TOPIC:

Paul,
A battery was a fairly close team, they would have certainly known each other, very nice medals indeed.
Regards Frank

coldstream wrote: Hello Henk,

Thank you for adding this, it's strange to think the two men possibly knew each other.

Cheers
Paul

OSAKSA wrote: Hi Paul and others

I append a scan of the QSA I have to No.10 Mountain Bty (Bought in June 1974 from the late Stan Kaplan for R16-50)

O'Lochlen as well as Davenport went "in the bag" and was released at Waterval on 6 June 1900

Henk

Henk

Do you know the date of your list? I see that my man, F Wilkins, isn't on it, unless he's below Walsh on the page and therefore his name isn't visible.

Patrick

The captured guns and gunners
Men and Cape Boys of the 10th Mountain Battery

Source: www.angloboerwar.com/forum/19-ephemera/3...n-jack?start=0#90162

A very interesting and informative thread, thank you. I have recently added a 10th Mountain Battery QSA/KSA pair to my collection, hence my interest. My medal collecting interest is centred on the 'Great War in Africa', but I do make the occasional skirmish to the 2nd Anglo Boer War. I have an interest in the folk caught up in the sieges, military and civilian, of which Ladysmith is perhaps the more affordable for a lowly medal collector.

Anyway, here is my humble offering to the thread - a 10th Mountain Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery ‘Battle of Ladysmith’ / Nicholson’s Nek Survivor’s
Defence of Ladysmith and Transvaal QSA & KSA pair to 17883 Gunner Albert COUSINS, 10th Mountain Battery. Cousins was one of the 10th Mountain Battery men who made it back to Ladysmith from the disastrous assault of Nicholson’s Nek - which was, of course, a case of ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ as he then endured the siege, with all its dangers and deprivations. But survive he did, to go on and see out the war serving through the Battery’s operations in the Transvaal and earning the QSA, with clasps Defence of Ladysmith and Transvaal, and KSA with both date clasps.

I really am at the start of the research journey, so would welcome any comments or observations.

Surname Note
I have found Albert’s surname spelled variously as Cousins, Cozins, Cousens and Couzens. His medals use "Cousins'

The Medals
As far as the medals go, all seems OK. The clasps are correctly riveted, the suspension is secure and the planchet swivels freely, as it should. The naming on both medals looks correct / official to “17883 GNR: A. COUSINS. R.G.A.”. See the photographs at the end, which are my own.

17883 Gunner Cousins is entered on the respective medal rolls (10th Mountain Battery R.G.A.): QSA WO 100/146, page 68 and KSA WO 100/309, page 160.

Analysis of the QSA Roll for 10th Mountain Battery R.G.A. shows that 86 men of the Battery were entitled to the award of the ‘Defence of Ladysmith’ clasp. Of these, 4 were forfeited, with one being reinstated in 1905, so a total of 83 DoL clasps appear to have been awarded to the Battery. The men who forfeited their medals were recorded as:

1. 5601 Gnr John CAMPBELL
2. 15840 Gnr Henry CARTER (record on roll that medal was re-instated in 1905)
3. 5193 Gnr Patrick COLLINS
4. 16986 Gnr Thomas NERNEY (albeit a medal named to him has appeared at auction, with partial erasure of number)

Further analysis of these 83 men (not including NERNEY), identifies that only 22 of them were awarded the ‘Defence of Ladysmith’ and ‘Transvaal’ pair of clasps. So, a relatively scarce clasp combination to the 10th Mountain Battery. The only other same clasp combination of QSA / KSA pair that have found having sold was awarded to “16189 Gnr: J. W. Topham, 10th M.B., R.G.A.”, sold at SPINK (London) ODM Auction 21003, on 1 December 2021, Lot 304. From what I can find, through initial research is that, in terms of known information on 10th MB men, there isn’t a slip of paper between Cousins and Topham. I would be interested in hearing about any other like pairs 'out there'.

Brief Bio and Service Details
Albert Cousins' service papers are online (Ancestry / Fold 3).
Albert Cousins was born in Corsham, Wiltshire and attested for the British Army, aged 24, at London on 6 January 1897, joining the Royal Garrison Artillery as Gunner (No.17883). Initially posted to the 20th Company, on 4 March 1897, transferred to 4th Mountain Artillery Battery, on 17 August 1897, and 10th Mountain Artillery Battery on 12 February 1898, being then posted out to South Africa to join the Battery. He was with the 10th on the outbreak of the Boer War and remained with it throughout. He transferred to 107th Battery on 1 April 1903 and was posted home three days later. He extended his service to complete 8 years with the Colours on 31 December 1903 and qualified as a traction engine driver on 3 December 1906, before being fully discharged on 5 January 1909.

