TOPIC:

The debacle at Colenso was one of the 3 epic reverses the British suffered in what became known as Black Week. Michael Smith of the Connaught's was there.

Michael Smith

Private, 1st Battalion, Connaught Rangers – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasp Relief of Ladysmith to 3286, Pte. M. Smith, Connaught. Rang.

Michael Smith was born into a simple Roman Catholic family in the Tallagh district of Dublin in 1870. At the age of 18 years and 4 months, having finished a rudimentary schooling and commencing work as a Labourer, he did what any number of young Irishmen of his time did – he enlisted with the Army. The Short Service Attestation forms that he completed at Galway on 23 November 1888 confirm that he joined up with the 1st Battalion of the Connaught Rangers having spent a short while with the 5th Royal Dublin Fusiliers.



Times were hard in Ireland and many young men saw the military life as a way out of their immediate economic plight. Smith was probably no different and having been certified as medically fit for the army, was awarded no. 3286 becoming a member of “A” Company. Physically he was 5 feet 7 inches in height with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. There were no distinctive marks about his person which could identify him should the need arise.

The 1st Battalion, Connaught Rangers were abroad when Smith joined up and it was only on their return to Ireland, their “home base”, in 1891 that he would have linked up with the men who were to become his comrades in arms. Of course at this point there would have been no inkling in anyone’s mind as to what was to come a short eight years hence. By the time the Anglo Boer war broke out in October 1899 Smith was a seasoned soldier with 11 years of service although an untested one in terms of battle. His battalion sailed for South Africa aboard the “Bavarian” sailing into Durban harbour on 1 December.

Within days the infantry men had marched to Chieveley Station, the camp there, Buller’s force to relieve Ladysmith, was huge in size and very welcoming to the tired men of the Rangers who, after eighteen days afloat on an overcrowded troopship followed by a torrid time in a cattle truck train, were able to pitch their tents under a hot South African sun. The voyage and train trip had taken its toll on the men and, unaccustomed to their new surroundings and suffering from dehydration, many of them were not in fighting condition. To make matters worse the rations they were subjected to were bread and corned beef, not the sort of thing that was designed to build up their fitness and stamina for the troubles that lay ahead.

Morale was reputed to have been high among the troops. The lower ranks had no idea that they were being assembled as part of Buller’s relief effort and that they would be required to defeat the Boers at the Tugela before they would be allowed to progress further. Officers, filled with the exuberance that comes with having vanquished so many “tribes” in previous African conflicts, were predicting an easy victory. The intelligence that had reached the camp and that was passed down the ranks was that the Boers they would engage in battle were an ill prepared bunch of farmers who would turn and run in the face of the Imperial might. As the men laughed and shared jokes the Boers were digging in across the banks of the nearby Tugela River.

Smith’s outfit, the 1st Battalion, Connaught Rangers, were detailed as part of the Hart’s 5th Irish Brigade. It was this very brigade that Buller turned to during the battle of Colenso. The objective was seemingly simple – cross the Tugela River at the Bridle Drift and then proceed down the far side to support the 2nd Brigade consisting of the 2nd Devons, 2nd West Surrey’s, the 2nd West Yorkshires and the 2nd East Surrey Regiment. The Brigade was to cross at the Colenso bridge towards Colenso koppies (hills) where the enemy was entrenched. If the objective was accomplished the starving inhabitants of Ladysmith, now in its second month of siege, would be relieved.

On 14 December Hart assembled his senior officers and briefed them as to what course of action was to be taken. The 15th December dawned promising to turn into a swelteringly hot day, so typical of Natal at this the high point of summer. Breakfasts were prepared and hastily scoffed down, canteens of water were filled and final orders given and inspections made. At 4 a.m. the Connaught’s joined the 5th Brigade on the dusty parade ground. There was total silence in the early morning; the Connaught’s would march lightly carrying only a rifle and 150 rounds of ammunition per man in their pouches. They were part of a massive force of 21 000 men, surely nothing and no-one could withstand such an army?

