TOPIC:

He was finally captured on 11 Oct by A Squadron led by Captain Eustace Shearman.

Captain Eustace Shearman 10th Hussars who captured Gideon Scheepers, was killed 13th May 1915 in Ypres, Belgium .

36219 Sergeant Arthur J. VOGAN, Prince of Wales Light Horse (attached to “A” Squadron 10th Hussars), claimed he captured Scheepers, and the fact that he did not receive the £250 reward "left him with a lasting source of bitterness at authority".


Arthur J. Vogan – forgotten archaeologist
When the Boer War broke out he and others on the goldfield offered to form a volunteer colonial camel corps, which was declined. Regardless, he travelled to South Africa to join the New Zealand contingent. He was affiliated with a number of units, rising to sergeant. His war finished with the Field Intelligence Division, which was charged with reconnaissance and map-making and he got the credit [but not the reward] for capturing a Boer general, a lasting source of bitterness at authority.



Could this be a case of a British officer taking credit for the actions of one of his N.C.O.'s?



Brisbane Telegraph, 21st October 1901

Capture of Scheepers.

Further particulars of the capture of Commandant Scheepers in Cape Colony show that the capture was effected by an Australian scout named Vogan. Scheepers, who was seriously ill when captured, and was removed to the Matjesfontrein Hospital, is recovering.



Sydney Daily Telegraph, 22nd October 1901

WHO CAUGHT SCHEEPERS?

SERGEANT A.J. VOGAN'S CAREER.

WHAT HE DID IN AUSTRALIA.

Sergeant Arthur Vogan, who is believed to be identical with the Australian scout who captured Scheepers, regarded as the most important of the Boer raiders yet fallen into the hands of the British in South Africa, is a man who has played many parts in Australia. Letters recently to hand from him to his brother, Mr H.S. Vogan, of the drawing office of the Railway Department, are dated from centres in the southern part of Cape Colony, and tell of the very great hardships the men are undergoing.

It was rather galling, he explained, that those who were bearing the brunt of the battle should be compelled to sleep out in the open at nights, to wake up in the morning and find their beards matted with frost, while the officers were carefully sheltered in the Boer farmhouses. The same marked line of distinction was made in the matter of food, he explained, so that he contended he was justified in admitting that he was tired of his five months' fighting.

To show in a practical way the effect of the hard life he and his comrades of the Prince of Wales' Light Horse had been leading, he said that out of some 200 strong they had dwindled away to 35. This statement strengthens the opinion that the remnant of this body of men was eventually attached to the regulars as scouts, and explains why Vogan was with a troop of Lancers when he captured the wily commandant.

Sergeant Vogan, who is 40 years old, is a native of London, and arrived with his family in Tauranga, New Zealand, 20 years ago, where he settled down us a farmer, and in which district his father still resides. For four or five years he battled with the difficulties of an agricultural life, but his adventurous spirit made him restless, and he decided to visit New South Wales. On his arrival here in the year 1886, he was induced to join the exploration party, headed by Captain Everill, formed for the purpose of throwing light on some of the dark spots of New Guinea. His special post was that of "artist and explorer", and his early studies as a surveyor stood him in good stead on that occasion. It was reported during their absence that the whole party were massacred by the natives, but they eventually all got back to Sydney after experiencing some hardships. On his return to Sydney, Vogan took up journalism as a profession, and after a tour through Queensland in that capacity he published a book entitled "Black Police", in which he sought to expose the treatment the aborigines of North Queensland were subjected to by the white population. On a couple of occasions he undertook successfully to travel across the continent, while he also effected some venturesome expeditions as a cattle-drover through Queensland, to Alice Springs, and other parts.

Returning to Sydney, he Joined the Railway Department, and for some time controlled the commissioners' advertising arrangements. Then the West Australian boom came, and he was despatched to that State by a railway syndicate to see what could be discovered there in the way of gold reefs. He came across but few such finds, however, and after remaining over there for some time, once more found his way to New South Wales. The war fever was then running at its height. Citizens were organising their contingent for the front, and Vogan was picked as a suitable sergeant. While the men were being trained and selected, he saw so much with which he did not agree that he spoke freely, and unhesitatingly denounced the methods employed by those in charge. For this interference he was degraded to the rank of an ordinary trooper; so he packed his baggage and quitted the camp. Then he travelled across to New Zealand, where he enlisted for service in South Africa, and on arrival there was attached to the Prince of Wales' Light Horse. While In West Australia he obtained a gold medal from the St. John Ambulance Society, and on his departure from Niagara the residents presented him with a testimonial and several souvenirs for the help he had rendered them in the matter of first aid in accident and other cases of illness.


SEE: Arthur J. Vogan – forgotten archaeologist

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Wellington Evening Post, 11th February 1902

SCHEEPERS'S CAPTOR.

