Officers in the defence:
(back,left) Dr Howard, Mr Brooks, [Unidentified], Mr Crozier,
[British Officer], [Unidentified], [British Officer],
[Unidentified], Alan Thompson
(front, left) Mr Willman, Mr Dean, Col Shelton, Mr Evans, Mr
Townsend.
O'okiep
O’okiep, in Namaqualand, is about
seventy-five miles inland on a light railway from Port Nolloth
and was the centre of the Cape Copper Mining Company.
Lieutenant-Colonel Shelton, 3rd West Surrey Regiment, was in
command of all the forces in the district with his HQ in Ookiep
and small garrisons at Concordia, Nababeep and Springbok.
When Smuts invaded the district the garrison at Nababeep
retired on O’okiep; that at Concordia surrendered without
offering any opposition him, whilst that at Springbok
surrendered to Maritz.
The defence of O'okiep
The
defending force was commanded by
Colonel W.A.D. Shelton
and consisted of Cape Coloured, European and others of the
Namaqualand Town Guard
Battalion, 44 men of the Warwickshire Militia and 12 Gunners of
the Cape Garrison Artillery.
Major Dean, the Company's manager, prepared the town for
defence and erected a perimeter of blockhouses. The Cape
Garrison Artillery manned the 9-pdr and Maxim gun. Major
Edwards was placed in command of the outer, whilst Major Dean
commanded the inner defences; Captain Freeland was CRA; Captain
Macdonald, Intelligence Officer, with Lieutenant Meyrick looking
after the plate-layers and half castes.
The garrison consisted
of:
- 206 European miners
- 661 Cape coloureds
- 44 men of the 5th Warwickshire militia
- 12 men of the Cape Garrison Artillery
Total strength of 923.
'On April 4 1902 the Boers invested O'okiep and
demanded its surrender, which was rejected. Desultory
attacks began on April 8 and soon one blockhouse was
captured. But only one determined assault was made
and this was easily repulsed. After that the siege
degenerated into a mere blockade conducted `with such
mutual good humour that on one occasion a challenge to a
football match was considered by the garrison and
eventually declined.' Smuts himself was whisked
off to Vereeniging to attend the peace conference
between the Boer leaders and Lord Kitchener...' (Boer
War Tribute Medals refers).
The garrison was relieved
by a force dispatched by sea from Cape Town under the
Command of Colonel Cooper, though the immediate relief
was carried out by a column of this force composed of
5th Lancers (109) 116th and 118th Companies Imperial
Yeomanry (170); one squadron Cape Police and two guns of
the 44th Battalion, all under command of Colonel
Callwell.
The Cape Coloured men who defended O'okiep
as a part of the Town Guard were not eligible for the
Queen's South Africa Medal and the Cape Copper Company
struck its own
Medal for the defenders.
