TOPIC:

George Charles Armitage

A N.G.R. Platelayer in the Armoured Train Incident at Frere – 15 November 1899

Ganger, Natal Government Railways Engineers & Maintenance Department
Bridge Guard, Natal Government Railways – Anglo Boer War
Private, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry (Durban Light Infantry) - WWI

- Queens South Africa Medal to MR. G.C. ARMITAGE. NATAL GOVT. RLYS.
- 1914-15 Star to PTE G.C. ARMITAGE 1ST INFANTRY
- British War Medal to PTE. G.C. ARMITAGE. 1 ST INFANTRY.
- Victory Medal to PTE G.C. ARMITAGE. 1 ST INFANTRY.

George Armitage had the singular distinction of being one of the 13 Natal Government Railways Platelayers who were in the Armoured Train Incident at Frere on 15 November 1899 – the incident where Winston Churchill made a name for himself and was taken Prisoner of War.

Born in 1872, reputedly in England, Armitage was a resident of Pietermaritzburg and, as such, gravitated towards the local regiment, the Natal Carbineers, for militia purposes. He joined their ranks with no. 165 and was taken on strength on 18 February 1892 before taking his discharge five years later, on 4 January 1897. At the time of his nuptials on 3 June 1897 in St Peter’s Cathedral in Pietermaritzburg to 18 year old Caroline Kean, he was a 25 year old Brickmaker living in (appropriately) Brickfields, Pietermaritzburg. His young bride was resident at 2 Prince Alfred Street in the Natal capital at the time they tied the knot.

It wasn’t long before the patter of tiny feet was to be heard in their home in Town Bush Road, with Reginald George making his appearance on 16 July 1898. Presumably, at around this time Armitage gained employment with the ubiquitous Natal Government Railways and it was whilst thus employed that he gained an element of fame – now long forgotten – as being one of the thirteen Platelayers, part of a repair crew, who were in one of the trucks on the Armoured Train as it steamed out of Colenso on 15 November 1899 to run into a carefully laid Boer ambush.



Winston Churchill and his friend Captain Haldane are best remembered for this disaster, as are Wagner and Stewart, the Driver and Fireman on the train who, years later, were remembered by Churchill and awarded the Albert Medal for their bravery. Little is known however, about the “others” on the train who also experienced the danger and fear of being fired on and shelled by the Boers.

Accounts of the Armoured Train Incident abound but, for the purposes of this article, I have chosen to quote from the veritable “horse’s mouth” for an accurate account of what transpired. The Natal Archives in Pietermaritzburg carries a Minute Paper from the General Manager, Natal Government Railway’s Office (C508/99) which contains the official report by the Engineer in Chief, Mr J.W. Shores dated 17 November 1899 – two days after the incident, which reads as follows:

“Copy of Letter from Engineer in Chief at Estcourt to General Manager, re fate of Armoured Train dated 15th November 1899.

…. I do not think any of the Railway men who are in hospital are seriously hurt, but shall enquire tomorrow and will advise you. Those who were slightly hurt and who wished to go down I have given passes to.

It is difficult to get any very clear account of what happened. The trucks seem to have been overturned almost simultaneously with the engine being struck by the first shell, and all the workmen were in the rear armoured truck – the one which was overturned – they were all more or less hurt and scared by that, besides finding themselves exposed to fire from both sides. The train seems to have been made up as below:-



As they were returning when the accident happened it was the ballast truck with material which appears to have first left the rails and turned over; the Armoured Truck No.1 was also turned over and No.2 was derailed and partly across the road. The Driver then seems to have uncoupled from Armoured truck 3 and Ballast truck with Naval gun, and to have pushed truck No.2 clear of the line sufficient to get past, but it then seems to have fallen back foul of the line so that he could not get back to recover the two detached trucks.

All this seems to have occupied some 45 minutes, during the whole of which the Boers were shelling the train and pouring a heavy rifle fire on it as well. It seems marvellous that any of them escaped. As he could not get hold of the remaining trucks they appear to have put all the wounded they could get hold of on to the tender, and then all who could, clambered on to the engine and they came back. This account I have chiefly gathered from the Telegraph man (McArthur, I think his name is)

Irvine (Foreman Platelayer) says he saw the inner rail of the curb had been raised on boulders, so as to take out the cant, and attributes the derailment to that – but, of course, under such a hot fire any examination or clear observation of details is not to be expected.

…It is a bad business, and I feel it the more that so many of our men were in it, by desire of the Military Authorities though, of course, their presence was voluntary in as much as they were not ordered to go. But for the derailment probably no serious casualties would have occurred – as the armoured trucks are safe against rifle fire, and the shells might not have caught them, running back at speed.”

The names of the 13 N.G.R. Platelayers in the Chieveley Armoured Train Incident were:-

• Armitage, GC – Ganger
• Bradbury, A – Ganger
• Carmody, JR – Ganger
• Harcombe, J – Inspector WIA
• Irving, G – Ganger
• Kuter, DF – Ganger POW
• Pritchard, J – Inspector
• Welch, J – Ganger – WIA
• Williams, ED – Ganger
• Young, D – Ganger
• Yallup, W – Platelayer
• Borra, R – Platelayer
• Brannigan, M – Platelayer (Medal returned)
• Lucklings, H – Ganger
• Macnee, A – Platelayer
• Milne, W – Platelayer
• Moran, E – Platelayer
• Pope, F – Platelayer and
Westerman, JV – Ganger.

