TOPIC:

Another one to add to the Rifle Brigade mix.

1340 Private Rifleman J W Pizey - F Company, 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade.

One of the 19 members of F Company under the command of Captain Radclyffe who were captured on Boxing Day 1900 at the action at Oceana Mine (Grootvlei), near Greylingstadt, who “made a fine stand….Sergeant Angel and 18 men were surrounded, and after firing away all their ammunition were taken prisoner”.

QSA to 1340 Pte J Pizey Rifle Brigade, clasps for Laings Nek, Transvaal, and Cape Colony. Ghost dates to the rear.

The regimental number is incorrectly listed on the casualty list, as 1345.

Siege of Khartoum - Mahdist War:

Pizey had already seen service with the 2nd Battalion in Sudan during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of the Mahdist War, having taken part in the 1896 expedition to Khartoum led by Sir Herbert Kitchener with the aim of reconquering Sudan from Mahdist forces and to avenge the death of Major-General Charles George Gordon, killed 11 years prior, and famously known as “Chinese Gordon” after being placed in command of the Ever Victorious Army during the Taiping Rebellion.

Gordon was sent to Khartoum with instructions to secure the evacuation of loyal soldiers and civilians and to depart with them. In defiance of those instructions, after evacuating about 2,500 civilians, he retained a smaller group of soldiers and non-military men. In the months before the fall of Khartoum, Gordon and the Mahdi corresponded; Gordon offered him the Sultanate of Kordofan and the Mahdi requested Gordon to convert to Islam and join him, which Gordon declined. Besieged by the Mahdi's forces, Gordon organised a citywide defence that had lasted for almost a year, and gained him the admiration of the British public, but not of the government, which had wished him not to become entrenched there.

Gordon was killed when the Mahdi’s forces assaulted the Governor-Generals Palace, now the modern Sudanese Presidential residence, whom ignored orders to not kill Gordon, with him taking a loaded revolver and attempting to repel the forces at the steps of a stairway in the northwestern corner. His body servant, Agha Khalil Orphali had been knocked unconscious in the fighting, and he woke to find Gordon’s decapitated body covered in flies.

By the 4th of June 1896 the Egyptian army mobilised, and Kitchener had assembled 9,000 men in preparation for the expedition. The force consisted of a number of infantry battalions, cavalry and camel corps squadrons, as well as three artillery batteries.

This ultimately brought about the Battle of Omdurman, fought at the nearby district of Kerreri, on the 2nd September 1898. This action demonstrated the superiority of the Imperial-Egyptian forces, with their professional army, superior firepower and tactics which overwhelmed the Sudanese tribesmen under Abdullah-al-Taashi.

Two field guns captured by the 2nd Rifle Brigade at Omdurman guard the entrance to the Rifle Museum at Peninsula Barracks, having previously been in service with the Egyptian Army at Shekan, where they were captured on the 5th November 1883. They were subsequently presented to the 2nd RB by Kitchener.

For his service in the Mahdist war, Pizey was awarded the Queens Sudan Medal and the Khedives Sudan Medal with the clasp for “Khartoum”.

The Anglo-Boer War and the action at Oceana Mine:

Following the conquest of Sudan, Pizey had returned home and subsequently transferred to A Reserve, with his secondary unit being listed as the 2nd Battalion.

Pizey transferred to the 1st Battalion, likely as a result of being called up for war service when the Boer war broke out a few months later. The 1st Rifle Brigade had sailed to South Africa on the German on the 28th October, arriving at the Cape and sent on to Durban.

On December 26th 1900, a small column consisting of six companies of the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade, four guns of the 63rd Battery Royal Field Artillery, one "pom-pom," "O" Section Vicars-Maxim, Royal Field Artillery, and one squadron 13th Hussars, the whole, under Lieutenant-Colonel A. Colville, proceeded on a "farm-clearing" expedition, leaving "F" Company 1st Battalion (Captain Radelyffe's) to guard the baggage, which was already packed in waggons, at the Oceana Mine, about ten miles from Vlakfontein. With Captain Radclyffe was Captain Harvest, R.A., with a "pom-pom" and some Artillerymen. In addition to the ninety N.C.O.'s and Riflemen composing "F" Company, about fifty " employed" men were left in. When the column had gone out about six miles it became engaged with the enemy, and a signal was sent in to warn Captain Radelyffe that another party of Boers was moving against the Oceana Mine. Captain Radclyffe thereupon disposed his small force as shown on the accompanying hand-sketch. Lieutenant Innes, Acting-Quartermaster, was ordered to hold the compound with the "employed" men. There were several tin huts and one small brick building within this, and it was surrounded by a wire fence.

Three sections, Nos. 1, 4, and 2, of "F" Company were posted along a ridge about a thousand yards from the wire compound, Sergeant Small with No. 3 section being placed so as to protect their right flank, and Corporal Peachey with six men were near the magazine to protect the left flank.

About two hours after Captain Radelyffe had made his dispositions a number of mounted Boers suddenly appeared on the sky-line, about 2,000 yards from the three sections posted on the ridge. These latter at once opened fire, upon which the Boers dismounted and returned the fire, continuing meanwhile to advance.
Captain Radclyffe, seeing that the enemy were in considerable force, decided to send off the baggage at once, and to hold the Boers in check as long as possible. The teams, which had been tied to the waggon-poles, were quickly inspanned and started off in the direction of the column.

The enemy pushed forward, sending out parties as usual, to their right and left, and gradually enveloping the British position on the ridge, and pouring in at the same time a very sharp fire.

