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Allan C. Solomon - Imperial Military Railways and a MC winner in WWI 2 years 10 months ago #76436

  • Rory
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Allan Solomon wasn't your typical hero. A clerk on the Railways he was accustomed to a desk job but war does strange things to men.

Allan Cameron Solomon, M.C.

Clerk, Imperial Military Railways – Anglo Boer War
Private, Enslin’s Horse – German South West Africa
Captain and Adjutant, South African Heavy Artillery
– WWI (Western Front)

- Military Cross GRV (presented by H.M. King George V on 2.1.18)
- Queens South Africa Medal (no clasp) to A.C. Solomon, Imp. Mil. Rlys.
- 1914/15 Star to Pte. A.C. Solomon, Enslin’s Horse
- British War Medal
- Victory Medal


Allan Solomon came from a well-known and well respected family in Cape Town. His great uncle, Saul Solomon had been a leading light in the fairest Cape in the 1800’s and had at one time been offered the position of Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. He was also the owner and original publisher of the Cape Argus newspaper.

Having been born in Cape Town on 26 September 1879 the son of Henry Solomon and his wife Mary, (born Philip) he was baptised in the Dutch Reform Church in that city on 30 November of that year.

When of an age to attend school he was sent to one of the most eminent educational establishments in the Cape, the South African College School or S.A.C.S. in Sea Point as it was affectionately known. Having completed his studies, he went on to the University of Cape Town where he was enrolled for the years 1895 and 1896 whereafter he was employed by the Railways which is where we find him at the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War in October 1899. Solomon was employed in a clerical capacity and it was as a Clerk that he saw service in the war only joining up on 20 March 1902, towards the end of the conflict.

For his efforts he was awarded the Queens Medal with no clasps.




Continuing in the employ of the Railways the equanimity of his life was undisturbed for a further 12 years until that momentous day dawned when the world woke up to find itself at war. On 11 October 1914 Solomon enlisted with Enslin’s Horse for service in German South West Africa. Assigned no. 137 and the rank of Private he provided his father, H. Solomon of “Dorean”, Algarkirk Road, Sea Point as his next of kin. Fighting it out with the Germans and, more importantly the heat and dust, Solomon’s service ended with the disbandment of his unit on 26 May 1915, some two months before the cessation of hostilities there. For his troubles he was awarded the 1914/15 Star.

Now at a loose-end Solomon was faced with the choice of returning to his humdrum job on the Railways or continuing the fight with the Germans, either in German East Africa where, it was rumoured, a force was being put together to take to the field in early 1916, or in the Western Front where the Germans were pitted against the finest the Empire had to offer in terms of fighting men.

Choosing the Western Front he completed the strangely named Attestation form “For Period of German War and Six Months After if Required” at Cape Town on 23 August 1915. Signing up for the South African Heavy Artillery he confirmed that he was 35 years and 11 months old and that he was a Civil Clerk by occupation. He claimed previous service with the Cape Town Guards before being transferred to the Imperial Military Railways until they were disbanded.

Physically he was 5 feet 7 inches in height, weighed 148 pounds and had a fresh complexion, grey eyes and dark hair. He was a member of the Church of England. Having been pronounced as Fit for the Army he was assigned no. 581 and the rank of Gunner.

With service counting from 9 August 1915 he set sail for England and, on arrival on 16 September 1915, settled in for a period of training and adjustment. On 19 October 1915 he was promoted to Acting Bombardier and on 1 January 1916 he was appointed as Temporary Lieutenant before being posted to the 75th (Natal) Siege Battery of the South African Heavy Artillery. His promotion was Gazetted.

On 30 April 1916 he was posted to the British Expeditionary Force taking to the field on 1 May. Guns and personnel were entrained and travelling via Rouen and Abbeville detrained at Heilly from where they marched to the village of La Houssoye where they billeted.

Digging commenced almost immediately and a very elaborate battery position was constructed with shell proof cover for the gun teams and with trench approaches to the gun pits.

The battery had its first encounter with gas on the night of 3 June when a large number of shells fell in the neighbourhood of the battery position. For the Battle of the Somme the battery fell under III Corps with the first shot being fired on 11 June the target being the ruins of the church of La Boiselle. Having calibrated their guns, they were in an ideal position when the barrage bombardment started on 1 July. Despite having fired 7 874 rounds from the Albert position very little hostile shelling was encountered. On 14 July the sections moved forward to Becourt Wood and at the end of July both sections billeted in the cellars of the village of Mametz. This is where the first casualties were sustained – two gunners being wounded.

