Personalities, Surname W

Walford, Colonel

This officer rendered meritorious service with the British South Africa Police.

Ward, Colonel H W D, CB

Colonel Ward acted as A.A.G. in Natal, and with the garrison of Ladysmith from September 1899, and it was largely owing to his energy and foresight in provisioning the place that the defence was possible.  He became a major in the Army Service Corps in 1886, lieutenant colonel in 1890, and brevet colonel in 1898; and is the author of a book on the duties of the ASC in peace and war.  Colonol Ward has served in Egypt, 1885, Ashanti, 1895-96, and as staff officer of the colonial troops in the Jubilee of 1897.

 

Warren, Lieutenant General Sir Charles Warren, GCMG, KCB, RE

The son of Major General Sir Charles Warren, KCB, Colonel of the 96th Regiment. He was born Feb 7, 1840, at Bangor, N Wales, was educated at Bridgnorth Gram. School, Cheltenham College, Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and the Royal Military Acad., Woolwich, and passed into the Royal Engineers in 1857. He conducted excavations at Jerusalem and reconnaissance work in Palestine, 1867 to 1870; and began his long career of usefulness in SA as Special Commissioner in the Griqualand West and OFS Boundary Line in 1876-7 (CMG). He was also Special Commissioner in connection with the land question of Griqualand West in 1877. He commanded the Diamond Fields Horse in the Transkei War of 1875 (brevet Lieutenant Colonel); was Chief of Staff during the Griqualand West Rebellion in 1875; and commanded the Field Force against the Bechuanas and Korannas in 1878-79. He was appointed Administrator of Griqualand West in 1879, and went to Chatham in the same year as Instructor in Surveying, SME In 1882 he was employed under the Admiralty in the desert of Arabia Petraea to secure the murderers of Prof. Palmer (KCMG), and he commanded the Bechuanaland Expedition with the rank of Major-Gen, in 1884-5 (GCMG). Sir Chas. Warren successfully contested a Parliamentary scat in the Liberal interest in 1885. He was in command of the troops at Suakin with rank of Major General, and was Governor General of the Red Sea Littoral in 1886; was Commissioner of Metropolitan Police from 1886-89 (KCB); commanded the troops in the Straits Settlements from 1889-96; and had command of the Thames District, 1895-8. In the Boer War he commanded the 5th Division, taking part in the relief of Ladysmith, 1899-1900, and in the latter year he once more went to Griqualand West and Bechuanaland as Military Governor. Sir Charles is the author of Orientation of Ancient Temples, The Temple or the Tomb, Underground Jerusalem, On the Veldt in the Seventies, and The Ancient Cubit and Our Weights and Measures. He married Sep 1, 1864, Fanny Margaretta, daughter of Samuel Haydon, of Millmead, Guildford.

Waterhouse, Lieutenant R D, 6th Dragoon Guards

Ronald Dockray Waterhouse was born in December 1878 and was educated at ‘a preparatory school on the south coast’, where the physical conditions were savage, and at Marlborough, from where he was sent home in disgrace with a shocking report. After due consideration, his father put him on a boat bound for Cape Town with one gold sovereign, and on reaching his destination, young Waterhouse found work at a local barber’s shop.

Shortly afterwards he made the acquaintance of a Trooper in the Matabele Mounted Police, who promptly stole his gold sovereign, and, in an effort to track down his new found adversary, Waterhouse enlisted in the very same corps at Pietermaritzburg in late 1896. Just a few days later, having joined the Pitsani detachment of his new regiment, he witnessed the arrival of Dr. Jameson at the head of 120 Bechuanaland Border Police, and quickly found himself embroiled in the famous “Jameson Raid”. His part in that desperate enterprise was, however, short-lived, for on 2 January 1895, while advancing with the main force towards Vlakfontein, his knee was grazed by a bullet fired from a Boer farmstead. The same round also brought down his horse, pinning him in the mud of a dango - a wide shallow water basin common to all such farmsteads - but, at great risk, a fellow Trooper rode up and pulled him clear, the same Trooper, it transpired, who had stolen his sovereign back in Cape Town. Having concluded that Jameson’s mission was doomed to failure, the pair of them made off in a southerly direction, but Waterhouse remained in great pain - ‘the wound was only skin deep, the bone fortunately remaining undamaged, but they did not know this at the time, for the knee-cap was terribly bruised.’ When, in due course, news reached them of Jameson’s surrender at Rietspruit, near Doornkop, they made their way to Durban and boarded a vessel of the Union Line, bound for England, and passed a miserable passage in ‘steerage accomodation of an almost forgotten period.’

