TOPIC:

Ernest Scott Foster

Private, Army Post Office Corps – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal (CC/OFS/SA01/02) to 756 PTE E.S. FOSTER. A.P.O. CORPS.

Ernie Foster was born in the Parish of Portsea, Portsmouth in the County of Hampshire on 3 September 1872 the son of William, a Stationer and News Agent, and his wife Mary Ann Esther, born Jones.

The family would appear to have been reasonably affluent and were resident at 99 Fratton Street in Portsmouth at the time of the 1881 England census. Ernest, 9, was at home with siblings William (11), Herbert (4) and Ethel (1).

Ten years later, at the time of the 1891 England census, the family were still in the same street but had moved up (or down) to 109. His brother William had left home leaving Ernest (19) a Grocer’s Assistant by occupation, at home with Herbert, Ethel and Archibald, a new arrival since the previous census.

Three years later, his schooling complete, Foster found employment with the General Post Office on 4 July 1894, as a Sorting Clerk and Telegraph Learner at their Portsmouth office. Having been assigned no. 232948 he commenced the beginning of a lifelong career with the Post Office.


W.Pink & Sons - Foster's first employer

As the 19th century drew to a close, the war clouds which had been looming over the southern tip of Africa, between the two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State and the might of Imperial Britain, burst into open warfare on 11 October 1899. Initially, with so few Regular Army men on the ground in her Colonies of the Cape and Natal, the United Kingdom experienced a number of military setbacks as it became glaringly obvious that the Boers weren’t going to be the push-over it was initially thought.

The call went out for reinforcements and, aside from additional Regular Army men, an Imperial Yeomanry was raised along with a number of contingents from other Colonies. As the conflict raged the number of troops swelled into the hundreds of thousands. Quite naturally, all of these men needed to feel a tangible attachment to their home country – this took the form of regular letters from the family and other loved ones as well as parcels with treats and with special items of comfort. Enter the fray then the Army Post Office Corps whose ubiquitous task it was to ensure that the unceasing to and fro of the sea of mail to and from home, reached its destination.

Foster was already 30 years old when, at Portsmouth on 7 October 1901, he attested with the Army Post Office Corps for service in South Africa. The war had been raging for almost two years by the time he completed the requisite forms. A Sorting Clerk and Telegraphist by trade he had been in the employ of William Pink & Sons in Portsmouth for four years before joining the G.P.O. He was also a serving member of the 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment.

Physically he was 5 feet 5 ½ inches in height, weighed 136 lbs and had a fresh complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair. He had a scar on his left thigh by way of distinguishing marks about his person. His next of kin was his brother H.M Foster of 31 Burleigh Road, Kingston, Portsmouth. Assigned no. 756 and the rank of Private he spent until 8 November 1901 at home before sailing for South Africa.

But what of the Army Post Office Corps? The following notes are taken from Maurice's History of the War in South Africa, Vol 4. They describe, in some detail, what the Corps got up to and the challenges they faced: -

At the beginning of the campaign the strength of this corps was three officers, eighty-nine other ranks, composing one company of the 24th Middlesex (Post Office) Volunteers. These men, like all the 24th Middlesex, were drawn from the London Post Offices, and were those who had been specially enlisted for a period of six years in the Army Reserve to render them available for foreign service. This original force, which proceeded to the seat of war in October, 1899, soon became totally inadequate to the growing needs of the Army. Reinforcing drafts followed rapidly, drawn at first from the 24th Middlesex, but later from the postal services of all the provinces of Great Britain, and even to a small extent from those of Canada, Australia, Cape Colony and India. The greatest strength attained at the height of the campaign was ten officers, a warrant officer, and 396 other ranks, with, in addition, twenty civilian clerks and 100 soldiers attached for orderly duties.

The system was founded upon a Base Office at Cape Town. From this radiated a number of forwarding offices, which served for intermediate despatch of mail matter, and for the reception and forwarding of cross-post letters. Next, the fixed camp and station post offices, seventy-one in number, dealt directly with the receipt and delivery of mails to the troops at and around normal centres of operation. Finally, there was a system of travelling post offices, which, traversing the railways in box trucks and sorting carriages specially fitted up by the Imperial Military Railways, delivered and received mail matter, cashed and sold postal orders at any spot upon the lines where their services were required. The bulk of the work which fell to the Army Post Office Corps was naturally that of the distribution of the inward mails and the exporting of the mails for oversea. The former presented extra- ordinary difficulties. The railway service, being completely beyond the control of the Post Office Department, could not be relied on for automatic delivery of the mails. Trains were apt to be delayed for military purposes, or by the enemy who frequently destroyed them. In the latter case the Post Office men on the train would be called upon to take rifle in hand and defend their charge. On two occasions travelling post offices were captured by the enemy.


Sorting the mail

Another complication was that units and individuals were in incessant movement and flux. Forces were broken up or transported rapidly from one end of the theatre of war to the other, or were perhaps unapproachable, or even not to be traced at the required moment. Individual officers and men constantly, and several times in a short period, left their units for duty in other parts, for hospital, for leave of absence, or for home. Their letters and parcels were frequently insufficiently addressed. " Private Smith, Field Force, S. Africa," was an actual conundrum which regularly confronted the Post Office officials. Many correspondents, too, instead of quoting the corps of the intended receiver of their missive, would merely inscribe his last address, possibly that of a place at which he had only halted for a few hours or minutes. Finally, very many men—e.g., the batches of Imperial Yeomanry—arrived in South Africa without regimental numbers, posted to no unit, and generally almost unidentifiable as soon as they had disappeared into the enormous whirlpool of the campaign. In short, there was no difficulty with regard to the actual identification of packages which did not present itself in full measure at every arrival of a mail.

