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Re: A Trooper in the patrol that lifted the Ladysmith Siege 12 years 1 month ago #2386

  • Mark Wilkie
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Brett, Dartnell's inner circle clearly excluded some of his HQ staff and longest-serving officers. Campbell seemed to have fallen out of favour with Dartnell at some point between the Zulu and Boer Wars. There are remarks made by Darnell late in life about the need he had of solely being in charge of the appointment of the officers to the corps and promotions so as to avoid undue political influence. Sounds reasonable but when you consider just previous to this he names the three founding officers and notes Phillips as the son of the Judge of the Supreme Court and Campbell as a relative of the Speaking of the Legislative Council [Nothing is said of Mansel other than being the founder of the Zululand Police.] one can't help wondering if he was having a dig at Phillips and Campbell here. Also, as far as I know Phillips joined later than Campbell and Mansel. Holt gives the year as 1876. Campbell and Mansel were 1874. Neither Campbell or Phillips received the KSA ; their final application in 1908 via normal channels turned down [in March 1910] with that of the rest of the NP members that had served for the duration of hostilities 1899-1902. All they finally got was the award of the South Africa 1901 clasp in June 1909.

Cheers,

Mark

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Re: A Trooper in the patrol that lifted the Ladysmith Siege 12 years 1 month ago #2387

  • Brett Hendey
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Mark

It is clear from Natal Police records and the records of individual policemen that seniority was a major consideration in promotions. For example, the case of Edward Guy Blundell is noteworthy in this respect. He was the son of a resident of West Hampstead, London, who joined the NP in 1896. His promotions were as follows:
18/7/1902 - Lance Sergeant
1/4/1903 - 2nd Class Sergeant
22/12/1909 - 1st Class Sergeant

The rapid promotion to 2nd Class Sergeant may be ascribed to the large influx of recruits during the latter stages of the Boer War, but otherwise intervals of about six years between promotions may have been normal in the NP.

On 27/2/1911, the following was entered in Blundell's service record:
"Made an attempt to secure promotion to Sub Inspector through family influence. Interviewed Minister to urge his claim, ignoring the [Chief Commissioner] & the 42 Sergeants who are senior to him. Was ordered to move from the City to Umlazi Court & to revert to 2nd Class Sergeant."

This happened after Dartnell had retired, so perhaps "influence" in promotions had been replaced by "fairness". However, I have my doubts. A possible exception to "fairness" in post-Dartnell times was the gentleman, James Hamilton. He was a Sub-Inspector in the Zululand Police and in 1898 he transferred to the Natal Police with that rank. He was still a Sub-Inspector when the NP ceased to exist in 1913.

Regards
Brett

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Re: A Trooper in the patrol that lifted the Ladysmith Siege 12 years 1 month ago #2394

  • Mark Wilkie
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Hi Brett,

Dartnell suggests that influence seems to have played a part in early promotions. He then implies this ended when he got the Government to consent to all promotions in the corps being made through the ranks. This was still in the early days so who exactly were these men that were promoted due to political influence? And by the same token I guess that we can take it that all promotions after this weren't due to political influence. He can only be referring to the pre Zulu War promotions here.

Dartnell in the intro to Holt says of the formation of the NMP that "I wanted to send home for men, but this the Government would not sanction, so I had to start
recruiting from amongst the flotsam and jetsam of the colony, and a very rough lot they proved to be,..." Certainly truth in that but then again it seems to suggest that no suitable recruits could be found in Natal. Were all the colonials really that bad?

He then goes on to say "Three officers were appointed to assist me, viz., Mr. G. Mansel (now Colonel Mansel, C.M.G., who later raised and commanded the Zululand Native Police), Mr. F. Campbell (a relative of the Speaker of the Legislative Council), and Mr. F. Phillips (son of Judge Phillips of the Supreme Court of the colony). Later on I got the Government to consent to all promotions in the corps being made through the ranks, in order to avoid any undue political influence being brought to bear in the appointment of officers; I also wanted to induce a good class of men to enlist in the force by the prospect of promotion, and I achieved my object, for after a few years about a third of the men were gentlemen. Some of them were University men, and there were boys from nearly every public school in England."

With "boys from nearly every public school in England it would be very surprising if there wasn't the 'Old Boys' network at play behind the scenes. Was Dartnell perhaps having a bit of a dig at Campbell and Phillips? Were these the officers appointed and promoted because of political influence. Dartnell seemed to get on very well with Mansel and Campbell for many years. Campbell and Mansel had entered as Sub-Inspectors and were promoted to Inspector in 1878. Political interference?

I don't know the backgrounds of Mansel and Phillips other than Phillips being the son of a judge but if we took Campbell for example could Campbell be seen as not being suitable for an appointment as a police inspector? Campbell was the son of Natal's first Presbyterian minister. He was reasonably well educated and spoke both Zulu and Dutch. He was known to be shy but there is no evidence to suggest that this ever became an issue in his career with the force that spanned more than three decades.

He had been born in Scotland in 1848 but had grown up in Natal. He had served as an aid to Shepstone on the Cetshwayo Coronation expedition in 1873. He had served as an officer under Capt Allison in the column that went into Basutoland during the 1873 Rebellion. Allison's column was certainly more successful than the Bushman's River Pass one. He was a noted cricketer and tennis player and was known to be a very fine shot. He was shown to be an able administrator and stood in as an acting resident magistrate on several occasions over the years. He also was appointed to the 1878 Boundary Commission.

Dartnell wrote the above late in life. Could it be that the senior men of the NP that had been with him from the early days of the NMP and weren't part of his inner circle late in the Boer War looked on in disapproval as he and his circle claimed KSAs that they weren't entitled to? Did this have something to do with Dartnell suggesting that men of the early crowd, regardless of decades of good service were only there because of their use of undue political influence?

Sorry, after all that I've turned this thread into a discussion on the internal politics of the Natal Police. Perhaps we need to start another thread if we want to continue with the NP. Brett, I would certainly be most interested in hearing more on the NP during the course of the ABW.

Cheers,

Mark

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Re: A Trooper in the patrol that lifted the Ladysmith Siege 12 years 1 month ago #2397

  • Brett Hendey
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Mark

I have added two posts today, both on officers in the Natal Mounted Police/Natal Police, who were appointed during Dartnell's period of office. Given your perceptions on the politics of promotions in the NMP/NP, you might them interesting. I think both men qualify as being in Dartnell's 'ring', and I will look forward to reading your response.

Regards
Brett

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Re: A Trooper in the patrol that lifted the Ladysmith Siege 12 years 3 weeks ago #2409

  • Brett Hendey
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A small point ........

The 'smiley face' that precedes the Coghlan quote was put there by a gremlin, not by me. This is further evidence that I have limited control over computers and other electronic gadgets.

Brett

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Re: A Trooper in the patrol that lifted the Ladysmith Siege 12 years 3 weeks ago #2411

  • djb
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Brett,

Please let not the technology discourage you. This site would be much poorer were you not to contribute as much as you do.

Now to that gremlin ...
David
Dr David Biggins

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