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Thaddeus John Coltsman-Cronin

Corporal, British South Africa Police – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal (RHODESIA) to 124 CORP: T.C. CRONIN. B.S.A. POLICE

Thadeus Cronin was born on 7 March 1870 in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland to John Cronin, a Farmer, and his wife Catherine “Kate” (born Leahy). The Coltsman-Cronin’s come from an ancient line and have quite a pedigree in Eire. The surname appears to be interchangeable with Cronin-Coltsman appearing in some family histories.

Little is known of his early life but, in the mid 1890’s, Cronin decided that a move to South Africa was on the cards. Accordingly, he set sail for the Dark Continent and, on arrival, worked his way to what had become known as Rhodesia. The territory was still largely undiscovered although the Matabele and Mashona tribes had made it their home for centuries. Still, western civilisation had only recently begun to make its presence felt, much to the chagrin of Lobengula, the Matabele Chief and others who, despite making lucrative treaties with Cecil John Rhodes and others, resented the white man’s encroachment on their lands.

This gave rise to a number of wars, including the Matabele and Mashona Rebellions of 1893 and 1896/97 but by the time Cronin arrived in the country the warring tribes had been suppressed and the threat of military engagement with them diminished. There was, however, an urgent and pressing need for fresh recruits to bolster the ranks of the British South Africa Police. Decimated by the loss of most of their members in the abortive Jameson Raid of 1896, they had embarked on a recruiting drive as a result of which, very possibly, Cronin had put up his hand for a position with them, enlisting with the Matabeleland Division on 16 October 1897 – after the last of the “troubles” were over. The names he provided were Thadeus Coltsman Cronin – the “John” discarded in the interests of expediency.

What was becoming an increasing cause for concern as the last year of the 19th century neared its end, was the imminent threat of war with the Transvaal Republic to the south.

The Anglo Boer War between the two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State and the might of Imperial Britain was declared on 11 October 1899 but, almost in anticipation of this, a large party of Boers had been seen in the neighbourhood of Fort Tuli, on the Rhodesian side of the Z.A.R./Rhodesia border, in the weeks leading up to the outbreak of war. This Boer force had, evidently either got cold feet, or had been ordered south to be deployed in the coming assault on Mafeking and other nearby settlements that the Boer High Command were planning.

An advanced party of some 100 B.S.A.P. men were sent to man Fort Tuli with 3 guns and 2 .450 maxims to improve the defences of the place, although it is not known if Cronin was one of their number; another detachment was deployed on the railway north of Gaberones under Colonel Nicholson, the Commandant of the Police. Both these bodies took part in endless skirmishes and had to keep watch over a very extended front. In the earlier stages of the war they did particularly valuable work - when war was declared their strength was 1,106 of all ranks,—a most useful body of trained horsemen, good shots, and wily to the last degree. The bulk of the regiment was employed on the Rhodesian border, used on patrol work.



Cronin took part in the war as a Corporal, no. 124 with no. II Division (Bulawayo) of the B.S.A.P. (having transferred at some point from the Matabeleland Division. He took his discharge on 27 April 1900. For his efforts he was awarded the Queens Medal with Rhodesia clasp.

Concurrent to his service with the B.S.A.P., Cronin was employed by the Justice Department with effect from 8 March 1900 on an annual salary of £270. Specifically, he was the Clerk and D.S. at the Manzinyama District Court in the Gwanda district and, according to the Rhodesia Civil List, was still there in 1902. At some point he moved south of the border, continuing in the legal profession. What followed were a series of postings as Resident Magistrate. One of the first of these was at Kroonstad in the Orange Free State – a town which only a few years prior, during the Boer War, had been at the centre of that country’s last flickering efforts to continue the war.