Foolishly, in the dark of early morning and in preparation for the attack, General Hart had ordered the men to perform half an hour’s exhausting close-order drill, similar to what they would have done at home base. This done the men were led in close order formation towards the Tugela River in order to force a crossing at the Bridle Drift ford.

As the 5th Brigade marched through the morning all was serene and peaceful about them. This was to change abruptly when Buller ordered the naval guns to shell the distant foothills; they opened up at 05h30 with a deafening barrage which destroyed the tranquillity of the scene. The Irish Infantry were led by the Dublin’s followed by the Connaught’s, the Inniskillings and the Borders all moving toward the river and its ford. There was still no sign of the Boers as the men, drenched in sweat after only a few miles of marching, quenched their thirsts from their canteens. Having reached within two hundred yards of the river and being in exposed open veld, Hart halted the Brigade. He had seen a problem; the infantry would have to advance into a loop formed by the meandering river which would make all the units exposed to possible cross fire at the flanks.

Hart was using the services of a native guide who could neither speak nor understand any English. This chap kept pointing up the loop in the river indicating that the only ford in the area was that at the loop and it was this ford which the Brigade would have to use to cross the Tugela. Persuaded that this was so Hart rode into the loop at the head of his men. It didn’t take him long to realise that this was a mistake, he had in fact taken his men into a well defended salient lined with Boer trenches and into the open arms of the enemy.

The Boers meanwhile had been waiting patiently and were increasingly amazed at their good fortune as the scene unfolded before them. On a front two miles wide and one mile deep, line upon line of helmeted men moved across the open veld in a pall of dust directly towards them.

The 5th Brigade halted exactly 200 yards from the river and it was then that the first Boer Mausers opened fire. Hart ordered the men to deploy, the Borders to the right, the Connaught’s and Inniskillings to the left. At first the men advanced in single file before extending to 3 pace intervals. Boer shells fell around and among them. Men were dropping fast in all directions as the battalions pressed forward towards the river which must have seemed a mile away to troops under heavy fire. The men on the opposing side were from the Standerton Commando and were firing, along with their comrades, from three sides. At this point the Boers Creusot guns opened fire followed by those Burghers around the loop. The third shell ploughed into the tightly packed ranks of the Connaught Rangers. One can only imagine the sense of despair and confusion among the men. As they loosened out the units became inextricably mixed and Hart was no longer in control of the brigade. As a further blow to the Connaught’s their Officer Commanding Brooke was wounded in the early stages of the battle and replaced by Major O’ Grady.

Groups of men followed their officers up the loop with no clear idea of where they were going or what was happening. Others simply fell on the ground among the tall grass lying where they fell. Casualties were mounting amid the total chaos. There was limited return fire from the Irish because their enemy couldn’t be seen – they had no target to aim at. Those that reached the river under the withering fire found themselves in ten feet of water instead of two – the river was swollen from the recent rains, a fact overlooked by the powers that be. Many of the Connaught’s and the Dublin’s, weighed down by their kit, found it impossible to swim and were swept away drowned. Friendly fire was also a problem with volleys being fired at their own men, mistaken for Boers in the confusion.

Men fell in heaps; horses half blown away littered the veldt. As the day wore on and the battle subsided the loop was found to be scattered with the dead and wounded, many who lay there for 5 hours. Eventually Hart decided to break off the attack with the withdrawal finally being achieved only in the late afternoon. The Irishmen had suffered 550 casualties of which Smith was one, having been wounded twice in the battle. He was one of 103 Connaught wounded with 24 men killed into the bargain.

The post mortems after the battle were many and varied but, suffice it to say, the damage has been done and the opportunity to relieve Ladysmith lost. Smith was invalided home unable to take any further part in the conflict. For his considerable efforts he was awarded the Queens South Africa Medal with the Relief of Ladysmith clasp. It was to be his only award.

