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Private 23049 George Scott , 66th Company (Yorkshire) 16th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. Died accidentally at Secretary Kop
Ledenberg Pan. Friday 7th June 1901

George Scott was born in 1871 at Market Weighton Yorkshire.
He lived with his father Thomas and Mother Elizabeth in the district of Pocklington.
The 1881 census has George living with his mother who was then running the Londesborough Arms , a coaching house and hotel,which stll exists today at Market Weighton. On further investigations it looks like George moved out and went to lodge with his Grandfather George  who was a farmer and it is believed his grandson helped him run the farm.

In 1901 George joined the Imperial Yeomanry at the age of 29 years and 10 months. He stated that his profession was that of a Victualler, this would probably coincide with the selling of food and alcohol at his mother's hotel.

Private 23049 G Scott served a total of 137 days in South Africa.
He was accidentally killed on a march to Secretary Kop when he was run over by a wagon on the 7th June 1901. His medal roll entitles him to Cape Colony,  Orange Free State, Transvaal and 1901 date clasp. Remarks note his death was the 9th of June. It could be possible he was severely injured on the 7th but died on the 9th. However his personal effects records the 7th of June. His mother was his sole beneficiary.

Please note that there is an error regarding S Watts Memorial entry in my revised addition. The regimental number 23049 is against another Imperial Yeomanry trooper G R Scott who died in 1902 KIA at Klip Drift / Harts River. This soldiers regimental number should read 23821.

I have a mention in a letter home of an unnamed Gordon Highlander being shot at De Aar, for cowardice at Modder River.

Berenice,

This is the only guy from the Gordon Highlanders on my list who died at De Aar.

6492 Private Fraser is recorded as dying from disease, not a firing squad.

Private 455 / 20674 George Watson 28th Company, 4th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. Died on Saturday 5th October 1901
from shock following amputation as a result of an accident at 14 Stationary Hospital, Fort Napier, Natal aged 21 years.

George was born in 1882 to father George and mother Caroline.
He had 2 sisters called Minne & Daisy. 1891 have them living at 2 Wilton Gardens, Kelvin, Lanarkshire.

Private Watson was 20 years of age when he joined the Imperial Yeomanry, his profession was a Chef, and he was employed at the St Enochs railway hotel,where he had been for 3 years before he went to South Africa. He stood 5ft 8in tall, weighing 10 stone 3 pounds. Of dark complexion, brown eyes and dark hair. Religion stated as Presbyterian . He was posted to S.A on Monday the 28th January 1901. Total service in the I Y was 251 days, 236 of those in South Africa. Him QSA entitlement was Cape Colony,  Orange Free State, Transvaal and 1901 date clasp.

Private Watson's regiment was raised in 1900 and was called Compton's Horse, in September 1901 it perpetuated to the Bedfordshire Imperial Yeomanry.


I am unsure what part of the body was amputated regarding George's  death. However, I have included some details which may help in the understanding of what may have occurred.
During the 19th Century the most common treatment for severe limb injuries was amputation.
In the days before anti sepsis and antibiotics, the mortality was high.
It was during the Crimea where anaesthesia was first introduced into military practice on a large scale.

A London hospital case study of 1879 suggested that out of 136 recorded amputations caused by various  accidents there were 61 attributed deaths from sepsis and shock.

The most deaths occurred with the removal of the lower limb.
Other factors to consider regarding field & station hospitals are centred around infection and the control of pain relief. Certain pain relief methods were responsible for what is now termed as toxic shock, incorrect doses and chemical soaked bandages all played a part in the reaction to treatment in the field.


Courtesy of Find a Grave ...location Pietermaritzburg.


I Y paperwork ref death.


Personal effects log.


Where George worked as a chef.

A postcard view of the St Enoch Station Hotel in 1909. It was located on the eastern side of St Enoch Square. The hotel was begun in 1875 by the architect Thomas Wilson for the City of Glasgow Union Railway Co, in front of the great St Enoch Railway Station which can be seen on the street on the left of the picture. It opened in 1876 and was acquired along with the hotel by the Glasgow & South Western Railway Co in 1883.

St Enoch Station and the hotel were demolished in 1977. The monstrous St Enoch Shopping Centre was erected on the site during the 1980s.

Reference: Mitchell Library, GC Postcards

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning

The letter was from Police Constable W. J. Sharpe (or Sharp), of the Blackburn Borough police force, who was a private in the 1st King's Shropshire Light Infantry. It seems to have been written on the 9th of December, 1899, and appeared in The Blackburn Times, 6th January 1900, so can't have been referring to Fraser.

...."We stayed at De Aar and had breakfast, and it was here that a man of the Gordon Highlanders was taken out and shot for cowardice at Modder River. Also nine Boers, or rather seven Boers and two Irishmen, who had been captured at Belmont, were placed in a row, their hands tied to a stake, and a company of the Cornwall Light Infantry gave them their last Beecham, as our fellows call the bullet."

The above extract also appeared in several regional papers, including the Edinburgh Evening News (3.1.1900), which commented "In regard to the above, which casts a slur upon the Gordons' reputation, it might be pointed out that the regiment was not engaged in the Modder River battle. It joined Lord Methuen's force subsequently, and was engaged with the rest of the Highland Brigade at Magersfontein."