TOPIC:

Thank you Linneyl,

As always, great input.
No, there are no markings on the shell itself. My guess at a date of manufacture is based on the fact that it was found in the rubble left by the Begbie's explosion.
As I understand it, Begbie's Engineering Works was not involved in the production of ammunition until the foundry was commandeered by the Transvaal authorities at the beginning of the ABW. After the Ultimatum, Thomas Begbie had shut up the works, laid off all staff, and fled south to Cape Town, where he was employed as chief engineer to the Steam Road Transport Company until the end of the war.
So the shell was either cast at the foundry after it had been commandeered, or it was an earlier example taken there for some unknown purpose. MC Heunis wonders whether they had intended to convert the old shells they had in stock (see above).

MC Heunis has also sent me photographs of two further examples of this shell, one with the applied lead jacket sill in place:




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Another photograph of the aftermath of the explosion (Illustrated London News, 23/06/1900).
Note the pile of shell castings in the foreground.




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Neville
I must say that the clarity of the pic 11849 is really superb. Just as if we were there. Nice to see uniforms as they were worn as well as the .45" Maxim on the RHS.
Regards
IL.

Here is a photograph of Thomas Begbie, visiting the site of his factory after the fall of Pretoria. [Ed., 28/02/2023 - this may be Thomas Begbie's son, who remained in Johannesburg after the outbreak of hostilities].

Begbie hands the British soldier a mangled shell case, indicating that there were still souvenirs to be found at the site six weeks or more after the explosion.

The shell sitting on top of the crate appears to be a 75 mm QF Creusot round, presumably made at Begbie's before the explosion. From its length, the case in Mr Begbie's hands also looks like it was made for a Creusot QF gun.




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Due to censorship within Johannesburg, sensationalism and the use of unreliable sources, the story of the Begbie Foundry explosion evolved over a period of many weeks. Only after the fall of Pretoria did a full account emerge.

The first reports of a major event at the factory appear in the press nearly three months before the well-known explosion. Only later did it transpire that there had been many "mishaps" at the foundry, including two serious explosions on 20 January and 24 April.

Early reports of the 24 April disaster, based on official statements released by the Transvaal authorities, suggested that there had only been a few casualties, and that the factory had suffered slight damage. However, it gradually became clear that the incident had been far more serious than originally stated by Mr Klinke, the Government Engineer. The number of casualties rose from twelve killed and sixty wounded to one hundred killed and a similar number wounded. And the "merely small damage" inflicted on the buildings evolved into a scene of total devastation.
With the fall of Pretoria and access to eyewitness accounts, later reports describe a major explosion, felt sixteen miles from the blast site. Deaths occurred within a 500 yard radius, with body parts strewn over an area extending beyond this. Complete shells were found half a mile away. Windows rattled in Krugersdorp.

Another aspect of the story that changed dramatically was the theory of how the explosion had occurred. Despite a lack of evidence, initial theories assumed British involvement, and led to the arrest of Thomas Begbie's son on a charge of murder. The workforce, predominantly Italian and French, believing this to be true, agitated for the removal of all British nationals from Johannesburg. The Transvaal Government, using this as a pretext, expelled all remaining British citizens from the Transvaal on 30 April 1900.
Government inspectors initially maintained they had proof that dynamite or nitro-glycerine had been used and that "dynamitards" were responsible for the act. There were even stories of tunnels having been dug to lay the explosives.
Eventually, however, the authorities agreed that the explosion had been the result on an accident, and Mr Begbie was released without charge. Later, stories of unsafe practices at the foundry emerged. These included drunkenness at work and smoking in areas where explosives were stored.


Postscript.
During November, one of the Italians who had agitated for the expulsion of the remaining British from the Transvaal, was arrested for spying and murder. Luigi Deli was found guilty of having helped a Boer commando during a night attack on a farmhouse, after having taken the oath of neutrality. He was hung on the same day as his trial (23 Nov 1900).









Below are a few of the reports.


Daily Telegraph & Courier (London) 31 January 1900

BOER SHELL FACTORY BLOWN UP.
DURBAN, Friday.

