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William Thomas Devonshire of the Middlesex and Kimberley Regiments 3 days 6 hours ago #98534

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William Thomas Devonshire

Died in Service – Wynberg Military Hospital - 27 June 1915

Sergeant Major, Kimberley Rifles – Langeberg Expedition 1897
Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant, Kimberley Volunteer Regiment – Anglo Boer War
Quartermaster Sergeant, Kimberley Regiment – WWI

- Coronation Medal 1902
- Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal (Bechuanaland) to SER. MAJ. W.T. DEVONSHIRE. KIM. RFS.)
- Queens South Africa Medal (CC/OFS/TVL) to 178 QR: - MR: - SJT. W.T. DEVONSHIRE. KIMBERLEY REGT.
- Kings South Africa Medal (South Africa 1901 & 1902) to 178 R.Q.M.SJT. W.T. DEVONSHIRE. KIMBERLEY R.

William Devonshire, despite his surname, wasn’t born anywhere near Devon. He first saw the light of day in 1873 in the Parish of Hillingdon, Uxbridge in the County of Middlesex; the son of Joseph Devonshire a Brickfield Labourer and his wife Ann Maria born Fields.

Four years later, at the time of the 1881 England census, the family were still living in Hillingdon with an 8 year old William “sandwiched” between siblings Mary Ann (14); Thomas (3) and baby Frederick who was a mere 7 weeks old. Tragedy struck a year later when, in June 1882 Mary Ann (Fields) died suddenly – a report in a local newspaper carried the story,

“An inquest was held…. touching the death of Mary Ann Fields, aged 15, who died suddenly on Tuesday last. Ann Marie Devonshire of Rutter’s Cottage, Yiewsley, wife of Joseph Devonshire, labourer, said the deceased was her daughter from a former husband. She had never been ill, beyond pains in her legs.” The Coroner did his best to pin the blame for the girls death on the parents, particularly her mother who had obeyed her young child’s request for no medical assistance for the ulcers on her leg for more than two years. He viewed this as wilful negligence on the mother’s part, but the Jury did not consider the neglect wilful and returned a verdict of “Death from Natural Causes.”

With the obvious tensions at home created by the demise of his stepsister it was no wonder that William sought an avenue to flee the coop, as it were. He found it in the military where, at Hounslow on 6 August 1888, at the age of 14 years and 10 months, he enlisted with the Middlesex Regiment. A Moulder by trade he claimed to be a serving member of the 4th (Militia) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. Still living at home he was 4 feet 10 inches in height, weighed 76 lbs and had a fair complexion, grey eyes and light brown hair. He had a scar on the back of his neck and was a member of the Church of England.

Having been found fit by the Doctor he was assigned no. 2483 and the rank of Boy with the 1st Battalion. On 19 December 1888 he was appointed as a Drummer but resigned this position on promotion to Lance Corporal on 2 March 1892. Promotion to Corporal followed on 20 December 1893 whilst stationed at Gibraltar and, his rise through the ranks being a fast one, to Lance Sergeant on 25 April 1896. Having amassed 12 years service with the Colours he was placed on the Army Reserve as a Lance Sergeant on 18 November 1896.

It must be added that his move to the Army Reserve took place whilst Devonshire was stationed in South Africa where he had been since the arrival of his regiment on 25 April 1896. He wasn’t out of uniform for long however, – having made his home in Kimberley, the home of Cecil John Rhodes and the Diamond Capital of the world, he joined the Kimberley Rifles as a Sergeant Major. The timing of this move was opportune for within a few months he was to be propelled into a conflict which became known as the Langeberg Campaign.

In 1895 South Africa had annexed British Bechuanaland with this territory becoming part of the Northern Cape. This annexed land was still referred to locally as Bechuanaland. In 1896 a serious epidemic of rinderpest (an infectious viral disease of cattle and some other animals) had broken out in Bechuanaland affecting many herds. The government took drastic measures and issued regulations to combat the outbreak that included the slaughtering of infected herds. The Bataplin tribe from the former Crown Colony land objected to the regulations and refused to implement them. Also a minor Bataplin chief named Galishiwe fired on a Cape Police party that came to arrest him at Pokwani in connection with the murder of a German trader living nearby.

