TOPIC:

Albert Charles Marsh

Prisoner of War – Surrender of a British patrol - Hekpoort, 30 July 1901

Private, 1st Royal Dragoons – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal (OFS/TVL) to 4610 Pte. A.C. MARSH. 1/Rl. Drgns.

Albert Marsh was born in North Shields, Northumberland on 25 March 1867 and was known, confusingly, as both Charles Albert Marsh and Albert Charles Marsh (with the odd Arthur Charles March thrown in now and again to muddy the waters). He was the son of Mary and Charles Marsh, a Mariner by occupation.

According to the 1871 England census, a 4 year old Albert was at home in North Lane, Harting with his parents and siblings, Fanny (13), William (5) and Walter (1). Mr Marsh had retired from a life at sea at the early age of 38.

Ten years later, at the time of the 1881 England census, the family had moved to East Harting Road in Harting. Albert was now 14 and employed as a Grocer’s Assistant. Three new siblings had made their presence known since the previous census – Frederick (9), Mervin (7) and Mary (3). Towards the end of that decade, on 11 January 1889 to be precise, a 21 year and 9 month old Marsh attested at Canterbury for Short Service with the 3rd Dragoon Guards. Perhaps of passing interest, he was initially named as Arthur Charles March but this was deleted in favour of Albert Charles Marsh.

Having been passed as Fit by the Doctor, he was assigned no. 3194 and assigned to B Squadron. Physically he was 5 feet 9 inches in height, weighed 138 lbs. and had a ruddy complexion, brown eyes and auburn hair. By way of distinctive marks about his person he had a tattoo comprising four dots and the letters “A.M.” on the back of his left forearm. He was a Groom by occupation.

On the 9th January 1896 at Shorncliffe he was transferred to the Army Reserve having spent 3 years and 45 days in India (from 3 September 1889 until 18 October 1892) and South Africa (from 19 October 1892 until 22 October 1895). As the end of the 19th century loomed the long-simmering tensions between Great Britain and the two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State in South Africa burst into open war on the 11th October 1899.

Marsh was posted to the 1st Dragoons on 18 January 1900, assigned no. 4619 and recalled to the Colours on 6 June 1900 – eight months after the war had commenced and after the British forces, having weathered a number of initial reverses in fortune, had successfully taken the two capitals of Bloemfontein and Pretoria. This in no way spelled the end of the war, the wily Boers merely shifted their attentions and their energies from pitched battles to small hit and run type operations which kept thousands of British and Colonial troops occupied for a prolonged period of time. Sailing aboard the S.S. Lake Erie, he docked in Durban on 6 July 1900 and made his way to the front.

Deployed in the Orange River Colony (this what had become of the Orange Free State after the fall of Bloemfontein) and the Transvaal, Marsh would have been part and parcel of the great drives undertaken by Lord Roberts to hound the Boers into submission by hemming them in to tight corners from whence there was no escape. This policy met with varying degrees of success – the more able and competent the Boer Commander the more likely he was able to slip through the cordon and live to fight another day.


Jeppe's Map of Hekpoort relative to Johannesburg and Pretoria

As Marsh awoke on the morning of the 30thJuly 1900 to face a bleak wintery Highveld day in the Western Transvaal he would have had no inkling of what lay in store for him and his three comrades out on patrol in the beautiful Hekpoort Valley near the Magaliesberg. Whilst descending the rough side of a high kopje they were “held up” (as the official investigation into the incident put it) by four Boers concealed behind some rocks. Being covered by the Boers rifles, the small band of men meekly surrendered without offering any resistance.

Fortunately for them, the Boers, at this stage of the war, had neither the inclination nor the facilities to take them as prisoners and, having surrendered their arms, horses and equipment (and no doubt their clothes), the men were set free on the veldt to make their way back to their lines as best they could.

As alluded to, an official investigation was launched into the circumstances surrounding the surrender with the official verdict by the Court of Enquiry being that: - “They (the patrol) were not sufficiently extended but the ground was very rough and so placed them at a great disadvantage. In any case the patrol was too small for such a country.”

