TOPIC:

Being a descendant of a Boer War Soldier who was killed in action at the Mokari Drift, Caledon River., I would like to find out more about this relative, my Great Uncle George.
It is mentioned in newspapers, a few of them, that the Distinguished Conduct Medal was awarded to Pte. G.H.White , for gallantry at Mokari Drift.
One of the newspapers is The Telegraph, published (Brisbane Qld 1872-1947) Thu 5 Dec 1901 Page 4 WAR NEWS.
To our knowledge, there was never a medal awarded to him and he was buried in South Africa and there are questions regarding his burial place.
How can we find his resting place and also if he was awarded anything for his bravery in the field. He was killed in action on 27th Sep 1901.
There is a paper trail detailing his gallant actions in the Boer War. He was not married and did not have any children, so his parents in Gympie Australia, should have received notification of his death. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am a retired Vietnam veteran and I have had a roll of honour board made up, detailing the members of our family and their war service, Boer War and WW2, SVN.

Hello Bilko......

I cannot find him in the DCM list but this is what is in FMP.......

First name(s) G H
Last name White
Service number 202
Rank Private
Regiment 5 Queensland Imperial Bushmen
Other regiments/units Unit: 5 Queensland Imperial Bushmen, Rank: Private, Number: 202
Notes [Fogg] [Roe] [South African Field Force. JB Hayward & Sons] Number 302
Event detail - Killed on 27/09/1901 at Mokari Drift (Official casualty roll location: Mokaris Drift)
Event unit - 5 Queensland Imperial Bushmen
Event source - SAFF Gazetteer

[3026: 3002-2650] a drift across the Caledon River named from a farm in the Orange Free State (Wepener district; Free State), 35 km north-east of Smithfield. Variant: Mokaris Drift (CR) A small patrol found by the 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen from one of Brig-Gen H.C.O. Plumer's columns followed a commando along the the left bank of the river for three days before being attacked on 27 September 1901. After a sharp skirmish on the opposite bank the commando was was eventually driven from several koppies, but at a cost of 18 British casualties including two officers killed, Lt A.E. Pooley and Lt L.E. Caskey. HMG IV p.320 (map no.64); Stirling (1907) pp.446-447.


Mike

Bilko
Chamberlain and Droogleever's "The War with Johnny Boer" (pages 497- onwards) has an account of the action at Mokari Drift on 27/9/01. The authors quote a source as saying that those killed in action on that day were "buried side by side under the trees in the garden at Makari (sic) Farm and many's the day will pass ere they fade from the memory of their old comrades of the 5th QIB". Apparently, the spot was marked with a cross and a large slab with a suitable inscription. It appears that Pte. White (George Henry) was a member of K Coy.
Regards
IL.

Yes that is him, thanks. Where you have the Notes section Fogg etc and number 302, is that an error in his service number?
I am not sure what FMP means. He was apparently mentioned in C of C's despatches in March 8th, 1901. I presume that may mean Colonel in Chiefs despatches. Is there any way in finding out why he was mentioned?
When I asked the question in a government record section, I was told that only the NCO's and Officers received medals and awards, would that be true. His superiors did receive awards for their bravery and a couple of them also lost their life in action.
There was a detailed report in Murrays notes about what happened at the Mokari Drift, and a few men were questioned.
The reports in newspapers indicated that he was brave and when I researched into his burial records, I found that he was shot and six bullets got him. The family said that he would not surrender. The local newspaper published a few of his letters he wrote to his family, and it is surprising how much area he covered while he was in South Africa.
It would be a shame for his memory to die without finding out a bit more about his service and recording it. The local RSL has a Boer War group, so we would give them the info that we find and also to the Queensland country area that he came from. Thanks again, we are grateful for any assistance.

Thanks Linneyl, would you believe I have that book, it is the only one I have on the Boer War. We started off by going to the War Museum in Canberra, some years ago and found a record which started our searching for him.
We found that there are quite a few records in a cupboard of a Temperence Group in Brisbane. When the Boer war members in Brisbane closed their group, they sent their records to the Ladies Temperence group to store for the future.
My Granddad was also in the Boer War, 6th contingent, and he was well known to his fellows from the war. His name was A.Ohmsen and he was commended with a promotion in the field for his efforts. There is a write up in the newspapers about him as well.

Bilko wrote: Yes that is him, thanks. Where you have the Notes section Fogg etc and number 302, is that an error in his service number?
I am not sure what FMP means. He was apparently mentioned in C of C's despatches in March 8th, 1901. I presume that may mean Colonel in Chiefs
despatches. Is there any way in finding out why he was mentioned?

1. Yes that is an error listing his number as 302 not 202 which is correct.......

2. FMP is Find My Past which in a way is the same as Ancestry, 2 different companies both have their good and bad points.....

3. He is listed in the Mentioned in Despatches book on page 205 as follows:

WHITE, G.H., PRIVATE, FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION AT MOKARI DRIFT, CALEDON RIVER, SEPTEMBER 27TH, IN LORD KITCHENERS (The C. in C.) DESPATCH OF OCTOBER 8TH, 1901......

Mike