sweep the puny Boer challenge aside, quite the contrary happened. In a week in December 1899 that became known as Black Week, the Regular Army forces in South Africa suffered three catastrophic reverses. This led to a call for not only additional troops to be sent out to carry the fight to an enemy for which there was a growing respect, but also for the creation of an Imperial Yeomanry – volunteers from the man in the street – who could be trained, equipped and sent to the front without delay.

There were eventually three drafts of the IY sent out to South Africa. The first, in early 1900, was of an undeniably better stamp of man. Men from all walks of life flooded the recruitment centres around the country and the numbers required were soon oversubscribed. Braybrooke, who had been in the employ of a Mr. Park from Rochester as a Paper Changer (Decorator) for the past five years since leaving school at the age of 15, completed the attestation papers for Short Service (1 Year with the Colours) at Maidstone on 19 February 1901, making him a member of the Second Contingent raised for service.

Assigned no. 28776 and the rank of Private, he joined the 36th Company, of the 11th Battalion. Claiming that he had been in the 4th Royal West Kent Battalion (a Militia outfit) he was 20 years and 3 months old, 5 feet 7 ½ inches in height, weighed 143 lbs. and had a dark complexion, gray eyes and dark brown hair. By way of distinguishing marks he had a scar in the centre of his forehead.

Braybrooke, having sailed to South Africa, disembarked and was sent to the field on 15 March 1901. Scarcely in the country for more than nine months, Braybrooke and his comrades were to become embroiled in one of the most audacious Boer attacks of the war – that of Tweefontein aka Groen Kop. Picture the scene, it was Christmas Eve 1901, the troops were settling down to their sleep in anticipation of the festivities that were to follow on the morrow. They had probably been issued with an extra ration of rum in honour of the occasion and some, very likely the pickets included, might, just might have imbibed too much. Most certainly the last thing on their minds would have been the possibility of a late night assault by the Boers. Sadly this is exactly what happened! Braybrooke and his comrades were in their night clothes when the Boers, led by De Wet, launched an unlikely early morning attack, scrambling, in their socks and bare footed, up a steep incline which was poorly guarded owing to the nature of the terrain and opened fire on tents full of sleeping men. Moving at full tilt through the encampment the Boers fired at point blank range exacting maximum casualties on men who stumbled out of their tents still wiping sleep from their eyes and feeling round for their rifles which had been strapped to their tent poles, in order to return fire. The commotion and confusion must have been intolerable as was the element of surprise and men were shot down indiscriminately.


Scaling the slope at Tweefontein

An attempt at a counter attack was made but it was rather a case of too little too late as the Boers fled back into the early morning mist as quickly as they had come leaving the assembled companies of Yeomanry to count their losses and the heavy cost of not being fully prepared. In all 69 men were to perish with many more wounded.

An eye witness account stated that, “Day was just breaking as I got on top of the hill, bearing a stretcher, - Christmas morning. Dead and wounded men were lying there in scores. The gun pits were like shambles. On the inner crest the 34th chaps were lying almost in a line as they had been mowed down as they came up the hill. Their Captain (Hall) was in front of them, literally shot to bits.”

Leading up to this sorrowful event the new draft of the IY had been training in nearby Harrismith before being assigned to Colonel Firman’s Column for Blockhouse duty (defending the blockhouses being built against Boer attacks.) Letters from survivors, post the tragedy, provide us now with a spectator view of what actually transpired.

The first was a telegram from Lord Kitchener to the War Office dated December 26 which read, in part, as follows:

“Column was encamped on slope of solitary kopje; southern side of kopje almost precipitous, and an outpost held edge of it. Northern slopes, on which camp was pitched, are gentle, and on this side outposts pushed well out; position naturally strong and also has been entrenched. Moonlight but cloudy.

Detailed reports not received but it is stated Boers climbed up precipitous southern side of kopje and, collecting near the top at 2 a.m., suddenly attacked pickets on summit in superior force before men in camp could get clear of their tents. Boers rushed through, shooting them down as they came out, officers shot trying to stem the tide.

No panic all did best, but Boers too strong, and once picket overwhelmed had all advantage. Including killed and wounded, about half column are now at Elands River Bridge, remainder are prisoners. Boers who apparently numbered about 1 200, under De Wet, behaved well leaving men to look after the wounded.”

A private letter dated 7 March 1902 provided the following detail;

“Tweefontein is about thirty miles from Harrismith, in a direct line to Bethlehem, about half way between. It is a solitary kopje with a slope up one side. The Boers came up the precipice in single file (the first two hundred taking their boots off at the bottom) there was only one place they could get up, and that was a very difficult one. They first collected on the top until there were several hundreds of them, and the first thing we knew was that they were within twenty yards of our tents, firing as they went through the camp.