On making amends with his father back in London, it was decided that Waterhouse should “lie-low” in the Shetlands while the Jameson case blew over, but on learning of the outbreak of the second Matabele rebellion in March 1896, he hastened south to take the first available ship to Durban, and, before too long, had rejoined his old troop at Bulawayo, now titled Gifford’s Horse. He subsequently served as a Scout, and was once entrusted with carrying an important despatch back to Bulawayo, through very treacherous country, a journey, it is said, of 136 miles, and one which was completed in exactly 36 hours, but not without collecting ‘a nasty gash on his head from a spent bullet’. At a special parade called by Major-General Sir Frederick Carrington on the disbandment of the Bulawayo Field Force in July 1896, the General announced the pending issue of a ‘medal for the show’, which according to Waterhouse’s second wife, he ‘received from the Chartered Company seven years later in India on the occasion of the Coronation of King Edward VII’, a location that might just account for his B.S.A.C. Medal being unnamed - he does not, however, appear on the published roll under Gifford’s Horse. Meanwhile, he was among the selected representatives of the South African Contingent who took part in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations back in London, thereby qualifying him for the Jubilee 1897 Medal, on which occasion he also took the opportunity of visiting Dr. Jameson with his old C.O., Maurice Gifford.

It was about this time that Waterhouse ‘found himself with a Greek syntax in his hand instead of his cherished carbine’, for, following the sudden death of his father, the latter’s trustees had deemed it fit for him to complete his formal education at Oxford. That done, Waterhouse applied for a commission in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Lincolnshires, and, in December 1899, soon after the outbreak of the Boer War, gained a regular commission in the 2nd Battalion - he subsequently applied for the Mounted Infantry Company and was duly selected for active service in South Africa. His subsequent adventures in that conflict, latterly as a Lieutenant in the 6th Dragoons, are described in detail in Private and Official, and include accounts of the actions in which he was wounded. The first of these - a flesh wound in the thigh - arose from a sharp engagement fought at Waterval Drift in February 1900, while Waterhouse was serving in the 7th Mounted Infantry:

‘ ... Ronald found himself amongst the few still trying to catch a loose animal, but he succeeded at last and mounted. At that moment a man was hit close to him. He stopped, and helped him on to his own horse, saying, “Go steady, I will hang on to the stirrup leather,” but the horse bolted with its wounded rider, and left him. By this time he, and others in like case, were almost isolated. After considerable difficulty he managed to catch a second horse and started off again, but a bullet went through the fleshy part of his left thigh, and brought his horse down on to its nose. Then Ronald started running for cover nearly half a mile away. He was getting on admirably, and every yard brought him into less concentrated fire, but each running man was none the less a target. Presently - it seemed a very long time - he saw someone coming back to him with a led horse. The fire lifted from him to the pair galloping towards him, and he redoubled his efforts. Then he recognised his Sergeant, Murray, lying low on his horse’s neck, riding like a madman, with bullets spitting up the ground all round. Murphy never let go his leading rein, but wheeled and started back when Ronald was still climbing into the saddle. They made an excellent target, because there was now practically nothing else for De Wet’s entire commando to fire at. Then Murphy’s horse was shot, and after seven or eight strides turned complete somersault over him; Ronald fell off too, but fortunately kept hold of his rein and remounted; Murphy recovered, caught R’s stirrup leather, and at last they came out of range together behind the shelter of rising ground.’

His second and third, more severe wounds, were picked up at Paardeberg just 48 hours later, when, with a small party of his men, he was ordered to dismount, cross the river and make his way to the firing line, ‘where he found Captain Arnold of the Canadians at his side, and Moneypenny of the Seaforths next but one along, but his own men were scattered, and he saw no more of them.’ Later in the day, Colonel Aldworth arrived with two companies of the D.C.L.I., and ordered those present to advance over fireswept open ground. The first to fall was the Colonel, some say with over thirty bullet wounds, and Moneypenny of the Seaforths went next, Waterhouse turning to throw him his flask as he ran on towards the Boers. At this juncture, ‘a shock like ten sledge-hammers, synchronised for a single mighty blow in the chest flung him to the ground. How he fell, how he was hit, or by what, remained a mystery. But there he was flat on his stomach with one arm bent under his face and a heart pumping wildly.’ Then a voice called out “Are you hit?” and Waterhouse noticed he had been joined on the ground by Hylton-Jolliffe, a young subaltern of the Coldstreams. Now real disaster struck:

‘Then a terrific shock like the swinging blow of a crowbar, and a bullet whizzed between the wrist-watch and his eyebrow, and went through Ronald’s shoulder. But there was no pain at all, simply an intense dullness and a feeling of relief. Jolliffe began moving uneasily, for the same bullet had struck his knee-joint, it expanded and severed the leg. He rolled into Ronald, then rolled back ... Jolliffe’s condition was serious and he was unavoidably creating a target. A bullet passed Ronald’s face, a sickening thud and Jolliffe’s body was raked. They were lying not more than fifty or sixty yards from Cronje’s laager, and, standing unconcernedly above their breastworks, the Boers were taking deliberate shots at anything that moved ...’

