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Treurfontein (Trenanfontein) 4 days 4 hours ago #97224

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Definitely Treurfontein from all that I have read on the subject EFV. I think the British authorities probably corrupted the word "tranen" to "trenan".

The "treur" and "trane" would probably have been experienced in equal measure as the Boers tried to coax their lands into something resembling productive in an inhospitable climate.

Rory
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Treurfontein (Trenanfontein) 3 days 2 hours ago #97236

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Many thanks, Neville. My brother is sending me the said bullet; also some other material. I will be in touch again shortly.
Mark

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Treurfontein (Trenanfontein) 3 days 2 hours ago #97237

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Thank you, Rory. Our family records of the time record Trenanfontein, so I suppose this was superseded by Treurfontein?

Mark

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Treurfontein (Trenanfontein) 3 days 1 hour ago #97238

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Thank you for that. I did see that RWA first served with the 51st Yeomanry (Paget's Horse), but was unaware of his interment at Treurfontein or the Duncombe Place commemoration. The family at that time lived at Tickhill House, near Doncaster - although his brother (my grandfather) Major M.J.G. Alderson was a teaplanter and also shipped over from Ceylon to fight the Boers, but unlike his brother he survived and went on to serve on the Western Front.

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Treurfontein (Trenanfontein) 3 days 1 hour ago #97239

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Thank you. All I can tell you is that our contemporaneous family records refer to Trenanfontein (presumably before the usage became Treurfontein).

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Treurfontein (Trenanfontein) 2 days 5 hours ago #97243

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Mark - a search of British Newspapers of the past produces absolutely no hits for Treurfontein/Trenafontein/Trenanfontein before 1900.

Treurfontein receives numerous hits during 1900/1901/1902.

Trenafontein receives a number of hits but they are limited to early 1902 and concern a casualty list issued by the War Office regarding the events 21st January 1902 and subsequent questions asking where is Trenafontein. In this period there are only two hits for Trenanfontein and they are obviously typos for Trenafontein.

My interpretation of this is that Truerfontein was a small place in SA which did not excite the interest of editors of British newspapers until the advent of the Boer War and then only when it had moved into the guerrilla phase. Trenafontein was an “invention” probably caused by somebody misreading a telegram or other communication.

Why were so many questions asked about the location of Trenafontein? By 1902 the British public were becoming increasingly concerned about the continuation of the Boer War which they had been told in the summer of 1900 was all but over. The successes in late 1901 & early 1902 of the new generation of Boer generals at destroying British supply convoys was dramatically raising those concerns. Thus the official reporting of a disastrous event at an apparently fictitious place led some to suspect a cover-up of an even bigger disaster.

Wikipedia tells us this about Coligny:

Coligny is a town in North West Province, South Africa, located adjacent to the railway line between Lichtenburg and Johannesburg. It is approximately 27 kilometres (17 miles) southeast of Lichtenburg and is known for its maize farming.

History: Originally named Treurfontein (Afrikaans: spring of sadness), the town was renamed Coligny on 23 July 1923. The new name honoured Gaspard de Coligny, a Huguenot leader who died in the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572. Coligny has also been a site of sporadic diamond mining activities.

2011 Population = 2,271.

Regards David (of Smethwick & Pembrokeshire).

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