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I can claim two dubious records for 2679 Alfred Meeking:

Following his wounding in April 1900 at Karreefontein every casualty list misreported his name except one that misreported his regimental number instead. Even today the official casualty list has him as 2679 Private J Meakin.

He created a living memorial to his wounding, presumably he saw it as a lucky escape, which out-survived him by 70 years when he named his daughter Lizzie Kariefontein. We should not be critical of his spelling as even Mildred Dooner got it wrong in “The Last Post”.

To begin at the beginning or as near as I can manage it:

03/04/1881 – The Census found 9 year old Alfred living in Banbury, father a “labourer”.

26/03/1890 Alfred attested for the usual 7 & 5 at Warwick. Age given as 18 years 9 months which made him born in the summer of 1871 which fits with the ages given on various census returns and his marriage certificate. Occupation given as “Labourer”. Assigned to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment with the regimental number 2679. When he attested he was a member of the 4th (Militia) Battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry.

05/04/1891 – The Census found him and comrades garrisoned in “Her Majesty’s Tower of London”. Birthplace erroneously given as “Oxford”.

18/12/1891 Posted to Ceylon as member of the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

30/03/1896 Returned to the soil of England.

27/03/1897 Transferred to the Army Reserve having completed his seven years of active service.

08/10/1898 Married Elizabeth Ann Brown in Banbury. Elizabeth was also born in Banbury and six years younger than Alfred.

19/02/1899 Cyril John Meeking baptised in Banbury, his date of birth is also given on the baptism record as 5 December 1898. Alfred’s occupation given as “Labourer”. The family were living at 24 Upper Windsor Street.

13/11/1899 As a member of the Army Reserve, Alfred was recalled to the Colours

22/11/1899 Reported for service.

24/11/1899 Embarked for South Africa as member of the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

16/12/1899 The 2nd Battalion disembarked at Cape Town and were immediately sent to the front to join Stephenson’s (18th) Brigade which formed part of Kelly-Kenny’s (6th) Division who were in pursuit of General Cronje in the Free State.

22/04/1900 Alfred’s service records state he was wounded at Leeuwkop – thanks go to Neville Constatine for deciphering it for me. The nature of his injuries not given.

At the start of 22 April 1900 the Boers, under the command of General Lemmer, were in occupation of Leeuwkop Ridge, sixteen miles to the south east of Bloemfontein. From there they made a nuisance of themselves with their pom-poms. At the base of the ridge was a farmhouse also occupied by some Boers. The 1st Warwicks were charged with clearing the Boers out of the farmhouse which they successfully did. This then allowed the 1st Battalion of the Welsh Regiment to storm Leeuwkop Ridge and put the Boers to flight and then the British Artillery joined in with some well-aimed shells.

The maps below were supplied by Neville Constantine along with the knowledge that the Boers were commanded by General Lemmer. The left had one (1907) shows the land occupied by the Leeuwkop & Karreefontein farms. The more modern ones on the right show the Leeuwkop Ridge. Neville’s map handling skills have enabled him to work out the main part of the Leeuwkop Ridge actually lay on Karreefontein land. I presume the farmhouse was to the north-west of the ridge which fits with the British troops having previously started out from Bloemfontein.



During the encounter the 1st Battalion of the East Yorkshires were in reserve but never became directly involved. At the end of the day one man of the Welsh Regiment was dead, two officers were wounded with one dying two days later, and seven men wounded. The Warwicks came off more lightly as you might expect with eight men wounded. The first casualty reports attributed the Warwicks to the East Yorkshire Regiment. Even when this was corrected Alfred’s surname was spelt wrongly as was that of one of his comrades and that is still the case with the official casualty roll:



For 2679 J Meakin please read 2679 A Meeking and for 2878 B Pelts please read 2878 B Petts.

31/05/1900 Alfred arrived back in England. That is to say he arrived back home 39 days after he was wounded. This 39 day interval, which included a sea voyage of about 3 weeks, indicates his invaliding home was a rapid process. Service records for four of the other seven Warwick men record their wound(s) as being slight with one involving a hand. A fifth was wounded in the thigh and foot and arrived back in England a month after Alfred but was then discharged “time expired”. I think we can conclude Alfred’s injuries were more than slight and the medics in South Africa rapidly concluded he was a case for invaliding.

31/12/1900 Seven months after he arrived back in England Alfred was assessed as being “medically unfit for further service” and discharged from the army. His character & conduct were assessed as “Exemplary”. He was discharged in Warwick with future intended address given as 24 Upper Windsor Street, Banbury.

31/03/1901 The census return for 24 Upper Windsor Street, Banbury listed Alfred as “Head” and employed as an “Engineers boiler maker”. Also listed Elizabeth, 2 year old Cyril and his 74 year old mother.

18/04/1901 Lizzie Kariefontein Meeking was born in Banbury.

29/09/1901 The Battalion QSA Medal Roll, drawn up in Bermuda, shows Alfred was issued with a QSA with two clasps – Cape Colony & Orange Free State. In the remarks column it merely stated “To Eng’d 31.5.00”.

19/02/1906 Bernard Meeking was born in Banbury.

