TOPIC:

Regarding the death and burial of Veidcornet Barend Jacobus de Lange Badenhorst, I attch some material courtesey of Dewald Nel.
His death was described on p 120 of "The Mobile Boer" by Hiley and Hassell:

Barend Badenhorst, veldkornet of Vryheid, many times a hero was shot by a bullet directly between the eyes. Refusing to take sufficient cover, he had stood behind a rock to shoot when he was struck. Swinging on his heel he sank with a groan in a sitting posture, his back supported by the rock he so lately fired over. Hour after hour he sat with wide open eyes. His death certain, no one moved him. Here was—a panorama of the operations of the last few months. Ladysmith, the town costing so much, backed by the Drakensburg range lay below and before this dying warrior. Men with spare ammunition hurrying past would give this well-known man a glance of pity as he sat with open eyes, and angry wound, on the crest of the hill he had given his life to repossess. The noise of the battle and the passing men had no apparent effect on the deadened brain or staring gaze, but sitting erect until noon, suddenly, with a gutteral ske-e-e-t (shoot) a stream of blood poured from the hole in his forehead and the bravest man we ever knew sank dead and limp to the earth.

That's the one I copied from his estate file Rob. A sombre moment indeed.

Rory

3. BRAKFONTEIN

Two unknown Burghers

My diary entry for August 4th 1978 (afternoon)

Brakfontein farm is situated on a ridge of hills which bridges the gap between Twin Peaks and Vaalkrans. The ridge was heavily fortified by the Boers and subsequently received a severe pounding by the British artillery.

The grave we are to tackle is just to the right of the farm track and is almost completely overgrown.



.1:50,000 Map of South Africa, Sheet 2829DA (Spion Kop)





Once Welly Hyde had visited the farm and the labourers had had their lunch, work finally began. With a three-foot antheap nearby the prospects of finding human remains seemed slight. However, the labourers kept digging and as the soil remained mixed/disturbed, Welly showed no sign of giving up.

At about 4 foot 6 the labourers dug a small test trench and struck corrugated iron a little further down. As the evening was drawing in, we removed the remaining fill as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, our progress was severely hindered by water seepage. The grave was just below an old dam, and at 5 foot we found ourselves in something of a mud-bath. Trying to spade out the resulting soup was no easy task.

With the corrugated iron out of the way, we started fishing about for bones and soon realised that we were dealing with two individuals, not one as had been expected.

The labourers squatted over the little pools of mud that had been shovelled up onto the side of the trench and, with the aid of twigs, picked out the fragments of bone. We (Welly, Rod and I) happily fished around with our bare hands, while the labourers refused to touch the stuff.

Once we had picked out as much as was humanly possible, the labourers backfilled the grave.





The farmer dropped by and said that he had always understood that one body had already been exhumed. Not long after the war, relatives of the man had come down and removed him, taking him home for reburial in the family cemetery. This suggests there were originally three graves here, contradicting Mr Schuman’s research.

With mud-caked hands and boots, we jumped into the truck and made our way back to Ladysmith.


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4. MIDDLEDALE (SANDWICH HILL)

Father and son

Hendrik J. KOK, K.I.A., “Sandwich Hill” [Mount Maria], Natal, 18/01/1900, 47 years old.
Jacobus S.W. KOK, K.I.A., “Sandwich Hill” [Mount Maria], Natal, 18/01/1900, 18 years old.


My diary entry for August 4th 1978 (morning)

Rod deNormann and I arrived at the Natal Provincial Administration depot to discover we had left our lunches at the Hearder’s. While Rod was away getting them, I had a stroll around the Works Department buildings. At the back, hidden from sight, I discovered an enormous heap of iron crosses, mostly from British graves that Welly Hyde had renovated. Odd pieces of marble and lengths of iron railing lay everywhere.







Once we were all gathered together and Welly had fed the office cats, we set off for Middledale Farm.



.1:50,000 Map of South Africa, Sheet 2829DA (Spion Kop)

"Sandwich" appears to be another name for Kranskloof Farm, which explains why records state that the two men were killed on "Sandwich Hill".




