TOPIC:

For some time I realised that the scandinavians on british side were as many and more as on the boer side. The Boer Scandinavian Corps has been much written about, as is fitting because of their stand against the Highlanders at Magersfontein. Little is known about the Scandinavians on the british side though.

As far as I have found, at least four officers served with the british: Arvid Wester, Henning Kinberg, Ivor Thord-Gray and Erland Mossberg. All in different units. We have the four Larsen brothers in the Durban Light Infantry, and in my collection is Gustaf Edwardson of Kitcheners Fighting Scouts (thanks Rory!) In that regiment about 20 scandinavians are known to have served, more about this at a late time.

One addition is a two claps QSA to Trooper 27205 John Johansen of Driscoll's Scouts. John was a 35 year old Norwegian (at that time under swedish sovereignty) shoemaker, married to Maggie and residing in Paarl in the Cape Colony. He attested in 1901 and served for a number of months with the scouts.

With the number of scandinavians known in these few locally raised regiments (and there were serveral more), I have no doubts as to there being more scandinavians in british than in boer service. This will result in a part of our military history from this period to be rewritten.

In the late 1870’s/early 1880’s many Norwegians emigrated to South Africa.

One such party was the Marburg settlers, many from the Ålesund (between Bergen and Trondheim) area in Norway.

On July 20, 1882, the first Norwegians ventured aboard the steamship Lapland for their 39-day voyage from Hull, England to Mzimkulu near Port Shepstone, South Africa. Arriving in Africa on August 28, 1882, the Norwegians were brought ashore the following day.

50 lots were for allocating, and a Norwegian community exists there to this day, commemorating their roots.

One participating family was Håhjem, a ship builders family allocated lot 13 in the subsequent lottery.

With the family then were a number of children, among them the sons Edvard, Karl and Ole.

In the Norwegian community all were engaged in the band ”Fram” as seen in the photo.

(karl just below brother Edvard in tails, he has a grey suit and an a Cornet. Ole to the right in a darker suit with the bass).

When the second boer war broke out, most enlisted in the ”Border Mounted Rifles”, and may well have been in their predecessor, Umzimkulu Mounted Rifles, raised by colonel Bru-de-Wold CMG, DSO, also Norwegian.

As seen by the next photo, the Håhjem brothers soon changed instruments. Karl and Ole are seen to the right and left of the machine gun, two other Norwegians are in the middle.

They served at Laing’s Nek, Defence of Ladysmith and got the Traansval Clasp.

Karl Haajems (as his name is confoundingly spelled on medal and roll, but that’s the curse/charm of collecting to scandinavians) medal is on it’s way to me after a tip from SWB/Meurig.

In his later life he followed in his fathers footsteps as a shipbuilder. He died in 1944, unmarried.

Trooper 699 A Ekblad, Johannesburg Mounted Rifles.
Adolf Ekblad was born near Nyköping in Sweden in 1878. The family lived at Hjermestad Manor, where his father was a well off farmer, title “estate owner” roughly translated from Swedish. As a younger brother (one of four brothers and three sisters), he had to look outside the farm for a future income. One of his brothers chose the sea, and eventually became a Master. In 1898 Adolf chose to emigrate to South Africa, arriving in the Johannesburg area.

At first he worked in the gold mining industry, but with the outbreak of the Boer War other things called. For some reason he enlisted in the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles, serving as Trooper no 699. Sometimes the enlistment of foreign subjects in either the Boer or South African forces was due to unemployment or to a wish to show support and have an easier integration in the new country.

The Johannesburg Mounted Rifles, and Adolf, saw service in Transvaal, the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State. He is on a nominal roll for the unit showing men enlisting after july 1901, with a discharge date of 16.12.01.

When his medal was issued, it was with the Transvaal clasp. Later it was noted in his papers that he was issued a further three clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State and South Africa 1901. These clasps were sent in 1908 to GOC Cape Town.

He was married three times. His first marriage was to Gladys Lawrence, a marriage that losted only for a short while. His next marriage was in 1910, and now he married Alice Maude Lukin, a relation of sir Hugh Timson Lukin, former Lieutenant-Colonel of the Cape Mounted Rifles. The marriage took place in Cape Town. The couple moved to Southern Rhodesia, where Adolf managed a pineapple plantation. The couple had two children before Alice Maude died in 1914.
Adolf remarried some years later, with a widow Lillian Ann Uren (born Rademann). Their marriage was childless, and lasted until Lillian Ann’s death in 1944. Adolf died in 1949, at the general hospital in Salisbury (Harare)

Excellent medal collection, made even better with the biographical information! Please keep ‘em coming.

You have a fantastic niche collection Lars. It must have taken alot of time and patience to build up.
Thanks for sharing.
Steve

Hi Lars, thanks for this interesting thread. As for your “For some time I realised that the Scandinavians on British side were as many and more as on the Boer side” a distinction should perhaps be made between the men who were of Scandinavian descent and fully integrated into a community by the time the war broke out and those Scandinavians who made their way over specifically to join the fight (The Volunteers). Of the latter category it seems that the vast majority ended up fighting on the Boers’ side.