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From Rhodesia to Knysna - Frank Sothcott 7 years 6 months ago #48257

  • Rory
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Frank Sothcott

Trooper, Matabeleland Relief Force – Rhodesia 1896
Trooper, Knysna District Mounted Troops – Anglo Boer War

- British South Africa Medal 1896 (no clasp) to Troopr. F. Sothcott, M.R.F.
- Queens South Africa Medal to 98 Tpr. F. Sothcott, Knysna D.M.T.


Frank Sothcott must have been an interesting man – certainly he was one whose activities took him from England, the land of his birth, to Rhodesia at the time of the Matabele uprising (and possibly before) and then on to the evirons of the sleepy seaside town of Knysna where he served with the District Mounted Troops in the Boer War.


At the time of the Boer War in prison (Gaoler) garb

Born in Dumfries, Scotland in 1862 he was the son of Thomas Sothcott and his wife Elizabeth (born Masters). Thomas was employed at the Crichton Royal Institution, a Lunatic Asylum, holding down the senior post of Head Steward there. At the time of the 1871 Scotland census a 9 year old Frank was a schoolboy in a rather full household. Aside from his parents were siblings Alice (17), Jane (14), William (7), Frederick (5), Edwin (4) and Clara (2).

Ten years later at the time of the 1881 Scotland census Frank was 19 years old and an unemployed Clerk. He had moved south of the border and was staying in the house of his uncle George Hicks Taylor at 157 Whitechapel Road, Stepney, London. He wasn’t the only one who had made the trek down to London – Thomas Sothcott with his family in tow had left the service of the Crichton Institution and had ventured into business on his own as a Laundry Proprietor in Acton, London. The family were now residing at 2 Alexander Villas, Park Road East.

At some point thereafter Sothcott decided to emigrate to the sunny climes of Africa where he appears to have based himself in the Eastern Cape. An item under “Marriages” in the Dundee Peoples Journal of 24 May 1884 informed the reader that “At Cradock, South Africa on the 23rd April (1884) by Rev. C. Denyer, Frank Sothcott, eldest son of Thos. Sothcott Esq., Acton, Middlesex, to Maggie second daughter of David Millar, late of Nelson Street Dundee, and now of Cradock South Africa.”

Sometime after the nuptials he ventured north into pioneer territory- into the hinterland known as Rhodesia. Rhodesia was a rough and ready place in the late 19th century, still largely unexplored and unpopulated by people of European descent and dominated by two African tribes – the Matabele and the Mashona. Neither looked very kindly on the imperial expansionism they were witnessing before their very eyes and, in 1896, the veiled hostility boiled over into attacks on some of the White settlers who found themselves isolated and largely defenceless against the black hordes surrounding them. The Matabele rose up in open rebellion in the early part of 1896 and the authorities hurriedly decided to assemble a force to combat the threat.

750 volunteers were recruited in South Africa and arrived in Bulawayo on May 14 1896 to assist in the rebellion. They were sponsored by the British South Africa Company under Lieutenant-Colonel H. Plumer and there is every likelihood that Sothcott was among their number, if he was not in the country already.

The history of how the rebellion came about is of interest - Many of the Ndebele amabutho (Matabele) had not suffered any casualties in the first war of 1893. Seemingly quiescent, the former warriors laboured under the British South Africa Company’s rule, paid a burdensome tax and had their cattle confiscated when they could not meet the tax rolls. Unknown to the white administration, however, the Ndebele had hidden 2,000 Martini-Henry rifles they had seized during the infamous Jameson’s campaign. All they needed to reclaim their lands from the whites was a window of opportunity. And that window suddenly appeared in December 1895.

In an ill-fated and reckless venture, Jameson and 600 horsemen invaded the Boer-held Transvaal to claim the area for Britain and the BSAC. The Boers, however, surrounded the raiders at Doornkop, pinning them down with long-range rifle fire. On January 2, 1896, Jameson surrendered. Imprisoned with the raid’s leader was most of the Rhodesian mounted police force. When news of the fiasco reached Bulawayo, there were only 48 policemen left to protect the whole of Rhodesia.

