Corporal Charles Robert Heslop, Border Mounted Rifles
Little is known of Heslop’s life before his mobilisation on 28/9/1899 as a Corporal in No. 3 Squadron, Border Mounted Rifles (BMR), for service during the Anglo-Boer War. He was a cattle farmer and occasional transport rider, who lived on his farm Barolsheim near Umzimkulu in the Ixopo district of southern Natal.
The BMR arrived in Ladysmith on 2/10/1899, and Heslop presumably took part in most, if not all of its activities preceding, and during the Siege of the town. After the Siege was lifted, Heslop accompanied the regiment driving the Boers through northern Natal and into the south-eastern Transvaal. He was demobilised with the rest of the regiment at the end of the Natal campaign during September 1900, and left it when it dispersed in Pietermaritzburg on 10/10/1900. His service was later recognised with the award of the Queen’s South Africa Medal with the clasps Defence of Ladysmith, Transvaal and Laing’s Nek.
He was evidently a highly regarded member of the regiment, and during April 1902 he was informed by his Squadron Commander, Captain F L Thring, that he was being considered as a representative in Natal’s Coronation Contingent. Heslop was one of the nine men from the BMR who reported to the Commandant of Volunteers in Pietermaritzburg on 29/4/1902, and who left for London on 2/5/1902 to attend the Coronation of King Edward VII. Of the 30 000 men in uniform who marched in the procession, or lined the route, only 2 000 represented the overseas Empire. The Natal Contingent was made up of 100 men. The men of the contingent were awarded the bronze 1902 Coronation Medal. Heslop’s medal is missing, and it is possible that, for a reason that will be given below, it was withheld. However, since he did attend the Coronation and his name is on the medal roll, a replacement medal has been added to his QSA.
A shock awaited Heslop after the Contingent landed back in Durban on 17/10/1902. He was arrested and charged with stealing two cases of ammunition during March 1902. He was then transported to Ixopo, where he was released on bail two days later. The full story behind the charge emerged during November 1902 when Heslop and a co-accused, his neighbour, Johannes Ma(r)tinus Vermaas, appeared before Mr Justice Beaumont and a Jury in the Supreme Court of the Colony of Natal in Pietermaritzburg.
A full transcript of the trial is in the Pietermaritzburg Repository of the South African National Archives (RSC; 1/1/69; 32/1902), but only its essence is given below. Other relevant information from the Archives has been added.
Heslop was first married to Hermiene Gertruide Catherine Burger, who was Dutch (Boer), and who had been born in Potchefstroom, Transvaal Republic. Their marriage must have taken place before the start of the Boer War. In 1901, Hermiene’s father, Cornelius Andries Burger, was a resident of Standerton in the Transvaal. Her mother, after whom Hermiene was named, was deceased. Standerton was on the route used by transport riders plying their trade between Durban and Johannesburg, and this may have been how and where Heslop met Hermiene.
Hermiene Heslop died on 27/12/1901, aged 26 years. Her marriage was childless, but living on Barolsheim with her and her husband were her younger sisters, Hester Isabella Burger (aged 17), and Elsie J Vermaas, the wife of Johannes Vermaas.
Heslop had first met Johannes Vermaas in 1892, probably through their shared interest of transport riding. Vermaas had served in a Boer Commando early in the war, but had been captured and paroled. Heslop must have played a part in the parole, since he allowed to Vermaas to join his wife, Elsie, and their children on Barolsheim, where they lived rent-free in Heslop’s house. By 1902 Vermaas and his family were living in a second house on the farm, and he and Heslop assisted in a wagon-transport business run by Heslop’s father, George. They carried goods to and fro between Pietermaritzburg and Umzimkulu on the border with the Cape Colony.
After Hermiene’s death, Heslop married her young sister, Hester Isabella, and he and Johannes Vermaas became brothers-in-law, thereby further cementing their relationship.
