TOPIC:

Comparing the war memorials kindly supplied above by Elmarie shows there are a couple of issues with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment (the last one posted) – 295 Trooper W Bottrell has been omitted and 308 Lance-Corporal Tibbitts has had his name misspelt.

I have listed below the 2 Officers and 11 men of the 5th (Warwickshire) Company, 2nd Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry, wo lost their lives during the ABW below in chronological order of their dates of death with their cause of death and location.

Hereafter, to save on typing, I refer to the Company merely as the “5th”.

First To put the dates and numbers into context, when the 5th arrived in South Africa on 25th February 1900 they numbered 5 officers, 1 Colour-Sergeant, 1 Quarter-master and 114 NCO’s & men. As was normal for newly arrived IY Companies they spent the first fortnight at Maitland Camp which they left on 9th March 1900. When the remainder arrived back in England on 17th June 1901 they consisted of only two officers and 39 men. The 6th July 1901 Medal Roll lists 7 officers and 130 NCO’s & men indicating they received only 16 reinforcements during their stay.

The above figures are borne out in the final paragraph of an article in the Coventry Herald reporting their arrival back in Warwick in June 1901:

The forty men who have returned are all that are left of the gallant company of 120 who left the county town on January 29, 1900, and of the reinforcing draft of sixteen which followed them in April. From the outset the company has had a stiff a time as any body of troops at the front. At Kheis Drift, among the rebels of Griqualand; at Haman’s Kraal in a fruitless chase of De Wet’s rearguard; at Kalverinokin*, ambushed in a Boer Farmhouse; at Smithfield, and at the Twii River the Warwicks paid the death penalty with the loss of some of their number.

* Kalverinokin, has variable spelling in other sources which always qualify it as “near Edenburg”.

The promised list:

Major James Alexaner Orr-Ewing, killed in action, Kheis Drift, 28th May 1900.
285 Corporal Arthur Baxter, killed in action, Kheis Drift, 28th May 1900.
308 Trooper William Flower Lane, killed in action, Kheis Drift, 28th May 1900.
Lieutenant Richard Fordham Flower, killed in action, Haman’s Kraal, 20th August 1900.
291 Trooper Harry Parker Toone, died of enteric, Pretoria, 6th October 1900.
304 Trooper William Martin, died of wounds, Twii/Tirie River*, 1st November 1900.
329 Trooper Bertram Bernard Baldwyn, died of enteric, Pretoria, 23rd November 1900.
254 Trooper Ellis Bolt, died of enteric, Pretoria, 17th December 1900.
308 Lance-Corporal William Tibbitts, died of enteric, Pretoria 24th December 1900.
322 Trooper Richard Ledbrooke Grimes, killed in action, near Edenburg, 6th March 1901.
344 Trooper George Timms, killed in action, near Edenburg, 6th March 1901.
295 Trooper Walter William Thomas Bottrell, died of enteric, Harrismith, 30th March 1901.
293 Richard Francis Gibbs, died of enteric, Deelfontein, 9th April 1901.

* An article in the Coventry Evening Telegraph reporting his death gives the location as the Twii River based on the content of the telegram the family received from the War Office but his service record says Tirie River. Googling both does not help decide which is correct.

When the 5th left Warwick they had been assigned to four equally sized Sections.

At Kheis Drift on 28th May 1900 the 5th also suffered 6 wounded. All their casualties on the day were members of Section 2. A letter home from a member of Section 3 stated Section 4 were held back to guard the guns whilst the other three sections were lined up along the bank of the Orange River, with Sections 1 and 2 to the left and Section 3 to the right. The letter writer, a Smethwickian, admitted he only saw one member of the enemy all day. Other units were involved and there has been some debate on this forum about the total number of casualties at Kheis Drift on the day. However, there is no doubt the 32nd Company IY (Lancashire Hussars) fared as badly as the 5th, with also 3 KiA but 7 wounded. Three of the 5th Company wounded were mentioned in despatches and two were subsequently awarded the DCM, there was some unhappiness that the third was denied this honour. The wounds received by two others lived with them for the rest of their lives – one had his right leg amputated and the other, a Smethwickian, limped for the rest of his life.

On 6th March 1901, as well as the deaths of Troopers Grimes & Timms, the 5th suffered 5 wounded – one had gone out as the Quarter-master but had subsequently been commissioned to Lieutenant – of the six other casualties, two originally belonged to Section 3, and one each to Sections 2 & 4, the remaining two were amongst the 16 reinforcements. I suspect by March 1901, with their vastly reduced numbers in the field, operating as four sections was no longer sensible or sustainable.

I have yet to ascertain if the engagements that resulted in the deaths of Lieutenant Flower & Trooper Martin also resulted in the wounding of other members of the 5th. The implied death at Smithfield in the Coventry Herald paragraph quoted above currently has me scratching my head.

Summarising it can be said the 5th suffered 13 deaths out of 137 men which makes an attrition rate of 9.5% compared to the overall attrition rate for Imperial troops of 4.4% (22,000 out of 500,000). As two-thirds of the overall attrition rate was down to disease but just less than half of the 5th’s was down to this cause, the contrast becomes even more marked. I take my hat off to yet another company of the Imperial Yeomanry.

Berenice has already given Richard Ledbrooke Grimes due and thorough attention:

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/17-memorials-...nburg-6-3-1901#81558

I have already posted about “my” life-time limping Smethwickian:

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/11-research/3...ing-of-another#80869


“My” other letter-writing Smethwickian I am still savouring and writing an article about for the magazine of the Smethwick Heritage Trust. He was a member of the, still revered in Smethwick, Mitchell family as in M&B or Mitchell & Butlers Brewery. He returned home two months early, I suspect business called as he was a Director of Mitchell & Butlers when he attested although he was still a Trooper when he left South Africa. I also suspect the authorities were loath to refuse his request for an early return as at the time M&B supplied beer to the British Army much of which they appear to have donated during the ABW. Arthur Mitchell also served in the Great War, which he survived, despite being an officer.

Finally a likeness of Trooper William Martin, died of wounds, 1st November 1900:

LIEUT R.F. FLOWER

6 years ago Berenice gave Lieutenant Richard Fordham Flower an extremely comprehensive and pictorially delightful treatment:

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/17-memorials-...-a-20-8-1900?start=6

Peter H has also contributed him to FaG but Berenice has already included all the photos found there in her presentations.