By the time rescue arrived in the form of two hefty stretcher bearers, a Seaforth and a Canadian, Jolliffe had been hit ten times and his remaining leg was barely attached - ‘He gave Ronald his keys and the contents of his pockets and asked him to explain the circumstances to his father - “Charles Street, Berkeley Square” - he whispered. And then he died.’ For his own part, having heard that the first bullet to hit him had ‘gone through the heart and left a clean wound’, Waterhouse underwent an immediate field operation - ‘All the nerves in the left shoulder were severed. They pulled them out with forceps and tied them together again with no anaesthetic, but Ronald felt nothing. Then they carried him back to his place in the line of stretcher cases.’ It was here that he watched the agonising deaths of Captain Arnold of the Canadians and Captain Dewar of the Rifle Brigade, before embarking on a terrible journey by cart to Orange River station.

Mercifully, however, on eventually reaching Wynberg Hospital, he received first class treatment from the celebrated surgeons Makins and MacCormac, and his left arm was saved. He was also presented with black brocade dressing gown by Rudyard Kipling, who visited the hospital on the same day as Waterhouse’s old CO, Maurice Gifford. Invalided home, Waterhouse managed, at length, to persuade the medics to let him return to his unit in South Africa, where he commenced patrol work in the Magaliesberg mountains, and was recommended for a DSO when he and his Sergeant captured 22 Boers, complete with their rifles and bandoliers. Latterly he joined the 6th Dragoon Guards, and at the War’s end was embarked for India.

Having been placed on half-pay, with a pension for wounds, a year or two after being sent to India, Waterhouse sought active re-employment on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, but, because of his old wounds, was turned down. He next enlisted the help of Lord Roberts, and was accordingly sent to the Lines of Communication out in France, where he led a “Searcher Unit” of the BRCS & O St JJ and was awarded ‘the Mons Star for the retreat from Mons, and the Cross of an Equire of St. John of Jerusalem for discovering and identifying casualties during the uninterrupted rearguard action lasting for ten days.’ Waterhouse now applied to Lord Kitchener for re-consideration of a military post, and in 1915 he was appointed a Major and GSO 3rd Grade with responsibility for running the Military Permit Offices situated on the south coast - ‘During the period of Ronald’s command this office passed over 100,000 civilians across the Channel without a single mistake as to bona fide identity.’ Assorted appointments as an Intelligence Officer followed, including involvement on the espionage front, but in April 1918, Waterhouse was appointed Private Secretary to the first Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force, Major-General Sykes, and remained so employed until the end of the War, and attended the Paris Peace Conference in the following year. He was awarded the CMG.

From 1920-21 Waterhouse was employed as a Private Secretary to the Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons, and, in the latter year, in a similar capacity, to the Duke of York, being awarded the C.V.O. Thereafter, from 1922-28 he served successively as Principal Private Secretary to three Prime Ministers, namely Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin and Ramsay McDonald, a fascinating period recorded in vivid detail by his second wife in Private and Official. An early highlight was the resignation of Bonar Law, Waterhouse having to attend the King to help advise him about a successor, but he was well qualified in matters royal. Indeed he was largely responsible for forging a successful friendship between Stanley Baldwin and the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward VIII, a friendship that proved invaluable in the worrying days of the General Strike in 1926 (and later, no doubt, contributed to the Prince’s famous decision to visit mining communities at the time of the Depression). Waterhouse’s duties also included involvement in a number of royal visits, both at home and abroad, and over the coming years he was awarded a large number of foreign orders and decorations (see below listed warrants). He was also created a KCB in 1923, having originally been awarded the CB in 1921.

Long since having retired, but always keen to get back in harness, Waterhouse obtained a commission as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAFVR in 1940, and served on staff duties until his death in November 1942.

BSA CM (Rhod) (0) unnamed, QSA (4) CC RofK Paar Tr (Lt. R. Dockray-Waterhouse, Lincoln Rgt.), all but the ‘Paardeberg’ clasp tailor’s copies, KSA (2) (Lieut. R. Dockray-Waterhouse, 6/Drgn. Gds.), 1914 Star (R. D. Waterhouse, BRCS & O St JJ), BWM, VM (R. D. Waterhouse, BRC & St JJ), 1897 Jubilee, 1935 Jubilee,  1937 Coronation, Belgian Order of Leopold I, Knight’s breast badge, with swords, Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class neck badge, Persian Order of the Lion and Son, 2nd class set of insignia, sash badge and breast star, Serbian Order of the White Eagle, 5th class breast badge.  DNW Jun 05 £2,600

Watermeyer, Captain, Cape Town Highlanders

ADC to Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief.

Watkins-Pitchford, Lieutenant Colonel Herbert

Born in England, June 3, 1866, and is son of the Reverend J Watkins-Pitchford, MA, of Shropshire. He was appointed as Principal Veterinary Surgeon to the Natal Govt, in 1896, and was successful in devising the immunisation against the disease rinderpest which has since been universally adopted under the name of the serum system. He served throughout the Boer War, including the siege of Ladysmith, as PVO on the staff of the Natal Commandant, with the rank of Major. In 1902 he was appointed Bacteriologist to the Govt, of Natal and Director of the Natal Laboratory. He is a JP for the county of Maritzburg. He married May, daughter of Henry Willson, MD of Weybridge.