During March 1902, Heslop and Vermaas were on one of his father’s transport ventures and their two wagons arrived in Richmond to be loaded with goods for transport southwards. Vermaas’ wagon was loaded with good for Ixopo, while Heslop’s wagon was destined for Umzimkulu. The waybills were not ready by the time the wagons left Richmond, but were delivered by post-cart at their first stop at Waterval, where one set was retained by Heslop, and the other given to Vermaas. The seeds for the imbroglio that was to follow were sown.
At Ixopo, Vermaas had his wagon unloaded, and afterwards he met up with Heslop. The latter later claimed that Vermaas told him that he had unloaded two boxes at “Mr Greig’s store” that were not recorded on the waybill. This was the first mention of two undocumented boxes, and the first mention of where they were allegedly unloaded. They were part of a consignment of ten boxes of ammunition destined for the Ixopo Rifle Association. Surprisingly, no hue and cry was raised about the tow missing ammunition boxes.
Heslop’s interrupted his trip to Umzimkulu when he went instead to Pietermaritzburg to deal with a matter of the sale of cattle to the military. The wagon destined for Umzimkulu was taken there by his brother, George James. The matter of the missing two boxes of ammunition was not raised again and Heslop went on his five-month visit to London unaware of the storm that would break in his absence. An investigation in the theft commenced and the missing boxes were later found buried on Barolsheim, equidistant from Heslop’s house and that of Vermaas. Evidence was gathered and, by the time Heslop landed back in Durban, he had been identified as one of the two men involved in the theft.
Evidence presented at the trial of Heslop and Vermaas was complex and often contradictory. It seems fairly certain that the ammunition boxes were stolen and buried by Vermaas, probably assisted by one of his drivers, Kwazinja. Although Vermaas was deeply indebted to Heslop for the kindness towards him and his family, his evidence and that of his wife implicated Heslop in the theft. On the other hand, Kwazinja was very hostile towards Heslop, who had shot his dog that had been attacking sheep on the farm.
Inevitably, the Jury found both men guilty. They were sentenced to six month’s imprisonment with hard labour.
Heslop was represented by Advocate Francis, who did his best to put him in a good light. He referred to Heslop’s service in the Ixopo Rifle Association and to his wartime service with the Border Mounted Rifles. He also referred to Heslop’s presence in the Coronation Contingent, and the fact that he had distinguished himself at Bisley, winning five medals, a silver cup, and a rifle. The Judge admitted to being “extremely sorry .... to see [Heslop] in this position”, but clearly had no doubts about his guilt.
The verdict and sentence must have put paid to Heslop’s service with both the Ixopo Rifle Association and Border Mounted Rifles, and it must have blighted his standing in the local community. At least his wife remained with him, and the couple were still together when Heslop died. There are no other records of Vermaas and his wife in the Pietermaritzburg Archives, and it is likely that they returned to the Transvaal after he had served his sentence. Clearly, remaining on Barolsheim as a guest or tenant and partner.of Heslop would have been impossible.
Heslop evidently sold Barolsheim, and by 1907, he had moved to Creighton, a village west of Ixopo, where he owned a house. He was still there in 1909.
He remained in the Ixopo district and in 1915 he was the cause of a flurry of correspondence between the Public Prosecutor (Ixopo), the South African Police (Ixopo), the Attorney General (Pietermaritzburg), the District Commandant of Police (Pietermaritzburg), and the Chief Native Commissioner (Pietermaritzburg).
This second brush with the law came about because Heslop was reported “to have a white wife and to be living with two black women”. According to one of the officials this was a “deplorable state of affairs”, and there was a scramble to find a way of stopping what was regarded as Heslop’s reprehensible behaviour. One possibility was that the women might have been committing the crime of “wandering from their kraals” and “leading an immoral life”. Unfortunately for the legal fraternity, it transpired that the women had wandered from their kraals with the permission of the relevant tribal authority. Heslop’s only crime might have been that “he neglects to maintain his lawful wife and children”.
The outcome of this matter is not known, but it is probably safe to assume that Heslop contributed to the cosmopolitan population that inhabits the Ixopo district to this day.
Heslop died in 1944, and there is no trace of any estate papers.
His second wife, Hester Isabella, went on to marry again, and she died in 1964.
Brett Hendey
01/02/2016