Having survived the incident, Armitage (he was not listed as wounded) soldiered on and was later in the war deployed as a Bridge Guard – according to the medal roll the number of bridges in Natal that were guarded against possible interference by the Boers was 73 covering a mileage of 387 miles. They were guarded from September 1899 until July 1901. He was also deployed to effect repairs to the Free State Line – very necessary after the damage and destruction wrought by the retreating Boers.



The war in Natal over before it was in the remainder of the country, Railway employees began to trickle back to their day-to-day occupations.

Armitage’s second child, Robert William, was born on 7 February 1901 and, at the time of his baptism on 7 April 1901, Armitage was recorded as being a N.G.R. employee based at Botha’s Hill (just up from Hillcrest). Yet another child, Ernest Edward was born on 21 May 1902 whilst he was stationed at Drummond – the half-way point between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. He was described as being a Platelayer with the N.G.R.

As was very often the case with Railway employees, they didn’t stay in the same place for very long and, by the time the next child, Oswald Francis, came along on 12 April 1904 he had been transferred to Umtwalumi on the Natal South Coast as a Platelayer. At around this time he also appeared on the list of the Natal Government Public Employees Superannuation Fund as a contributing member – this was as at 30 June 1905.

Whilst maintaining his full-time employment with the N.G.R., Armitage kept his hand in at brickmaking and, according to the S.A.R. & H. Magazine of April 1908, donated 5000 bricks towards the construction of the Railway Institute in Pietermaritzburg. The grand opening of this edifice took place in the same month as the article appeared. The chairman was no less than John Shores, C.M.G., the engineer-in-chief who penned the report in respect of the Armoured Train incident referred to earlier.

Transfers were happening at an alarming pace and, in January 1910 Armitage, still a platelayer, found himself moving from Ennersdale to Colenso.

Four years later the peace and equanimity of the world was once more rudely disturbed by Germany’s materialistic ambitions of world domination. On 4 August 1914 the world went to war and South Africa, so removed from the action, found herself embroiled in the conflict – thanks to an invitation by the British Government to provide an “urgent imperial service” in neighbouring German South West Africa.

But before war could be waged across borders, there was the no-small matter of quelling an internal rebellion first – thousands of former Boer combatants, vehemently opposed to the idea of South Africa siding with what was a sworn enemy only twelve years before, rose up forcing Generals Botha and Smuts to call out portions of the army to deal with the matter. The 1st Infantry also known as the Durban Light Infantry was one such outfit who responded to the call and Armitage was among those who came forward.

Assigned no. 388 and the rank of Private, he enlisted with the 2nd Battalion, Durban Light Infantry on 10 October 1914 – the date the 2nd Battalion came into being. As a railway man, he was assigned to “D” Company, known as the Railway Company.

On 24 November 1914 his “D” Company moved to Harrismith in the Orange Free State to protect the town, remaining there until it joined the Battalion en route to Cape Town on 23 January 1915. Whilst in Harrismith it had a lot do with escorting captured rebels to Kimberley. From Cape Town Armitage embarked for German South West Africa aboard the “Gaika” on 26 January 1915 bound for Walfisch Bay where he disembarked on 29 January. On 25 March his Battalion moved to Swakopmund and from there, on 10 April to Nonidas and Husab where “D” Company was posted to the river bed.

On 27 April the Battalion marched to Riet before, after a frustrating period of yet more marching in desert-like conditions with little to no water and food, being burnt by the harsh sun during the day and freezing cold in the evenings, they were ordered back to Swakopmund and sailed back to South Africa having seen very little fighting. It had been a dreary campaign with an unenterprising enemy who gave them no chance to show their mettle.

Armitage’s records show that he served in the theatre of war until 31 May 1915, on which date he transferred to the Railway Regiment with no. 362, with further service until 7 July 1915 when the German surrender came about at Otavi in the north of the territory.

Unlike many others who volunteered for further service, either in German East Africa or on the Western Front, Armitage decided to return to his family and civilian occupation. The Staff Magazine of September 1916 informing its readers that G.C. Armitage, ganger, was transferred from Diamana to Ladysmith.

Community-spirited, Armitage donated another 5000 bricks to the S.A Railways and Harbours Children’s Homes in March 1922 – other donations included “Lot of old tennis balls, a box of eggs and a crate of 42 pines from a gentleman in Bathurst.” Later that year, at the age of 50, he retired from service. His wife, Caroline, was the first to go – she passed away at the Convent Sanitorium in Ladysmith on 11 July 1930, at the age of 51. The family were living at 7 Lyell Stret, Ladysmith at the time.



George Armitage died in the Tongaat Hospital on the Natal North Coast on 14 February 1939 from Cancer of the Bladder, Spleen and Liver and from Emaciation and Heart Failure at the age of 66. He was living at nearby Maidstone in the Lower Tugela district at the time of his death.

Acknowledgments:
- S.A.R. & H Magazines – various
- Pietermaritzburg Archives for Minute Paper from the General Manager, Natal Government Railway’s Office (C508/99)
- Familysearch for baptism and probate details
- Ancestry for medal rolls