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Last Friday, at the residence of his brother in Hainault-road, Leytonstone, Mr. Valentine William Geering died as the result of the inhuman treatment he received last summer while a prisoner in the hands of De Wet. Mr. Geering, who was 40 years of age, served for 12 years with the Royal Artillery in India and at the outbreak of hostilities in South Africa he answered the call for skilled Volunteers. After a great deal of arduous service he joined a convoy from Bloemfontein to Pretoria which was captured by De Wet, who was at the head of a force of 3,000 Boers. In common with the other members of the convoy, Mr. Geering was subjected to most barbarous treatment. He was deprived of his blanket and topcoat, and for six weeks was compelled to spend his nights on the ground shivering with cold, while during the daytime the sun was broiling hot. He was given but one meal a day, and that consisted of mealie pap. Mr. Geering and his fellow prisoners were nevertheless compelled to drag their aching limbs after their callous and cruel captors. At last, being utterly broken down in health, Mr. Geering was marched over the Free State Border and left to his own devices.

Weak and resourceless, his privations were terrible, and how he reached Delagoa Bay is a mystery. Reach it he did, however, and here he fell into the kindly hands of the British Consul, who had him cared for at an hotel for some time and then conveyed on board a British gunboat to the hospital ship at Durban, whence he was transferred to Netley. Here his sad case attracted the attention of Miss Butler, daughter of the famous General, and he was thoroughly well cared for, his Leytonstone friends being soon afterwards permitted to take charge of him. But the cruelty of the Boers had completely shattered his health - before his capture he was a splendid specimen of manhood, standing nearly six feet high, and weighing fourteen stone - and in spite of every care and attention he died from exhaustion on Friday last, as stated.

Essex County Chronicle, Friday 1st March 1901

That's a very sad tale, Berenice.

Looking for this man. There's a W R Geering in the East Kent IY who earned the clasps CC Witt and SA01 so that does not sound too much like him?

Valentine William Geering's death was registered at West Ham, the first quarter of 1901. Haven't yet found where he was buried.

No, it is Bombardier 31773 VW Geering RFA.

Interestingly he is shown in the casualty roll as killed at Pretoria 22-11-1900.

Fortunately his service papers survive and there is an entry on Effects confirming his death in Leytonstone.

No trace of him being captured though; "worthy of further research".

His maltreatment is similar to that suffered by another soldier: theangloboerwars.blogspot.com/2016/10/th...of-private-4991.html

Thank you. Which battery, SWB?

I am interested to see how Ancestry indexed him. All sites have issues with data quality, definitely this site included. I was using FindMyPast at the weekend to look at a Wepener man (Major G B Faskally) and the entry had an incorrect forename and mistook CMR for CMSC.