The Jameson Raid seemed to fulfill the prophesy of a white man’s disaster predicted by a mlimo-a medicine man from a cave in the Matopo Hills to the south, through whom the Ndebele believed a god spoke. Warriors listened as the mlimo outlined a plan to rid the land of white settlers. The rebellion was to erupt on the night of March 29-beneath a full moon-during a ceremony called the Big Dance. Quite simply, the Matabele and their Holi vassals would kill all the white people they found.

The Ndebele plan, however, went awry. Several hotheads shot a native policeman on March 20, then stabbed him with their assegais. In the course of the following week, the Ndebele raided the countryside. White farmers, miners and rural travellers were cut down indiscriminately, as were a number of Indian farm labourers. As news of the rebellion spread, surviving whites streamed toward Bulawayo. Bulawayo became a city under siege. In the capital of Salisbury, in the meantime, a militia unit dubbed the Bulawayo Field Force was organized under Colonel William Napier.

Plumer and his 750 men, now known as the Matabeleland Relief Force, immediately ran into difficulties. He had had little problem in raising a volunteer force at Mafeking, but the plague of rinderpest prevented him from using oxen to pull the supply wagons. He was compelled to use mule teams, which meant the wagons had to be more lightly loaded.

While the relief column was being organized, the colonials continued their operations against the Ndebele. Meanwhile, conditions inside Bulawayo were becoming unbearable for the nervous settlers. Nearly 1,000 women and children were crowded into the city. By day, families could return to homes and buildings within the town, but by night, they were forced to seek shelter in the laager. False alarms of Ndebele attacks were common.

By May 11, the relief force had finally reached the settlers. A column of 600 Rhodesians from Salisbury led by Cecil Rhodes fought its way through an opposing force of Ndebele between Movene Kraal and Gwelo on May 9, and linked with a mounted troop from Bulawayo two days later. The combined columns combed the district northeast of the city, skirmishing with Ndebele regiments and burning native kraals.

Plumer finally reached Bulawayo on May 24. Assisted by Macfarlane’s Bulawayo Field Force Corps, the Matabeleland Relief Force began scouring the Umguza River area, skirmishing as they rode. Within a week, two British officers, Maj. Gen. Sir Frederick Carrington and Colonel Robert S.S. Baden-Powell, arrived to take overall command of the various Matabeleland units and relief columns.

Carrington had barely settled into his headquarters when a Zulu informer brought news of the mlimo‘s secret cave in the Matopo Hills. At Baden-Powell’s recommendation, two scouts, Fred Burnham and Bonnar Armstrong, were chosen to penetrate the Ndebele defences and assassinate the mlimo. Riding by night, the two scouts located the medicine man, surprising him as he entered his dwelling. After a well-placed shot, Burnham and Armstrong took to their heels. Setting several thatched huts ablaze as a diversion, they managed to reach their horses.

With the death of the mlimo, Carrington ordered Plumer’s force to proceed to Inyati, northeast of Bulawayo. There was evidence that a large Ndebele contingent was in force at Tabis-I-Mhamba, just to the north. On June 29, Plumer’s column of 752 troops, supported by two 2.5-inch mountain guns, departed from Bulawayo along the Gwelo Road. After several uneventful days of travel, they approached the tortuous collection of kopjes and brush land that made up the Tabas-I-Mhamba locale. On the night of July 4, the column eased past Ndebele outposts and took up positions. Plumer’s combined infantry and cavalry attacked at 5:30 a.m. on the 5th, plunging into the brush and carrying several fortified kopjes in vicious hand-to-hand combat. Horsemen cut off lanes of retreat. By noon, the fighting was over. Plumer lost two-dozen men killed and wounded. Ndebele casualties were estimated at 100, and the troopers captured about 500 women and children, 1,000 cattle and more than 2,000 sheep and goats.

