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BOER WAR MEMORIALS OF WALES 1 year 9 months ago #83540

  • Smethwick
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Yesterday, iPad in hand, my wife asked me who were Marshall's Horse? Despite my interest in the Boer War I had to admit I had not come across them but ventured they were an irregular mounted unit raised in SA by somebody called Marshall. Her next question floored me entirely - "Why are 60 of them commemorated in the City of Newport in south-east Wales?".

I still have not found the answer but this link takes you to what she had found on her iPad.

www.roll-of-honour.com/Pembrokeshire/NewportStJohnBoer.html

As you will see the 60 include a VC winner. Having done some reading it would seem Marshall's Horse numbered about 500 making 60 dead nearly 3 times the overall average for British & Colonial forces.

In the same church there also seems to be a memorial to a member of Marshall's Horse who survived but "fell asleep" in 1911 in Kamloops, British Columbia. I once fell asleep in Kamloops anticipating a second day on the Rocky Mountaineer.
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BOER WAR MEMORIALS OF WALES 1 year 9 months ago #83541

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Smethwick
Stirling (The Colonials in South Africa) has a chapter dealing with Marshall's Horse. Stirling comments that Marshall's Horse was mainly comprised of the mounted portions of the City of Grahamstown Volunteers and the Uitenhage Volunteers. He gives a good potted history of MH's activities in the field.
As to why such a memorial is found in Wales, I can offer no explanation - other than perhaps the Unit's founder came from that part of the world?
Regards
IL.
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BOER WAR MEMORIALS OF WALES 1 year 9 months ago #83555

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Smethwick,
I am as astounded as you!
I was aware of an ABW memorial in Newport, but had no idea that it would be to commemorate men of Marshall's Horse.
Definitely worth further research into the origins of Marshall himself.
Perhaps one of the wealthy local families lost a son out there in South Africa and memorialised the losses of the whole unit? But surely they would have been credited with such an act somewhere within the memorial?
There must be a report of the unveiling ceremony in the local press.
Very intriguing indeed!
Cheers,
Steve
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BOER WAR MEMORIALS OF WALES 1 year 9 months ago #83560

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Steve’s advice worked allowing the mystery of the Memorial to Marshall’s Horse in a South Wales Church to be solved:

South Wales Daily News 11th November 1902

MEMORIAL WINDOW AT NEWPORT
The handsome stained-glass window, which has been erected over the south door of the south aisle in St. John the Baptist Church, Newport, was privately unveiled a few days ago, the proposed public function, at which Colonel Sir Edward Ward was to have assisted, having been abandoned. The window is erected to the memory of the officers and men of Marshall’s Horse, who lost their lives in the South African campaign and the subjects in the window include representations of Our Lord, and St. Michael and St. George. The South African war medal and the clasps are artistically delineated. A tablet erected in the wall beneath the window is inscribed with the names of the brave fellows. At morning services on Sunday the vicar (Rev. J. F. Summers) in place of the sermon gave a description of the window, the artistic beauties of which were much admired, and in the name of the parish, heartily thanked the donor (the wife of Colonel Wallis) for the handsome gift. Colonel Wallis’s son was one of the officers of Marshall’s Horse.


Colonel Wallis’s son was Captain Charles William Wallis (1874-1911). He was born in Calcutta and died in Canada and has a separate memorial under the stained glass window mentioned in the article. This personal memorial depicts the three medals he won including his Queen’s South Africa Medal (4 clasps) & King’s South Africa Medal (2 clasps).

I suspect, but better and closer up photos are needed than those shown on the Roll-of-Honour website, that Charles’s four clasps – Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Cape Colony & Orange Free State are depicted at the bottom of the stained glass window.

Another mystery is why only his mother is mentioned as a donor as his father was still alive. The family was obviously well off and on the 1881 Census Return they were living in Chester House, Newport with three servants and his father’s occupation was given as “East India Trader”. Charles’s two sisters, one two years his senior and the other five years his junior, were both born in Newport.

Is this Memorial unique, being the only Memorial outside South Africa dedicated to all the fallen of a unit raised in South Africa?

There is also another Boer War Memorial in Newport, South Wales:
roll-of-honourorg.selvi.co.uk/Monmouthsh...portSouthAfrica.html

A word of warning when searching for Newport – there is also a Newport in north Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales (those who have followed the Roll-of-Honour link given in a previous post will notice they have got a bit confused), a Newport on the Isle of Wight, a Newport in Shropshire (where the author’s Smethwick GS were evacuated to in WW2) and even a Newport-on-Tay where there is also a Boer War Memorial. The Newport in question above is in Gwent, south-east Wales but once was in Monmouthshire and gained City status in 1996. It is also famous for its Transporter Bridge across the River Usk and its football team, Newport County, who have spent most of their existence propping up the English Football League.
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BOER WAR MEMORIALS OF WALES 1 year 9 months ago #83607

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Thanks for the link Smethwick to the other memorial to the Boer War in Newport. That is the one I have dipped into while investigating Captain F L Prothero of the Welsh Regiment, who died of his wounds during the conflict.
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BOER WAR MEMORIALS OF WALES 1 year 9 months ago #83612

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Steve – my car is being serviced in Haverfordwest on Friday morning and during the waiting time I intend to “crack” the Haverfordwest Boer War Memorial.

I have now sorted out the life & times of Captain Charles William Wallis who is commemorated in St John the Baptist Church in Newport but will delay posting anything until I have managed to obtain some decent close ups of the Boer War Memorials in the Church. His mother, Helen Augusta Evans, who paid for the memorials was a redoubtable woman and spent her widowhood writing letters to local papers usually to correct errors they had made. She appears to have been an authority on the life & times of Linus the son of King Caratacus and a mate of St Paul.

I don’t think I will be able to get to Newport until August but will also try and get some photos of the other memorial as well.

Regards, David (Smethwick)
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