We got the men out as soon as possible, and tried to rush the Boers on the top, but we only got within twenty yards of them when nearly everyone was killed or wounded. The squadrons lower down the hill had no chance, as directly after the Boers had seen they had outnumbered the first lot they marched down through the camp, firing all the way. It was all over in an hour.”

In another letter dated January 17th 1902 the writer stated;

“It was hot while we were at it. The Boers must have lost very heavily as chaps were shooting each other point blank down in the camp, it was just murder. I thought my number was up. One of our chaps was lying in the lines with his leg smashed by an explosive bullet. We had been helping the hospital orderlies to carry down the wounded. It was a ghastly job. One poor chap kept beseeching us to put him out of mess. The real Boers were very decent chaps, and did all they could, but there were a good few foreigners with them, who were very bitter.”

In yet another account from someone who must have been an officer it was mentioned that;

“At two a.m. on Christmas morning we were awakened by bullets through the tents, and on getting outside you could see that the place was thick with Boers firing straight through the camp.

Hall gave me orders to go down one row of our tents while he went down another. We then went to try and get to the top of the kopje, but before we got to the top most of the men were dead or wounded. Nearly all the men hit were with the Martini and expanding bullets; awful wounds. It was an awful sight when it was all over, and we went round collecting the dead. There were six officers and fifty two men, and about twenty five natives. These were all laid out in three rows in the blazing sun all day, while trenches were being dug to put them in. You could put your fist in some of the poor chap’s heads where they had been hit by expanding bullets.”

Braybrooke, having survived the onslaught, was one of the 200 and more Prisoners of War taken – an account by one POW, after the skirmish, reported that: -

After we surrendered there was not another shot fired, except by the Boers who murdered our niggers . . . they marched us off. It was just beginning to be daylight. . . . There must have been 1,500 Boers, and we were only 400 strong. As they were taking us off General Rundle was close by, but he only had 300 men. . . . There were 203 of us prisoners, including some Horse Artillery and Manchester M.I. It was De Wet who captured us, with four commandants and field-cornets. . . . He left the same night with 1,000 men, and left us with an escort of 40 Boers. They had our guns in their laager. The next morning they marched us off again. Some of the poor fellows had no boots, for the Boers took every stitch of clothing off us and gave us their old rags . . . they left us on the borders of Basutoland."

Another POW provided the following account: -

“We were marched in the direction of Reitz, going twenty-five miles before reaching their laager. . . . The Boers then went away with the guns and waggons, leaving a small escort with us. Some of us managed to "pinch" a waggon cover to sleep under that night, tearing it up so as to carry it for the next night. We marched at 3 a.m. next morning, going back over our old road to the Langeberg Mountains, leaving fourteen wounded to march into Bethlehem. We marched thirty six miles that day, halting four miles from Spits Kop—obliged to halt owing to the men being footsore, several having no boots at all. The next day we marched twenty miles to Naauwpoort Nek, where some Boers gave us some mealie flour and some sheep. We marched at daybreak the next day, arriving at the Caledon River at 2.30 p.m. Before crossing into Joel's territory, Basutoland, we were stripped of everything, and given ragged things in exchange. . . . ____ had only a shirt and socks left him; we did laugh. We stopped on the other side for the rest of the day, had a bath, and getting very little to eat. We got a sack each to cover us, which was better than nothing. We marched to ____ next day, where we managed to get some rations. We reached Brindisi next day. . . . We stopped at Brindisi four days, moving off at 6 a.m., arriving at Thlotse at 4.30 p.m. We reached Ficksburg next day. . . . We were with the Boers four days, doing 26 miles the first day, 86 the next, 20 the next, and 28 the next."

Harrowing accounts indeed! Once he had made his way back to his Company’s lines, he was kitted out and carried on to serve through the rest of the war. Peace being declared on 31 May 1902, Braybrooke was only repatriated to England on 28 August 1902. Having served for 1 year and 197 days he was discharged at Aldershot on 3 September 1902 to 40 Cecil Road, Rochester, Kent with a conduct and character rating of Very Good.

At a loose end employment-wise and, perhaps, battling to adjust to life out of uniform, it wasn’t long before Braybrooke made his way back to the army. At Chatham on 16 May 1905 he completed the attestation papers (3 Years with the Colours 9 Years with the Reserve) for service with the Royal Engineers. Interestingly, his second name Lewis was crossed out and replaced by Louis. Now 23 years and 3 months old, he was found to be Fit for the army and, having been assigned no. 14481 (WR/144) and the rank of Sapper, he commenced service – his Imperial Yeomanry service counting towards pension.