An initial effort to arrest Galishiwe failed and finally in mid-February 1897 the Cape Government decided to form the Bechuanaland Field Force and despatch it to deal with the rebellion. Meanwhile the rebels, about 2,500 in number and armed with good rifles and plenty of ammunition, had fortified very strong defensive positions in the Langberg mountain range that runs in between Kuruman and the German South West Africa border. Large herds of cattle had been driven into these hills.
The major units in the Bechuanaland Field Force were all South African and included Devonshire’s Kimberley Rifles with 176 men In total the force was around 3,000 men strong and was commanded by Colonel G.H. Dalgety of the Cape Mounted Rifles.

In early March 1897 the Field Force marched the 150 miles from Kimberley westwards to Kuruman, where a base and a hospital were established, and then on to Ryan’s Farm which was located 16 miles east of the Langberg mountains. The first attack on the rebels was made on the Gamasep Kloof which contained a good water supply that was defended by the rebels. The plan was that the force would ride at night from the farm to the base of the mountains, dismount and leave the horses with a protection party, split into three groups, two of which would climb the slopes on either side of the kloof and prevent the rebels from escaping whilst the main column attacked up the kloof.

The southern group of 150 men under the force’s Chief Staff Officer, Major Frank Johnson, started a very stiff climb at 0200 hours on a freezing cold night, holding onto the coat tails of the man in front. Loose boulders and thorn-bush hedges added to the difficulties. At 0400 hours Johnson ordered the men to “go as you please” so that the summit could be reached by the fitter men before dawn, and this was achieved just before rebels arrived with the intention of rolling boulders down the slopes.

Lieutenant Colonel Dalgety’s main column attacked at dawn and the rebels withdrew. Johnson’s men occupied the crest line and were strongly attacked that night. At dawn they moved to a better position for a further night but resupply problems, particularly of water, were acute. Dalgety then ordered a withdrawal and the force returned to Ryan’s Farm to recuperate from its exertions. The rebellion dragged on.

For the next few weeks the force, working without accurate maps and also without useful intelligence as all natives in the area were unfriendly, patrolled and burned crops to deny them to the rebels. The Langberg range was blockaded and a few small rebel positions were captured, all being characterized by the stench of thousands of rotting cattle corpses that the rinderpest had killed. Lieutenant Colonel Dalgety requested reinforcements.

At the end of June a group of miners arrived from Kimberley to sink new wells at Ryan’s Farm and to erect more water tanks. Sixteen hundred new men joined the force. The rebels were now suffering badly from lack of food, and at the end of July their commander Chief Luka Jantje was killed in a fight at Gamasep Kloof.

Afterwards a white flag was observed flying from the main rebel stronghold. Dalgety ordered Johnson to ride up the mountain and arrange a capitulation with Chief Toto, the new rebel commander. On approaching the rebels Johnson’s party was fired at and his escort retaliated, killing Toto. The remainder of the rebels, apart from Galishiwe who vanished, surrendered as they were now incapable of further resistance. The drawn-out Langeberg Campaign was finally over.

Those who had fought were awarded the Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal with clasp “BECHUANALAND” – this medal was only authorised by Queen Victoria in 1900 and had to be applied for. Devonshire’s medal is named to the Kimberley Rifles.

Back at home in Kimberley he turned his attention to affairs of the heart and, on 20 October 1897 in the Presbyterian Church he wed 17 year old Georgina Florence Crumplin (with her parents consent). He was described as a 27 year old Soldier.

As the happy couple settled down to a life of domestic bliss war clouds were already rumbling. The abortive Jameson Raid which had taken place a year before the Bechuanaland Campaign had further soured Britain’s already strained relations with the two Dutch-speaking Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Instigated by President Kruger this led to a massive armaments drive with the purchase of over 30 000 Mauser rifles and ammunition and several large pieces of ordinance from Krupp and Creusot. The ZAR and her OFS ally were making preparations for war.