By early August, Plumer and Baden-Powell had engaged several Ndebele detachments in the Matopo Hills, and had put them to flight. On August 5, they encountered Sikombo Mguni’s ibutho holding a mountain pass near the Tuli Road. Fighting dismounted, the troopers scrambled over steep ridges and through treacherous ravines. The Ndebele tried to outflank the mountain guns, wounding the gunnery officers as they attacked. Coming under fire from a series of kopjes, Plumer ordered his native troops and dismounted horsemen under Major F.E. Kershaw to attack uphill. ‘The ascent was extremely difficult,’ Plumer noted, ‘the men having to climb over immense boulders and rocks.’ Once the beleaguered Matabeleland Relief Force contingent reached the summit, a swirling battle in heavy brush developed before the defenders retreated.

Plumer remained in the hills for two more days, reconnoitring the kopjes and receiving a few scattered shots from tribal snipers in the process. By then, peace feelers were being sent to the izinduna. For all practical purposes, the fighting in Matabeleland ground to a halt. Forts were still constructed in strategic locations, and Carrington ordered Baden-Powell to sweep the area to the northwest of Bulawayo for recalcitrant amabutho.

On August 18, envoys of the izinduna Sikombo and Inyanda arrived in the colonial camp, requesting a peace meeting. Three days later, Cecil Rhodes met with Sikombo, Inyanda and nearly 40 other tribal and district chiefs. In a four-hour session, the Ndebele voiced their grievances and requested an end to the fighting. By August 28, Rhodes had arranged a meeting with Dholi, Mlosi and other izinduna in the eastern Matopos. The Ndebele were persuaded to turn in their arms so they could begin the planting season. Baden-Powell’s fast-paced sortie along the Shangani River netted several izinduna who were less anxious to surrender. The rebellion was effectively over.

For his efforts Sothcott was awarded the British South Africa Company Medal issued to him off the roll of the Matabeleland Relief Force.

Heading back south after the conflict was over Sothcott knocked on the door of the Cape Civil Service for employment and was rewarded with the position of Gaoler in Fort Beaufort (a small hamlet in the Eastern Cape) – taking up the post on 11 November 1896.

According to the Cape of Good Hope Civil Service List (1910) he was placed on the temporary establishment with effect from 1 January 1906 and on the fixed establishment only on 1 March 1907 at a salary of £150 pounds p.a. plus quarters and fuel. As was common practice in those days his wife, Margaret (Maggie) Sarah Sothcott, was appointed as the Matron of the gaol, also from 1 January 1906. She'd joined the Civil Service on 18 December 1900 and was earning the paltry sum of £15 per year. The full staff complement of the Fort Beaufort gaol, like most of the others in small towns, was: the gaoler (in charge), the matron, a turnkey and a guard. There was also a visiting chaplain, the Rev D. Malgas.

Not very many years after the Sothcott’s had first settled down to their new occupations the Anglo Boer war broke out. This was in October 1899 and although the initial threat of Boer invasion was confined to Natal and the western parts of the Cape Colony it soon became apparent that Boer incursions further south would be unavoidable. Most small towns organised Town Guards from among the able-bodied men among their ranks as a last bastion of defence against any marauding Boer Commandos. The more adventurous attached themselves to the District Mounted Troops – a body also formed on the fringes of these towns for defence purposes. The thinking was that these D.M.T.’s would be slightly more aggressive in their approach and would take the fight to the Boers if the need arose as opposed to sitting tight behind hastily erected sandbags in town.

News of the attacks by Boer commandos on Willowmore and Avontuur in January 1901 resulted in the declaration of Martial Law in Knysna and the immediate formation of the Town Guard referred to - about 70 strong, which set pickets at the entrances to the town and at the gaol every night. The Town Guard was mobilized in less than half an hour on 27 February after a body of men had been reported to be approaching the Knysna bridge. Fortunately, these materialised as a party of mule drivers from Pacaltsdorp near George. A curfew was also imposed, whereby residents had to be indoors by 22.00 and lights out an hour later. Furthermore, the books and assets of the Standard Bank were sent by sea to Mossel Bay for safekeeping and several suspicious characters, including the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church and others with Dutch names, were arrested on various pretexts.

