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The following article appeared in the Smethwick Telephone of 14th April 1900. Unfortunately, the page is damaged and the last couple of lines of Joseph Poultney’s letter are illegible.

A WEST SMETHWICK MAN IN LADYSMITH

The trials of the besieged in Ladysmith are given expression to in a letter which Corporal J Poultney, of the 1st Leicester Regiment, has written to his parents, who reside in Victoria Street, West Smethwick, Poultney, whose letter is dated March 4th belonged to the gallant troops who held out so long in Ladysmith. He writes:- “I now take great pleasure in writing these few lines to you, hoping to find you in the best of health. I cannot say that I am quite strong yet, as we have had a most trying time of it. Over four months the Boers have been round us, and we could not move in the daytime unless we were shelled from all directions. We have been living on biscuits, horse flesh, and mules, and mealie, and not enough of that – in fact, not half enough. When we did get bread it was four ounces for the day. It is an experience I never wish to have again. But we tricked them twice, and stole a march on them during the night and took a couple of their guns. There has not a day passed but they have shelled the whole time. After the battle of Talana Hill at Dundee, we had an awful time of it. The day after another force of Boers arrived, and we had to retire to Ladysmith, as they had longer range guns, and they were about 17,000 strong whereas we were only numbering about 5,000 all told, with only three batteries of artillery, who did splendid work at Talana, for we gave them a terrible thrashing. I think it would have been if the two forces of Boers had met the same day. We moved out of Dundee on the 22nd October towards Ladysmith, and were marching four whole days and nights on a biscuit, and occasional halt for an hour; and had we not got into Ladysmith the morning we did we should not have got in at all, as they were round us like a swarm of bees the same day. We shall not be able to thank the Gloucestershire Regiment enough after it is over, for they got us coffee, bread and b??? all ready when we got in hungry, tired and …………………………………………..”

Who was James Poultney? A good question as he qualifies for Berenice’s recent post “Served under another name”. Thankfully the Army came to the rescue as written in red ink on his service records is “alias Badham”.

He started out life in Smethwick as Joseph Badham and assuming the information given on his attestation papers is correct he was born in June or July of 1877. However, three census returns indicate he was born before April 1877. Who his biological parents were is a mystery which I, and others users of Ancestry, have been unable to solve.

The 1881 Census has the following return for 44, Corser Street, Smethwick:

Thomas Poultney, Head, Age 45, Glass Polisher, Born – Nuneaton, Warwickshire
Hannah Poultney, Wife, Age 42, Born – Oldbury, Worcestershire
Ann M Poultney, Daughter, Age 17, Domestic Servant unemployed, Born – Smethwick, Staffordshire
Joseph Badham, Adopted Son, Age 4, Born – Smethwick, Staffordshire

By 1891 the family had moved to 14 Corser Street and changed in composition. Thomas & Hannah had had another daughter called Beatrice but Ann had left home. They also had one of their grandchildren living with them, the 7 year old son of another daughter called Eleanor, his name was Hugh Francis Worrall and he was to be killed in action in WW1 on 24th November 1915. There was still room for 14 year old Joseph, again listed as an adopted son, and now working as a “Telegraph Messenger”. The head of the household was still a glass polisher which almost certainly meant he worked for Chance Brothers in Smethwick, internationally famous as the makers of optical systems for lighthouses – two years after the 1891 census the newly constructed Dassen Island Lighthouse in South Africa was fitted with a Chance Brothers optical system. It was the seventh lighthouse in South Africa to benefit from the efforts of the working men of Smethwick and the list was to subsequently grow much longer. Although at Dassen Island the method of illumination was to be improved in 1906 & 1940 the glass lenses were not replaced until 1974.

Corser Street where Joseph spent his formative years was one of the first in Smethwick to be redeveloped in the 1960’s slum clearances. Corser Street survived this redevelopment but the Council made such a mess of it, creating what proved to be a modern day slum, that it was redeveloped for a second time in the 1990’s and Corser Street, Smethwick is now only to be found in historical documents such as this.

On 7th August 1895, Joseph attested in Birmingham and gave his name as Joseph Poultney. Why he did this is not known and when he left active service in the Army in 1903 he reverted to calling himself Francis Badham.

At the medical 18/19 year old Joseph measured 5 ft 5½ inches tall and 9 stone 8 lbs, with grey eyes and brown hair. He was assigned to the Leicestershire Regiment and given service number 4397 (there is no apparent reason for him being assigned to the Leicester Regiment and in thishe is unique amongst my 207 Smethwickians). Three days later he reported to their depot in Leicester and after 3 months basic training was assigned to the 2nd Battalion. His next 6 months were spent on home service until on 16th May 1896 when he was transferred to the 1st Battalion and embarked with them for South Africa where he was to remain for over six and a half years – meaning he took part in the Boer War 1899-1902 from start to finish.

After he had been in South Africa for just over a year, Joseph was appointed Lance Corporal and on completion of 2 years service was awarded Good Conduct pay. At the end of March 1899 he was promoted again to Corporal. Seven months later when war broke out the battalion were stationed at Glencoe in northern Natal. As he has already reported in his letter his Battalion were involved in the Battle of Talana Hill, the Battle of Ladysmith and they ended up amongst the besieged in Ladysmith. After the siege was lifted the Battalion took part in operations that carried the war into the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. They were involved in the storming of Laing’s Nek and were involved in operations and fighting at Amersfort, Belfast, Burghersdorp, Knapdaar and Lyndenberg. In the last stages of the war they manned the blockhouses along the Sanderton-Ermelo road.

Joseph was to remain in South Africa for another 6-7 months after the conflict ended and during this time he was promoted again to Sergeant. He arrived back in Blighty on 6th January 1903 and was transferred to the Army Reserve just over a week later and fully discharged on 6th August 1907, twelve years to the day since he first enlisted. For his service in the Boer War, Joseph received the Queen’s South Africa Medal with 4 clasps – “Belfast”, “Defence of Ladysmith”, “Laing’s Nek” & “Talana”, and the King’s South Africa Medal with both the “South Africa 1901” & “South Africa 1902” clasps.

Back on civvy street he found employment as a Postman. The Post Office Employment Register shows he joined in September 1903 in the name of Joseph Badham and swapped “employment” number 4397 for 361894. The Register showed he was assigned to the Acocks Green Post & Sorting Office in Birmingham and here he remained until his death, sadly he was not to enjoy a retirement. In the spring of 1904 he married in Smethwick to Elizabeth Cooke, a native of St Helen’s in Lancashire. They rented 30 Francis Street in Acocks Green and by the time of the 1911 Census had produced three children there, two daughters and a son. The youngest daughter was born in 1909 the same year that Joseph’s adoptive father died, I cannot find a record of the death of his adoptive mother.

Joseph died on 23rd September 1927 aged only 50. His probate shows he was still living at 30 Francis Road, Acocks Green and his estate was valued at £45 10s. Elizabeth died 4 years later aged 56 and living at the same address. Did the hardship Joseph suffered in South Africa and especially the 4 months besieged in Ladysmith contribute to his early death?