TOPIC:

Uys, a long shot. Did your Grandfather by any chance have a brother by the name of Martines (Marthinus Johannes) who was shot and killed at the battle of Modderspruit on 20.10.1899?

Hi There David,

Unfortunately not. My Grandfathers siblings all died 1915 or later.
Pieter Willem (14/9/1872) died in a Prisoner of War Camp in Indonesia, about 1902.

May I suggest you look for a Facebook forum “Prinsloos all over the World”.
Paul Prinsloo who runs the site, has a very extensive data base on the Prinsloos.

Regards,

Muys, the Bloemfontein Museum’s database gives the following information about the demise of the Pieter Willem Prinsloo you refer to:

Database ID:751
Surname:Prinsloo
Name:Pieter Willem
Date Death:15 Mar 1901
Age:28
Cause:Empyema
Number:8435
Location:Ceylon
Pieter Willem was from Ficksburg and was taken POW on July 30, 1900 at Fouriesburg and transferred to Diyatalawa camp on the SS Dilwara.

As for your suggestion to look up “Prinsloos all over the World”, I am not subscribed to any social media platform. I posed the question as I have a very moving letter written on October 31, 1899 by one A.P. Prinsloo to his parents from one of the Boer posts near Ladysmith. In that letter he writes that his brother Martines (Marthinus Johannes) was shot and died “peacefully” in the writer’s arms. If Paul wants a copy of that letter for the family archives he can contact me via the Private Message feature on this website.
Everhard