Watt, the Hon Thomas, CMG

Born at Glasgow, Jan 20, 1857, and is the son of Thos. Watt, of Orkney, Scotland. He was educated primarily at a private school, afterwards going to Glasgow University. He was admitted as a Scotch solicitor in 1883, and in the same year went out to Natal, where he became managing clerk to Sir Henry Bale. Since 1886 he practised as an advocate and solicitor at Durban, and latterly at Newcastle. The electors of Newcastle returned Mr Watt to the House of Assembly in 1901, and he became a member of the Natal Defence Commission in 1902, and thereafter of the permanent Local Defence Committee, of which he is now president. He served during part of the Boer War of 1899-02 as Lieutenant, in the ILH, and later as Captain of the Newcastle Town Guard (despatches). Mr Watt was appointed Minister of Justice for Natal in Sir George Sutton's cabinet from July, 1903, until May, 1905, when he joined Mr Smyth's coalition Ministry with the same portfolio. He married, in 1886, Mary, daughter of G Lindup.

Webb, Clement Davies

He is son of Frederick C Webb, a farmer who settled in SA in 1820. He was educated at the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, and served in the native wars of 1879 and 1880. Clem Webb, as he is popularly called, has resided most of his life in Queenstown, Cape Colony, where he was known as an athlete, gymnast, and boxer. Between the years 1880-1885 he won a number of trophies for these sports, and was captain of the Swifts Football Club (Queenstown) for two years—a club which won every match in 1885 and 1887. He was one of the original committee of the long-famous Wanderers' Sporting Club in Johannesburg, and for two years he won the heavyweight amateur boxing competition, and was never once beaten. Short sight, however, compelled him to give up this form of sport. Mr Webb was sent by the Cape Govt, as one of the representatives of the Cape Court to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886 (held in London). The discovery of goldfields at Johannesburg so attracted him that he returned to SA, and shortly afterwards took up his residence in Johannesburg. After the Jameson Raid, and during the imprisonment of the Reformers, Mr Webb and a few others formed a secret society, which afterwards developed itself into a branch of the SA League. Mr Webb was the first President, and became a marked man in the Transvaal. He was arrested by the Boers early in 1899, with Major Tom Dodd, for having organised a meeting for the purpose of presenting a petition to the British Vice-Consul on the subject of the murder of Edgar by a Boer policeman; and was tried for high treason against the SAR. Up to the time of the Boer War he took a keen interest in political affairs; spoke at most of the League meetings, and proved himself a good organiser. On the outbreak of the Boer War he joined the ILH as Lieutenant, in F squad, and was amongst the besieged in Ladysmith. He was then promoted to the command of B squad, and went with the regiment to the relief of Mafeking; was taken ill with typhoid and pneumonia, and afterwards detached by Lord Roberts for special duty in Johannesburg, where he was for some time senior officer of the mounted battalion of the Rand Rifles. Mr Webb has now retired from taking any active part in politics or public affairs. He has started a weekly paper, called South African Alines, which is a resurrection of the old South African Mining Journal, and devotes himself entirely to the interests of this paper and the practice of his profession of solicitor and Notary public. He married a Colonial lady in May, 1890.

Weil, Julius

Of the firm of Julius Weil and Company, is a director of the Empress (Rhodesia) Mines, Ltd, Enterprise GM and Estates Company, Ltd, Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company, Ltd, South Rand Exploration Company, Ltd, and the Theta GM Company, Ltd Mr Weil and his firm bore a great deal of the onus of supplying Commissariat and transport to the troops on the Western side during the Boer War .

Weil, Samuel

Born in 1862; was educated privately, and went on to Eton when quite young. He settled in Bechuanaland after the close of the Bechuanaland Expedition, 1885, joined the firm of Julius Weil, and assisted in the opening up of the trade route to the north by the establishment of stores and transport. He was appointed JP in 1896. He took part in the Matabele War of 1898, and organised the transport; carried despatches from Inkwesi, narrowly escaping capture by the enemy, and was reported killed. On the outbreak of rinderpest in 1896, which put an end to the transport machinery upon which the entire country north of Mafeking depended for their food supplies, with his firm he organised mule transport service, thereby saving the country from famine. He took part in the Matabele Rebellion in 1896, and organised the transport and food supplies in the face of great difficulties; organised the whole of the transport service outside of Natal in Boer War, 1899-1994 given the rank of Major in Colonel Mahon's staff, took part in the relief of Mafeking, and was mentioned in Lord Roberts' despatches.

Wells-Cole, Captain H, DSO, York Light Infantry

Entered 1884; Captain, 1892.  War service: Operations on NW Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; DSO; medal with 2 clasps); Boer War, 1899-1900.