He was awarded a Third Class Certificate of Education whilst with the 2nd Bridging Company on 26 October 1906 and, assigned to the 5th Field Troop, R.E., he was promoted to (unpaid) Lance Corporal on 25 January 1909. This was made a Paid rank on 5 November 1909. On 10 March 1911 he was awarded his Second Class Certificate of Education. On 13 November 1911, at Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, he wed Rose Pheby.


Certificates of Education and Discharge

On 1 May 1912 he was promoted to 2nd Corporal and transferred to the Army Reserve two weeks later, on 16 May. Braybrooke was not to know that, within a couple of years, he would be back in uniform once again. The Great War (or World War I as it was later termed) broke out on the international stage on 4 August 1914 with Germany and her allies pitted against Great Britain and her allies. Braybrooke was mobilised at Chatham on 14 August 1914 and promoted to Corporal on 7 September. He was sent to the Western Front on 26 August with the British Expeditionary Force – this coincided with his transfer from the Training Depot to 26th Field Coy. R.E.

On 27 March 1915 he was promoted to Acting Sergeant and joined unit from No 1 (Works) Coy. Glamorgan Fortress Engineers TF. where he had been seconded to. On 27 November 1915 he was appointed Acting Sergeant with 26th Field Coy and then, on an unknown date, was taken ill and sent to England for treatment and convalescence, rejoining his unit from hospital in England on 11 July 1916. On 23 July 1916 he arrived at 4 G.B.D. (General Base Details) from 26th Field Coy and reverted to the rank of Corporal.

On 8 September 1916 he joined his unit from Base and was appointed Acting Sergeant with 199 Quarrying Coy. (Formed at Tunnelling Depot at Clipstone Camp 1916.) On 20 May 1917 he was promoted to Acting Company Quartermaster Sergeant and, on 21 November 1918, was promoted Temporary Company Quartermaster Sergeant of 329 Quarrying Coy. (Formed at Boulogne on 29 May 1917)


A Quarrying Company at Marquise on 28 November 1918

The work of a Quarry Company was aptly described in the following extract from the “From Mountsorrel Quarrymen and Royal Engineer Quarry Companies”

The work of the men in a Quarry Company typically involved first removing the overburden, or soil, from the rock to be quarried. The rock was then drilled and blasted from the quarry face and the blast rock was transported to the crusher to break it down to a suitable size for use as road metal, railroad ballast or concrete aggregate. Screens may have been used in conjunction with the crusher to obtain a suitable grain size distribution. The processed stone was then stockpiled until it could be hauled away by railroad, truck or wagon to its intended place of use. The equipment used consisted primarily of pneumatic compressors, pneumatic drills, pneumatic jack-hammers, rock crushers, and side-tipping wagons. The French normally used cheddite as an explosive when working the quarries, but early in 1916 the British supplied the quarries with blastine. At Marquise the work was 24 hours a day, in a shift system. It is reported that the shift continued until the required amount of stone had been quarried. A Quarryman writing home states that whilst at Marquise/Rinxent "we were split up into 3 parties for separate quarries and where I had to go was called the Happy Valley or Heureuse and was about 1 ¼ miles away but we have to rise at 5 and go to work at 5.45 and work till 5.30 with ½ hour for breakfast and 1 ¼ hours for dinner but you have so much work to do before you can give over for the day and for a company like ours we have to turn out 300 tons for the 24 hours work. So on the Monday morning May 20 we all began working in our quarry day and night shift. The quarry is called Beaulieu and I am working the first week on day work.”

Having returned to the United Kingdon for the last time Braybrooke was discharged on 14 May 1919. His Conduct and Character whilst with the Colours was recorded as Exemplary. Still regarded as a Painter and Decorator, an additional comment apropos his qualifications for civilian employment read thus, “Can ride and drive and is accustomed to the care and management of horses.”

Out of uniform once more Braybrooke returned to civilian life. The 1921 England census records that he was now a Motor Driver in the employ of Thomas & Green Ltd., Papermakers of Woodburn. The family were living at Bourne End, Buckinghamshire. The 1939 Register has Braybrooke living at Kent Cottage, Wycombe. At the age of 58 he had reverted to being a House Decorator.

Albert Lewis Braybrook passed away in Wycombe in 1966 at the age of 84.

Acknowledgements:
- Ancestry.com for Medal Rolls, Census data, Attestation papers
- Rod Braybrooke for original discharge certificate and educational certificates purchased off ebay
- Corner for the Tweefontein Chapter in his Story of the 34th (Middlesex (IY)

What an excellent read Rory. Thank you for sharing your research.