At Chatham on 1 November 1901 he completed the Re-engagement Paper – completed by a Soldier with 12 years’ service wishing to re-engage to complete 21 years service. This was no simple exercise and required a motivation from a senior officer. Smith, who was the personal servant to Major Winn of the Royal Engineers, turned to his master to this end. On 22 November 1901 Major Winn wrote from Chatham Barracks as follows,

“Sir

I have the honour to request that I may retain the services of No. 3286 Pte. M. Smith, 1st Connaught Rangers as my personal servant under the provisions of Para. 708, Kings Regulations.

Pte. Smith completes his 13 years service tomorrow and would therefore be discharged in the ordinary course of events, but having brought his wife and child over from Ireland, and being employed as my personal servant, he engaged last month to complete 21 years anticipating that he would remain here, and not be required to move for some considerable time.

Pte. Smith has done good service in South Africa being wounded in two places. He has 2 Good Conduct Badges, and had he not been on the Reserve for some time, he would have had another. Under the circumstances I have the honour to request that Pte. Smith may continue here as my servant.
Your obedient servant etc.”

The upshot of this was that the O.C Thames District agreed to keep Smith there although ‘he is qualified for the draft ordered on the 15th proxo.”

At some point, now that his career had been extended, Smith was transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the Connaught Rangers and was stationed in India but more about this later. We next hear about Smith in a memorandum from the O.C. of the Connaught’s writing from Tipperary to the O.C. Records of the No. 12 District at Cork on 17 April 1909. It read as follows,

“If this man is recommended for continuance in the service, will you kindly inform me in what document the recommendation will be found please.”
The document referred to, Army Form B 221, was completed on 5 April and confirmed that Smith has 20 years and 5 months service and a Character rating of Good. Under remarks it was mentioned that “active for his years – would find it difficult to obtain suitable employment in civil life of a lucrative nature – is married and has a family to support.” The request to extend service was approved and Smith’s career continued.

The 1911 Ireland census gives us our next glimpse of Smith and this is where, as referred to earlier, it becomes apparent that he had spent a number of years in India between 1902 and 1909. The census return was completed at the Curragh, the large Divisional Army base, and revealed that Smith, now 39 years old and still a Private with the 2nd Battalion Connaught Rangers, had been married for 12 years. His wife, Ann was 32 and there were no fewer than 5 children the first, Michael, was 11 and had been born in Tipperary whereas the next 3, Kathleen (8), Daisy Agnes (6)and John (4), had all been born in Ahmednagar, India. The last born child, Joseph (1) had been born in Tipperary.

Michael Smith’s long military life couldn’t last indefinitely and the day finally arrived on 25 September 1913 when he took his Discharge at Curragh Camp. He was by then a respectable 43 years and 2 months and had grown in height since his teenage years now coming in at 5 feet 11 inches. His intended place of residence was 1 RoebucK Terrace, Crumlin Crossroads and his final Character rating was Very Good. His total service reckoned was 24 years 307 days although he doesn’t appear to have been awarded a Long Service Medal. What became of him after this is unknown.
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Rory
An excellent medal and thoroughly researched as usual. Thank you.
Regards
Brett

Good Morning Rory.....

Fantastic research again, I always look forward to your posts.....

I would love to see your library and your other sources......

Because my friends and I would disappear into my den and talk military and ABW collecting, "She Who Must Be Obeyed" one Christmas had a plaque made to go on my den door saying "Beware He Who Enters Here Has a Risk of Being BOERED to Death"...... I wonder what she would have put on yours LOL......

Mike

Hello Rory,
That is a good medal, I wonder what your reasons were in buying it, was it just the events of that particular Friday, the 15th of December, the single clasp on his medal or his particular regiment, or, perhaps you like all things Black Week?
Regards Frank

Rory wrote: The debacle at Colenso was one of the 3 epic reverses the British suffered in what became known as Black Week. Michael Smith of the Connaught's was there.

Michael Smith

Private, 1st Battalion, Connaught Rangers – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasp Relief of Ladysmith to 3286, Pte. M. Smith, Connaught. Rang.