A refugee who arrived today from Johannesburg reports that the Boers have suffered a severe loss by the destruction of their shell factory in Johannesburg. The disaster occurred on Jan. 20.
At the commencement of the war the Government commandeered Begbie’s Engineering Works at Johannesburg, the largest factory of the kind in South Africa, the machinery alone having cost £80,000, all driven by electric power. Mr Kruger placed Mr Perrin, an Englishman and a well-known gunsmith, in charge of the works, with a view to casting shells for the Boer big guns, to replace the heavy drain upon those weapons at the front.
The Begbie firm had cleared out of their works and closed them before hostilities commenced. Work was proceeding at the time that the explosion occurred, and the disaster entirely wrecked the building. The loss of life is unknown, but it is believed to have been great.
The production of these shells has now been severely checked. Only a small arsenal in Pretoria is available for turning them out, and should the campaign be pushed with vigour at all points it is believed the Boer big guns will be rendered useless from the mere fact that there is no ammunition for them. It is believed impossible for them now to get these big missiles from outside sources. – Central News.


Daily Telegraph & Courier (London) 30 April 1900

JOHANNESBURG EXPLOSION.
JOHANNESBURG, Thursday.

The Government mining engineer, Klinke, in an interview, states his opinion on the recent explosion at Begbie’s. He has been charged with investigating the matter, and his decision is most emphatic that it was due to dynamite placed in trenches outside the bomb factory, and connected by lightning (?) wires.
The total casualties up to date are twelve killed and sixty injured, most of them only slightly. The majority of the sufferers are French and Italian. The works sustained merely small damage. Splendid services were rendered by the various ambulances, Jewish, Swiss, French, and that of the burghers.
The detective department has made several important arrests at the time of wiring. – Laffan.

PRETORIA, Thursday.
Technical Government inspectors are convinced that the material used for the explosion at Messrs Begbie and Co.’s works in Johannesburg was dynamite or nitro-glycerine, and that the outrage was the work of dynamitards. A train has been traced to an empty house in the vicinity, where the first explosion took place. Shells flew about in all directions, and signs of the destruction caused are visible in every direction within a radius of a mile. Some marvellous escapes are recorded.
This affair may affect the question of the British remaining in the Transvaal. – Reuter’s Special Service.

DURBAN, Saturday.
The Delagoa Bay correspondent of the Central News writes that the second explosion at Begbie’s Foundry, Johannesburg, was much more serious than the earlier reports indicated. Over fifty workmen were seriously injured, and some have died of their wounds. The Government circulated a report to the effect that the explosion occurred not in the foundry or arsenal itself, but on the opposite side of the road. The explosion undoubtedly took place in the factory, and was as certainly due to careless or ignorant handling of chemicals. The manufacture of shells has been resumed at the foundry.


Daily Telegraph & Courier (London) 01 May 1900

PRETORIA, Saturday.

The funeral of the men who lost their lives in the explosion at Begbie’s Foundry took place in Johannesburg on Thursday. The ceremony was very impressive. The burgomaster addressed the crowd assembled at the graveside, and speeches were also made by the Italian Consul-General and by M. Gruenberg, who managed the factory as a Government arsenal. – Reuter.
PRETORIA, Monday.
As a sequel to the Johannesburg explosion, a Government proclamation was issued today ordering all British subjects, with a few exceptions, to leave the Republic within forty-eight hours.
Nearly £4,000 had been subscribed for the relief of the victims of the explosion.
More human remains have been taken from Messrs Begbie’s works. A strict inquiry into the affair is being instituted, and special police are being enrolled for the better protection of the Italian and Hungarian workmen at the Government works. – Reuter’s Special Service.


Daily Telegraph & Courier (London) 07 May 1900

JOHANNESBURG EXPLOSION.
PRETORIA, Friday.

Mr Begbie [junior] was brought up before the Criminal Court, at Johannesburg, yesterday, on remand, charged with murder. Mr B. Davis, who defended, maintained that there was no case, and asked that the accused should be discharged. The application was refused.
Later in the day, Mr Begbie was released on a bond for £500 being given. The charge was reduced to attempted murder.
A coloured American named Thomas Richards, who was brought up on the same charge, was remitted to a special court for trial. – Reuter.


Dundee Courier 07 May 1900

REVENGE ON BRITISH.
DEMANDED BY JOHANNESBURG FOREIGNERS.
Durban, Saturday Night.

