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Andrew Paul Daniel Wyngard

Private, Kimberley Town Guard
Private, Kimberley Volunteer Regiment – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Defence of Kimberley, Orange Free State & Transvaal to 840 Pte. A. Wyngard, Kimberley Vol. R.
- Kings South Africa Medal with clasps South Africa 1901 & 1902 to 840 Pte. A. Wyngard, Kimberley Vol. R.
- Mayors’s Siege Medal - Kimberley Star “a” hallmark (unnamed as issued)

Andrew Wyngard’s story begins in the rarefied atmosphere of Stellenbosch in the very heart of the old Cape Colony. On 18 September 1855 his parents, Andries Paulus Daniel Wyngardts and Hendrika Cornelia Clarenda Niekerk were wed in the Mission House at Stellenbosch.

At some point the Wyngard’s relocated to Kimberley which, from the 1870’s, was experiencing a boom thanks to the discovery of diamonds in the area. Belying their strong Dutch roots the family became anglicised and, by the time Andrew was born in 1877, his parents had become Andrew Wyngard and Hendrika Clarisa Wyngard (whose maiden name had ceased to be Niekerk and had now become Van Niekerk)

Living in Kimberley, Wyngard would have experienced, first-hand, the effect that the shiny stone had on men. In late 1899 simmering tensions between the two Dutch-speaking Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal and Great Britain spilled over into a declaration of war on 11 October. One of the Boer’s first actions was to invest the most strategic of major towns in both the Cape Colony and Natal and, to this end, forces were despatched to Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimberley in order to wrestle control from the Imperial forces.

Kimberley was prized above all as it was known that Cecil John Rhodes, that arch-Imperialist and enemy to the Boer Republics, was in the town at the outbreak of war.

The investment of the town by the Boer Forces under General Cronje commenced, officially, on 14th October 1899. At its commencement there were in existence and stationed at Kimberley the following volunteers:—

• Diamond Fields Horse, strength 178
• Diamond Fields Artillery, strength 97 and 6 guns
• Kimberley Regiment, strength 352
• Kimberley Town Guard, strength 1303

These were afterwards increased in numbers, and the Kimberley Light Horse and Kimberley Mounted Corps were organised.

When the siege commenced there was in the garrison half a battalion, 444 all ranks, of the 1st Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
The only other regular troops in the garrison were the 23rd Company, 93 all ranks, Royal Garrison Artillery, with six 7-pounder RML guns; 1 section, 1 officer, and 50 men of the 7th Field Company Royal Engineers; 5 non-commissioned officers and men of the Army Service Corps; and 1 officer and 5 non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Army Medical Corps. By 26th November the strength of the Town Guard, which was to perform valuable service, had been increased to 130 officers and 2520 non-commissioned officers and men and it was to this body of men that Wyngard initially gravitated – as a Private with K Company of No. III Section.

The Kimberley Town Guard, in all its various guises, were to form the mainstay of any defence undertaken should the Boers be so bold as to try a direct attack on Kimberley. As it so happened the Boers, in the main, contented themselves with a bombardment of Kimberley from afar – although the K.T.G. had to remain vigilant throughout.

Hostilities commenced near Kraaipan on 12th October when the armoured train was taken. By the evening of 22nd October the various detachments of the Cape Police, who had been stationed along the railway from Vryburg southwards, had retired on Kimberley and the fat was in the fire.

Wyngard didn’t stay long in the Town Guard – he sought and found a more combative role as a member of the Kimberley Volunteer Regiment (Kimberley Regiment) - The Kimberley Regiment of Volunteers was formed in February 1899 with the amalgamation of the Kimberley Rifles which served in the 1896 – 1897 Bechuanaland campaign and formed the right wing of the Regiment with five infantry companies, and the Diamond Fields Horse which formed the left wing of the Regiment with two companies of mounted infantry. The Honorary Colonel of the newly formed Regiment was Cecil John Rhodes.

