TOPIC:

FSburgher wrote: Hi Mike,
You inspired me to go check up some old records of the Zulu wars, and believe it or not I have discovered what happened to Alfred, Charlie & David Whitfield's father. In the Isandhlwana KIA list dd. 22 Jan 1879 there it is Colour Sergeant W (HL) Whitfield 1st Batt 24th Foot. He was a farmer from Komgha in EP and the family legend was that he'd been killed in 1877. Seems this riddle has been solved.
How can I be absolutely sure??
F/S burgher
Evyn

Not sure I understand you correctly, Evyn? Colour Sergeant W Whitfield of the [British] 1st Batt 24th Foot was a senior NCO and full-time career soldier in the 1/24th Regiment and had served with the regiment for many years. I'm puzzled as to how he could be connected to a farmer from Komgha in the EP. There are a few Whitfields on the 1877-1878 roll for actions in the campaign against Gaikas. Perhaps he was one of these men but I can't see a W Whitfield.

This letter may be of interest. It would appear to be the same family:
pelejab.page.tl/Legal-letters-re-estate-....-L-.--Whitfield.htm

[Date stamp reads]
[MASTERS OFFICE]
[23 DEC 1909]
[No 29253]

re Est W.H.L Whitfield Dist. Lydenburg
[can't read]

Sir,
I enclose herein copy of a recent letter received from my Solicitors in London from which you will see that the Master of the Chancery Court requires proof as to the state of the Law in this country with regard to the payment of money out of an Estate. I enclose also the pedigree furnished me in this Estate for your information from which you will observe that William Lancaster Whitfield - from whose Estate the money originally comes - died on the 17th October 1828. I understand that he by his Will left his Estate to his sisters Belinda Whitfield who died unmarried and childless in October 1827 and Charlotte Whitfield who first co-habited with John Brown and afterwards married William Henry Turkington and died on the 21st July 1875 leaving five children namely Leo Africanus Whitfield, Mary Margaret Whitfield, Charlotte Belinda Whitfield, John Whitfield and William Henry Lancaster Whitfield who died on the 13th May 1877 leaving five children namely Charles James Whitfield, Jessie Ellen Whitfield (married to Octavius Ablord Penny), Amy Katherine Whitfield (married to Henry John O'Neil) without Community of property, David Reuben Whitfield and Alfred Leo Whitfield who died on the 22nd February 1901 leaving three children namely Iva Lilian Whitfield, Cecil Alfred Whitfield and Lionel Redvers Whitfield.
I think it is clear that according to our Law the whole of the Estate of William Henry Lancaster Whitfield is to be divided is to be divided between the five children of Charlotte Whitfield and that the 1/5th share of W.H.L. Whitfield - in whose Estate D.R. Whitfield is Executor Dative and for whom I am acting - is to go to the surviving spouse Mary Ellen Whitfield (born Cawood) who is still living, the four surviving children above-mentioned and the three descendants of Alfred Leo Whitfield. Now as the Master of the Chancery Court requires proof of the state of the Law here it occurs to me that no better proof can be afforded than by a certificate or Affidavit from yourself. I was first of all advised that all that was now needed to secure payment was the appointment of an Executive Dative in England but you will observe from the correspondence enclosed that the Master in Chancery holds that payment should be made to the heirs, being the persons beneficially entitled thereto. It would of course be much more convenient to us if the money could be paid to the Executor Dative but if that is not the correct position I shall be extremely obliged if you would grant the Certificate of Affidavit above-mentioned or perhaps an official letter from you to the Master of the Chancery Court would be all that is required. If you do write him a letter I shall be obliged if you will send me a copy thereof. Upon advice from you as to what stamps and fees are needed for your intervention herein I shall remit the amount to cover same. You might kindly return to me the copy of the pedigree enclosed.
I have the honor to be,
Sir, Your obedient Servant,

signed [unable to decipher signature]