Later despatches from Johannesburg show that directly after the explosion at Begbie’s, the French, Italian, and other Continental workmen immediately held a mass meeting.
The speeches were of a highly incendiary character, and all were framed in a spirit of revenge against the British, who, it was freely asserted, had originated the plot whereby Begbie’s foundry was blown up and so many lives lost.
Resolutions were passed pledging themselves to do no work until the remaining British were expelled from the Rand. The meeting formally appointed a deputation to await upon Commandant Schutte, and he promised that their demand for the expulsion of the British should be acceded to. The workmen are now specially guarded by police.
At the funeral of the victims, De Villiers, the burgomaster, delivered another inflammatory speech, holding it infamous that any British should be allowed to remain in the Transvaal. They should all go, and none should be allowed to return.
Begbie’s factory is no longer used for the manufacture of ammunition. The buildings of Messrs Wright and Boag, in the next street, have been commandeered for the purpose. There is absolutely no evidence against Begbie of having caused the explosion, but he is still detained in gaol as a protective measure against the threatened violence of the Continental workmen.


Dundee Courier 07 May 1900

AWFUL SCENES AT THE BEGBIE EXPLOSION.
200 KILLED AND WOUNDED.
MANY PERSONS BLOWN TO FRAGMENTS.
Durban, Saturday Afternoon.

An expelled Englishman, who had been for years engineer at one of the Rand mines, has just arrived here. He was in Johannesburg when the terrible explosion at Begbie’s Foundry occurred.
He says the scenes were of a most distressing character. Some of the victims were literally blown to fragments. He assisted in the work of extricating the dead and injured from the wrecked building.
About 100 were killed, and the same number injured.
The disaster originated in a small private house near the foundry. In this house were stored a large number of shells which had been already charged at the foundry. Other private houses adjoining were used for a similar purpose, and all were completely demolished.
The immediate and material effects of the explosion were terrible. All buildings within a radius of a thousand yards were utterly wrecked. The Nugget Hotel, eight hundred yards distant, was completely demolished. The proprietor, his wife, and children were at the moment at the back of the building, and miraculously escaped. The workmen employed at Begbie’s were mostly Italians, with a few Frenchmen.
Lorenzo Marquez, Saturday.
About 500 British subjects of all classes expelled from the Transvaal under the proclamation which followed the explosion at Begbie’s Foundry have arrived here. They are mostly women and children. The British Government is sending a transport to take them away. – Reuter.


Worcestershire Chronicle 19 May 1900

THE JOHANNESBURG EXPLOSION.
Capetown, May 11 (afternoon).

A despatch from Delagoa Bay states that positive evidence has now been obtained, and will be forthcoming at the proper moment, to prove that the explosion at Begbie’s foundry, Johannesburg, was caused by the carelessness of inexpert workmen, ignorant of the proper methods of handling and storing high explosives. Owing to precisely the same cause six minor explosions have taken place since Christmas, and two serious disasters, of which little has been heard owing to the action of the press censors.


Southern Times and Dorset County Herald 02 June 1900

THE EXPLOSION AT JOHANNESBURG.
MR BEGBIE ACQUITTED.

All the persons charged in connection with the explosion at Begbie’s Foundry at Johannesburg have been acquitted at Pretoria, the State withdrawing the indictment of murder against Mr W. Begbie, jun., and others. The British prisoners celebrated the Queen’s Birthday with a programme of sports.


Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) 26 June 1900

THE JOHANNESBURG EXPLOSION.
A TERRIBLE AFFAIR.

