TOPIC:

My great, great granduncle was a bitterender and spend time fighting in a Hussars uniform with the Boers, luckily he never got caught.

On the 30th of April 1901, the Wiltshire’s were in the Transvaal in the vicinity of a village called Woodbush escorting a convoy. At about 1:15 pm a Boer Long Tom opened fire and fired fourteen shots, all bursting, but doing no damage. At about 2:45 pm the Boers blew up the gun and fled. Thirteen prisoners were taken by the Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts.

After a total of thirteen miles had been covered, camp was formed at a place called Kronenberg. The force remained in camp at Kronenberg on the 1st and 2nd of May, where seventy-six thousand rounds of small arms ammunition were found.

One of the prisoners had been dressed in khaki and it was he who had shown where the ammunition was buried. The other prisoners had been taken to nearby Riet Vlei, but he was to have a very different fate, decided upon by Lieutenant Colonel Carter in accordance with Kitchener’s Orders.

The Serjeant recalling this event said that the prisoner was in remarkably good spirits and told his guards about his time at Ladysmith and said that he couldn’t grumble about his fate as he had put a few Brits down himself during the war.

At 5 pm he was positioned six yards in front of a firing squad of twenty-four men of the Wiltshire’s H Company and executed.

The Boer remained standing for a moment before his knees lurched forward and he fell to the ground. Twenty-three bullets out of the twenty-four had hit him.

I always thought that a firing squad consisted of twelve men, but the Serjeant who is very detailed throughout his diary is very clear about the twenty-four men. It does seem a bit unnecessary.

I wonder if anyone knows the identity of this Burgher?

Also, where exactly is Kronenberg? And is Woodbush near the nature reserve of the same name?

Ian
To help you in your search, that Long Tom (nicknamed "Die Jood") was apparently blown up at GPS -23.9400, 29.9608
Do you think your source may be somewhat misleading?
The date I have for Long Tom's destruction is 16 April 1901; the place being Rietfontein not Riet Vlei.
I don't think Kronenberg is right, and the farms Kronebloem, Kroneheuwel etc are far away.
I also don't think Woodbush sounds right, and the farms Woodstock, Woodlands and Woodside are also far away.
Hmm...
Rob

Hi Rob,

Mmm…well he often gets dates wrong by just a couple of days either side, but I’ve always found the place names to be correct except for possibly Kronenberg and Woodbush which I’ve never been able to locate. Otherwise, the details he provides have been spot on and easily corroborated.

Yet another puzzle. Without a correct location and date it would be impossible to identify the poor Burgher. Since first reading the diary I’ve often thought how unecessary a firing squad of twenty-four was. Was this really the norm?

This is how Colonel M. Jacson, C.O. 1st Bn. Devonshire Regiment, describes events surrounding the destruction of "The Meddler" / "Fiddling Jimmy".

A Record of a Regiment of the Line, pp. 179-181

The following morning [15 Apr 1901] the column marched north down the Waterval valley, and after the mounted troops had experienced some opposition in very hilly and rough country, Boshfontein was reached.
Shortly after the force had settled into camp heavy gun fire was heard from the direction of Waterval. The Boers’ shells exploded in the valley immediately to the north of the camp and in the vicinity of a farm, where it would appear the Boers considered the column should have bivouacked. After the explosion of some twenty shells a louder report than usual was heard, and the shelling ceased.
The mounted troops reported that the Boers were in position above Waterval, where there was a large women’s laager.
In the dark of the morning, at three o’clock, General Kitchener set his column in motion: four companies, with a 12-pounder and two 5-inch guns, under Major Davis, preceded the force, with the intention of capturing the big Boer gun; four companies, with two field guns, under Captain Jacson, made a flanking movement through scrub and dongas round the left. Very little opposition was met with. The mounted troops captured a few prisoners, and it was found that the Boers had blown up their big gun. This was the gun that had been situated at Pepworth Hill, and which had been disabled by one of the Naval Brigade’s shells during the siege of Ladysmith. [Note: this is incorrect – this gun was the 155 mm Creusot that had been on Middle Hill and Telegraph Ridge during the siege, and which was disabled by Castor & Pollux on 28 Nov 1899]. Its muzzle had been shortened, showing that it had been damaged. The Boers had blown the gun to pieces. The barrel of the gun was blown about fifty yards in front of the emplacement, whilst the breech-block was found afterwards 1 ½ miles in rear. They had destroyed also one pompom and one Maxim. Twenty-eight Boers were captured, with about sixty head of cattle and thirteen wagons. The Australians had one man killed and one man wounded.

As Rob rightly says, the gun was blown up on the farm "Rietfontein", near Lydenburg, on 16 Apr 1901. The gun was removed by the British, but the tangent sight has survived and can now be seen in the Lydenburg Museum.
Louis Changuion gives this gun the name "Klapperkop Tom", as it had been mounted in Fort Klapperkop before the war.




Photograph from Colonel Jacson's album. Reproduced in “A Record of a Regiment of the Line”, p. 180. General Walter Kitchener on horseback.







..

Dear Neville, EFV
where can one download a hi-res version of Jeppe's map of the Transvaal, which I see you both using?
thanks
Rob