Michael Smith was born into a simple Roman Catholic family in the Tallagh district of Dublin in 1870. At the age of 18 years and 4 months, having finished a rudimentary schooling and commencing work as a Labourer, he did what any number of young Irishmen of his time did – he enlisted with the Army. The Short Service Attestation forms that he completed at Galway on 23 November 1888 confirm that he joined up with the 1st Battalion of the Connaught Rangers having spent a short while with the 5th Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

Times were hard in Ireland and many young men saw the military life as a way out of their immediate economic plight. Smith was probably no different and having been certified as medically fit for the army, was awarded no. 3286 becoming a member of “A” Company. Physically he was 5 feet 7 inches in height with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. There were no distinctive marks about his person which could identify him should the need arise.

The 1st Battalion, Connaught Rangers were abroad when Smith joined up and it was only on their return to Ireland, their “home base”, in 1891 that he would have linked up with the men who were to become his comrades in arms. Of course at this point there would have been no inkling in anyone’s mind as to what was to come a short eight years hence. By the time the Anglo Boer war broke out in October 1899 Smith was a seasoned soldier with 11 years of service although an untested one in terms of battle. His battalion sailed for South Africa aboard the “Bavarian” sailing into Durban harbour on 1 December.

Within days the infantry men had marched to Chieveley Station, the camp there, Buller’s force to relieve Ladysmith, was huge in size and very welcoming to the tired men of the Rangers who, after eighteen days afloat on an overcrowded troopship followed by a torrid time in a cattle truck train, were able to pitch their tents under a hot South African sun. The voyage and train trip had taken its toll on the men and, unaccustomed to their new surroundings and suffering from dehydration, many of them were not in fighting condition. To make matters worse the rations they were subjected to were bread and corned beef, not the sort of thing that was designed to build up their fitness and stamina for the troubles that lay ahead.

Morale was reputed to have been high among the troops. The lower ranks had no idea that they were being assembled as part of Buller’s relief effort and that they would be required to defeat the Boers at the Tugela before they would be allowed to progress further. Officers, filled with the exuberance that comes with having vanquished so many “tribes” in previous African conflicts, were predicting an easy victory. The intelligence that had reached the camp and that was passed down the ranks was that the Boers they would engage in battle were an ill prepared bunch of farmers who would turn and run in the face of the Imperial might. As the men laughed and shared jokes the Boers were digging in across the banks of the nearby Tugela River.

Smith’s outfit, the 1st Battalion, Connaught Rangers, were detailed as part of the Hart’s 5th Irish Brigade. It was this very brigade that Buller turned to during the battle of Colenso. The objective was seemingly simple – cross the Tugela River at the Bridle Drift and then proceed down the far side to support the 2nd Brigade consisting of the 2nd Devons, 2nd West Surrey’s, the 2nd West Yorkshires and the 2nd East Surrey Regiment. The Brigade was to cross at the Colenso bridge towards Colenso koppies (hills) where the enemy was entrenched. If the objective was accomplished the starving inhabitants of Ladysmith, now in its second month of siege, would be relieved.

On 14 December Hart assembled his senior officers and briefed them as to what course of action was to be taken. The 15th December dawned promising to turn into a swelteringly hot day, so typical of Natal at this the high point of summer. Breakfasts were prepared and hastily scoffed down, canteens of water were filled and final orders given and inspections made. At 4 a.m. the Connaught’s joined the 5th Brigade on the dusty parade ground. There was total silence in the early morning; the Connaught’s would march lightly carrying only a rifle and 150 rounds of ammunition per man in their pouches. They were part of a massive force of 21 000 men, surely nothing and no-one could withstand such an army?

Foolishly, in the dark of early morning and in preparation for the attack, General Hart had ordered the men to perform half an hour’s exhausting close-order drill, similar to what they would have done at home base. This done the men were led in close order formation towards the Tugela River in order to force a crossing at the Bridle Drift ford.

