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Doctors is all swabs' said
Billy Bones the pirate, with sickbed petulance.1
Possibly more than a few casualties of the second Boer War would have
echoed his sentiments. South Australia provided several doctors and
surgeons, some of whom were outstanding.
Archibald Watson, Professor
of Anatomy at Adelaide University and Consulting Surgeon to the Natal
Field Force remarked:
'I was surprised at the
number of soldiers with hammer toes, flat feet, varicose veins, visceral
phthisis, skeletal syphilis, mental aberration, hernia and defective
dentition and the absence of the means of treating it.2
However, he and others did
their best.
Doctors
John Tressilian Toll
John Tressilian Toll MRCS
England 1877, LRCP Edinburgh 1877 practised at Port Adelaide
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Captain Blair, Surgeon
Toll & Lt Powell |
and was a Government
Health Officer in 1883. He was medical attendant to the Largs Bay and
Glanville Forts and to the crew of HMCS Protector3 Toll
volunteered to accompany South Australia's first contingent to the South
African War without remuneration. The offer was accepted by the Government
and he was attached to the contingent as Captain, Medical Staff. Toll was
medical attendant to Surgeon Captain Hopkins.
Captain Toll was later
invalided for some weeks. On recovery, he returned to the front. He wrote
to his wife on the prospect of going to Pretoria and then returning home,
strong in health and rich in experience. Once again invalided, he suffered
an epileptic fit, which in his weakened condition proved fatal. He was
buried at sea.
John Tressilian Toll is
commemorated on Adelaide's Boer War Memorial with the rank of Surgeon
Major.
Frederick David Jermyn
Frederick David Jermyn
MBChB Melbourne 1888 was bom at Port Fairy, Victoria. He was connected
with 'G' Company Victorian Mounted Rifles, being Captain Medical Staff
from 7 February 1890 to 26 April 1895.
He moved to Mt Gambier,
South Australia, in 1895 and was attached to the local squadron of the
South Australian Mounted Rifles. Jermyn was appointed Surgeon Lieutenant
to the second South Australian contingent and saw service in Cape Colony,
Orange River Colony and Transvaal, with actions at Johannesburg, Pretoria
and Diamond Hill.
He was invalided to England
with eye trouble and spent some time in Europe convalescing and studying.
On return to South Australia, he was appointed Surgeon Captain to the
South Australian Section of the Australian Army Medical Corps Detachment.
He received the Queen's South Africa Medal (QSA) with five clasps.
Francis John Douglas
Francis John Douglas MBChB
Melbourne 1897, MBChB Adelaide 1898 was appointed Lieutenant, Medical
Staff of the third South Australian Contingent (South Australian Bushmen).
In early August 1900, Lt A
E Collins was badly wounded while on patrol. Lt Douglas stayed with him
and both were taken prisoner. Reduced to replacing dressings with portions
of their shirts, with water but little food, both must have welcomed the
approach of Kitchener's Column, at which the Boers departed.
Typhoid and serious wounds
were treated. Transport was by bullock wagons, the longest trek being
about 100 miles, with few orderlies to help with the care of patients.
Travelling at night and resting by day, the journey took 10 days. No
casualty was lost.
Douglas saw service in Cape
Colony, Orange River Colony, Transvaal and Rhodesia. His QSA has five
clasps. He was appointed Honorary Lieutenant (Medical Staff) South
Australia. At the end of his South African service he went to Britain for
a holiday and hospital work.4
Spencer Smithson Dunn
Spencer Smithson Dunn MBCM
Aberdeen 1888 was Surgeon Captain with the 4th South Australian Imperial
Bushmen. Dunn was twice recommended for promotion to Major during his
service by the Principal Medical Officer under whom he served. He was
noted for his cool bravery under fire.
He contracted typhoid but
recovered. During his convalescence he was placed in charge of a steamer
in the harbour of Cape Town. On board were Boer prisoners. In March 1901
an ambulance train was sent under his direction to Pretoria to bring 300
sick and wounded soldiers to Cape Town.
He was very popular with
the men of the Corps. To the sick and wounded his cheerfulness and
unbounded enthusiasm were an inspiration and his hearty, 'Well, laddie,
how can we help you?' gave sufferers new hope.
The 4th Imperial Bushmen
returned to South Australia on 27 July 1901 aboard the troopship Britannic.
Eleven of the South Australians were suffering from measles, while a
further 80 cases were among interstate troops. The local troops were
admitted to the Torrens Island quarantine station under the care of
Captain Dunn.
