TOPIC:

I am reading my 10th book about the Anglo-Boer war since Nov 2011. I am hooked on this interesting episode in history. 2 books on the Siege of Mafeking mention the murder of Mr. Parslow, Special War Correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle at the hands of Lt. Murchison (a "noted artilleryman" according to Creswicke's book) after the two had dinner together. Why did Murchison shoot Parslow on that fateful day in November 1899? I cannot find any reference to what was said that would cause Murchison to do such a thing.

Tim,

You have been busy!

Bailie's account of this incident is mute. He says:

2nd November. .. At about 10 p.m. Lieutenant Murchison shot Mr. Parslow, Daily Chronicle representative, but as the matter is still sub judice, comments or opinions are undesirable.

3rd November. .. Inquest this morning returned a verdict of wilful murder against Lieutenant Murchison, who will be tried by Field General Court Martial. Mr. Parslow's funeral took place to-night, attended by the staff and many others; the other correspondents and myself carried the coffin to the grave.

A contemporary newspaper article attributed the incident to the strains of the siege:



Regards
David

I was reading in Creswicke how the sentence was commuted by Roberts:

Lord Roberts now commuted the sentence of the court-martial which tried Lieutenant Murchison for the murder of Mr. Parslow
to one of penal servitude for life. Many of those who had been associated with this officer did not consider him responsible
for his actions, and were relieved at the lightening of the punishment of a comrade-in-arms.

I read Ballie's account. It sounds like Murchison had a case of what we would call today Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Edwin George Parslow was the War Correspondent for the Daily Chronicle and the Liverpool Daily Post and was trapped in the besieged town of Mafeking. Initial reports considered his death to be due to the accidental discharge of a firearm by a Lieutenant Murchison, the bullet hitting Parslow in the head. Later, witnesses reported that the two men had an argument which led to Parslow’s death and Murchison was charged with wilful murder, court-martialled and sentenced to death. This sentence was later commuted by Baden-Powell to penal servitude for life. Murchison was subsequently declared insane and committed to Broadmoor in 1902 where he died in 1917.

Edwin George Parslow