TOPIC:

This Z.A.R. example is carved with the name "J H BREYTENBACH A S". Unfortunately, there are seven men with these initials on the POW database, so identification of the owner is unlikely. If anyone has any ideas as to what the "A S" might stand for, please let me know.






And two 1896-dated cartridges I picked up at Paardeberg in 1981. Unfired example with headstamp ".96" and fired example "F&C. 1896 .III". The former type was loaded with either nitro-cellulose or black powder; the latter with black powder only (Bester 2003, p. 320).



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Neville, a long shot: A for Kommandant J.J. Alberts, S for Standerton. There was a Johannes Hendrik(s) Breytenbach of Paardefontein, Standerton in J.J. Alberts' commando.

Thank you Everhard,

Certainly a possibility. I wonder whether the use of the initials of the Kommandant and Commando in this way has been noted elsewhere.

Neville

Neville, I don't know what A S stands for, but in my experience, to have a name stamped rather than carved is distinctly unusual for a Boer rifle. The only other example I've come across is the Mauser I show here, it's clearly not the same set of stamps, but it does have enigmatic initials - BBG - after it. I suggest look for Boer rifles which have been name-stamped to see if you could find the same font in another rifle. I'll keep an eye open!

Rob,

I had a quick look through all four volumes of Dave George's magnus opus, and found half-a-dozen punched examples. However, the one that immediately caught my eye is the example on p. 21, Part 4. The same name, spaced in an almost identical manner, "J H BREY TEN BACH", is punched into the stock of a Model 1895 Mauser (serial no. 1042), which is in the Ron Bester Collection.

Could the Mauser have been an upgrade, which Breytenbach marked in the same way as his "old" Guedes?

It is also worth noting that the majority of the punched names in Dave's books are followed by the owner's town or district, which might mean that the "A S" is an abbreviated form of a geographical location.




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Neville wrote: It is also worth noting that the majority of the punched names in Dave's books are followed by the owner's town or district, which might mean that the "A S" is an abbreviated form of a geographical location.

The ZAR and OVS burgers all belonged to a Commando according to the District in which they resided at the beginning of the war. Most Districts were subdivided in Wyke (Wards). A named gun with indication of both District and Wyk would thus provide a near perfect way to identify the owner. (The only proviso being that Burgers often had family members with exactly the same initials in the same Wyk.)

The main problem in trying to find the proprietor of a carved gun or other marked item is that there is to my knowledge no comprehensive list of Boers who were on commando at any time during the ABW. Forsyth’s ABO list is long but limited to the minority of Burgers (some 14.000) who applied for the medal. The Bloemfontein Museum site is also extensive but has no data for Burgers who served on commando but are not named in any of the 14 sub-lists (POW, Rebel, ZARP, Veteran legion etc), i.e. the majority.

The gun that Rob showed has ( B.G. behind J.J (F?) Scheepers. If the first B was a rejected trial and if the B and G indeed stand for District and Wyk, then the only OVS unit that would qualify is the Grootrivier Wyk in the Bethulie District. Going through the various lists no Scheepers with those initials is mentioned as a member of the Bethulie Commando. There is, however, a 30-year-old POW Gert Petrus Scheepers of Ventershoek in the Bethulie District listed. After scouring the relevant maps, I found a Ventershoek farm in the Grootrivier Wyk. Taking into account that families at the time were very large, it is very well possible that a J.J. Scheepers was a direct relation of Gert Petrus and that in turn would mean that the letters behind the name would indeed stand for District and Wyk.