In order to gain insight into the terrain that Marsh and his comrades were traversing as well as what operations were underway at the time, it is worth looking at an article by “Our Special Correspondent” which appeared in a number of British newspapers after the incident. It read, in part, thus: -

“Pretoria, August 8th (1901) – I have just returned from the operations in the Hekpoort Valley of the Magaliesberg. Accompanying Lord Basing’s column, I marched from Welverdiend upon Holfontein, leaving Krugersdorp on the right. We were watched throughout by an observation patrol of Boers, reporting our movements to Kemp on the Magaliesberg. At Holfontein we disturbed another patrol, our advance guard securing the roast fowl and porridge which the enemy had prepared. On the following day we crossed the line of Colonel Kekewich’s column, escorting a convoy to Naaauwpoort. We then arrived in the difficult country of the Magaliesberg by way of the Zeeikoeishoek Pass adjacent to Vlakfontein.


Map showing Hekpoort

Until this country is seen it is impossible to realise its difficulties as a theatre of military operations. It may be said without exaggeration that it resembles the Maidan of Tirah as regards the succession of impossible hills, divided by broken and nullah-intersected valleys and ravines. The parties of Boers, as is now the custom, lay low, both flanks avoiding contact unless they were able to seize upon a weak patrol at a disadvantage.”

Having found his way back to his regiment, Marsh continued on with the regiment who, in consequence of a concentration of Boers in the south of the Orange River Colony, were brought by rail to Springfontein in August 1901, and thence proceeded to operate in the south-east of that colony. On 11 December 1901, his term of engagement having expired, Marsh was returned to England where, at Shorncliffe on 13 January 1902, he was discharged from the army with a Character Rating of Exemplary. His intended place of residence was 2 Woodbridge, Leatherhead, Surrey. For his efforts he was awarded the Queens Medal with the clasps for the Transvaal and Orange Free State, issued off the roll dated 1 November 1901 at Bethulie, O.R.C.

Now back home Marsh had time for romance – marrying 33 year old Ellen Carpenter at the Parish Church in Chessington, Surrey on 4 September 1903. He was 35 years of age and described as a General Labourer. Both were living at Malden Rushett. Ellen would have been heavily pregnant with Albert William who was born two months later on 11 December 1903.

The 1911 England census revealed that Marsh and his family, which had grown with the addition of 5 year old Nelly Louisa, were living at 2 Tolworth Park Road in Surbiton. The pater familias was still a General Labourer. Interestingly, the census enumerator also disclosed that Albert junior, now 7, was partly deaf.

Three years later, on 4 August 1914, the world woke up to a war on an unprecedented scale – the Great War, between Great Britain and her allies and the Kaiser’s Germany and his allies was to last until 11 November 1918 and leave a path of destruction in its wake which would take the world years to recover from. Marsh, now 47 years and 6 months old, wasted almost no time before offering his services to the Empire once more. At Surbiton on 14 November 1914 he attested for 1 Year’s Service in the United Kingdom and was assigned no. 30495.

Providing his address as 2 Phipp’s Cottages, Clayton Road, Hook, Surbiton he was embodied with the 6th East Surrey Battalion (the Railway Companies of the Surrey national Reserve) as a Private. Seeing only home service, he was discharged on 7 March 1919 – four months after the cessation of hostilities with a Character rating of Very Good. His total service being 4 years and 114 days. Not having left home soil he was nor eligible for a medal.

Albert Marsh appeared in the 1939 Register (there was no census taken in 1941) living at 61 Addison Gardens in Surbiton. He is listed as Charles Albert, an Old Age Pensioner and former Builder’s Labourer. He was 72 years old and with his wife Ellen and both children – Albert, a Bar Tender and Louisa, a Laundry Worker – both unmarried.

He passed away from General Decay at the age of 79 on 16 February 1946 whilst living at 52 Tuller’s Avenue, Tolworth near Surbiton in Surrey. As a Royal Defence Corps pensioner he was in receipt of 10/- per week



Acknowledgements:
- Meurig Jones for WO Surrender Reference
- This forum for Jeppe's Map

Rory, can you point me in the right direction to download the high resolution Jeppe map of the Transvaal which you use?
I see versions of it in various web sites but none seem quite right.
thanks
Rob

The version I used is in this thread Rob www.angloboerwar.com/forum/13-miscellany...ia-august-1900#94449

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Regards

Rory