As the 19th century drew to an end the storm clouds burst and war was declared on 11 October 1899. The very next day the Burgher Commandos of the two Republics surged across the Natal and Cape borders. Within three days the bustling town of Kimberley was surrounded and besieged by the Boers. Colonel Kekewich, the officer in command had only a small regular army presence in the form of the Loyal North Lancaster Regiment and some Royal Artillery men with whom he could mount a defence. What saved the day was the Boers reluctance to launch a concerted, full-scale assault on the town and the creation of a Town Guard – made up of ordinary citizens – who were deployed in the many redoubts around the town. Most of these men were awarded the Queens Medal with Defence of Kimberley clasp for their not inconsiderable efforts.

But where was Devonshire? Surely a man with the rank of Sergeant Major and one with 12 years military experience to boot would have played a pivotal role in the defence effort? This would doubtless have been the case but Devonshire was not in South Africa when the first shots of the Anglo Boer War were fired in anger. The publication “Kimberley Under Siege – the Fiftieth Anniversary” provides the answer to his whereabouts on page 27 of Chapter VII,

“When war was declared three Sergeants of the Kimberley Regiment were on leave in England, and immediately sailed for the Cape. One of them, Sergeant W. Devonshire, became attached to his old battalion, the Middlesex Regiment, and arrived with the Relief Column.”

His medical records tell us that he boarded the S.S. Avondale Castle bound for South Africa on 2 December 1899. Whilst aboard he was inoculated with anti-typhoid serum and, having disembarked, joined the South African Field Force on New Year’s Day 1900.

So there it was, through a happy circumstance Devonshire had escaped the privations of the 120 day-long siege. He was still to play his part though. After the relief of the town the Kimberley and Diamond Fields mounted troops were amalgamated under the title 'Kimberley Mounted Corps' and were, according to the despatch of 21st May 1900 600 strong.

They operated, under Lieutenant Colonel Peakman, with Lord Methuen in the Boshof district of the Orange Free State and were present on 5th April 1900 when Lord Methuen was successful in surrounding a detachment under Villebois de Marueil. The kopje on which the enemy had taken up a position was, after shell and rifle fire, assaulted with the bayonet. The enemy lost 7 killed, 11 wounded, and 51 unwounded prisoners. In his report of 6th April Lord Methuen spoke in terms of praise of the way the troops worked under Lieutenant Colonel Peakman. The corps continued with Lord Methuen chiefly about Boshof during April, and frequently had skirmishing.
Devonshire went on to serve with the Kimberley Volunteers in the Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal as the Boers were driven, inexorably, back into their own territories and hounded and herded into eventual submission on 31 May 1902. For his efforts he was awarded the Queens and Kings Medals to go with his Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal.

He was also chosen to be one of the ten Kimberley men to represent their regiment at the Coronation of His Majesty Edward VII in London in 1902. Being part of this contingent meant sailing to England where, on arrival, the men went into tents in anticipation of the grand event. Owing to an appendicitis operation on His Majesty the coronation was delayed by several months which would have given Devonshire an opportunity to visit family and friends.

On his return to Kimberley he settled down to domestic life once more – this was however, to be rudely interrupted twelve years later by the outbreak of the Great War – World War I – on 4 August 1914. The South African Government under Louis Botha was asked by the Imperial Government to take control of German South West Africa and, after a short lull wherein an internal rebellion by those opposed to South Africa’s involvement had been quelled, troops were sent to the territory.

Assigned no. L5576 and the rank of Quartermaster Sergeant with the 1st Kimberley Regiment, Devonshire enlisted once more on 24 August 1914. His next of kin address was 13 Goodwin Street, Kimberley. Tragically his war was to be cut short – admitted to Wynberg Hospital in Cape Town with Pernicious Anaemia – he was described as Dangerously Ill on 15 June 1915. His status changed to Critically Ill a day later and, showing no signs of improvement, he passed away at 1.30 a.m. on 27 June 1915. No medals were claimed for him and his death notice revealed that the cause of death was Cancer of the Stomach which he had suffered with for four months. He is interred in St. John’s Cemetery in Wynberg. He was 44 years of age and was survived by his wife and five children – Edith (16); May (15); Dorothy (12); William (9) and Thomas (4).