Mark - a search of British Newspapers of the past produces absolutely no hits for Treurfontein/Trenafontein/Trenanfontein before 1900.
Treurfontein receives numerous hits during 1900/1901/1902.
Trenafontein receives a number of hits but they are limited to early 1902 and concern a casualty list issued by the War Office regarding the events 21st January 1902 and subsequent questions asking where is Trenafontein. In this period there are only two hits for Trenanfontein and they are obviously typos for Trenafontein.
My interpretation of this is that Truerfontein was a small place in SA which did not excite the interest of editors of British newspapers until the advent of the Boer War and then only when it had moved into the guerrilla phase. Trenafontein was an “invention” probably caused by somebody misreading a telegram or other communication.
Why were so many questions asked about the location of Trenafontein? By 1902 the British public were becoming increasingly concerned about the continuation of the Boer War which they had been told in the summer of 1900 was all but over. The successes in late 1901 & early 1902 of the new generation of Boer generals at destroying British supply convoys was dramatically raising those concerns. Thus the official reporting of a disastrous event at an apparently fictitious place led some to suspect a cover-up of an even bigger disaster.
Wikipedia tells us this about Coligny:
Coligny is a town in North West Province, South Africa, located adjacent to the railway line between Lichtenburg and Johannesburg. It is approximately 27 kilometres (17 miles) southeast of Lichtenburg and is known for its maize farming.
History: Originally named Treurfontein (Afrikaans: spring of sadness), the town was renamed Coligny on 23 July 1923. The new name honoured Gaspard de Coligny, a Huguenot leader who died in the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572. Coligny has also been a site of sporadic diamond mining activities.
2011 Population = 2,271.
Regards David (of Smethwick & Pembrokeshire).