Albert appears to have settled back in the Corsham, Wiltshire area, where he married Annie Louisa Trotman in 1908. The 1911 Census has Albert and Annie living at 3 Arthur Street, Tredegar, Monmouthshire, Wales, with their son Arthur (aged 3 months). Despite training as a traction driver, Albert is working as a ‘Colliery labourer, below ground’.

The 1921 and 1939 Census records have Albert and Annie living at 31 Rhyd Terrace, Tredegar, Monmouthshire, Wales, where, in 1921, Albert was working for the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company as a ‘Colliery Hitcher’ (courtesy of the ‘Welsh Coal Mines’ website, a hitcher “is the person who is responsible for loading and unloading drams and men onto/off the cage at pit bottom and also signalling that the cage is ready to be moved”). In the 1939 census, Albert is stated to be a ‘retired colliery hewer’ (a hewer is a miner at the coal face). Annie passed away during the first quarter of 1943, at Bedwelty, Monmouthshire, but I have not found a death certificate for Albert (albeit there is one for an Albert E. Cousins, which fits, but I am not yet sufficiently confident to say this is 'our' Albert).

The 10th and the Siege
There is an account of 10th Mountain Battery and its arrival at Ladysmith in the South African Military History Journal, Vol 14 No 4 (December 2008), entitled “No. 10 Mountain Battery, Royal Artillery, in Southern Africa 1889 – 1899” No. 10 Mountain Battery, Royal Artillery, in Southern Africa 1889 – 1899

“When war with the Boers threatened in 1899, the whole of the Battery, which had been made up to six guns again, was sent from Pietermaritzburg to reinforce the garrison at Ladysmith. Not long after its arrival, the Battery was involved in the disastrous affair originally known as the battle of Farquahar's Farm. At night on 29 October, the Battery accompanied a column of infantry commanded by Col Carleton, which marched from Ladysmith to cooperate with two brigades in an attack planned for the next morning on the supposed positions of the Boer forces then closing in on the town from the north and north-east. One brigade was to attack Long Hill on the British right, which was believed to anchor the Boer left flank, whilst the second was to await the success of the first and then attack the centre of the Boer position on Pepworth Hill.

Carleton was to seize and hold Nicholson's Nek, a pass on the Boer right by which it was thought the enemy would attempt to retreat once they had been forced off Long Hill and Pepworth Hill. The following brief account of the action is based in part on one published by Mr R Drooglever in Soldiers of the Queen, No 88, March 1997, p 28.

What actually happened has never been adequately explained, but it appears that, in the early morning of 30 October, as Carleton began to ascend the hill on his left, known as Tchrengula, which would give access to the heights above Nicholson's Nek, some sudden surprise caused the infantry's relatively untrained ammunition mules to panic and stampede downhill. They took many of the Battery's mules with them and all careered into the infantry, who were following. In the ensuing confusion, it seems that most of the Battery's mules, with at least one officer and about 88 men, became separated from the rest of the Battery and, having lost contact, made their way back to Ladysmith. Once a semblance of order had been restored, Carleton led his men up onto the southern end of Tchrengula, intending to continue, at dawn, on to his objective, which lay just to the north. The next morning, the attack by the first brigade on Long Hill failed, partly because the enemy on the British right had abandoned their positions on the hill and taken up better ones on the Modder River, and both brigades were then somewhat ignominiously withdrawn to Ladysmith, leaving Carleton and his men cut off from the town.

Soon after the sun had risen that morning, Carleton became aware that the Boers had taken possession of hills on both his flanks. They were also soon to occupy the heights above Nicholson's Nek. Before long, the British position was being swept by accurate rifle fire from both flanks and the heights to the north, which further demoralised the already jittery troops. The survivors of the Battery could not bring a single gun into action as in every case essential parts had been lost with the stampeded mules. In the course of the next few hours about ten of the gunners were killed and, at midday, Carleton's infantry began to surrender. All five of the Battery's officers present, various parts off our guns and the surviving gunners and mules on Tchrengula fell into the hands of the Boers. No Victorian mountain battery had suffered so serious a disaster since the loss of a half of Capt Backhouse's battery in Afghanistan in January 1842.

Some five weeks later a few men of the Battery managed to retrieve some of its reputation by their participation in the successful sortie against a Boer battery on Lombard's Kop during the night of 7/8 December. How many of the gunners were involved in the sortie is not clear, but, in a photograph of those involved, taken after the action, there are fourteen men. The circumstances of the incident are too well known to require repetition here. Suffice it to say that the sortie resulted in a Boer 155 mm Creusot gun and a 120 mm Krupp howitzer being put out of action, at least temporarily, and the capture of a Maxim machine-gun.

The end of 1899 saw the surviving men and two guns of the Battery besieged in Ladysmith. Their guns were not to play a significant part in the defence of the town, nor in the remainder of the war, for, being essentially only short-range anti-personnel weapons, they could have but little effect against an enemy so adept at bringing to bear accurate long-range fire from well-selected and concealed positions.”