The Transvaal Government says the Cape Argus, for reasons best known to themselves, were careful to suppress in the newspaper press all except official references to the explosion at the Begbie’s factory. In the Standard and Diggers’ News there was a formal notice, supplied by “the War Office”, whilst the Volksstem had something similar, and in addition a suggestion that the disaster was due to carelessness – in which case, where was the justification for arresting Mr Begbie, jun., and an American?
As a matter of fact, the explosion was too terrible for words.
It occurred not in the actual works, but in the warehouse on the opposite side of the street, where live shells were store and where there was a large quantity of cordite down in the basement. The origin of the disaster remains a mystery only in the sense that no one knows who was its actual author. For, we are informed by a recent arrival from Johannesburg, it was the common practise of the Italians, Austrians, and other foreigners employed at the factory, to go to their work intoxicated and to smoke there in the most reckless manner. Moreover, it seems that these men frequently “experimented” with shells as if they were harmless bits of iron; and under these circumstances there is no need to go far for a probable cause of the explosion.
Singularly enough there were none of the principal officials on the premises when the explosion occurred. They had been in Pretoria to consult with the Government, and were on their way back when the place was blown up.
The accident happened about five in the afternoon and so tremendous was the concussion that windows were shaken at Krugersdorp, sixteen miles away, where also the column of ascending smoke was seen. There must have been between thirty and forty men actually on the works at the time, whilst death seems to have overtaken people anywhere within a radius of 500 yards. Indeed, fragments of human bodies were picked up in all directions within an even wider circumference. Shells, in an intact condition, were found half a mile away, whilst splinters and all kinds of fittings were scattered broadcast.
There was a belief, which apparently was sedulously encouraged by the Government, that the explosion was due to British treachery; but there was not a shadow of foundation for such a report. It was, however, believed by the Italians, who held a meeting and swore that if there was another explosion they would institute a vendetta against the British and take blood for blood. Mr Begbie, jun., was never allowed to go near the works except in company with an official, and his last visit was on the Sunday before the explosion, when he was attended, and when he photographed the works.
The rumour that a tunnel had been discovered originated in the fact that the cordite, when it exploded, made an immense excavation, and at one point gave the appearance of a tunnel. There was, however, no outlet.
It is a remarkable fact that the machinery, which is of the utmost modern kind, is quite intact, though the buildings covering them are greatly shattered. As is well-known, Begbie’s Works were erected for ordinary engineering purposes, and it was only after the war broke out that they were commandeered for shell-making, the machinery being adapted by foreign engineers. Our informant says that there are some thousands of foreigners on the Rand, as well as at the front; and it is his belief that it is purely this foreign element, backed by Mr Kruger’s obstinacy, that is keeping up the war. These men are fighting for a living, and have all to lose by a cessation of hostilities. The Boer proper is sick of the war, whilst the official world at Pretoria and Johannesburg are trembling for the loaves and fishes they are now taking in. Apparently, however, provision is being made by some of them for the future, because quantities of raw gold are being exported more or less surreptitiously.
Our informant says that the wounded prisoners are not being treated well, whilst there is a laxity about the treatment of the whole of the prisoners, which is telling seriously upon their health.


Northern Echo 10 July 1900

THE EXPLOSION AT BEGBIE’S WORKS.
Paris, Monday.

Grunberg, the engineer who has just returned from the Transvaal, stated in an interview today that he narrowly escaped serious injury through the explosion at Begbie’s works at Johannesburg. He was buried under debris for several hours, but only sustained a few insignificant wounds, caused by falling fragments of stone. The explosion did not greatly interfere with the manufacture of ammunition, inasmuch as the factory was in full work again within a fortnight, and during the last three weeks of his stay it was able to turn out nearly 10,000 projectiles. He denied having left the Transvaal because he thought the war was nearly over. The operations had merely entered upon a new phase. The Boers would become man-hunters, and the British soldiers might expect to be chased and killed like wild beasts. M. Grunberg attributed the Boer defeat to want of discipline.


Northampton Mercury 23 November 1900

THE ATTACK ON COMPTON’S HORSE.
THE CULPRIT CAUGHT AND HANGED.
JOHANNESBURG, Friday.

It will be remembered that on Wednesday 1 a party of Boers stealthily approached, in the dead of the night, a farmhouse occupied by a patrol of the Compton’s Horse, and firing through the window killed two men who were seated at a table writing home. The remainder of the party were taken prisoners, but were subsequently released. A few days ago an Italian named Luigi Deli was arrested within the municipality on suspicion of being a spy, and he was taken before Major O’Brien and a military tribunal today and charged with murder, and also breaking the oath of neutrality. On taking the oath the prisoner had applied for an order, which enabled him to proceed to the farm on the pretence of obtaining work. He then joined the Boer commando. Both charges were proved against the prisoner, and he was sentenced to be hanged, the sentence being carried out the same day. After his removal from the court Deli admitted having fired the shot which killed one of the men in the farmhouse. Deli was engaged as a workman at Begbie’s Foundry at the time of the explosion, and took a prominent part in agitating for the expulsion of the British from Johannesburg as a consequence of the explosion. – Central News.


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