Wentzel, Charles Augustus

Born Jan 29, 1866, and was educated at the SA College, Cape Town, and took the Advocates' Degree (Law) with Honours in 1903 (Transvaal). He practised as Prof, of Law first in Cape Colony and subsequently in Johannesburg from 1889 to the outbreak of war. On the occupation of Johannesburg by Lord Roberts he was appointed a member of the Judicial Investigation Committee. From July, 1900, to March 1901 he was Legal Adviser to the Military Governor of Pretoria (General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell) and Acting Legal Adviser to the Commander-in-Chief during part of that time, in the absence of Mr (now Justice) Wessels. In April, 1901, upon the abolition of Military Courts, he was appointed the first Resident Magistrate of Johannesburg. He was senior member of the Special Criminal Court, which sat at Johannesburg from April, 1901, to March, 1903, when trial by judge and jury was resumed. This Court had plenary powers over all offences in the SE portion of the Transvaal. He married, Feb 1 3, 1895, and has two children. His recreations are golf and lawn tennis.

Wessels, Johannes Wilhelmus

Son of J B Wessels, of Green Point, Cape Town He was born at Cape Town, March 7, 1862, and was educated at the SA College; at the Cape of Good Hope University, where he took BA and was a Jamieson Scholar; and at Downing College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA, LLB (1st Class Tripos and George Long Scholar). He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, where he took a Scholarship, in 1886, and returning to the Cape, practised as an Advocate at the Cape Bar, and afterwards, in 1887, joined the Transvaal Bar. He conducted the defence of the Reform prisoners in 1896, and in 1900 he became Legal Adviser to Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. He married Helen Mary, daughter of Benjamin Duff, ISO.

Western, Colonel C M 

Entered Royal Artillery, 1869; Brevet Colonel, 1899.  War Service: Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal); Boer War, 1881.

Westminster (2nd Duke of), Hugh R A Grosvenor

The present Duke, was born March 19, 1879. He succeeded his grandfather, the first Duke, in 1899, and was at one time in the Royal Horse Guards. He acted as ADC to Lord Milner (then Sir Alfred) at the age of twenty, taking part in the Bloemfontein Conference, and in the early days of the Boer War became ADC to Lord Roberts, and hoisted the British flag at Pretoria. But the Duke's connection with South Africa did not end with the War. In 1905 he purchased an estate of about 18,000 acres, near Ladybrand, some sixty miles from Bloemfontein, in what is known as the conquered territory, and as the most fertile farming country in the Orange River or Transvaal colonies. Here he is settling married farmers from his Cheshire estates, and other home counties. His tenants pay no rent for a year or so, but when they have made sufficient progress, they will pay rent in the shape of a percentage of profits, thus both landlord and tenants will benefit in good years or suffer mutually when times are indifferent. The Duke of Westminster is a Tariff Reformer, with sound views as to the needs of the Empire. He owns some 30,000 acres in Cheshire, but derives an incalculably greater income from his 600 in London, the greater part of Bclgravia being built upon his land, which was once a useless swamp. So great is the estate to which he succeeded that the duties paid on the death of Duke amounted to £1,200,000, and when the present leases terminate, about 1935, the present head of the Grosvenor family will be one of the richest men in the country. In Feb, 1901, he married Shelagh, the beautiful daughter of Colonel and Mrs Cornwallis West, of Ruthin Castle, which was built by Edward I late in the thirteenth century. The young Duchess is a sister of Princess Henry of Pless; is a fine horsewoman, and has inherited her mother's musical accomplishments.

White, Captain Hon Charles James

He was born June 14, 1860, at Rabeny, Company Dublin, and was educated at Eton. He joined the Royal Fusiliers, 1881, and served at home and in India till 1890, when he proceeded to SA, and was appointed to the BSA Company's Police with several Extra Service Officers, at the time when Colonel Ferreira and a commando of Boers attempted to cross the Limpopo and occupy Banjailand. From this they were dissuaded by Dr Jameson. From 1891 to Jan, 1892, he was in command of the Depot and Remounts at Tuli, Matabeleland. On the reduction of the Police Force, he was appointed Assistant Mining Commissioner and then Mining Commissioner at Hartley Hill. He also served as Resident Magistrate and Chief Commissioner of Police, retaining the latter appointment from November, 1892, to Sep, 1895 He reorganised the police from their former military position into a civil body. Captain White took part in the expedition to Matabeleland in 1893. He was in command of the combined scouts of the Victoria and Salisbury Columns, and was present in all actions until the occupation of Bulawayo (medal and clasp). He retired from the regular army in 1894. He took part in the suppression of the Matabele Rebellion first as Staff Officer to Colonel Spreckley, CMG, and then in command of White's Flying Column at the reliefs of Salisbury, Hartley Hill, and Enkeldoorn (medal and clasp). Since 1895 Captain White has been connected with several business undertakings in Rhodesia. He married, Dec 11, 1901, Evelyn, daughter of F B Bulkeley Johnson.