As the 5th Brigade marched through the morning all was serene and peaceful about them. This was to change abruptly when Buller ordered the naval guns to shell the distant foothills; they opened up at 05h30 with a deafening barrage which destroyed the tranquillity of the scene. The Irish Infantry were led by the Dublin’s followed by the Connaught’s, the Inniskillings and the Borders all moving toward the river and its ford. There was still no sign of the Boers as the men, drenched in sweat after only a few miles of marching, quenched their thirsts from their canteens. Having reached within two hundred yards of the river and being in exposed open veld, Hart halted the Brigade. He had seen a problem; the infantry would have to advance into a loop formed by the meandering river which would make all the units exposed to possible cross fire at the flanks.

Hart was using the services of a native guide who could neither speak nor understand any English. This chap kept pointing up the loop in the river indicating that the only ford in the area was that at the loop and it was this ford which the Brigade would have to use to cross the Tugela. Persuaded that this was so Hart rode into the loop at the head of his men. It didn’t take him long to realise that this was a mistake, he had in fact taken his men into a well defended salient lined with Boer trenches and into the open arms of the enemy.

The Boers meanwhile had been waiting patiently and were increasingly amazed at their good fortune as the scene unfolded before them. On a front two miles wide and one mile deep, line upon line of helmeted men moved across the open veld in a pall of dust directly towards them.

The 5th Brigade halted exactly 200 yards from the river and it was then that the first Boer Mausers opened fire. Hart ordered the men to deploy, the Borders to the right, the Connaught’s and Inniskillings to the left. At first the men advanced in single file before extending to 3 pace intervals. Boer shells fell around and among them. Men were dropping fast in all directions as the battalions pressed forward towards the river which must have seemed a mile away to troops under heavy fire. The men on the opposing side were from the Standerton Commando and were firing, along with their comrades, from three sides. At this point the Boers Creusot guns opened fire followed by those Burghers around the loop. The third shell ploughed into the tightly packed ranks of the Connaught Rangers. One can only imagine the sense of despair and confusion among the men. As they loosened out the units became inextricably mixed and Hart was no longer in control of the brigade. As a further blow to the Connaught’s their Officer Commanding Brooke was wounded in the early stages of the battle and replaced by Major O’ Grady.

Groups of men followed their officers up the loop with no clear idea of where they were going or what was happening. Others simply fell on the ground among the tall grass lying where they fell. Casualties were mounting amid the total chaos. There was limited return fire from the Irish because their enemy couldn’t be seen – they had no target to aim at. Those that reached the river under the withering fire found themselves in ten feet of water instead of two – the river was swollen from the recent rains, a fact overlooked by the powers that be. Many of the Connaught’s and the Dublin’s, weighed down by their kit, found it impossible to swim and were swept away drowned. Friendly fire was also a problem with volleys being fired at their own men, mistaken for Boers in the confusion.

Men fell in heaps; horses half blown away littered the veldt. As the day wore on and the battle subsided the loop was found to be scattered with the dead and wounded, many who lay there for 5 hours. Eventually Hart decided to break off the attack with the withdrawal finally being achieved only in the late afternoon. The Irishmen had suffered 550 casualties of which Smith was one, having been wounded twice in the battle. He was one of 103 Connaught wounded with 24 men killed into the bargain.

The post mortems after the battle were many and varied but, suffice it to say, the damage has been done and the opportunity to relieve Ladysmith lost. Smith was invalided home unable to take any further part in the conflict. For his considerable efforts he was awarded the Queens South Africa Medal with the Relief of Ladysmith clasp. It was to be his only award.

At Chatham on 1 November 1901 he completed the Re-engagement Paper – completed by a Soldier with 12 years’ service wishing to re-engage to complete 21 years service. This was no simple exercise and required a motivation from a senior officer. Smith, who was the personal servant to Major Winn of the Royal Engineers, turned to his master to this end. On 22 November 1901 Major Winn wrote from Chatham Barracks as follows,

“Sir

I have the honour to request that I may retain the services of No. 3286 Pte. M. Smith, 1st Connaught Rangers as my personal servant under the provisions of Para. 708, Kings Regulations.