Tweefontein is an underrated action that tends not to get the attention it merits. Here's a QSA I have to an Imperial Yeomanry man who was wounded there and invalided to pension as a result.



33751 Pte. G. Thomson, 35th (Middlesex) Co. Imperial Yeomanry.
Dangerously wounded in action Tweefontein 25 December 1901.
George Thomson enlisted at 48 Duke Street, London 12 February 1901 aged 20 years 6 months. Born Banchory Ternan, Kincardineshire 18 July 1882. Occupation draper’s assistant at Marshall and Snelgrove, Oxford Street. His address is shown as Beechwood, Banchory, Aberdeenshire. On 24 December the British withdrew their infantry from Groenkop, leaving it defended by 11th Battalion (34th, 35th, 36th and 53rd Companies) Imperial Yeomanry with a pom-pom and one gun of 79th Battery RFA. The withdrawal of the infantry was observed by De Wet whose advantageous position 60 metres higher than Groenkop allowed him to easily observe the sites of the British pickets. The Boers massed at the foot of Groenkop at 1 am on Christmas Day and, removing their boots, silently climbed the hill. At 2 am, after a short rest, De Wet shouted “Burghers! Storm!” and the Boers swept over the crest, overwhelming the pickets. Having taken higher positions, they poured a murderous fire into the tented camp. The horses stampeded and about one third of the British force fled down the hill. The fight was over in minutes and the Boers looted the camp. The British lost at least 57 killed (the bodies of 25 blacks were found later), 84 wounded and 200 (including many of the wounded) were taken prisoner. He sustained a gunshot wound to his back. Admitted to Harrismith Hospital 25 December 1901 and transferred to No. 15 General Hospital, Howick 8 February 1902. A medical report dated 23 April 1902 from Howick stated that after being wounded he had profuse melaena (passing black stools as a result of gastrointestinal bleeding) for seven days, was paralysed in both legs and had retention of urine. His legs had since gradually recovered. Both entrance and exit wounds had healed. The scar of the entrance wound was about three inches to the left of his 3rd lumbar spine and that of the exit wound about three inches to the right of the same spinous process. There was distinct tenderness over his lumbar spine and he complained of pain in the lumbar region when stooping or standing up and in his left leg when walking. His legs were still a little weak but there was no evidence of paralysis. His wounds would incapacitate him from earning a livelihood by 25% for a period of six weeks and he was expected to completely recover in a few months. Invalided to England per SS Orient 22 May 1902 and admitted to Shorncliffe General Hospital. Discharged medically unfit for further service at Shorncliffe 29 June 1902. Character not stated. A medical report dated 20 May 1903 stated that he complained of pain in his back and occasional weakness in his left leg. He had been treated twice for haematuria (blood in the urine) at the Middlesex Hospital. His condition was not considered permanent but would last at least 12 months. His degree of disability was assessed at 25%. On the 1911 census he is shown as single and an engineer’s machinist at a motor manufacturer aged 28 (suggesting that he lied about his age on enlistment) living with his mother Margaret (61) and siblings Margaret (25) and James (21) at 30 Kingsway, Coventry. A medical report dated 15 September 1919 stated that he had tenderness over the sciatic notch and some resistance on his abdomen to extreme flexion of his thigh. He had lumbago and sciatica but nothing more. In 1930 he had been working for the Hillman Motor Car Company but moved to the Standard Motor Company. From at least 1938 to 1946, when he was laid off as part of a reduction of staff, he was working as an inspector for Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Ltd. He then found employment at B.O. Morris Ltd., an engineering company but his services were dispensed with in June 1951 as he was unable to cope with heavy work. He was then almost 69 years old. Died of bronchopneumonia at Gulson Hospital, Coventry 14 January 1955 aged 72. Former occupation components inspector, aircraft works.

A lovely medal with aa lovely story to it David. One to treasure.

Just realised my wife's second cousin twice removed was severely wounded at the Battle of Tweefontein - 25121 Charles George Searle 35th Company, 11th Battalion IY. His Boer War service records give no hint of him being wounded and I did not realise it until I examined the mass of medical records associated with his WW1 service in a Machine Gun Corps in the CEF. I have now found contemporary newspaper casualty lists saying he was wounded in the back and the Canadian medical records show the bullet missed his spine by 2 inches. In WW1 he spent 32 months on the Western Front before reporting sick with back problems - caused by his Boer War injury? He was a Cockney and worked in Billingsgate fish market as a foreman porter before & after the Boer War. He emigrated to Canada in 1913 with his wife and six children. There is an interesting gap of six years in the age of their children which followed him filing for divorce on the grounds of his wife's adultery but they seem to have made it up. He is related to my wife through her paternal grandmother.