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Picture courtesy of City Coins

Graspan (Near Reitz) 6 June 1901

On the evening of 5 June Colonel Elliott was informed that a Boer convoy was about 15 miles away from his own convoy and he detached Major Sladen, the Commander of the 6th Mounted Infantry with a force of 200 and some Australians to intercept it. The convoy of 120 wagons and carts was duly captured at dawn on 6 June, but the majority of prisoners were women and children with only about 100 armed Boers as guards.

What should have been a routine, albeit large, capture was rapidly altered by a thundering counterattack by de Wet and De la Rey who had been informed about it over breakfast. Fighting raged amongst the captured wagons and Sladen’s advance line was driven back to a cluster of native huts in a kraal.

The fight lasted for four hours and ascendancy swung backwards and forwards between British and Boer. Sladen held off the counterattack until relieved by De Lisle in the afternoon but casualties had been heavy on both sides: 26 British and 17 Boers killed, 25 British and 20 Boers wounded.

The brutal hand-to-hand fighting at Graspan gave rise to accusations of atrocities on both sides. The Boers claimed that the British had fired on unarmed women and children in the wagons and the British accused the Boers of murdering prisoners.

Afghan (0) (2nd Lieut. J.R.F. Sladen. 2/15th Foot)
IGS 1854 (2) Burma 1885-7, Burma 1887-89 (Lieut. J.R.F. Sladen E. York. R.);
QSA (3) CC, OFS, Tvl (Lt. Col. F.R.R. Sladen, 2nd E. Yorkshire Regt.);
KSA (2) (Lt. Col. J.R.F. Sladen. E. York. R.)

The last two with minor official corrections, also some edge bruising and slight contact wear.

The QSA roll yields no explanation for incorrect initials.

Colonel John Ramsey Frederick Sladen was awarded the Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel and Mentioned in Despatches for his capture of De Wet’s convoy at Graspan near Reitz where by (his) courage and example prevented the desperate attack of the Boers from succeeding (LG 2 July 1901, p4401 and 20 August 1901, p5484).

Earlier in the War he had served on General Gatacre’s Staff and was part of the General’s small party which headed the night march to Stormberg, which debacle he survived.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (3) Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (2176 Pte. C. Parrott, 2nd. E. Yorkshire Regt.);
KSA (2) (2176 Pte. C. Parrott. E. York: Regt.);
Army LS&GC EdVII (2176 Pte. C. Parrott. E. York: Regt.)

Charles Parrott was born in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, in 1865, and attested for the East Yorkshire Regiment in London on 14 July 1896, having previously served in the 4th (Reserve) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. Posted to the 1st Battalion, he served with the Regiment overseas in the West Indies, November 1886 to October 1888; in South Africa, October 1888 to May 1893; in Egypt, May 1893 to November 1895; and in India, November 1895 to January 1898. Transferring to the 2nd Battalion, he served with them in South Africa during the Boer War from 14 March 1900 to 2 January 1903, and was discharged on 13 July 1907, after 21 years’ service.

Picture courtesy of Morton and Eden

QSA (3) Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (3350 Sgt J. Horrocks, 2nd E. Yorkshire Regt);
KSA (2) (3350 Clr:-Sjt: J. Horrocks. E. York: Regt);
[ 1914 Star trio ];
Army LS&GC Ed VII (3450 S. Mjr: J. Horrocks. E. York: Regt)

With Great War riband bar (apparently original as worn) mounted above, minor edge bruise to first, generally good very fine (3) £300-400 Lieutenant and Quartermaster John Horrocks (1873-1915) was born in 1873, the son of John Redford Horrocks, and Lydia Horrocks, of Bolton, Lancashire. He spent a portion of his childhood abroad in Russia, where his father conducted business as an Engineer, before enlisting for service in the East Yorkshire Regiment at Manchester on 10 August 1891. Promoted quickly to Corporal, and then to Sergeant in 1895, he served for three years in India before being transferred to the Reserve upon his return. Joining the Salford Constabulary, he was nearly killed ‘on duty’ near the Manchester Ship Canal, where he disturbed a burglary at a dockside warehouse and was stabbed in the back of the neck.

Recovering from this wound, he was recalled for service in the Boer War, where he was one of 23 men who served continuously throughout from disembarkation to re-embarkation at Durban. During this time, he was promoted to Colour-Sergeant in ‘H’ Company, and was twice mentioned in despatches for ‘special and meritorious service in the field’.

Continuing to serve afterwards, he was promoted to RSM of the 2nd Battalion, and remained with it until he was commissioned as Lieutenant and Quartermaster of the 1st Battalion, which he joined at York in early 1912.

He embarked for France on 8 September 1914 as Quartermaster, and later took on the additional role of Transport Officer, receiving another M.I.D. The following year, however, the strains of frontline service took their toll and he was discovered dead in his bivouac, having died of heart failure. As recorded in the Regimental History, his C.O. wrote of him: ‘He was an irreparable loss to the Battalion, for not only was he a first rate Quartermaster, but also an exceedingly able Officer all round, endowed with marvellous energy and a supreme faculty for getting a move on; his courage and calm self-control were unsurpassed.’ He received a posthumous M.I.D. in the London Gazette of 1 January 1916, and was buried in Poperinghe New Military Cemetery, Belgium. His Medal Index Card lists the name of his widow, at an address in Kelburn, Wellington, New Zealand.

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