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Hi Boertjie,
The information is very interesting.What source did you obtain this from ?

Hi everybody

I never saw the 2011 thread on Holkrans and neglected to reply in February this year when the topic was re-opened.
Holkrans has been of great interest to me since the mid-1980’s. I did the design and construction supervision of the access road to a communication installation near Vryheid and one day, killing time before a site meeting, I visited the Vryheid Museum. The display on Holkrans intrigued me and I visited the farm and photographed the monument with the names of the victims the next day.
Back home I went through the Forsyth roll and made a list of possible ABO recipients. At the Pretoria Archives I got further names of the men who survived and added them to my “Holkrans Wants List”.



In March 1992 I visited a pawnbroker/dealer in the Cape. He had an ABO to Burger F B Pratt for sale and I immediately bought it at an inflated price, in spite of the fact that there were 2 men with these initials and surname on the Forsyth Roll. The next step was to draw their Vorm “B” applications to see whether I could identify “my” recipient by date of issue.
However, both the Pratt ABO’s were issued in the early 1920’s and I had to resort to other methods to try and find out whose medal I had. Numerous phone-calls to people named Pratt (none found in the Vryheid area) did not yield any answers.
As a last resort, I contacted the dealer. After a lot of cajoling from my side he relented and looked at his register, but the only information he gave me was that the seller was from Vryheid.
Shortly afterwards I had to visit my Durban office and, instead of using SAA, I went down by car via Vryheid and explained my mission to the curatrix at the Museum. It triggered her memory: in her diary she had contact details for a local lady who had wanted to sell a medal to the Museum some months previously.
The elderly lady was at home, but rather wary to talk about the matter. It eventually came out that she had spent some time at the Cape shop while on holiday and realised that medals could be turned into money. She contacted the Museum after getting the dealer’s offer but was told that they would love to have the medal as a donation but did not have funds to buy it.
She completely and skilfully fielded all my probing as to why, how and when she originally got the medal but, when I asked if nothing else came with it, I got a very pleasant surprise!








She fetched a clipping from the “Huisgenoot” of 11 July 1947: the main photo showed F B Pratt with 4 other survivors of the massacre. In addition, there was a well-worn copy of the Programme of the 1905 Re-burial Ceremony of the Holkrans victims, where Pratt was one of the bearers. A generous cash offer secured the provenance for “my” medal, but I still wish I knew whether it came about via a relative or a friend of Burger Pratt: she made me promise that I would never mention her name in connection with the medal.



In April 1992 I paid a visit to one of the larger Johannesburg medal dealers. In one of his trays I spotted an ABO to Veldkornet J A Potgieter, money speedily changed hands and I triumphantly walked away with the medal of “Jan Mes” Potgieter, killed with the greater part of his Commando at Holkrans!!

Henk

An Absolute fascinating story demonstrating the value of “homework done” and making use of opportunities on the spur of the moment. Well done and congratulations OSAKSA. Please do make a note of my email in your will, or earlier if you wish!

On the subject of my previous post about the actions of General Bruce Hamilton I am pursuing the source as I got the info from another ABW forum. Will publish it here ASAP

Henk

Thank you for another great account of your early collecting days and the further insight into the Holkrans affair.

Regards
Brett

Henk thanks for the interesting stories on the medals . I have always been interested in the ABO and that is how I came across the Burger Pratt . There is so much untold and sometimes misleading factsabout this period. I sincerely hope more of this history will surface
Theo

Hi Everyone

Thought I would post this. Daniel P Coetzee 1 of 12 survivors of the battle of Holkrantz.

Cheers
Anthony