White, Major Hon Robert

Born Oct 26, 1861, at Kirkmichael, Dumfriesshire, and was educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and Trinity College, Cambridge In 1882 he joined the Roval Welsh Fusiliers, and served in the Nile Campaign, receiving the Egyptian medal (1884-5) and the Khedive's star. He was on the Staff of the Cork District 1886-89; on the Staff of the York District 1890-91, and attended the Staff College 1891-92. He was appointed on the Staff of the Rhodesia Horse in 1895, and was one of the British officers who took part in the Jameson Raid, and for this he was imprisoned in Holloway for seven months in 1896-97. He served on the Staff as ADC to General Kelly-Kenny with the 6th Div. in South Africa in 1900, during the pursuit of General Cronje, and was present at the battles of Paardeberg and Driefontein, at the relief of Kimberley, Lord Roberts's advance to Pretoria, and at Diamond Hill. He was promoted Major by-Lord Roberts and gazetted in 1901 (despatches, and medal with six clasps). Major White is a partner in the stockbroking firm of Govett and Sons, of 6, Throgmorton Street, EC, and is not married.

White, Wallis Harry Brinsley

Served in the Boer War with Brabant's Horse (QSA and four clasps). He was appointed Inspector of Schools in the Orange River Colony in 1901, and Chief Inspector in 1904.

Wilkie, David

Served in the Boer War in 1900-1 (QSA with four clasps). He was employed in the Pay Department of the South African Constabulary from 1902-3, when he was appointed Clerk to the Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony.

Williams, Colonel W D C

This officer rendered meritorious service with the New South Wales Army Medical Corps.

Willoughby, Sir John Christopher, Baronet

Born in 1859, and entered the Royal Horse Guards in 1890. He served in Egypt in 1882, and again in the Nile Expedition three years later. He also went through the first Matabele War as Military Adviser to the Administrator, and was seconded for service in the BBP in May, 1895. He took command, with rank of Lieutenant Colonel, of Dr Jameson's forces at the time of the Jameson Raid, for his connection with which he was sentenced to ten months' imprisonment, and allowed to retire from the Army. He also took part in the Boer War in 1899-1900. For several years he has been connected with several Rhodesian companies, of which he is a director. Sir John was mainly responsible for the discovery of diamond deposits in Gwelo, Rhodesia, and he was given by the Chartered Company a concession under which he was at liberty to prospect and mine over a certain area, retaining all diamonds without accounting to the company up to Dec 31, 1909. At the end of that time terms will have to be arranged with them as to the future working of the ground. The whole position with regard to diamonds was somewhat complicated by the company's agreement with the De Beers Company, with which they have a working arrangement. Probably steps will shortly be taken to determine the exact effect of that agreement. Sir John is the 5th Baronet of a creation of 1794, and has no heir.

Wilson, Henry Francis CMG

Educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Ban at Lincoln's Inn in 1888; acted as Secretary, to the Trinidad Judicial Inquiry Commission in 1892, and was sent to Malta to collect evidence for the Protestant Communities in connection with the Marriages Case in 1893; was private secy, to the Rt Hon J Chamberlain, Secretary, of State for the Colonies, in 1895; Legal Assistant in the Colonial Office in 1897; went to South Africa as Legal Assistant on the High Commissioner's Staff in 1900; acted as Secretary, to the Administration of the Orange River Colony, 1901; Colonial Secretary, in 1902, and Acting Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony in 1903-4.

Wilson, Lieutenant Henry Maitland, Rifle brigade

Born 5 Sep 1881.  Served in the Boer War (QSA(2), KSA(2)).  Served in the Great War.  DSO 1917.  Served in WWII.  GCB. GBE.  Created Baron Wilson in 1946.  He died 31 Dec 1964. 

Winchester (15th Marquis), Augustus J H B Paulet

Winter, Captain C F, Royal Canadian Regiment

See the biography and diary for C F Winter

Wirgman, Reverend Augustus Theodore

Born Sep 22, 1846, and is the eldest son of the Reverend A Wirgman, MA. He was educated at Rossall School and Magdalen College, Cambridge (BA Classical Tripos, Theological Honours, 2nd Class, and MA). In 1874 he went to South Africa as Vice Principal of St Andrew's College, Grahamstown, became Rector of St Mary's, Port Elizabeth, in 1875; Rural Dean of Port Elizabeth in 1884-96; Canon of Grahamstown in 1899, and Hon Chaplain to the King in 1905. Canon Wirgman is also Senior Chaplain of the Cape Colonial Forces, and holds the General Service medal, 1877-81, QSA and clasp for the Boer War, 1900, and the Imperial Long Service (officers') Decoration, 1896. Canon Wirgman is in Examiner and Member of the Executive of the Divinity Faculty of the South African Church, and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Mashonaland. He is the author of The Prayer-book with Historical Notes, The Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer, The Sevenfold Gifts, The Church and the Civil Power, The Spirit of Liberty, The English Reformation, History of the English Church and People in South Africa, The Doctrine of Confirmation, The Constitutional Authority of Bishops, The Blessed Virgin and the Company of Heaven, and has written articles in the Nineteenth Century on the Boer War. He married, Jan 13, 1874, Rose, daughter of Andrew J Worthington, of Staffs.

