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Veld Cornet Coenraad Frederik Meyer., Utrecht Commando

An officer who already got some attention on this site is Assistent Veld Cornet C.F. Meyer. He is revisited in this thread because he was a rather prolific user of Gouvernement’s Noten in payment for goods whilst on commando.

Coenraad Meyer was born on the 20th of December 1869 in Utrecht. He was the son (third of four children) of Coenraad Frederick (different spelling) Meyer and Cecilia Johanna Marais. Coenraad joined the Utrecht Commando as Assistant Veld Cornet of Wijk (Ward) III on 20 September 1899, a full three weeks before Kruger’s Ultimatum to the British lapsed.

Assistent Veld Cornet Meyer moved with the Utrecht commando into Natal and saw action at at Dundee (Talana), Ladysmith and other battles including at Helpmekaar, 13 May, 1900 before crossing back over the Buffalo river back into the Transvaal. The Utrecht commando was thereafter involved in many battles in the South Eastern Transvaal, first in an effort to keep the Rooineks out, thereafter mostly in Guerilla-style raids on enemy occupied towns, garrisons and columns. At the battle at Kambula on September 10, 1900, Coenraad was hit in the chest by one of the reputedly 66.000 bullets fired by the enemy. The bullet pierced his lungs for which he was successfully treated by a “Dr. Tielman.” (Tielman could have been a Christian name.) After recovery, Meyer rejoined the Utrecht commando and participated in Generaal Louis Botha’s ill-fated second expedition into Natal in September and October 1901. Coenraad Meyer thus took part in two famous actions: Spieshoek (Blood River Poort: 17 Sept 1901) and Taleni (Fort Itala: 26 Sept 1901). Meyer also mentioned actions at Ingogo, Louwsburg and Rooivoetpad (The only place of that name is located in the Cape, which is at odds with the fact that all other battles he participated in took place in the Eastern Transvaal and Natal. Perhaps he meant “Rooikoppies” a place of interest during Botha’s second expedition into Natal). According to information on this site posted by David Biggins, Coenraad Meyer was the first Boer Officer to arrive on the horrific scene at Holkrans (6 May 1902) where 56 Boers were butchered by the Zulus under the Native Chief Sikobobo. Meyer was a "Bittereinder' and was one of the 570 Burgers and officers who surrendered to Major-General Bruce Hamilton at Knight’s Farm near Utrecht on 13 June 1902.

Coenraad Meyer served throughout the war under various Commanders. On his application forms he notes Kommandant Barend Breytenbach, Kommandant B.C. Hattingh, Kommandant P.J. Truter and Kommandant (later Veg-Generaal) Cheere Emmett. On the Bloemfontein Museum website Meyer’s last commander was listed as Generaal Marthinus Myburgh. Myburgh had taken over from Emmett after the latter was captured in March 1902.

Of Meyer’s personal life little information is available other than that in 1888, aged 18, he married Johanna Philippina Labuschagne (1867-1944). In 1921, at the time of applying for his ABO/DTD medals and Lint voor Wonden, Meyer lived in or near Paulpietersburg. Generaal Cheere Emmett signed off on his DTD application. Coenraad Meyer passed away in Paulpietersburg in on May 15, 1958.

Coenraad Meyer’s application for the Lint voor Wonden


Map of the area where Coenraad Meyer was mostly active. Ingogo and Itala are outside the area. I could not find Louwsburg on the Jeppe Map but from the 1920’s a Louwsburg township is located on the farm Toggevonden (Toch Gevonden 33). Bloodriver Poort/Spieshoek are also not indicated on the map and the approximate position is based on the location of the monument commemorating the battle. “Knight’s farm” does not figure either but Knight may refer to the name of the owner.


Coenraad Meyer annotated the Gouvernement’s Noten that he used for payment for goods with either “UItgegeven” or “UItgegeef” voor Commando Dienst - Issued for Military purpose. He signs off with Velt or Veld Cornet, Utrecht. This Noot is printed on thin, low quality paper by Van den Burg & Jorissen in Pietersburg in the early months of 1901. Perhaps not mother’s prettiest but a hell of a lot more interesting to the Boer War collector than her virgin sisters. This particular Noot was presented to the CJC in a claim for compensation and demonetized by a double-punch cancel.

Another lovely vignette, thanks!
“Dr. Tielman” who treated Meyer for wounds may well have been Dr Hero Tilemann, a German doctor with the Boers who wrote Tagebuchblätter Eines Deutschen Arztes Aus Dem Burenkriege (München, Beck, 1908.)