With all these, and many other formidable difficulties the APOC coped with, in general, extraordinary ingenuity and success The greatest obstacle in the early part of the campaign, that of getting timely information of the multitudinous movements of detached units and men, was surmounted by the institution of a system of rolls, which were sent weekly from all hospitals, depots, departmental corps, casualty offices, etc., into the Base Office at Cape Town. Alphabetical lists of names were carefully compiled from these. So elaborate became the system of listing, that the APOC was often able to furnish other military departments with the whereabouts of an individual who had got out of ken. The mode adopted of distributing an incoming mail was briefly as follows: Since mobile units instead of fixed stations had to be dealt with, the sorting, instead of being divided into "roads," and divided according to military units. It was next sub-sorted into twenty-four alphabetical divisions, which on comparison with the above-mentioned alphabetical lists, furnished at once information regarding any detached addressee. The "redirections" were divided into two classes : (i.) "ordinary," i.e., individuals who were constantly absent from their proper units on detached duty ; (ii) "casual," such as patients in hospital, persons on leave of absence etc. An APOC officer was allocated a certain batch of units as his peculiar charge, and these he catered for, irrespective of their geographical position at the moment. To economise time, labour and expense in telegraphing, etc., each unit was given a code number, which it bore throughout the campaign in all the offices of the APOC. Latterly, when the troops became almost exclusively embodied in mobile columns, columns superseded corps as Post Office units. The mails for the several columns were then made up separately, so that even if consigned to an abandoned address, they could be redirected en bloc, diverted to any point, and, if necessary, follow the columns about until caught up.

Where Foster fitted in as far as outlying station or mobile post office is concerned we are unable to say – what is known, thanks to the clasps on his medal, is that he was active in the Cape Colony and Orange Free State.

With the signing of the Peace Accord on 31 May 1902 the bloodshed came to an end and many of the battalions and regiments who had been fighting in South Africa moved off – either homeward bound to England or to some other far-flung corner of the Empire. Foster, a late arrival as we have seen, was set to remain in the country for some time. Sent down to be stationed in Cape Town he blotted his copybook when, on 3 September 1902, he was found “Drunk in town” at about 12.20 a.m. An alternate charge was being “Absent until arrested at about 12.20 a.m. on the 4th instant.” He was Admonished for these transgressions. The statement from Sergeant Major Thompson of the Military Mounted Police read thus: -

“I was on duty in Darling Street about 12 on 4.9.02 when I saw the abovenamed sitting on the chairs which surround the Parade (Grand Parade in the heart of Cape Town). When asked if he was on pass he said “Yes”, when asked to produce it he had none. I found the prisoner was drunk and held him in the main barracks guard room.”

After a year’s service Foster’s term of engagement was over. On 2 October 1902 he was discharged, time expired. His address was 7 Drummond Road, Portsmouth. For his efforts Foster was awarded the Queens Medal with the appropriate clasps. Back on home turf he resumed employment with the Post Office. On 19 September 1904 in Shedfield, Southampton he wed 25 year old Florence Drew. He was 32 at the time and a Civil Service Clerk living in Portsmouth.

According to the 1911 England census Foster and his wife were living at 26 Connaught Road, North End, Portsmouth. He was recorded as being a Post Office Clerk and the family had grown with the addition of two month old Reginald Scott Foster. Despite being a Clerk, Foster was sufficiently flush to be able to afford the services of 16 Domestic Servant, Florence Elizabeth Daysh.

At the time of the 1939 Register – no census was taken in 1941 thanks to World War II – Foster and family had moved to Winchester where he lived at “Harecroft” along with Ethel Foster who was born on 23 September 1892 and could not have been his first wife, Florence. He was listed as being a retired P.O. Sorting Clerk and Telegraphist.

Ernest Scott Foster passed away on 5 March 1941 just shy of his 70th year. He was living at 3 Uplands Crescent, Fareham at the time of his death and bequeathed the sum of £2467 to his son, Reginald. An article in the Hampshire Telegraph of 14 March related the cause of death:

“Pensioner’s Sudden Death – Having received a report from Dr P.J. Filose that death was from heart disease the Coroner (Major Gerald Warner) has decided not to hold an inquest on Mr Ernest Scott Foster (68) of 3 Uplands Crescent, who collapsed and died in Harrison Road on Wednesday of last week. Mr Foster, who died on the way to withdraw his pension from the postal service, formerly lived in Winchester, and had been a semi-invalid from November 1939. He had been attended by Dr Filose since he moved to Fareham last December.”

Acknowledgements:
- Ancestry for census data, medal rolls, service papers
- Maurice for passage on the APOC
- British Newspaper Archive for press articles

Rory,
A most informative account of the APOC. They certainly had their work cut out during the campaign! Letters from home were probably all that kept Tommy Atkins sane, thanks to the efforts of blokes like Ernie.
Thanks for posting this (pardon the pun!).
Steve