Dunn was appointed Captain
in the Medical Staff Active Forces with effect from 1 August 1901. He also
served as Medical Officer for the camps of the 7th and 8th South
Australian Contingents.
William Ramsey Smith
William Ramsey Smith BSc
Edinburgh 1888 MBChM Edin 1892, MB Adelaide 1904, MD Edin 1913, BSc
Adelaide 1903, DSc Adelaide 1904 was brought to South Australia with Dr A
D L Napier by the Kingston Government to maintain services at the Adelaide
Hospital when the honorary staff resigned. Intellectually and clinically
superior to those they replaced, Smith and Napier were never forgiven by
their contemporaries.
Smith was appointed Captain
(Medical Staff) to the fifth Contingent (South Australian Bushmen) for the
voyage only. Men and horses of the 5th disembarked at Port Elizabeth and
were sent to Kroonstadt that night. The doctor took ship to Cape Town, but
while waiting for passage, studied plague problems at Grahamstown. At Cape
Town, he was appointed Principal Medical Officer (Plague Administration)
and medical embarking officer advising the military authorities on the
plague as it affected transport of troops on land and sea. At times 3,000
men were landed in addition to embarking time-expired men and invalids,
and 1,500 Boer prisoners were sent to Ceylon, Bombay and Madras. In
carrying out these duties, Smith gained an insight into the whole
transport system.
The plague in Cape Town
presented the same problems as in Melbourne and Adelaide regarding rats
and bubonic plague. Work was carried out investigating the different forms
which the plague bacillus assumed in cultivation and inoculation.
Smith rose from Lieutenant,
Medical Staff (South Australia) on 11 June 1896 to Lieutenant Colonel AAMC,
and to PMO (South Australia) on 15 December 1906. His QSA has two clasps.
Richard Sanders Rogers
Richard Sanders Rogers BA
Adelaide 1882, MBChM Edinburgh 1887, MD Edin 1893, MD Adelaide 1897, MA
Adelaide 1899, D Sc Adelaide 1936 served as a civil surgeon (voyage only)
with South Australia's sixth contingent. He was on Australian Army medical
Corps reserve of officers as a Major from 1 November 1909 and, as
Lieutenant Colonel, directed the Keswick Base Hospital from 1914 to 1919.
Alan James Campbell5
Alan James Campbell MBChB
Adelaide 1896, MACS LRCP London 1898 arrived in South Africa from Britain,
serving aboard the Hospital Ship Nubia, then transferred to
hospitals at Ladysmith and Howick. He was commended by Colonel Westcott
CMG RAMC, PMO.
Campbell was appointed
Surgeon to Steinaker's Horse. This unit operated in a dangerous malarial
district druing the worst of the fever season. He contracted the disease
and in his own words, 'I had a liver as big a house and a spleen half as
big as London'. Upon being urged to transfer to another district, he
replied that he could no more run away from his duty than if he were a
fighting man. On a hospital ship with fever, overdoses of quinine produced
bilious remittent fever. The food consisted of greasy beef, tea and
condensed milk.
During convalescent leave,
he married Kate Durant, a neice of Lord Roberts.
Returning to duty he was
again attacked by malaria and had to leave the district. Colonel Westcott
secured his services for the military hospital at Harrismith from
September 1901 to February 1902. He was involved in very heavy work,
especially as a result of a disaster to an Imperial Yeomanry column on
Christmas Eve at Tweefontein.
Continued ill health due to
malaria and stress of work compelled him to resign. In February 1902 he
proceeded to Pretoria with the onset of enteric fever. His strength
expended, he died at Pretoria on 19 March 1902.
Rupert Walter Hornabrook
Rupert Walter Hornabrook
MBChB Adelaide 1896, LRCP London MRCS England 1897 was an Adelaide man. In
January 1898 he secured an appointment to study plague problems in the
Bombay Presidency in India. The death rate was never lower than 72% as
opposed to South Africa where it was rarely 50%.
In January 1899 Dr
Hornabrook was asked to go to the Transvaal where the plague had broken
out. Refusing to serve the Kruger Government, he accepted an engagement
with the Johannesburg Chamber of Mines as health officer at £200 per
month for nine months. When it became evidence that fighting would break
out, he enlisted in the Natal Mounted Infantry. He remained with the
Chamber of Mines until the end of September, when relations between the
Republics and the Imperial Government became so strained that the doctor
joined his company. Granted a bonus from the Chamber, he left with crowds
of refugees for Natal.
A few days later, he was at
Ladysmith acting as medical officer for his corps. He was present at the
battle of Eland's Laagte.