On our arrival Welly found one of the farm managers and after a brief chat we set off for the combined grave of H.J. and J.S.W. Kok. Father and son, aged 47 and 18 respectively, the two men were reputedly killed by a single naval 4.7-inch shell. The story goes that they were on picket duty, guarding a dummy gun. To give the impression that they had more artillery, and to draw enemy fire, the Boers had set up a series of angled wooden poles mimicking the barrels of field guns. On the 18th of January 1900, the two Koks were standing next to one of these “guns” when a 4.7-inch shell came in amongst them.

Mr Schuman’s delve into the archives revealed that they had been killed on “Mount Maria”. The hill rising behind the grave has lost its name, but Welly maintains this is the same place.









The grave-marker was unusual for a Boer War burial, having an applied horizontal brass plate, with deeply impressed lettering. The inscription reads: “H.J. KOK EN J.S. KOK. FFT. O.V.S. / GETROU TOT DIE DOOD / GES. 18 JAN 1899[sic]”.





The labourers got down to work and after a while struck the first skeleton. Rod, Welly and I then all jumped in and started digging. From the size of the bones the conclusion was reached that this was the son. After Welly and I had taken photographs the labourers lifted the remains and placed them in a white heavy-duty plastic sack.






Top: Jacobus S.W. Kok (son); bottom: Hendrik J. Kok (father). Due to the acidic soil, the condition of the skeletons was poor, with only fragments of the larger bones surviving.


Welly does not normally keep a photographic record of his exhumation work, but on this occasion the descendants of the two buried men had specifically asked that photographs be taken.

With J.S.W. Kok out of the way, we began to extend the excavation to the right [the north]. By undermining the trench edge, we soon exposed the father’s complete skeleton, which was photographed as before.

Despite care being taken to explore the grave fill in the areas around the chest and thighs, four coins only came to light while the labourers were lifting the bones. There was a Kruger florin, a Kruger shilling and two sixpences (one Victoria; one Kruger). Mr Schuman, the government appointed inspector from Pretoria, explained that these wound be forwarded to the Kok family.





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5. ALEXANDRIA

David Andries VAN STADEN, K.I.A., Spion Kop, 24/01/1900, 29 [33?] years old.
Willem Andries Stephanus MARAIS, K.I.A., Spion Kop, 24/01/1900, 30 [28?] years old.


My diary entry for August 10th 1978

Today, Neil Veitch of the “Cape Times” is coming out with us, and has arranged to meet Welly Hyde and the remainder of the team at the Natal Provincial Administration depot.

Having met Neil at the depot gates, he followed us out to an old farm called Alexandria. Here we are to exhume two Burghers, named D. van Staden and W.A.S. Marais, both of whom were killed at Spion Kop.



.1:50,000 Map of South Africa, Sheet 2829DA (Spion Kop)


When the Boer monument was unveiled on Spion Kop, Welly took the relatives of these two men to see this grave. They had come up specially for the ceremony and were, according to Welly, completely penniless. As is Welly’s way, he offered to carve a new marble headstone for the grave free of charge. This, the labourers hauled aside, and soon we were making good progress.





The headstone, carved by Welly Hyde: “HEIDELBERG KOMMANDO / D. VAN STADEN / OUDERDOM 33 JAAR / W.A.S. MARAIS / OUDERDOM 28 JAAR / GESNEUWEL TE SPIOENKOP”.


Welly told us that these two Burghers were reputed to have been buried with sealed bottles, each containing the individual’s name, and deposited under their heads. However, we didn’t find even the tiniest fragment of glass. So, either the story isn’t true or the bottles were buried too close to the surface and have since been unearthed.




When the labourers struck the first bones, Rod and I jumped in and took over. We soon noticed that the remains had been disturbed. Jacket buttons were found in the grave-fill above the bodies, far from any clothing the two men may have been buried in.

It wasn’t until after we had finished the exhumation that Welly came clean and admitted that he had already excavated the grave. He said he had done this to check that there were indeed two occupants, and to search for the mythical bottles. Like us, he had failed in the latter endeavour.

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Hi Neville_C,

Just a short note to say that I'm thoroughly enjoying your posts; with your diary entries and photographs it feels like we have been transported back in time and are right there with you.

Thanks again.