On 1 March 1901, the command of the Town Guard was taken over by Major William Anstruther Thomson of the Royal Horse Guards. The Town Guard was drilled twice a day, the local tradesmen happily closing their stores to enable themselves and their staff to participate. By the end of the Anglo-Boer War, the Knysna Home Guard numbered 167 members and included a mounted troop (that to which Sothcott belonged). Major Thomson remained in Knysna until the end of the year, when he was transferred to Pretoria, but he left behind a permanent memorial in the shape of a stone fort on Verdompskop overlooking the town - locally referred to as 'Thomson's Folly' - the remains of which still stand today.





The war over on 31 May 1902 Sothcott was awarded the Queens South Africa Medal to the Knysna D.M.T. for his services and returned to Fort Beaufort where he became an active Free Mason of the Zetland Lodge being initiated on 15 May 1908. Nothing further is known of his movements and he passed away in his home in Durban Street on 28 January 1926 at the age of 65 years and 9 months survived by his wife and daughters Isabella Raeburn; Elizabeth Blampied, Amelia Millar Sothcott and Winifred Margaret Sothcott. He bequeathed £1202 to them. His Death Certificate confirmed that he was a Prisons Department Pensioner and that he had died from Bilharzia. His wife remained living until she was 80 years old before passing away on 19 August 1945.
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Scenes of the Fort Beaufort Jail in Sothcott's time










The following user(s) said Thank You: Frank Kelley, philipcaveney

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From Rhodesia to Knysna - Frank Sothcott 7 years 6 months ago #48258

  • Frank Kelley
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Very nice indeed, Rory,
I always feel it is best to buy any BSA Co medal in company with something else, it is always reassuring to do so, (as well as being expensive) but, they are all good, really quite scarce medals, there were two bullion dealers in Bulawayo actually scrapping them in the 1970's.
Not sure about the "reckless venture" mentioned, you sound rather like the Colonial Office upon Dr Jameson, his force and those on the Rand failing in their objective, after all, had it succeeded, there would have been no Anglo Boer War, nor would this forum exist either! :ohmy:

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From Rhodesia to Knysna - Frank Sothcott 7 years 6 months ago #48268

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A great story to go with a great pair of medals, Rory. Thank you for sharing with us. I agree with Frank about finding the BSACo. Medal accompanied by another, but, even so, I think it is the finest medal struck during Victoria's reign. (Although I have to admit my first-hand experience of such medals is limited!)
Regards
Brett

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From Rhodesia to Knysna - Frank Sothcott 7 years 6 months ago #48274

  • Frank Kelley
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Morning Brett,
There is something about Knysna and it's particular history too, just look at it's commander during the Anglo Boer War, none other than William Anstruther Thomson, I know someone had to be appointed, but, a Field Officer in the Royal Horse Guards, one does tend to wonder why him exactly.
Regards Frank

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From Rhodesia to Knysna - Frank Sothcott 7 years 6 months ago #48275

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I note that Thomson was the man who signed the medal roll.

I made contact with the Curator of the Knysna Museum who is going to dig up what she can on the doings and comings and goings of the Knysna DMT although she was a little unsure of who and what they were knowing more about the Town Guard. I'll post whatever she provides - it could be of interest to other members.

Regards

Rory

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From Rhodesia to Knysna - Frank Sothcott 7 years 6 months ago #48277

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Morning Rory,
To be quite fair, a number of officers in all three regiments of Household Cavalry did serve as Staff Officers simply because of who they were, notwithstanding, I am very confident that Major Anstruther Thomson would have been rather happier if he rode at Colonel Fenwick's side, after all, he was a fire brand and why should only the subalterns see a bit of gunpowder, a five or six clasp medal looked far better at Windsor.
Never mind, I suppose certain members of the establishment in London would have been very concerned indeed at even the mere thought of Knysna being sacked by the enemy, anywhere else, doubtless, could have been spared, but, certainly not Knysna.
Regards Frank

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