Hornabrook managed to bluff
25 Boers to drop their weapons and go into camp. They were subsequently
sent to Cape Town as prisoners. Shut up in Ladysmith until the relief, he
went out with all the sorties. He was fortunate in being only slightly
wounded in the shoulder , until January 1900, when a bullet struck his hip
bone. Upon recovery, he was sent to the Officer's camp at Indombi as
medical officer. Here he contracted enteric fever and was still in
Ladysmith when the relief took place.
Rejoining the Natal Mounted
Infantry, he went to Alleman's Nek near Majuba Hill. From there the Natal
Mounted Infantry went to Vrede via Harrismith. At the end of September,
they returned to Dundee and were disbanded in mid October.
After visiting several
South Australians, including Drs Campbell and Watson, he went to Durban to
embark for Southampton but at Port Elizabeth he was urged to proceed to
the King William's Town district to report on the bubonic plague. A month
later he was on board ship, 'delighted to turn my back on South Africa'.
He was mentioned in
despatches in the London Gazette, received the QSA with fice clasps and
the KSA with two clasps. Hornabrook served in the Royal Australian Navy in
World War 1.
Archibald Watson
Archibald Watson LSA London
1880, MD Paris 1880, MD Adelaide aeg 1885 was a wonderful eccentric.
Possibly Ramsay Smith was the only man to get the better of him. After a
very successful scholastic career and colourful youth, he secured his MD (Gottingen)
1878 and at Paris (Honours) Licentiate Society of Apothecaries London 1880
and became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1882 and Fellow in
1884. In 1885, he was appointed Elder Professor of Anatomy at the
University of Adelaide.
Watson went to South Africa
as a Special Service Officer in January 1900. Proceeding to Marizburg he
became a volunteer civil surgeon. He was very busy dealing with wounded
from Spion Kop and other severe battles. He later replaced Sir W MacCormac
as Consulting Surgeon, Natal Field Force. After 11 months hard work, his
health gave way and he went to the high veldt for a rest. Subsequently, he
worked at Charleston Hospital near Majuba Hill.
At Pretoria, he was given
an opportunity to study leprosy and horse sickness. Other diseases
investigated were plague and enteric fever. He continued articles to
several journals including the British Medical Journal and the Intercolonial
Medical Journal.
His QSA has the bar
'Natal'.
In July 1906 he was
appointed Honorary Major, Australian Army Medical Corps (Reserve). At the
age of 65, he embarked for the Middle East with the ist Australian
Stationary Hospital, serving as Consulting Surgeon and Pathologist. After
returning to Australi, he left the army on 7 March 1916.
Veterinarians
William John Bickford
William John Bickford MRCVS
came to South Australia in 1888, having practised in Devon, England for 30
years. He had served in the 26th Devon Volunteers. In March 1898, he
joined the South Australian Military Forces as Veterinarian Lieutenant and
was placed on the staff of the Mounted Rifles.
He was appointed
Veterinarian Lieutenant to the 2nd South Australian Contingent for the
voyage only. While in camp in Adelaide a horse gave the farrier a very
trying time, so Bickford chloroformed the animal. The shoes were fitted
and the horse recovered.
He next appears on the list
of non-combatant Officers of the 4th Contingent (South Australian Imperial
Bushmen) as Veterinarian Lieutenant with the option of returning after
safely landing the horsemen on South African soil.
The Contingent had a fairly
good passage to Beira. Of the 537 horses on board, only 9 died, with
pneumonia being the main cause.
Owing to blockages on the
railway inland. Sir Frederick Carrington ordered the Contingent to proceed
to Durban to disembark. They were then sent to Port Elizabeth from whence
they proceeded to Bloemfontein.
Bickford praised Lt Col
Rowell and Major Hawker on his return to Adelaide on 30 July 1900.
R H McRaith
R H McRaith was listed in The
Observer of 7 April 1900 as Veterinarian Lieutenant. Although his
portrait sketch appears with those of other officers of the 4th South
Australian Contingent, no biographical details are given and his name does
not appear again.
Jerome Lawrence Burns
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Veterinary Lt J. L.
Burns |
Jerome Lawrence Bums MRCVS
was born in 1867 at Blarney Castle, County Cork, Ireland. He was the son
of Jerome Bums, Engineer in Chief of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India
Railway. He studied at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Edinburgh
and spent 3Vi years at the Melbourne College.
He practised for seven
years in Adelaide. In 1896 he was gazetted to issue certificates of health
for South Australian stock for export.
