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My name is Lancelot Wingfield and my late grandfather was Alfred Lancelot Wingfield.
Alfred was a Trooper with quote : "No 4 ('D') Squadron, Natal Carbineers, November 1899-March 1900'" and was unfortunate enough to have been caught up in the Siege of Ladysmith. His often referred to 'Ladysmith Siege Diary of Alfred Wingfield" regrettably contains only extremely brief excerpts of his diary. If anyone knows of the current existence of the diary itself - or has any information relating to the diary contents, I would love to hear from them. Thank you.

Of interest I have attached a photograph taken of my grandfather taken one day following the lifting of the siege. He appears rather 'gaunt' - not bad considering the difficulties faced by all the trapped siege inhabitants!

nmr,

That is an excellent picture and he looks good to say he has been through the privations of the siege.

Fingers crossed that someone will know about his diary.

Best wishes
David

nmr,

I believe the Carbineers museum has a copy.

Royal Natal Carbineers Trust Museum

P.O. Box 38
Pietermaritzburg
3200
Tele : 033 394 1354
e mail : carbineers@gmail.com

Not sure if the email address is current.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I have today sent a message to the e/mail you kindly provided.

To: The Administrator
I thought you would be interested to learn that the NC regiment (Natal Carbineers) can only confirm to me that 'Trooper AL Wingfield formed part of the Natal Carbineers contingent that was besieged in Ladysmith from 2nd November 1899 through to 28th February 1900'. Best wishes,

Lancelot Wingfield,
P.S. Thank you for an excellent web-page/forum

Mark Coghlan wrote an article samilitaryhistory.org/vol146mc.html in which he cites Alfred Wingfield's diary as: Diary, 'Ladysmith Siege Diary of Alfred Wingfield, No 4 ('D') Squadron, Natal Carbineers, November 1899-March 1900', Typescript (Natal Carbineers Archive).

The problem is that South Africa is nowadays a very different place, as far as history goes - the Natal Carbineers have been re-named the Ingobamakhosi Carbineers and the archive of the Natal Carbineers is probably kaput or in someone's attic for safekeeping. If you PM me I will put you on to a researcher who lives near Pietermaritzburg and who might (for a fee) be able to find the diary for you.

Meanwhile, to cheer us all up, here's a photo of the type of helmet your oupa would have worn on parade, and the type of rifle (.303 calibre Martini Enfield) he would have carried during the siege.