Dear Mark and other valued subscribers,
I have been extremely bold and took the liberty of visiting Henk Loots in Roosendal over the past weekend. I was looking for information on the Kroonstad Scouts and my Great Grandfather's involvement; To my amazement he pulled out a book written by HG Guest (1901)wherein was the description of the skermish at Kroonstad in Feb 1901 where my Gr garandfather was killed; the report described exactly how the ambush took place and the other characters involved. The exact circumstances of Alfred Whitfield's death were never known to anyone in the family alive until now.
I'm most grateful to Henk for sharing his vast knowledge of the Anglo Boer war.
I now have an extract from the book and I'm convinced that the report by Mr Guest is 99.9 % accurate.
Can anyone elaborate further to the eligability of the Kroonstad Scouts for the QSA & KSA medals. I can't find a Roll with the name of AL Whitfield on it. Any help will be appreciated. Tkx Evyn

Evyn, Perhaps you meant this to be in your Alfred Whitfield thread:
www.angloboerwar.com/forum/2-introductio...colonial-forces#1388
This thread seems to be for Charlie Whitfield .

I had a look again to see if I could come up with anything for Alfred Whitfield on the QSA rosters but as before I wasn't able to turn up anything. His name appears on the Boer War Casualty lists. He is listed as having died in Kroonstad on 22 Feb 1901 and his unit is given as Kroonstad Scouts. I can't locate a Kroonstad Scouts QSA roster. Anyone have any idea where to look for Kroonstad Scouts?

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Mark, I have found that the Kroonstad Scouts started off as the Brett Scouts under command of Capt Brett in Kroonstad then became The Kroonstad Burgher Scouts, full description in the book "Die Hendsoppers en Joiners" by Albert Grundlingh,
pg 204 -207. Please keep up the research. Tkx Evyn

Thanks, Evyn! The plot thickens. I had a look for the WO 100 QSA [& KSA] roll for the Brett's Scouts and discovered that there doesn't seem to be one. Also, no attestation papers in WO 126. Brett's Scouts are listed but it appears the only papers available appear to be the nominal roll in WO 127. I had a quick look and can't see Alfred Whitfield's name. Very strange as we know from the casualty list that he was in the Kroonstad Scouts. I did notice that most names seem to have dates from July to September 1901 entered next to their names. It doesn't say if these dates are discharge or enrolment dates.

Does anyone have any idea why there doesn't seem to be a QSA roll for the Brett's Scouts? Are they listed amongst the mountain of returns that make up the Scouts or did it have something to do with many of the members of the unit being so-called "Hendsoppers en Joiners"?

Cheers,

Mark

Mark,

I had a quick look to see if there is a quick answer to the question of which unit issued QSAs to men of Brett's Scouts. After a search, I still don't know the answer.

I started with a list of the men is Brett's Scouts from the Nominal roll and then started to track them down on the medal rolls.

The names on the Brett's Scouts nominal roll are Boer in origin eg

Danhouser Gerhadus F.
de Beers Jan Mathys
de Bruin Frans
Delpoort Jacobus
du Plessis Sarel
du Plessis Stephanus
du Ventor Petrus Van
Ebersohn Jan H.
Ebersohn Johannes M.
Flint Eddie H.
Fouche Hendrick J.
Fourie Abraham

For the most part, these are quite common names and the quality of the recording of Boer names on the rolls is not high.

I did possibly trace some men to the Farmers' Guard, Orange River Colony Volunteers and the National Scouts but in no case was there a reference back to Brett's Scouts from any of these roll and, with differences in initials etc, the linkages are at best tenuous.

On the plus side it would make sense if the National Scouts and Farmers' Guard were used to amalgamate these smaller units and ease the process of issuing (or trying to issue) medals to the Boers who fought for the other side.

It is striking when you look at the roll for the National Scouts (WO100/262) just how many were returned as unclaimed/rejected etc.

Regards
David