Bums had two uncles, both
veterinary surgeons, on the staff of the British Army in India.
Recommended by the
Committee of the South Australian Bushmen's Corps, Bums was appointmed
Veterinary Lieutenant. The Bushmen left on the Maplemore in March
1900. Writing from Fremantle, Lt Bums stated:
"The South Australian
horses compare favourably with those of New South Wales and Queensland. I
am the only vet on the ship and have the entire charge of all the horses,
which keeps me from getting lazy. We have another 100 to put on board at
Fremantle so you will see I have a nice little practice to start with. One
of the South Australian horses, belonging to Trooper Churches, died on
Saturday. He would not eat and got very weak. With over 400 on board, the
losses amount to less than one percent. The Queensland horses are in poor
condition and two have died since coming on board.'
Lieutenant Bums carried
with him a letter from the Selection Committee giving him the option of
returning home after his arrival in South Africa, but the military
authorities would not recognise this and he carried out his duties until
Marandellas was reached. There he was seized with malarial fever and was
sent to Cape Town on the order of Dr Ingleby of the Western Australian
Contingent. Burns had been attached to the New South Wales Contingent and
had the care of 1,100 horses and mules. During two weeks, 100 horses and
250 mules were lost to horse sickness. He carried out about 60 post mortem
examinations and found that in every case, the lungs had been affected.
Recovering from the fever
at Cape Town, he applied for employment until the Australasian
left. He was engaged at the remount depot when glanders broke out and
large numbers of horses had to be destroyed.
Arriving in Adelaide on 27
June 1900, Lt Bums stated his delight to be back in South Australia.
Expressing a view that he was to repeat, he said, 'Africa is no place for
an Australian'.
In the Chronicle of
6 December 1900, when Burns was asked his opinion as to the utility of
Australian horses for Army purposes, he said that horses for Army purposes
must have breeding as well as substance. Half of the horses in Australia
may safely be placed under the heading of weeds. It was next to impossible
to get a thoroughly sound, well educated horse in Adelaide at the time.
The reason for the degeneracy is that breeders think that any stallion
will do so long as it has won a five furlong race with six stone up. The
race horse is bred for speed and substance is sacrificed. There was great
trouble in getting horses, 120 in all, for the Bushmen's Corps.
Having been on two voyages
to Calcutta, Burns had a good idea of the class of horse required. The Observer
of 16 November 1901 stated:
'Mr J L Burns, veterinary
surgeon, who has made 4 trips from Australia to South Africa with remounts
for the Imperial Government returned to Adelaide recently. He left
Brisbane on the last occasion on 16 August on the Sussex with
nearly 1,000 horses, the voyage was made via Torres Straits. It was a
successful trip and only a few losses occurred. He expects to leave on his
fifth visit to the Cape early next month.'
Writing from Albany on 28
December 1901, Bums said:
'I arrived here last night
on the steamer Norfolk with 750 horses on board for South Africa.
We left Newcastle, NSW on December 18. Up to the present we have had luck
with the horses, only a few being lost so far. I hope to be back in
Adelaide some time in March next.'
The Observer of 8
March 1902 stated:
'Veterinary Surgeon Captain
J L Bums of Eastwood, whose services have been so largely utilised by the
War Office returned to South Australia on Tuesday. He arrived at Hobart by
the steamer Gothic on February 26 and came straight on to
Adelaide.'
In the Chronicle of
29 March 1902, Bums stated:
'My last voyage was on the
steamer Norfolk. The condition of the horses landed at Durban was
considered so good by the military authorities that they marked their
appreciation by awarding me a nice bonus, the first paid to any veterinary
officer in charge of Government remounts from these colonies. I have heard
of Lord Kitchener's complaints in respect to remounts from Australia and I
agree with him as to the very disgraceful condition of a percentage of
these horses. It must be remembered, however, that a great number of the
animals were private shipments and these were selected anyhow and sent
over on the chance of being sold when they arrived, which they often were
owing to the great scarcity of horses to carry on the war. But I believe
horses selected and passed by the Government Remount Commission in
Australia were as good as could be got at the price paid. No doubt they
were often put on board not in the best condition and in some instances
not suitable for the purposes required. But when perhaps as many as 1,000
horses have to be got together in a few weeks, it is not to be wondered at
that they were not all perfect.
'Out horses have not in the
vast majority of cases received the merest rudiments of an education for
any purpose whatever and are simply in a wild state, unbroken and not
handled unless putting a saddle and a bridle on them once can be called
'breaking them in'.