Solomon was promoted to full Lieutenant on 11 August 1916 and on 16 October 1917 was awarded the Military Cross for bravery. The citation in the London Gazette read thus,

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When an ammunition dump and a truck full of ammunition were set on fire by enemy shells, with a small party he went to the spot and extinguished the fire, in spite of several explosions, after fifteen minutes work, thereby saving many lives and a large quantity of ammunition.”

From 31 July until 20 December 1917 the battery supported every attack made on the Pileem Ridge, Passchendaele Ridge and Houthoust Forest incurring only one casualty, Solomon, who was slightly wounded, by shrapnel in the left leg. Admitted to 4 Casualty Clearing Station he received treatment for the wound before being transferred to 24 General Hospital at Etaples. On 7 November 1917 he was sent back to England aboard the “Stad Antwerpen” being admitted to the S.A. Hospital at Richmond in Surrey for further treatment on 16 November.

The Proceedings of a Medical Board assembled at Richmond in respect of Solomon reported that he had sustained a G.S.W. RIGHT FOOT at Langemark in Flanders on 3 November 1917 and that he be granted 3 weeks convalescent leave. The Board’s finding was that ‘the officer was wounded with H.E. shell on the outer side of right ankle. Small Foreign Bodies removed at 24th General Hospital at Etaples. Admitted S.A. Military Hospital with small linear incisions with two stitches just above lateral malleolus. On 13 November stitches removed.’

Discharged from hospital Solomon whiled away the time before he was able to return to the front. The monotony of his days broken by the announcement that he had been Mentioned in Despatches on 28 December 1917 and a visit to Buckingham Palace on 2 January 1918 where the Military Cross was pinned to his chest by King George V at a ceremony for that purpose.

On 2 February 1918 he returned to France with the newly formed 50th Brigade of the S.A.H.A. and was appointed Adjutant. The batteries of the Brigade consisted of the three S.A.H.A. batteries, among others, this included his old outfit, the 75th Howitzer Battery.

It was with this Brigade that he was to see out the war ending with the Armistice on 11 November 1918. His promotion to temporary Captain was announced on 22 November 1918.

For his efforts he was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal to go with his Military Cross and 1914/15 Star. These are missing. The Military Cross he received at the hands of H.R.H. King George V at Buckingham Palace. He had the reverse inscribed as follows: “Despatches 7.11.17. Lieut. Allan Cameron Solomon. Presented by H.M. George V, at Buckingham Palace, 2.1.18.”

The war over Solomon was released from the army on 4 June 1919 having disembarked in South Africa on 1 June. He returned to the S.A.R. & H head office in Johannesburg where he had been the Principal Clerk of the Engineer in Chief prior to the war. While based here, he was to play a part in the Miners’ Strike and the Rand Revolt of 1922 (as it became known) – a service for which he and others were publicly thanked by the Prime Minister, General Smuts. The S.A. Railways and Harbours Magazine of April 1922 carried the story, under the banner “The Revolt on the Reef – Prime Minister’s Tribute to Railwaymen”, and read as follows:

“At midday on March 16th, General Smuts addressed the various units of the South African Railways and Harbours Brigade, which had been called out for special service in connection with the recent disturbances on the Rand. The Prime Minister, who was attended by members of his staff, was accompanied by Colonel Sir William Hoy, Colonel Colin Clark, D.S.O., Major McLean V.D. and Captain Solomon, M.C., while the various heads of department were on the platform from which the Prime Minister delivered his address. so far as the railway service was concerned, it was a fitting moment of recognition of the loyal and steadfast services which were rendered by all the grades of staff throughout the long period of danger and anxiety during the industrial disturbances on the Rand.”




Already a Superintendent (Staff) in the S.A. Railways Solomon was appointed to the post of Disciplinary Appeal Officer in 1931, a position he held for only a brief while before retiring in the same year.

Allan Cameron Solomon passed away from a Heart Attack in the Kensington Sanatorium in Johannesburg on 15 July 1956 at the age of 76. He had never married and having retired from the Railways, had made his living as an Insurance Agent.












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Allan C. Solomon - Imperial Military Railways and a MC winner in WWI 2 years 10 months ago #76444

  • Moranthorse1
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Hi Rory,
Thank you for sharing your biography of A. C. Solomon. Enjoyed hearing about his service record.
And what a rare combination of awards, clerk on the IMR through to the Military Cross for bravery!
Cheers Steve
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