HIS ARRIVAL IN WELLINGTON.

Sergeant Arthur James Vogan, of the Prince of Wales Light Horse, who returned to New Zealand by the Karamea this morning, is the scout that captured, single-handed, Commandant Scheepers, who was afterwards hanged by the British authorities. In telling our representative the story of the capture, Sergt. Vogan said that it was due more to luck than any cleverness on his part. The only credit he takes in the matter is for scouting farther ahead than any other scout in the army. For six weeks the column to which Vogan was attached chased Scheepers's commando between the Touws River and Montague, Cape Colony. During that time the record march of the war was put up, the pursuers trekking 144 miles in four days without wagons. Squadron “A” of the 10th Hussars took up the chase — it will be remembered that the corps was originally given the credit of the capture — and Sergeant Vogan was told off as special scout to accompany them.

One morning at 4 o'clock Vogan rode out with a black boy, and almost walked into a party of Boers at a farmhouse 15 miles from his squadron. He galloped back and reported his discovery. During the last fortnight of the chase Commandant Scheepers had been travelling in a Cape cart, owing to a wound that he had received. Sergeant Vogan, seeing that the marks of the wheels were fresh, again pushed ahead with an unarmed black "boy", and hearing that Scheepers was lying in a farmhouse one mile and a half off the road, galloped for it.

As he rode up to the house several Boers fled. A farmer was leaning against the door, and Vogan said to him "Where is Scheepers?" The reply was that the Boer commander had gone on the night before. But the sergeant pushed the farmer out of the way and rushed inside the house. As he hesitated which room to search first, a voice called "It is all right, I am here". The room from which the voice came, was in perfect darkness, and as Vogan was in the sunlight it was a plucky action, considering the "slimness" of the enemy, to go into the room. However, he did so, and tore the blind from the window, allowing the light to fall upon a man lying very ill on a bed. "What is your name?" asked the sergeant, and the sick man replied, "Scheepers" (pronouncing it "Skippers") was the answer. When spoken to again Scheepers said "Don't disturb me; don't disturb me; lam very sick; I want the ambulance". Sergeant Vogan then left the house and fired his rifle three times, and shortly afterwards the Hussars came up in skirmishing order.

Although at least £250 was offered for the capture of Scheepers, Sergeant Vogan has received no recognition of the act. He was recommended for the D.S.O., but nothing further has been heard of the matter. Sergeant Vogan was born in England and came out to Auckland, where he was attached to the literary staff of the Auckland Star for several years. Later on he went to Australia, joined an exploration party to New Guinea, returning to Queensland, where he did more exploring work. As a result of his sojourn there he wrote the well-known novel entitled "With the Black Police", which was published in Auckland by the Evening Star proprietary. He was a clever sketch artist, and did a considerable amount of work for leading London journals.



Taranaki Daily News, 3rd May 1904

More War Office Neglect.

Not the least among the sins of the War Office (writes a London correspondent) has been its ungrateful treatment of the colonial irregular corps, who served with such distinction in the South African war. It was admitted in the House the other day that even the regular colonial contingents had not yet received all their pay, and as for the irregulars, it cannot be denied that they have been shockingly neglected. Perhaps the publicity which Mr L.F. Austin gives in the London illustrated News this week to a letter from Mr Arthur Vogan, of Wellington, will have a beneficial effect in stirring up the authorities to a sense of their duty in this matter. Mr Vogan, it will be remembered, was the sergeant of the Field Intelligence Scouts who captured Commandant Scheepers. He was recommended for the D.C. medal, but has never received it, or the reward offered by the Government. Mr Vogan lays no particular stress, however, on his own personal grievance, but he does express himself with some bitterness in reference to Ihe treatment of the irregulars generally. "The irregular regiments, such as Brabant's' Horse, the Welsh Yeomanry, and the Prince of Wales Light Horse, to which I belonged, have been apparently altogether forgotten. In my regiment the men paid their passages to the front, received no forty days' pay, had no uniforms, arms, etc., given them on discharge, as in the case of the contingents. We are now a disbanded body that is of no use to anybody, and all our attempts to obtain attention meet with evasive replies". Mr Vogan adds that he brought the matter under the notice of Lord Ranfurly, but though his Excellency expressed sympathy he held out little hope of the Minister of War feeling inclined to interfere. "No one seems to care”, continues Mr Vogan, "whether these thousands of young colonials who are now forgotten feel deeply this base ingratitude or not. The medals, had they been given after the return of the men or at the end of the war, would have been highly prized. Now we feel sore, disappointed and disgusted; and as one man said to me the other day (he served with great distinction in the war) 'I don't care if I don't get the thing now. They can keep it. Medals given to men who arrived too late to see a shot fired are of no value to me' ".

Full article published in the Illustrated London News, 27th February 1904, p. 2



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