The Regiment was called out and mobilised under Lieut.-Col. R. A. Finlayson on 3 October 1899 and at the time of the commencement of the Siege consisted of 14 officers and 285 N.C.O.’s and men. One of the first actions in which they participated was a fight at Macfarlane's Siding, six miles north of Kimberley, in which considerable loss was inflicted on the enemy. This became known as the battle of Dronfield in which the Kimberley Volunteers played their part - as additional reinforcements they had been ordered to be in readiness, and at 2 o’ clock a train, filled with these reinforcements, steamed out of Kimberley Station and headed for the action.

The train was brought to a standstill a few hundred yards south of the Siding, and the men were detrained with the object of going to the Artillery’s assistance. The enemy started firing into the train, and it was under very trying circumstances that the troops were got into attack formation. As the infantry advanced across the open towards the Boer position, they were met by a dropping fire, the effects of which were quickly noticeable.

On reaching cover they poured volleys into the bushes and covered each successive rush with the fire of flanking parties. The enemy began to retire as the men advanced. As the evening drew to a close the whole force returned to Kimberley.

After this there were many skirmishes and sorties in which the mounted men did most of the fighting, while the infantry, including the Town Guard, held the trenches and defensive works. In the making of these works coloured labour, largely provided by the De Beers Company, was mainly employed. Very soon the defences were so strong that the Boers were afraid to face an assault indeed, all through the siege the defenders did most of the active or attacking work, the enemy relying mainly on artillery and long-range rifle-fire.

Probably the most important engagement throughout the entire siege was the attack on Carter’s Ridge which took place on 25 November 1899 – in which 5 officers and 132 Other Ranks of the Kimberley Regiment took part along with most of the outfits defending Kimberley. This action under the command of Scott-Turner was at the instigation of Colonel Kekewich and was aimed at attacking the gun positions being constructed by the Boers at Carter’s Ridge, just outside Kimberley.

At daybreak two forces left Kimberley – the mounted troops under Scott-Turner and the Artillery and Infantry under Chamier. The latter, including the Kimberley Volunteers, was despatched in the direction of Wimbledon Ranges to engage the enemy and prevent any movement against Scott-Turner. It was falsely assumed that the relief force was “close by” and that a demonstration of this size against the enemies most formidable bombardment position would be necessary to divert attention from the advancing troops.

Chamier’s column had moved out from the reservoir and was advancing in the direction of Johnstone’s koppies where they were told to engage the enemy and turn them out of their redoubts. They were hotly engaged in the direction of Wimbledon, fighting continuing more or less briskly for over 3 hours, during which time the men were exposed to a most galling fire. Eventually after Scott-Turner ordered his force to retire, the order was given for the infantry to do like-wise which they did under cover of the guns. The Newton Camp detachment of the Kimberley Regiment (Wyngard’s crowd), about 160 strong, under Lieut. Colonel Finlayson, who acted as reserves and supports to the artillery, came in for their share of the enemy’s shell fire, several shells falling unpleasantly close to their extended line.

On 28 November a second attempt at Carter’s Farm was made to capture the enemy’s works and push back his line of investment on the south-west side of Kimberley. On this occasion the sortie was on a much larger scale with some 2000 men involved - split into three columns. Wyngard and his Kimberley Regiment was part of the centre column – again under Colonel Chamier. Shortly after 3 p.m. Chamier deployed his troops in attack formation.

A company of the Kimberley Regiment was detached to take and hold Wright’s Farm, which they succeeded in doing without casualties. At about 5 p.m. the fatal advance from Carter’s began with Scott-Turner and a small force leading the attack on the enemy’s laager, driving them out and capturing the whole camp. But it was the assault on the second redoubt that went painfully wrong and led to the death of Scott-Turner and twenty others.