Hi EFV,

Fantastic thread—really appreciate the time and effort you put into compiling it all.

It’s a topic I was completely unfamiliar with, so this was incredibly enlightening. Thanks again!

Regards,
Shaun

VC J.G. Louw, Swazieland Commando

Some of the officers and Burgers who fought in the Boer War became folk heroes and have whole books dedicated to their exploits. Others were less famous but nevertheless got some mention in a paragraph or footnote somewhere and completed medal applications detailing their war experience. Others yet didn’t leave any record, didn’t apply for medals and consequently vanished over the years leaving little or no trace.

A Gouvernement’s noot dating from the Guerilla phase of the war was annotated by VC J.G. Louw. J.G. Louw turned out to be one of the Bittereinders who left remarkably few traces. A single Louw with the initials J.G appears on the ABO list, but he was with the Pretoria Commando and taken POW in January of 1900 and could thus not have signed off on a Noot that was only issued a year later. The only other mention of a J.G Louw was found in the Bloemfontein Museum veteran list.

Johannes Gysbertus Louw was born on May,1 1869 in Prince Albert, Cape Colony. He was one of 9 children of Jeremias William Louw and Magdalena Anna Elizabeth Borcherds. At the outbreak of the war Johannes Gysbertus lived in “Dwalen” Swazieland. A bit of digging revealed that Dwalen is the Dutch name for Dwaleni. Comparing present day Google maps with the 1899 Jeppe version revealed that Dwaleni is located in what was then the Erskine, Shepstone and Henderson’s Concession, a few miles W-SW of Bremersdorp (now Manzini, Swaziland). (The British Administrator Theophilus Shepstone’s mention as one of the concession holders illustrates that politicians lining their own pockets is not of recent days). It is not known why Louw found himself in that remote place. In any case, Johannes Gysbertus Louw joined the Swazieland commando under Chris Botha that before the outbreak of hostilities gathered near Bell’s Kop. Louw trekked with that commando to Natal where, in all likelihood, he participated in the battles at Colenso Spionkop, Doornrand and Pietershoogte. After the Boer retreat from Natal the force under Chris Botha was mainly engaged in battles in the East Transvaal. At one stage before or during the war Louw became Veld Cornet. He stayed with the commando for the entire duration of the war and surrendered his weapons only after the Peace of Vereeniging came into effect. After the war he moved to the farm Doornhoek 117 (Post Office Doornspruit) in the Krugersdorp District. It is unclear whether Johannes Gysbertus Louw lived there the rest of his life as he did not apply for medals (he qualified for both ABO and DTD) and no other information could be gleaned from the usual sites about his marital status, number of children, date of death etc.

Map of the Bremersdorp area where Johannes Gysbertus Louw lived in 1899. The Little Usutu river is now called Lusushwana.


Downtown Dwaleni (view near the Dwaleni Safari Lodge)


Doornhoek in the Krugersdorp District where Louw lived after the war


Doornhoek today (Google)



Louw made a payment with a 10 Pond Pietersburg Noot, the only 10 Pond Noot of all issues (Pretoria, Pietersburg and Pilgrim’s Rest) so far observed among the Gouvernement’s Noten used in the field. He writes: “Uitgegeven voor Commando Dienst J.G. Louw VC voor Swa’land” (issued for military purpose, J.C. Louw VC for Swaziland) an annotation that was mostly only used by officers of the Utrecht Commando. This Noot was presented to the CJC commission in a compensation claim and was demonetised by punch cancels.

Kapitein (Kommandant) Hendrik Frederick P. van der Merwe, ZAR Staats Artillerie

A Gouvernement’s Noot, sold a few years ago at Auction to an unidentified bidder, was used in payment by “Kapitein van der Merwe, Staats Artillerie.” Among the dozens of men with the name van der Merwe serving in that elite unit, I found three with the rank of Captain. There was a Phillipus Johannes (fired by Trichard for going AWOL), a Johannes Alwyn (with Gen. Maritz) and one Hendrik Frederick.


Hendrik Frederick P. van der Merwe (Photo credit: Neville Constantine)

The Noot shown hereunder is annotated with “Op eerlijke Wijze Ontvangen”, which was typical for Noten used by Boer Commandos operating during the guerilla phase in the Eastern Transvaal. This, combined with the following tale of the battle at Bloedrivier of 17 September 1901 related by Kapitein (sometimes referred to as Kommandant) Hendrik Frederick P. van der Merwe in “Die Huisgenoot magazine of 9 May 1941,” strongly suggests that the latter was the officer signing off on the depicted Gouvernement’s Noot.