Castor and Pollux: We gain a snippet of useful and interesting information from an OMRS Journal article “Castor and Pollux”, by David Langham, which appeared in Vol. 29, No. 3 (208) of Autumn 1990, pages 190-193:

“The artillery defences had been strengthened by some of the guns from H.M.S. Powerful, but what is not generally known is that shortly before the siege commenced, two 6.3 inch Rifled Muzzle Loader Howitzers with 800 shells were unearthed at Cape Colony and despatched to Ladysmith. The pieces were of obsolete pattern and the powder was damaged by old age and damp. Yet Castor and Pollux, as the guns became known, performed a very useful part of the town’s defences. The defect in the ammunition was rectified by Major Saville who utilised a number of cartridges belonging to the Mountain Battery to mix with the undamaged powder and so make a uniform blend. The two howitzers were manned by a scratch crew from the ill-fated 10th Mountain Battery”.

In respect of the Defence of Ladysmith, this ‘scratch crew’ from 10th Mountain Battery is also mentioned in The Times History of the War in South Africa, page 132:

“In addition to the naval guns, the most powerful weapons of the defence, posted along the northern portion of Knox's section, Helpmakaar Hill and Devonshire Post were strengthened by the inclusion in their system of works of the field guns of the 13th Battery (Dawkins) and of two 6.3 howitzers of obsolete pattern which had been sent round from Port Elizabeth at White's request. Although these guns only had a range of some 3,000 yards, they proved of signal service throughout the siege, and admirably handled hv Captain W. H. Christie and a scratch crew of gunners from the unlucky 10th Mountain Battery, kept down the lire of any gun which the enemy pushed within their range. The 42nd Battery (Goulburn) was sent, as soon as a practicable road was made, to Caesar's Camp, and posted by sections in skilfully designed pits along the main plateau. The 69th Battery was held in support of Howard's section of the defences. The remaining three batteries, the 21st, 53rd, and 67th, together with Brocklehurst's cavalry brigade and half the Gordons, were kept as a central reserve. These dispositions and the composition of the reserve were, however, considerably varied in the course of the siege. A very complete system of telephonic communication was established between the different posts and Sir G. White's headquarters in Ladysmith. The total length of the perimeter was nearly fourteen miles, and the force available for its defence amounted, inclusive of the reserve, to over 13,000 men.".

That is all I have, so far.

I would be interested in any information or leads in respect of the scratch crew of the 10th MB manning Castor and Pollux. Also, the mentioned photograph of the fourteen men, including 10th MB men, taken after the Lombard's Kop action, And, anything else that might help with knowledge of Cousins and his comrades.

And, I have not yet begun to look at operations of 10th MB in the Transvaal...

Owen

A very interesting and well researched post, Owen. Many thanks

Not sure if this has been covered in respect to the organisation and logistics of 10 Mountain Battery but here are some logistical statistics to contemplate.

" The work of the officers of a mountain battery is not easy, for the management of mule trains involves great responsibility, in addition to the 2 mules that carry the gun, there are 3 that severally carry the gun carriage, the wheels and the axle. 5 others with pack saddles intended to relieve the "gun mules", besides 6 more for ammunition thus for a mountain battery, the transport of guns and ammunition involves the use of 96 animals, exclusive of the ammunition column and in war, the use of about 60 more are added to the transport of baggage, provisions etc."

I have but 1 group to 10 Mountain Battery and that is to:

Battery Sergeant Major William Frederick Bell was born in 1863 at Brighton. A laborer, he attested at Fort Rowan Gosport on July 18, 1882 at the age of 19 years 5 months joining the 2nd Brigade. William Bell was promoted from Driver to Bombardier by 1889 and with a unit reorganization his unit became a Mountain Battery seeing service in Egypt and earning the Egypt medal (no clasp) and a Khedives Star for 1884-86.
Court marshalled in 1889, he was reduced in the ranks back to driver (he had by this time 2 GC badges) - crime unknown.
Being awarded another GC badge later that year he was promoted A/ Bdr in March of 1890 and confirmed as Bombardier in February of 1991. On 13th April 1894 in South Africa, he re engaged to complete 21 years service. During his time in the Anglo Boer War, his commanding officer surrendered his unit (10th Mountain Battery) to the Boer forces at Nicholson's Neck, Bell was 1 of the few members of that unit to evade capture, making it back to Ladysmith on October 30, 1899.
As a result of further reorganization he then served in Egypt with 107 RGA and was discharged as Sergeant 16th July 1903.Recalled for service in WW1, he served with the Reserve Bde of the RHA and as he saw no active service overseas, he was not entitled to WW1 service medals.
Despite and court marshal and conviction, Bell was awarded the Long Service Good Conduct Medal (1 of 20 GVR Coinage heads) in 1917 and was to receive the MSM (with annuity).
After WW1 he was a coal merchant and in later life was to be an out patient of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. William Bell passed away from a heart attack on January 21,1944.