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William Gourlay

Private, Natal Government Railway Rifle Association – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal (Defence of Ladysmith) to PTE. W. GOURLAY. LADYSMITH TOWN GD:

William Gourlay was born in Govan, Glasgow on 8 June 1876 the son of William Gourley and his wife Agnes. At some point his father decided to bring the family to South Africa, settling in Ladysmith in the interior of the Colony of Natal. A Fence Erector by trade, Gourlay senior made himself and his family comfortable in a three-roomed wood and iron house in the hot and dry little town which at that stage in its growth had little to recommend itself to either traveler or potential resident.

A young William would not have wanted for playmates in the dusty streets – he had many siblings in the forms of George (born 1872); Annie (born 1874); Alexander (born 1878); Margaret (born 1880) and Agnes (born 1882.) Sadly Gourlay senior passed away at the age of 46 on 30 March 1890 leaving his wife to look after the children on her own. Most of them were still of school going age and it must have been a struggle for her, financially and otherwise.



At some point William, having completed his schooling, joined the employ of the Natal Government Railways. Ladysmith had started to fulfil its earlier promise and was then an important junction with branches of the railway to the Transvaal and the Orange Free State stemming from it. This provided employment for a large number of the towns inhabitants. According to the Natal Almanac of 1897 Gourlay was listed as a Mechanic living in Ladysmith -he would have been 21 years old at the time.

As the 19th century entered its final year the powder keg which was the relationship between the two Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal and the might of Imperial Britain erupted. The Anglo Boer War commenced on 11 October 1899 with the Boer Commandos streaming over their joint borders with Natal and the Cape Colony. Gourlay had joined the Natal Government Railways Rifle Association at some stage and naturally progressed to the local Town Guard. In an interesting development the L.T.G. was the only one in the country comprised of three parts, the Town Guard, the Klip River Rifle Association and the N.G.R. Rifle Association. Medals to all three were issued off the Ladysmith Town Guard roll.


Members of the NGR Rifle Association

With war imminent, members of the Town Guard were enrolled from 19 September 1899, all taking the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown. There had been warning signs for quite some time and the Colony was beginning to hold itself in readiness for the expected invasion from the north and west. Ladysmith was a frontier town and the only one in those parts with a reasonably strong (although events were to prove this number inadequate) military presence under Sir George White.

Including the members of the Klip River Rifle Association who were affiliated for the defence of the borough, the aggregate number of men who enlisted was 233. Mr T R Bennett was appointed commandant of the combined town defence, acting under the orders of Colonel W G Knox CB, commanding the defences and daily drills were at once inaugurated, whilst the members were allowed to practice at the rifle ranges of the Klip River Rifle Association.

Evening patrols were instituted in the town and guards posted on Convent Hill to give the alarm of the approach of the enemy and, on and after the 18th of October, the Guard took duty at the Railway Bridge Defences freeing up Imperial troops who might have been used for that purpose. On the night of 12th October the men were ordered to guard all the roads leading into the Borough, to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the town. This was quite a responsible task as the Boers were known to move quite freely about the place dressed, as they were, in civilian clothes as opposed to any form of uniform. This too was the case with the Town Guard who, although issued with rifles and ammunition, had no uniform of their own.


The list of NGR RA members - I have the medals to those indicated.

Regulations concerning the duties and conduct of the men were drawn up and approved of by Lieutenant General Sir George White VC, commanding the Forces in Natal, on the 16th of October. On the 28th the entire guard mustered in the defences at 4.30 am and remained under arms till 7 am – they were also on duty at the Bridge Head and adjacent defences during the engagement of Lombard's Kop on the 30th of October. From 5 November until 12 December the services of the Guard were not made use of however, on the latter date the men were again called out, and with the members of Gourlay’s Natal Government Rifle Association, placed under the command of Captain Young RE, Railway Staff Officer. At this point their strength was now 157 men, exclusive of those on the sick list. They were assigned the duty of guarding the river's bank on the South side of the town nightly – a potential scene of Boer infiltration.

Captain Molyneux, of the Natal Volunteer Staff, assumed command of the Town Guard on the 23rd of December, a system being arranged that each man should be one night on and two nights off and free rations were issued on the 29th of December and each succeeding day throughout the remainder of the siege. The term “rations” is used loosely for, as was well known, the town and its inhabitants were soon reduced to stale maize and tough horseflesh as a staple diet.


Map indicating where the Town Guard were stationed

During the determined Boer attack on Wagon Hill on the 6th of January 1900 the whole of the Guard lined the defences from daybreak till 10 am, being under fire early in the morning. This was the Boer forces surrounding the town’s most effective attempt to break through the defences and, on several subsequent occasions the men were roused in the night to help to repel an expected attack. With the lifting of the Siege on 1 March 1900 the Guard was disbanded for all Defence purposes with the men allowed to go home.

The siege over, a number of the residents who had fled to safety began to return. Likewise, a number of those who had remained behind and seen out the siege decided that they had had enough and headed for the Witwatersrand where, with the reopening of the gold mines, employment was to be had. Gourlay opted for this course and was to be found at Krugersdorp on the West Rand when he entered into the matrimonial estate with a fellow Scot – 19 year old Annie Eliza Abel – on 14 December 1904. William was 28 at the time and living in Pretoria.


The NGR staff, Ladysmith in 1900 after the siege

The register of the Fordsburg Lodge of the Free Masons shows that he was a Fitter when he joined their membership on 16 November 1916 (he was struck off in 1923)
There were two children born of the union – Gladys May Gourlay and William Abel Gourlay, the latter was still a minor when his mother passed away at the age of 43 on 29 February 1928. The family were living at 169 Persimmons Street, Malvern, Johannesburg when she died. Not very long after, on 24 September 1930, Gourlay’s daughter, Gladys, a 25 year old Stenographer got married. He was on hand to give her away and to witness the event in the marriage register in Johannesburg. The same process was followed when his only son tied the marital knot at the age of 25 on 11 May 1935.

Gourlay went on to outlive his daughter, something every parent dreads. Gladys passed away at the age of 47 on 1 December 1952 from Breast Cancer. The family were still living at 169 Persimmons Street.

William Gourlay, having survived the early deaths of both his wife and daughter, passed away from a Coronary Thrombosis in the Charlotte Collins Nursing Home, Belgravia, Johannesburg on 29 November 1955. He was a retired Fitter and Turner with Simmer & Jack and is buried in the Brixton Cemetery, Johannesburg.

Acknowledgements:
- Ladysmith Siege Museum for Burgher Rolls
- Ancestry & FMP for Medal rolls
- Natal Almanac 1897
- Maurice for map of Ladysmith
- Familysearch for Marriage, Birth and Death Notices
- S.A.R.& H. Magazine for photo of Railway Staff in 1900