TOPIC:

I am currently researching in detail the life & times of one of “my” 207 Smethwickians with the help of his great niece who lives in Australia.

His potted history runs like this – born a Quaker and nephew of Sir Richard Tangye, apprentice mechanical engineer in Smethwick, whilst in Smethwick he became a teenage political activist which led to him being jailed for 3 days, this caused a rift with his family and they exiled him to sea for 3 years as a ship’s engineer, grounded in Australia where he worked as a mining engineer and then moved to South Africa where he worked for the Government of the OFS, at start of ABW (fluent in the Afrikaans language) recruited into Rimington’s Guides, MiD twice and awarded DCM and QSAM with 7 clasps, gave up engineering to become a war correspondent covering the Russo-Japanese War, then spent a decade in China covering the famine there and wrote “The Silent War” about his experiences, served in WW1 but not in a combat role as he was 48 when it started and ended up a Major, moved to Kenya where he became a coffee planter, his funeral was attended by hundreds including local tribal chiefs. I have missed out the best bit of his ABW.

His great niece has sent me two obituaries both of which contain obvious errors. The Times one states “he acted as galloper to Colonel Frank Rhodes in the Jameson Raid” the other one supports this but in less detail. Is there anyway of verifying this was true – does a list of all the Jameson Raiders exist? Am I right that all the raiders were jailed, Colonel Frank definitely was, and if he was involved did “my” man become a jailbird for a second time? Also, what was a “galloper”?

One of the references for him I have found on the ABW Forum is in Chapter 24 of “Staff”. What should I cite as the full reference for this?

I notice “Donner” is often given as a reference by others – can anybody explain what this means in more detail?

Try contacting Henk Loots, unless he sees your post first. I've sent him info on individuals in the Jameson Raiders in the past.

An alphabetical list of Jameson Rauders can be found under Miscellaneous on the left panel of this Forum

Hi Smethwick,

The reference that you are chasing is what I believe is “Dooner”. This book, ‘The Last Post’ by Mildred G. Dooner is a roll of all officers (naval, military or colonial) who gave their lives during the South African War 1899-1902.




Trev

Colonel Frank Rhodes was not one of the Jameson Raiders, but a central figure then in Johannesburg with the Reform Committee who were responsible for the organising the uprising in the Transvaal which Jameson and his men were riding to support. Therefore a galloper for Colonel Rhodes is most unlikely to be a Jameson Raider. I recently read Marshall Hole's book on the subject - very interesting - and will revisit to see if there is mention of a galloper in it. Unless I missed it in the original post I assume the person in question carried the surname Tangye?
Chris

Many thanks all.

Ar first I thought Rory's lead would not help - only officer's names given - then I realised that the name search threw up NCO's & Troopers as well. But "my" man was not there but was that because he was a "galloper". Then I noticed Cecil's brother was not listed but then DocCJ came to the rescue and made me realise I had misunderstood a Wikipedia entry. Trev has made me realise I need to bring my optician's appointment forward.

To answer DocCJ's question: Sir R T was married to the sister of "my" man's mother and "my" man was called Walter Kirton. Staff misnames him as Trooper Curtin.

Here is the Times Obit which is a lesson in not believing everything you read even if it is in print and in The Times:



First error: read Smethwick for Birmingham
Second error: he was not fined for breaking the meeting up, he was fined and imprisoned for 3 days for inciting his cousin (a printer) to forge some entry tickets
Third error: has already been highlighted by DocCJ
Fourth error: I do not believe "Bobs" promoted him to Captain on the field - his 3 mentions in the London Gazette 02/01 (MiD), 04/01 (MiD) & 10/01 (DCM) all give his rank as Trooper, I believe "Bobs" left SA in early 1901 not to return before the conflict ended (have I got that right?).The final nail in the coffin being the Damant's Horse (late Rimington's Guides) Medal Roll drawn up in 02/03 gives his rank as Corporal. I suspect "Bobs" was involved in his promotion to Corporal and the story got embellished, or should I say promoted, over the years.

Everything else is correct although how associated he was with the loan I have yet to ascertain.

Still need a full reference for Staff. I also have to break some news gently to a great niece.