Pte. Smith completes his 13 years service tomorrow and would therefore be discharged in the ordinary course of events, but having brought his wife and child over from Ireland, and being employed as my personal servant, he engaged last month to complete 21 years anticipating that he would remain here, and not be required to move for some considerable time.

Pte. Smith has done good service in South Africa being wounded in two places. He has 2 Good Conduct Badges, and had he not been on the Reserve for some time, he would have had another. Under the circumstances I have the honour to request that Pte. Smith may continue here as my servant.
Your obedient servant etc.”

The upshot of this was that the O.C Thames District agreed to keep Smith there although ‘he is qualified for the draft ordered on the 15th proxo.”

At some point, now that his career had been extended, Smith was transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the Connaught Rangers and was stationed in India but more about this later. We next hear about Smith in a memorandum from the O.C. of the Connaught’s writing from Tipperary to the O.C. Records of the No. 12 District at Cork on 17 April 1909. It read as follows,

“If this man is recommended for continuance in the service, will you kindly inform me in what document the recommendation will be found please.”
The document referred to, Army Form B 221, was completed on 5 April and confirmed that Smith has 20 years and 5 months service and a Character rating of Good. Under remarks it was mentioned that “active for his years – would find it difficult to obtain suitable employment in civil life of a lucrative nature – is married and has a family to support.” The request to extend service was approved and Smith’s career continued.

The 1911 Ireland census gives us our next glimpse of Smith and this is where, as referred to earlier, it becomes apparent that he had spent a number of years in India between 1902 and 1909. The census return was completed at the Curragh, the large Divisional Army base, and revealed that Smith, now 39 years old and still a Private with the 2nd Battalion Connaught Rangers, had been married for 12 years. His wife, Ann was 32 and there were no fewer than 5 children the first, Michael, was 11 and had been born in Tipperary whereas the next 3, Kathleen (8), Daisy Agnes (6)and John (4), had all been born in Ahmednagar, India. The last born child, Joseph (1) had been born in Tipperary.

Michael Smith’s long military life couldn’t last indefinitely and the day finally arrived on 25 September 1913 when he took his Discharge at Curragh Camp. He was by then a respectable 43 years and 2 months and had grown in height since his teenage years now coming in at 5 feet 11 inches. His intended place of residence was 1 RoebucK Terrace, Crumlin Crossroads and his final Character rating was Very Good. His total service reckoned was 24 years 307 days although he doesn’t appear to have been awarded a Long Service Medal. What became of him after this is unknown.
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Thank you for all your positive comments.

Mike - my resources are meager indeed! They consist of a now expired subscription to Ancestry. co. uk which assists with the census data and a newly forged access to Find My Past which helps with the chaps army papers but precious little else until I master the intricacies of the search engine. Add to that the ubiquitous google and a few well thumbed books on the conflicts in Natal and Bob's your uncle.

Frank - the Battle of Colenso has always held a fascination for me. I have the medal to David Moreland Gray of the Natal Carbineers who perished there and a few other medals to chaps who were active in the conflict. The trick which I have not yet learnt is how to link the colonial contribution on the day to the efforts of the 5th Brigade!

Regards

Rory

It's certainly an interesting medal, you know, times were, indeed so often, sadly, really bloody hard in Ireland for a great many back then, the levels of poverty would certainly take some beating when compared with other parts of England and so on, people did struggle to feed and cloth themselves, in his case, when you look at him upon enlisting into the Army and then you look at him years down the line, he appears rather different.
To actually be accepted with that under measurement is one thing, but, to then go to a forty three inch chest and increase your height by four inches too, says it all as far as I am concerned.
I wonder why Major Wynn thought he had been "at Spion Kop" it would perhaps be worth your while to see if the missing folio including the all important statement of service have survived in WO97 it is very frustrating that so much important detail appears to be missing.