21/07/1910 The following Death notice appeared in the Banbury Advertiser – “Bliss – July 14, at Memorial Cottages, Budbrook [sic], Warwick, Lily Rose, daughter of A. C. and R. Bliss, of Church Passage, Banbury, aged 2 months.” Lily Rose was the niece of Alfred, the daughter of his younger sister Rosa.

02/04/1911 Census return for “No.2 Regt Cottages, Budbrooke, Warwick” lists the following residents:

Alfred Meeking, Head, age 39, Canteen Waiter working in the Regimental Beer Canteen.
Elizabeth Meeking, Wife, age 33, been married for 14 years and 3 out of 4 children still living.
Cyril Meeking, Son, age 12, born in Banbury
Carry Meeking. Daughter, age 10, born in Banbury
Bernard Meeking, son, aged 5, born in Banbury

The two previous entries above show that Alfred & family took up residence at No.2 Memorial Cottages belonging to the Warwickshire Regiment between February 1906 and before July 1910. The keys for the pair of cottages were handed to the first sets of occupants in July 1906, neither of whom were Alfred & family, indicating Alfred & family were probably the second set of occupants for No.2.

On the 1911 Census return there were also two visitors listed, Nellie Meeking age 24 & May Meeking age 3, both born in Banbury. Quite what their relationship to Alfred was I have been unable to establish but my researches have shown many a Meeking originated in Banbury.

In the following 5 years a Miss K Meeking made the Budbrooke Council School prize list for her needlework on three separate occasions.

05/04/1914 Frederick Arthur Meeking was baptised in Budbrooke. The baptism record and the registration of his birth (mother’s surname Brown) in the first quarter of 1914 leave no doubt he was the son of Alfred & Elizabeth.

17/06/1916 – The following Obituary appeared in the Warwick & Warwickshire Advertiser:
“The death has occurred of Mr. Alfred Meeking, a native of Banbury and late of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He died on June 5th at Memorial Cottages, Budbrooke, aged 45. Since being invalided out of the army he lived at Budbrooke, his work being in connection with the barracks. He was accorded a full military funeral and was buried in Budbrooke churchyard. The mourners were his sisters and brothers and other relatives from Banbury. Many sorrowing friends and old comrades followed to pay their last respects to his memory. There were many floral tributes, including one from the staff at Budbrooke Barracks, where he was employed and greatly respected. He leaves a widow and young family to mourn his loss.”

Aftermath:

How long Elizabeth & family remained living at No.2 Memorial Cottages is not known but by the time of the June 1921 Census they had moved to Saltisford Street, Warwick. The return for No.53 listed Elizabeth (45) and her four children. Frederick (7) was still at school, Cyril had been working as a “general labourer” at the Armstrong Siddeley Car Works in Coventry but was “out of work” at the time of the census. Carrie and Bernard were employed at the Dunlop Rubber Company, also in Coventry, as a “stamper” and “labourer” respectively. Elizabeth’s 57 year old step-mother was also living with them. Four male boarders were also listed.

Elizabeth, did not remarry, and passed away late 1944 with her death being registered in Coventry during the first quarter of 1945.


Lizzie Kariefontein Meeking

Just in case any readers don’t believe me that she was named after her mother and the place where her father was wounded in South Africa, here is the registration of her birth in 1901:



Strictly it was spelt Karreefontein but misspellings of South African placenames by the British were frequent. In 1902 Mildred Dooner in “The Last Post” in her write up of the Welsh Regiment Officer who subsequently died of the wounds he received on 22 April 1900 referred to it as “Karriefontein”.

By 1911 her parents seem to have realised the problems with her naming and she had become known, as far as her father was concerned, as Carry. The prize winning K Meeking is a slight concern, hopefully at school she was just known as Karrie.

By 1921 Carry seemed to have become Carrie but I think her father might have had a wider issue with spelling. His filling out of the 1911 Census return indicates a poorly educated man whereas in 1921 his widow made a thoroughly professional job of it.

Carrie’s life took a momentous change later in 1921 as she commenced training to be a nurse as shown by her listing in the 1931 Register of Nurses:



She can be found on the 1939 Register working at a Mental Hospital near Shardlow, Derbyshire. Her name was given as Carrie F Meeking but, at a later date, somebody armed with a green pen has written Lizzie Kariefontein above Carrie F.

By 1942 she appears to have gone back to her schooldays as the Oxford Telephone Directory listed her as Miss K Meeking living at 62 Five Mile Drive – there were two mental hospitals in Oxford at the time.

By 1987 she had returned to her birth in name as this Death Notice in the Banbury Guardian of 14 May 1987 shows:

“MEEKING – On Monday, May 4, Lizzie Kariefontein Meeking, late of Abbeyfield, at Wardington House , aged 86 years. The funeral took place yesterday at Oakley Crematorium.”

At the time Wardington House, Nuffield, Oxfordshire was an Abbeyfield Home for the elderly. My late brother was a trustee of the Abbeyfield Homes, donating his legal expertise and at times visiting the Homes. I wonder if he ever met Lizzie Kariefontein Meeking, sadly I can’t ask him. One has a mental picture of a feisty lady sitting in a communal lounge challenging any newcomers to guess her name.