TOPIC:

EFV,

I would think that is probably shrapnel damage as the shell pieces could travel large distances.

I was thinking the item could have been made for Lady Sarah Wilson who went through most of the siege. Her account of the siege and life in South Africa ( www.angloboerwar.com/books/48-wilson-south-african-memories ) published in 1909 contains only a single reference to the Wolf.

In addition a rough gun, called "The Wolf," was actually constructed in Mafeking, which fired an 18-pound shell 4,000 yards. To this feat our men were incited by hearing of the magnificent weapon which had been cast by the talented workmen of Kimberley in the De Beers workshops. In spite of there being nothing but the roughest materials to work with, shells were also made, and some Boer projectiles which arrived in the town without exploding were collected, melted down, and hurled once more at our enemy. Truly, there is no such schoolmaster as necessity.

Peter,

I have not seen a named picture of James Connolly but feel he should be amongst this group unless these are the firing crew.

The two men behind the scheme, the ingenious Messrs Connolly & Coghlan, must surely be in this photograph (previously posted by Everhard). To my eye, the individuals most likely to pass as "Irish refugees" from the Gold Reef are the two chaps wearing flat caps, in the centre of the image. Apart from Gerrans and the young man second from right, they are the only prominent figures who are clearly not military.

If I had to put money on which of the two is James Connolly, I would probably pick the man in the waistcoat.




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Hello!
Allow me to make a small contribution.
In relation to Coughlan's identification, a few years ago Colin Walker published the same photograph as Nevil_C's post adding:

“Below is an image scanned from a hand-tinted photographic postcard of the Wolf Gun taken outside the Railway Workshops. It was probably taken by Mafeking photographer David Taylor and reproduced as a postcard after the Siege. I believe this would have been the image that Tom's friend William Perry saw in his comic. Baden-Powell is standing to your extreme left. D D Hall wrote a pamphlet on Mafeking Artillery that was available in the South African National War Museum, Saxonwold, Johannesburg in 1982, (now the South African National Museum of Military History), in which he stated that Mr Coughlan, wearing a waistcoat, is the figure with his hand on the wheel of the gun to the left of the picture. The officer next to the right wheel is Major Panzera. In addition I surmise that 'Old Gerrans may well be the man with his foot on the left wheel hiding his injured hand behind his back and, whilst I cannot be certain, Tom Banks, the only young man still in his working clothes, is to be found in the prominent position to the right of Major Panzera. Is the man with his hand over the breech Foreman Connolly, and the officer standing between the piles of shells, Daniels? Almost certainly all the personnel mentioned in this article are present on this photograph.” (Mafeking’s Artillery, p.25)

There is a copy of this photograph mounted on card in the Cecil family archives, Hatfield.

The photograph identifies (L to R) BP, J Gerrans, Lt Daniel (behind Major Panzera) and Major Panzera.

On the back is pencilled 'You will notice the hole in the iron at back this was caused by the enemy's shell fire'.