'When at Durban two months
ago I saw at the remount depot 800 Russian horses. For downright ugliness
they beat everything I ever saw by way of horses. I singled out what I
took to be a few of the most typical and photographed them to bring back
examples which I shall show anybody who takes an interest in these
matters.
'Ninety thousand horses
from all parts had been landed at Port Natal up to the time of my visit a
few weeks ago. I could not find out how many may have come by way of East
London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. It takes a good horse to last six
months in South Africa. The greater number die long before that.
Everything is against them. The long sea voyage does them no good and the
conditions they are surrounded by from the moment they land all tend to
destroy them. It has been an expensive war in horseflesh.
'I spent nine days in
Durban this time, four days in East London and a week in Cape Town.
Adderley Street, Cape Town contains all nations at present and they are
nearly every colour of the rainbow. A more busy city would be hard to
find. The hotels are all full up. When I landed from the Norfolk I
could not get a bed at any price and as a last resort, had to sleep on the
ship that night.
"The war has been a
godsend to Cape Town or to the hotel and boarding house keepers. There is
absolutely no comfort to be had there. Expenses are very heavy and ruinous
to a poor man and the prospects of obtaining work are not bright. I hear
that wages in Natal are coming down. When it is remembered that Europe,
Asia and America, not to mention Australia are all in Africa after good
billets, it is not surprising that the supply of hands is greater than the
demand. Out of nearly 90 men on the Norfolk who came in attendance
on the horses, not more than six could get a job of any sort in Durban in
a private capacity and the remainder had to join the various corps at 5
shillings per day or leave the colony.
'I have now been five
voyages to South Africa and have visited every port from Biera to the
Cape, besides being as far as Johannesburg and Ladysmith inland and I say
again to those in Australia who sometimes feel dissatisfied with their
lot, 'Have sense and remain where you are and do not be so short sighted
and foolish as to leave a white for a blackman's country'. The old song
says, 'There is a happy land far, far, away'. South Africa is certainly
not that land.'
J L Bums was awarded the
QSA with one clasp. He was appointed Honorary Veterinary Lieutenant in the
Citizen Military Forces, with effect from 28 February 1900.
John Desmond
Faulding 's Medical Journal
of October 1899 stated:
"The recently
appointed Government Veterinary Surgeon and Chief inspector of Cattle has
commenced his duties in Adelaide. Mr Desmond who had the largest cattle
practice in Australia is a gentleman possessed of high scientific
attainments and for some time was lecturer on Bacteriology and
Microscopial Technology and other scientific subjects at the Melbourne
Veterinary College.'
Appointed Veterinary
Lieutenant to the 5th South Australian Contingent, Desmond is listed as
'voyage only'. He must have seen some service in Africa as he was awarded
the QSA with one clasp. The Observer of 18 May 1901 stated:
Veterinary Lieutenant Desmond who went with the fifth contingent on the Ormazan,
reached Melbourne on Saturday by the steamer Salamis from South
Africa.
Desmond became Lieutenant
Australian Army Veterinary Corps on 18 September 1900, promoted to Captain
on 29 May 1903, and then Major (and Principal Veterinary Officer, 4th
Military District) on 5 April T909.
Norman William Sterling
Norman William Sterling was
appointed Veterinary Lieutenant to the 6th South Australian Contingent
(Imperial Bushmen) and saw service with this unit. He returned to South
Australia on 6 or 7 May 1902. He was appointed Honorary Lieutenant with
effect from 28 March 1901. His QSA has four clasps.
Stanley Fletcher
A South African Army Order
dated 1 June 1901 notified the following appointment in Overseas Colonial
Corps:
'Sixth South Australian
Imperial Bushmen. Subject to approval of the South Australian and
Victorian Governments—Veterinary Lieutenant S Fletcher, third Victorian
contingent to be Vet Captain 8 May 1901. Transferred to South Australian
Imperial Bushmen.'6
Harvey Pym Finlayson
Harvey Pym Finlayson, the
son of Mr H J Finlayson, was educated at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide.
At the age of twenty he went to Natal as a veterinary surgeon, after which
he joined the Cape Mounted Police.
Towards the end of April
1900 Harvey travelled from Cape Town to Kimberley. On his arrival there,
he received a telegram from the Army authorities at the Cape directing him
to take up his duties on the Veterinary Staff with the rank of captain.
