| Kock | Antonie Francois | | | The son of General J H M Kock, and grandson of Com. J H L Kock. His grandfather, who was one of the Boer pioneers (Voortrekkers), fought against the English under Warren at Boomplaats. His father, General Kock, acted, before the annexation of the Transvaal to the British in 1877, as Member of the Volksraad, and in the war of 1880-81 he acted as Vecht General over the District of Potchefstroom. Advocate Kock was born at Bronkhorstfontein District, Potchefstroom, Sep 20, 1869. He was educated at Potchefstroom and Pretoria. In 1885 he took the Republican Scholarship at Pretoria, and was sent to the Netherlands, where he attended the Gymnasium at Doetinchcm. As the scholarship was subject to certain restrictions his father renounced it, giving his son a free hand. In 1891 he went to Scotland, and during his stay there he revived the SA Union at Edinburgh. At that time he was endeavouring to establish a Union of all South Africans in Europe. After remaining seven months in Edinburgh he went to London, where, in 1892, he was admitted as a student of the Middle Temple. He was called to the English Bar, and after a short visit to Paris he went to Delagoa Bay in June, 1895, and attended the inauguration of the Delagoa Bay Railway as Member of the Festivities Committee. He was admitted as Advocate, after an examination in the Local Laws of the Transvaal, to the High Court of the SAR. On June 8, 1897, he was appointed a Puisne Judge of the SAR Among other well-known oases, he defended Colonel Ferrcira, who was tried for having maliciously, wrongfully, and illegally pegged off the property of J B Robinson at Randfontein. He secured the acquittal of the colonel. He made himself notorious at the trial of Constable Jones (over which he presided) for the murder of the Englishman Edgar, by declaring when he discharged the prisoner with a verdict of not guilty that he hoped that the police under difficult circumstances would always know-how to do their duty. In the troublesome political times before the war he showed himself an uncompromising opponent of the British. At the meeting of burghers at Paardekraal, Krugersdorp, to discuss the coming war, he addressed the burghers, urging them to maintain their rights as an independent Republic against Great Britain. At the outbreak of the war he accompanied his father, who was appointed Assist.-Comdt. General, and was present at Elandslaagte, and with him when he was mortally wounded. A few months later he joined Assist.-Comdt. Lucas Meyer. After being with the Boers before Ladysmith for some time, He went with General Meyer to Colenso, and during the battle of Spion Kop he was in command at Colenso, reinforcing the Spion Kop position with about 1,500 burghers, and at the same time kept the British at bay at Colenso and the lower part of the Tugela River. After remaining three months, he left Colenso on leave for Pretoria, and was in that city during the retreat of the burgher forces from Colenso and Ladysmith. He there arranged, in conjunction, it is said, with State Secretary Reitz, to destroy the mines and meet the British on their ruins. He was prevented from doing this, and was arrested by Dr Krause on June 2, who, in making the arrest, asserted that he acted under instructions of Commndt. General Louis Botha. After being confined in a fort he was taken under armed escort to Pretoria, and was lodged in a room on the racecourse amongst about 5,000 English prisoners of war. He was released after narrowly falling into the hands of Lord Roberts, and went to join the forces round Pretoria, where he was slightly wounded in the leg. Retreating with the burghers he arrived at Machadodorp, where as President of Courts-Martial he tried the Cooper case, at Machadodorp, where the prisoner was sentenced to be shot for having blown up a railway bridge with dynamite on the Delagoa line, causing the death of a night watch; and the case of Pienaar, a Boer Comdt., who was sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour at Nelspruit, for attempted fraud on the Transvaal Government Proceeding to Delagoa Bay, after an attempt upon his life, he was arrested by the Portuguese authorities, lodged in a fort for three days, and then requested to leave the bay for Europe. He went to Paris and met President Kruger. He then visited the Boer prisoners of war at Portugal, and subsequently made several attempts to got back to the scene of war in S A, and finally succeeded. He was, however, captured by the British and looked up for ten weeks, when he was tried as a rebel spy. He was found guilty and sentenced to be shot, but acquitted on a legal point raised by him and upheld by the State Attorney at Pretoria. He was thereupon banished for life, but succeeded in escaping and making his way up country as far as Estcourt. He then went to Pretoria and surrendered himself under the terms of surrender, but he was again arrested and lodged in the Artillery Camp. He finally took the oath of allegiance and was liberated. He afterwards practised as an Advocate in Johannesburg and edited the newspaper De Transvaaler. | Boer Forces |