Wolff, Captain Cecil Harry

Born at Port Elizabeth, Jan, 1882; is second son of Victor Wolff, whose father was a doctor in the British Army (MD, MRCS, London). Captain Wolff was educated at St Paul's School, and University College, London. He won the Public Schools Boxing Championship in 1898 and 1899. Entered the 4th Battalion Bedford Regiment Oct 16, 1901; served in the Boer War Dec, 1901-Oct, 1902 (medal and four clasps), and was gazetted Captain in Oct, 1904.

Wollaston, Lieutenant Colonel Charlton Frederick Bromley

Eldest son of Charlton Wollaston, a civil and electrical engineer who laid the first submarine cable between Dover and Calais. Colonel Wollaston was educated at Derby and the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, and in 1868 joined the service of the Cape of Good Hope Telegraph Co But in 1870 he turned his attention to diamond and afterwards gold mining, being successively: manager of the Adamant Diamond Mining Company Consolidated Bultfontein Mine, Premier Mine (Wesselton), Barnato Consolidated Mines, Lace Diamond Mine, and the Montrose Diamond Mine in the Pretoria district. From 1895 to 1899 he was also a director of the Ginsberg, Balmoral, Consolidated Main Reef, Heidelberg Roodepoort, and Buffelsdoorn Estate Companies. Colonel Wollaston, was arrested and imprisoned at the beginning of 1896 in connection with the Transvaal Reform movement, and has had very many years of military service with the Volunteers, dating from when he was a sergeant in the Dutoitspan Hussars in 1876. In 1877-8 he served in the Kaffir wars (medal and clasp), and in the latter year became a Lieutenant, in the Diamond Fields Horse, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1893. He commanded the regiment for seven years, and during the Boer War served on Lord Roberts's Staff till after the occupation of Bloemfontein, and subsequently as Base Officer to the Railway Pioneer Regiment for fourteen months, receiving the QSA with three clasps. He also wears the Long Service medal.

Wolseley-Jenkins, Lieutenant Colonel C B H, 19th Hussars. 

Entered 1874; Lieutenant Colonel, 1897.  War service: Egyptian Expedition 1882-84 (medal with clasp; bronze star); wounded (Despatches; 2 clasps; 4th class Medjidie; Brevet of Major); Boer War, 1899-1900; Commanding Cavalry, Ladysmith.

Wood, Colonel C K, RE

Entered 1872; Colonel, South Africa, April 1900.  Staff service:  Adjutant Volunteers, 1889-94; Colonel on Staff (Chief Engineer), Natal, April 1900.  War service: Sudan Expedition 1884-85 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Boer War, 1899-1900.

Wood, Major General Elliot, CB

Entered RE 1864; Colonel, 1889.  Staff service:  ADC to Inspector General of Fortifications, War Office, 1880; Special Service, Egypt, 1884; AAG, Royal Engineers, Headquarters of Army, 1889-94; Colonel on Staff (Commanding RE), Malta, 1894-99; Colonel on Staff (Commanding RE), Aldershot, 1899; Major General (Chief Engineer), South Africa, 1899.  War service:  Egyptian Expedition 1882-84 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brevet of Major; 4th class Medjidie; Despatches, March, 2nd and 6th May, 1884; 2 clasps; Brevet of Lieutenant Colonel); Sudan Expedition 1885 (Despatches; 2 clasps; CB); Boer War, 1899-1900.

Wood, Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn, VC, GCB, GCMG

Born Feb 9, 1838, at Cressing, Essex, and was educated at Marlborough. Sir Evelyn Wood has had a long and brilliant career extending over half a century. He entered the Royal Navy in 1852, and was severely wounded while serving with the Naval Brigade in the Crimean War. It was certainly not an unfortunate decision which induced him to resign the service in which, young as he was, his personal gallantry had made him conspicuous, and to enter the Army in which he has done such splendid work. After serving in a Light Dragoon Regiment he joined the 17th Lancers in the Indian Mutiny Campaign, where he gained the VC for having on Oct 19, 1858, during an action at Sindwayo, when in command of a troop of the 3rd Light Cavalry, attacked with much gallantry, almost singlehanded, a body of rebels, and also for subsequently rescuing an Indian from a band of robbers. At this time he was serving as Brigadc-Major with Bcetson's Horse. He also raised and commanded Mayne's Horse, and was present in five actions. He served with greet distinction in the Ashanti and Kaflir Wars, and while engaged in campaigning against the Zulus, was in command of one of the four columns dispatched against Cetcwayo. He also went through the first and ill-fated Boer War, and assumed command after Sir G Colley was killed at Majuba. He afterwards commanded the Second Brigade (2nd Div.) in the Expedition in Egypt in 1882; raised the Egyptian Army in 1883, and took part in the Nile Expedition in 1894-95. It was Mr Kruger's firm conviction that when the Boer War broke out the command of the British forces would he given to Sir Evelyn Wood, whom he regarded as the most formidable adversary that General Joubert was likely to meet in the field. As we know, the choice fell upon General Buller, though after the early reverses, and before Lord Roberts was sent out, Sir Evelyn offered to go out to serve under Sir Redvers. He has, at various times, been in command of the Chetham and Eastern Dists. of the Aldershot Div. He has also been Adjt. General and Quartermaster General to the Forces, and prior to his retirement commanded the 2nd Army Corps. Sir Evelyn Wood was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1874. He is a well-known writer on military subjects, his book on the Crimea being regarded as a standard work of those stirring times. He married, Sep 19, 1867, the Hon Pauline Southwell, who died in 1891.