On 9 December 1907 he presided over a case wherein, after a dispute between the mine manager Fradgley and Paul Mahametsi, a mine employee who was viewed by the other black employees as a chief or leader, 202 black employees of the mine broke out of the mine compound and surrounding fence by force. They stated that their intentions were to return home. The black employees were arrested and brought before the Resident Magistrate of the Kroonstad District T.J. Coltsman Cronin. He found the accused guilty of contravening certain sections of the Orange River Colony Mining of Precious Stones Ordinance of 1904. Paul Mahametsi as perceived leader of the group was fined £50 or in default six months imprisonment with hard labour whereas the remainder of the accused were fined £2 each or two weeks hard labour. Mahametsi’s fine was collected by the remaining black mineworkers among themselves and after it was paid he returned home to Lesotho by train (Free State Archives, VAB, G, 88, 270)

That Cronin was still in Kroonstad two years later is evidenced by yet another case over which he presided – this case took place on 6 August 1909 on which day an application was made by Ali Mohamed to the Resident Magistrate of Kroonstad to be allowed to settle in the Orange River Colony and specifically to start working as a waiter and a cook at the boarding house of J.J. Rueff at Voorspoed Mine (Free State Archives, VAB, CO, 499, 18/151).

Mohamed was an Egyptian who had resided in Johannesburg since 1902, and was required by existing legislation to apply for permission to settle in either the Transvaal Colony or Orange River Colony. On 5 November 1909 Mohamed received permission to reside in the Orange River Colony and start working as a waiter and cook at the boarding house of J.J. Rueff. His affidavit to acknowledge receipt of the permit includes his signature as well as the signatures of the Resident Magistrate of Kroonstad T.J. Coltsman Cronin, the general manager of the Voorspoed Diamond Mining Company John Femlin Fradgley as well as the boarding house keeper J.J. Rueff. The fact that the general manager of the mining company signed as witness for the affidavit dealing with a future employee of the boarding house seemingly owned by a private individual J.J. Rueff suggests a close association between this boarding house and the mine itself. The implication is that the building at the site and this boarding house of Rueff are one and the same. The possibility that only one boarding house was located at the mine at the time is supported by an inventory of buildings and equipment at the mine that was undertaken on 31 December 1912.

In 1920 he was the Resident Magistrate of Koffiefontein in the Fauresmith district of the Orange Free State – it was here that he was required to sign off on his own daughter’s death certificate. Maud Ann only lived to the age of 1 before dying of Acute Encephalitis.

The following year he was Resident Magistrate in another Free State town – Senekal – where, according to the Government Gazette of 29 July 1921, he was the Chairman of the Rent Board for the district. In 1927 he was the R.M. in Mossel Bay on the Cape South Coast but, according to the Government Gazette dated 26 August 1927, he was to be promoted on transfer to Witbank in the Transvaal.

Tragedy struck on 3 May 1933 when his eldest son, Harry John, who had been born in Rhodesia in 1903; died from a fractured skull incurred in a vehicle accident in Johannesburg. By 1941 Cronin and his wife had retired to Durban which is where, on 21 April 1941, they were to hear of the death of yet another of their sons – Edward – who died in an Aircraft Accident, crash landing at Wadi Halfa whilst serving with the South African Air Force in WWII.

Thaddeus Cronin died on 26 November 1946 at Pebble Ridge, Doonside, Natal South Coast. He was 72 years and 9 months old and a Retired Magistrate. His normal residential address was 59 Grosvenor Court, Snell Parade, Durban. He was survived by his wife and two surviving daughters. He had been bedridden for several years but finally succumbed to Cardiac Arrest.

His wife, Maud, passed away eighteen years later, on 20 July 1964 at the age of 90. She was in receipt of his military pension.

Acknowledgements:
- 1902 Rhodesia Civil List
- Ancestry for birth details
- Familysearch for Probate and Death Notice
- SA Government Gazettes (various) for Magistrate postings
- ARCHAEOLOGICAL MITIGATION UNDERTAKEN AT THE VOORSPOED MINE OLD BUILDING, DE BEERS VOORSPOED MINE, KROONSTAD, FREE STATE PROVINCE Version 2.0 5 February 2014