The " pom-pom" was with considerable difficulty withdrawn to the hollow. It had to be man-handled under a heavy and accurate rifle fire. Captain Harvest, R.A., and three of his Artillerymen, were wounded, and of the five Riflemen who assisted in withdrawing the gun, one-Rifleman Bone-was killed, and the other four wounded. In the attempt to withdraw it from the hollow no less than five horses were killed, but finally Sergeant Clery, R.A., put his horse in and succeeded in dragging it back towards the coal heap.

Meanwhile, Radclyffe's men were shooting away and doing a fair amount of damage. One Boer, mounted on a grey horse, was bowled over, and gave universal satisfaction to the hard-pressed Riflemen by the way he came down—" just as if he was taking a dive," as one remarked.

Lieutenant Innes, in the compound, was not idle, and with Sergeant Austin and the officers' and mess servants made a stout defence there. The Boers pushed forward steadily through the mealies, and by the time they were at about six hundred yards' range, the ammunition of the Riflemen began to give out. But by this time the baggage had got well away, and Captain Radclyffe, who, as well as Lieutenant White, was lying wounded, gave the order for those on the ridge who were unwounded and could move to retire on the compound, so as to avoid capture if possible. The Boers now advanced, and took the wounded prisoners; Sergeant Angell, with No. 1 Section, held on till all their ammunition was expended, and being surrounded, they were finally forced to surrender.

There were only eighteen sound men remaining.

The Boers treated the wounded men very well; they told Captain Radelyffe that they were about four hundred and fifty strong, mostly Americans and " sundries," odds and ends of various commandos; the Boers proper were in another commando behind them! The General's name was Spreyt, and the Field-Cornet's, Picat. The latter asked Captain Radclyfle to give his love to his wife in Heidelburg!

All this time Lieutenant Innes was shooting away hard, and soon the guns from the Column came back at a trot and opened fire with shrapnel impartially on both the Boers and their prisoners.

The Boers thereupon sounded a bugle-call, and their whole force withdrew from their left flank. Captain Radclyffe states he could not recognise the call they used. Soon afterwards the Column returned. The casualties on the ridge were nine killed: Sergeant Small, Corporal Iggulden, Acting-Corporal Sears and six Rifle-men; and twenty-five wounded, including both officers, Captain Radclyfle (severely) and Lieutenant White (dangerously), Colour-Sergeant Burton, and Sergeant Shaw.

Captain Radclyffe, on being brought to the brick house, found that Sergeant Austin, who had behaved splendidly, had been killed, and most of the officers' servants and others wounded.

Sergeant Shaw, although wounded in the head, continued to control and direct the fire of his section (No. 2) in the coolest way. Captain Harvest reports (No. 2) in that No. 6243, Rifleman Clarke (one of the gun team and himself wounded) bound up several wounded men under a hail of bullets.

An unpleasant episode occurred as the Boers were retiring, one of them turning round and taking a deliberate shot at Captain Radelyfle and Sergeant Shaw who were lying together bandaged side by side. Fortunately the miscreant missed his aim.

Captain Radclyfle states that the conduct of all was simply magnificent. Upon the firing commencing he sent Lieutenant White with a message to Lieutenant Innes at the brick house.

In Captain Radclyffe's words,
"Maurice White walked calmly, under a withering fire, across the thousand yards from the compound to rejoin the company, and was hit just as he was about to lie down."

At one time, when the wounded on the ridge were exposed both to the fire of the advancing British and of the retiring Boers, Corporal Marshall, in the most plucky manner, tried to carry Captain Radclyffe to a place of safety.

Captain Radclyffe says further: " Sergeant Small was shot through the head, and knew he was done for, but managed to fire two more shots! He and Corporal Iggulden, the bluff and jolly and always ready, are indeed a sad loss to the Battalion."

The Battalion did not escape without some loss, one Rifleman being killed and seventeen wounded, Captain Talbot having to do rear-guard with only about five rounds a man !

The total losses during the day were sixty-seven, "rather a heavy bill for the sake of a few mealies," as someone remarked. The Boers stated that they were given fifty minutes to take the British camp, failing which, they had orders to withdraw.

From all accounts the Column had a very narrow escape from a serious disaster on this occasion, for if the original plan for the day had been carried out, there is every probability that the force would have been defeated and captured in detall.

The splendid stand made by Captain Radclyffe with "F" Company, is one that reflects the very greatest credit on him as well as on every Oflicer, Non-commissioned Officer, and Private Rifleman who took part in it, and affords a fine example of tenacity and courage under very adverse circumstances. The sketch is compiled from a rough plan and description sent by Capt. Radelyfte to a friend.

The 19 prisoners were held for 4 days and released on the 30th December. This is due to the Boer forces not having suitable provisions or the ability to send them to suitable POW camps. They would typically be stripped of uniform and equipment and sent off on their way. This is unsurprising, as food and general resources would be stretched at this time in the conflict and could not be used sparingly.

Captain Charles Edward Radclyffe was awarded the DSO for his command of F Company during the action. He later became Lieutenant-Colonel and CO of 11th Battalion, Essex Regiment and was subsequently killed on the 26th September 1915 during the Battle of Loos.

Following the end of the war in 1902, the Rifle Brigade departed South Africa for the Depot at Winchester, with Pizey transferring back into the reserve on the 21st May 1903.

It is unfortunate that Pizey is not able to be identified at the moment, as he tells an incredible story of a “last stand” against an overwhelming enemy force.

Of course credit to the information goes to ancestry and forces war records, as well as the Rifle Brigade Chronicle of 1900 for the account of the action at the mine as well as the map displaying troop movements.




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