Woodland, Lieutenant Colonel A L, 1st Battalion Durham Light Infantry

Entered 1867; Lieutenant Colonel, 1896.  War Service: Boer War, 1899-1900.

Wyndham-Quin, Major W H, MP

Major Wyndnam-Quin, who was formerly in the 16th Lancers, is another of the patriotic number who went to the front with the Imperial Yeomanry.  He was born in 1857, served in the Boer War of 1881, and married in 1885 the daughter of the 6th Earl of Mayo.

Wyndham, Right Hon George, MP

Born in 1863. He has Irish blood in his veins, and is a descendant of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. He joined the Coldstream Gds. when just out of his teens, and saw active service before he was twenty-two in the Suakin Expedition, gaining the medal and star. At the age of twenty-four he became Private Secretary to Mr Balfour when he was Chief Secretary for Ireland. In the following year he entered the House of Commons as member for Dover, which seat he has held ever since. Parliament was ready to greet this new representative of a race of politicians, but Mr Wvndham was not an early success. His opportunity soon came, however. His talents received recognition, and in 1898 he became Under-Secretary for War, an unenviable office which he held during the Boer War, in the course of which he had so often to justify the blunders of his department before an angry House. In 1902 at the early age of thirty-nine, he entered the Cabinet as Chief Secretary, for Ireland. Himself of Irish descent, with strong sympathies for the people, he was anxious to render Ireland contented and prosperous. With that object in view, in 1902 he approached a distinguished Indian civilian of pronounced Nationalist leanings, Sir Antony MacDonnell, who temporarily accepted the office of Under-Secretary on the understanding that he was to maintain order, solve the land question by voluntary purchase, settle the education question on Mr Balfour's lines, and generally pursue a policy of material improvement and administrative conciliation. The situation was thus a very peculiar one. The Under-Secretary practically dictated the policy, and was granted greater freedom of action and greater opportunities of initiative than fall to the ordinary subordinate official. The outcome of the policy was Lord Dunraven's Devolution Scheme, in the preparation of which Sir Antony had taken an active part. This was practically Home Rule in disguise, and had to be repudiated by Mr Wyndham, who had allowed himself to be nominally responsible for an impossible situation. He had apparently let the control of affairs in his department slip from his hands, and become the mere shield of a subordinate who carried out his own interpretation of an impossible agreement. The climax was reached in March, 1905, when Mr Wyndham, being of the opinion that the controversy which his action had given rise to had greatly impaired, if not wholly destroyed, the value of the work which he had to do in the office that he had so long held, he resigned the Chief Secretaryship.

Wynne, Major General Arthur Singleton, CB

Born in 1846, and is son of Captain Wynne, of the Royal Artillery. He entered the Army in 1863, and served in the Jowaki Expedition in 1877, as Superintendent of Army Signalling (despatches, medal with clasp), the Afghan War in 1875-9, as Superintendent of Field Telegraphs, and in charge of Army Signalling with the Kurum Valley Field Force, at the capture of the Peiwar Kotal, also present at the actions in the Mungiar Pass and Matun Khost (despatches, medal with clasp and brevet of Major); the Boer War in 1881, with the Natal Field Force as DAA and QMG for signalling; and the Sudan Expedition in 1884-5, employed on the Lines of Communication ( despatches, medal with clasp, bronze star and brevet of Lieutenant Colonel). From 1886-1891 he acted at DAAG at the Army Headquarters; acted as AAG for the Curragh District from 1891-4; was DAG at Malta from 1894-8, and at Aldershot from 1895-9. He served in the Boer War in 1899-1901, on the staff, including service as Chief of Staff in South Africa (afterwards in Natal), and in command of the 11th Brigade at Standerton; present at the relief of Ladysmith, and the actions at Spion Kop and Vaal Kranz, and the operations on Tugela Heights; the operations in Natal, including the action at Laing's Nek, and the operations in the Transvaal and Cape Colony (despatches, QSA with seven clasps; promoted Major General for distinguished service). From 1902-4 he acted as DAG to the Forces. He has also acted as Assistant Military Secretary to the Minister of War, and commanded the 6th Division, Eastern Command, until 1906, when he succeeded Colonel J S Ewart as Military Secretary to the Minister of War. He married in 1886, Emily, daughter of Charles Turner.