Fortunately (for them) Chamier and his men held a strong position at Carter’s Farm and Wright’s Farm and, as he had heliographed he, “intended to remain there”. That night the Imperial forces, under the cover of darkness, re-entered Kimberley. The loss of so many men and a high ranking officer demoralised the defenders and a sombre mood prevailed in Kimberley for a long while after the disaster.

Kimberley was finally relieved on 15 February 1900 but for Wyngard and the Kimberley Regiment the war wasn’t over. They took the fight into both the neighbouring Orange Free State and the Transvaal as the British juggernaut rolled northwards. Wyngard earned for his efforts both the Queens and Kings Medals (for 18 months service in the war) as well as the highly-prized Kimberley Star, a medal struck at the request of the Mayor to thank those who helped fend off the aggressors.

The war over Wyngard, at some point in time, left the confines of Kimberley in search of employment on the fringes of the Gold Mines of the Witwatersrand. The peace that now reigned in the world came to an abrupt end on 4 August 1914 when Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies found themselves at war with each other. Wyngard, bided his time before attesting for service at Johannesburg on 10 January 1917.

On this occasion he supplied his full names, Andrew Paul Daniel, confirming that he had been born in Stellenbosch in the Cape Colony. Now aged 38 he was married to Regina (born Georgina Christina Howell) with who he had one child. By occupation he was a Van Driver. He confirmed prior service in both the Kimberley Regiment as well as the Kimberley Town Guard. Physically he was a small man at 5 feet 3 ½ inches in height with a dark complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. Initially failing his medicals because of a dental problem, he was passed as fit at Potchefstroom. His next of kin he provided as his wife of Gertie Street, Sophiatown, Johannesburg.

Assigned to “A” Company of the 3rd South African Infantry as a Private with no. 10920, Wyngard embarked at Cape Town aboard the S.S. “Walmer Castle” on 24 February 1917 headed for England and the front. After a period of training he was embarked for France on 11 June 1917 and, having arrived, he was sent to his unit in the field on 14 June 1917. At some point before his departure he completed a Will which left £10 to “my only friend” – Miss Rose Stagg c/o Gayler & Pope, 113 High Street, Marylebone, London; £5 “to my sister” – Mrs F.J. Myburgh, 2 Penrose Street, Kimberley and the “remainder of my money to my daughter” – Miss Freda Wyngard. Why his wife never featured in his bequests can be open to speculation.

The Western Front theatre of the war was a death trap with both the German and the British forces losing thousands of men, killed and wounded, for the gain of a few feet of muddy ground. By the time Wyngard was in the field the 1st S.A. Infantry Brigade was preparing for the Third Battle of Ypres. In August they were preparing for the Battle of Menin Road and were having to counter the German “pill-box” threat.

On 17 September 1917 they moved into the Front Line – the 3rd Regiment on the right with the 1st Regiment in support, the 4th Regiment on the left and with the 2nd Regiment as its support. The stage was set. At 05h40 on 20 September, a wet and misty morning, the Battle of Menin Road began. Thanks to careful planning the S.A. Brigade took all its objectives and the “pill-box” threat was largely neutralised. The day, according to reports, was full of gallant individual exploits and the Brigades second Victoria Cross (Lance Corporal Hewitt) was won that day.

The attack was described as “the most successful achievement up to that date in the campaign” but it came at a cost with 263 men killed and 995 wounded or missing. Among those killed was Andrew Wyngard – he had survived the Boer War only to perish in the slaughter fields of Flanders in Belgium. On the 5th of October his wife, back in South Africa, was informed of his fate. Today he is remembered on the Ypres Memorial at the Menin Gate.

His death notice, completed by his wife at Johannesburg on 12 November 1917, claimed that he had been a Plumber. She also confirmed that he had two children, Frederick Edward (a major) and Freda Johanna (a minor) and that he had died “somewhere in Flanders on active service.”

The war medals to which he was entitled were never claimed making his Boer War medals his only entitlement.

A very interesting account, Rory, that captures Kimberley during the siege well.