In a letter dated 27 May
that Harvey wrote from Droogfontein, he states:
'As instructed by wire, I
went first to Warrenton, arriving there on May 3. I then found I had to
take horse and work back to Riverton, calling on the way at Waldsorton,
commandeering rebel cattle and valuing same. Started the same morning at 8
am with my own horse brought from the Cape and a pack horse and black boy.
About midday was taken prisoner by the Boers who took everything including
black boy. Was kept with them, moving from place to place, continually
within hearing of the fighting. Was absolutely starved for four days,
living after that on dry maize, not ground, and bad water.
'In the twenty days I was
with them was taken out to be shot twenty times, each time something
happening to put off the fatal moment. I used to have to stand in a small
circle • amidst smelling, grinning Boers, who insulted me as much as
possible. Five Boers with Mausers would stand by, waiting for the word to
fire. Once one fired before the word was given, seemingly to the
satisfaction of the others and the bullet grazed my arm. Whether they
really meant to shoot me I don't know, but it was bad enough. The last
incident was the news ofMafeking which we got on Tuesday, May 22. On the
following day I managed to escape.
'Am now fulfilling my
duties between Kimberley and Riverton at a farm called Droogfontein. Our
house which serves as dining room, sitting room and bedroom is a wagon
captured from the Boers with a large awning stretched over the top. On
Thursday night a great wind came suddenly and carried away the roof and
immediately after a very heavy rain set in. Unfortunately in the darkness
we could not find the missing shelter, so had to sleep under the wagon and
all the rations got wet and spoiled. In the morning we discovered our roof
nearly half a mile away comfortably over a bush.
'All around us are trenches
made by the Boers to fall back upon in case of need when they were
besieging Kimberley.
'Working hours, from 5am to
7pm; food, tinned beef and damper. Today rations arrived and I see on the
first box of tinned meat, 'L Conrad, Adelaide, SA', so we have something
to remind us of the old place.
'Today I got a kick in the
leg from a horse which has made me a little stiff and I have had to knock
off work for a few hours, otherwise I don't know when I should have been
able to write.
'The bad time I had with
the Boers has made a slight difference to me. Indeed I don't think you
would recognise me if you saw me in the street. My hair has turned quite
grey. My face has fallen right in and I look about fifty. They say it was
the agony of being taken out to be shot which made me piebald.'
Having transferred to the
Cape Mounted Police in October 1900, Lt Finlayson was in charge of the
detachment at Modder River.
At 7:30am on 25 October,
four natives brought news that Jacobsdal, garrisoned by Cape Town
Highlanders, had been surprised by Boers and the market square was
occupied by the enemy.7 Findlayson recorded:
'I immediately ordered all
my men to saddle up although we had been out all night and then ordered 40
footmen to parade, fully armed and equipped, as soon as possible. We
started in skirmishing order. We got about halfway when I saw a great
number of Boer galloping in the direction of Jacobsdal.
'We had arranged that I and
four Cape Artillerymen should take the right flank, the rest of my men the
left flank and the footmen the centre, but the footmen delayed so long
that I asked the artillerymen if they were prepared to rush to town. They
all agreed willingly so we galloped the remaining distance. Not a shot was
fired until we got into the market square, when fire opened from each of
the four sides, and it was very hot for a little time. Of course, we did
not know where our fellows were.
'Seeing some Boers ride off
towards Koffyfontein, we gave chase. Unfortunately, their horses were much
more fresh than ours and they easily outdistanced us. We then charged the
town from a different direction. The Boers were beginning to disperse, so
we dismounted and commenced arresting men from whose houses the firing had
come. We (five men) relived Jacobsdal at 2:50pm.'
Findlayson's further
military service was in South Australia with the volunteer force in the
Automobile Corps with the rank of Lieutenant, dating from 29 January 1910.
by Don Pedler
Article published
Sabretache
Vol XXXVIII - Jan/March 1997
The Journal and Proceedings of
The Military Historical Society of South Australia
1Treasure
Island, R L Stephenson
2 The
Australasian Medical Gazette, 10 August 1901, p.318
3The source of
these references is Annotated list of registered medical practitioners
— South Australia, Dr Reece Jennings MBBS MS (Adel) (Flin) FRACGP
MCIT
4 Counsellor,
Guide and Friend, by M S Douglas
5 see 'Not in
Murray's', Sabretache, Vol.XXXIV, No.2 (April-June 1993), p.23
6 Murray's
Records of Australian Contingents, p.241
7 The Officer of
the Cape Town Highlanders had quartered his men in tents in the market
square, surrounded by houses. The casualties were 12 killed or died of
wounds and 17 wounded from the Cape Town Highlanders.
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