The Huisgenoot story was reproduced in van Zyl’s “Die Helde Album” (Afrikaanse Pers-Boekhandel, 1944) and is sufficiently interesting to warrant translation.

Kommandant H.F.P. van der Merwe was sent in June 1901 by General Botha [either Christiaan or Louis] to the highveld to surprise an English force. [this must have been September rather than June]. Upon reaching a hilltop, van der Merwe’s force concealed themselves in the high grass. After a long wait, they suddenly heard an English voice shouting at a distance of about 30 meters: “Fix Bayonets”.
In 1941, Van der Merwe related events as follows:
I clearly heard how bayonets got slotted onto rifles and realized that the English were very close by. For a short moment I raised my head above the field and saw bayonets and helmets protrude above the grass. The enemy were advancing slowly and carefully into our direction, staying low and keeping rifles at their side so to be ready for a bayonet attack. I realized there was no time to lose and blew my whistle. My Burgers jumped to their feet and immediately opened a murderous fire into the approaching enemy. At this distance it was sheer impossible to miss.
The British soldiers, completely surprised by this sudden onslaught, couldn’t get their rifles aimed in time and ended up firing randomly without hitting anything. Because we had stretched our line over a long distance, the enemy must have been under the impression that they were facing a very large force. Thinking they were grossly outnumbered and suffering many casualties, the British commander decided to surrender. And so it was, that a force of just 70 Boers ended up taking 252 prisoners.

Among the prisoners was a young staff officer by the name of Cough [Hubert de la Poer-Cough]. This man was incredibly angry about what just happened and yelled:” Who the hell is in charge of this damned lot?” Kommandant van der Merwe warned Cough to calm down but the man continued his rant “May God wipe you off the face of this earth!” Van der Merwe had enough of the tantrum and ordered his men to strip Cough and flog him with a stirrup strap. This was done, apparently to to the great amusement of the captured Tommies. Afterwards Cough, with undisguised hatred in his eyes, yelled at van der Merwe “Give me you name!” followed by “Tomorrow you will be Court-Martialed for this and shot!” Van der Merwe stoically retrieved Cough’s soldiers’ notebook, wrote down his name, rank and unit and handed the notebook back to the angry man.

Years later, well after the Peace of Vereeniging came into effect, Kommandant Hendrik Frederick van der Merwe was ordered to Pretoria to inform the Head of British Intelligence about weapons that were thought to be buried by the Boers during or after the war. After the meeting, van der Merwe noticed in the corner of the room a Colonel behind a desk. The Colonel waved him over. On approaching the desk, he realized to his consternation that the Colonel was none less than Cough, the man he had ordered to be flogged in front of his own troops. Cough opened a desk drawer and retrieved his soldiers’ notebook. Van der Merwe, by then expecting the worst, mentally prepared to throw the Colonel out of the third story window. Cough, however, calmy turned around and took both van der Merwe’s hands. Then something unexpected happened. An emotional Cough with tears in his eyes asked van der Merwe to forgive his rude behavior as a prisoner and thanked him for sparing his life. As what happened between Methuen and DelaRey, Cough and Kommandant van der Merwe became lifelong friends.

Van Zyl’s book is unapologetically pro-Boer and contains quite a few questionable statements. The Wikipedia entry concerning Cough’s capture, on the other hand, is obviously based on British sources in which the humiliating defeat was written away as a minor affair in a narrative that was sweetened to please the Jingo pallet.

“During the ensuing period of guerrilla warfare, Gough's Regiment was reinforced to a strength of 600 men. Along with Horace Smith-Dorrien and Edmund Allenby, he served under the overall command of Lieutenant-General John French. On 17 September 1901, after poor reconnaissance, he attacked near Blood River Port, but was taken prisoner with his entire force by larger Boer forces which had been out of sight. He later escaped. Gough was invalided home with a wounded right hand in January 1902.”

The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

The annotation on the below 5 Pond Te Velde Noot reads “Op eerlijke Wijze Ontvangen door Kapitein v/der Merwe” (Received for honest reasons from). This noot must have been used in payment in the period between February and May 1902.







Photo courtesy Antiquarian Auctions (auction 28, Lot 7)