Voices From the Transvaal

We hear very little about individuals who fought in the  Boer War, sometimes referred as The Transvaal War.  One notable exception  is  the story of Breaker Morant. Unlike the two World Wars,  there are no detailed service records.  Letters home published in local newspapers are the best source of information.

My interest was sparked by coming across  the stories of two young Tasmanians who served with the first contingent.  They lived only a few miles apart in the north west of the State. One was Charles David Brothers from North Motton, where my father was born.  The other  was John Hutton,  from my hometown of Ulverstone.

Private Charles Brothers.

Trooper John Hutton

The men were both in the 1st Tasmanian  Mounted Infantry and their  service numbers were very close; 53 for John Hutton and 58 for Charles Brothers.

There were only 80  Tasmanians in that first contingent.  They were farewelled from Launceston by huge, patriotic crowds, crossing to Melbourne via the Coogee on   October 27  1899.

From there the men boarded the troopship Medic.

Many  country boys suffered from the horrors of seasickness. There was a vivid description published of the scene on board after the first couple of days at sea;

On Thursday morning some dozens of helpless bundles of khaki lay motionless on the hatches or flung down in the scuppers like wet rags, while the bunks below held a sprinkling of those who were able to grope there before it was too late.

After the first man succumbed the sight and smell brought down the rest;

Some people hold that the man will be punished bye and bye through the biggest sin he has committed here.  Now it seems to be agreed on The Medic that the man who introduced sea-sickness should be eternally seasick, while everyone else who has been seasick should sit around and give him advice, and see that he takes it. (Daily Telegraph, Nov. 6 1899)

Dysentery was another problem,  due to  a diet overloaded with meat at the expense of vegetables. It was reported that many men were spotted eating the carrots brought on board to feed the horses.  Charles Brothers complained in a letter home that the food was further ruined by bad cooking and that the water, after the sparkling Tasmanian springs, was atrocious.

His mind was very much on food, not surprising for a fit young man. Fortunately the situation improved once they arrived in South Africa.

The rations supplied to us are real good, and enough and to spare for any man. The following is the bill of fare for tea tonight:- Bread and jam of several kinds, cakes, sardines, preserved fruit, tinned chicken, preserved milk, biscuits, tea, and oranges for dessert.

There was a sober note though;

So, you see, we are not doing so bad, and we may as well eat, drink and be merry, for we know not when and how soon we may have to die…We have just packed up ready to go forward and I hope to do well.

The men were captured soon afterwards. During the action a bullet shattered the stock of Charles’ rifle driving splinters into his hand, but otherwise he escaped injury. John Hutton was mistakenly reported as having been killed and it was some time before his family heard that he was alive and being held captive. The man who had died was Alfred Button from Perth, south of Launceston.

Source – Advocate, July 31 1900

A photo of some of those captured was published. Charles Brothers is on the far left, John Hutton on the far right. Note that at the  time they were officially listed as ‘missing’.

At the end of  the war. Charles Brothers wrote about the experience of being in a prison camp. (from the book Tasmanians in the Transvaal War by John Button 1905)

We came to the conclusion that things were not going to be too good, which we found out later on to be the case. For the first few weeks there our rations were the horrible mealie pap, which was musty and full of weevils, and a pound of bread a day per man, and that was nearly as bad as the pap, for we had to toast it before we could eat it…..We had plenty of change up to this time, and things did not seem so bad, but now it was getting monotonous in real earnest, nothing to do and no news of how things were going at the front. Many were down with fever, on an average one death per day amongst us. We began to think it would have been better to have fought to the finish than die like rats in a hole.

It was Tasmanian  friends and loved ones at home who saved the day.

But the unexpected turned up to us (Tassies), as we received £5 per man, paid over by the American Consul, sent from Tasmania, and never was money more appreciated, for we could fare a little better, as we were allowed to buy anything in the eating line.  But we had to be careful and only get what was really necessary, as everything was so very dear, a fiver would not last long.

He said that some men became so desperate that they attempted to escape. Most were caught and returned after trying to survive on the veldt.

John Hutton was among the successful  escapees, although it was not easy. He and some fellow prisoners decided to dig a tunnel, but just as it was being completed someone gave the game away. In the end Hutton crawled past two rows of sentries and scrambled through holes they had previously cut in the barbed wire entanglements;

It was a good job the Boers  did not catch me or my ‘cake’ would have been ‘dough’. But after being shut up for such a long time I got desperate and fit for anything; and no wonder, when one could see three and four a day carried out dead from the hospital. The place was rotten with fever. I used to think sometimes that I would never be free again.   I thought once I was going to ‘peg out’ with dysentery, but I battled it out after a long struggle. Heaps of  poor fellows died from lack of proper attention and nothing else….I hope the war will soon be over, so that I will with be you all again. (Advocate, Oct. 19 1900)

Both Charles and John survived the war in the Transvaal.  The welcome home parade  in Melbourne  for that first contingent was. incredible;

In the following photograph the Tasmanians are arriving back in Hobart

Source – AngloBoerWar.com

After arriving in Ulverstone, the local men were honoured by a street parade beginning in Reibey Street;

At 2.30 a procession formed up opposite the Town Hall, composed of the Ulverstone Brass Band, followed by the returned troopers. who were seated in a conveyance pulled by willing hands. Then came our school girls and boys,…numbering over 450 and each carrying a banner. Then came members of the various Friendly Societies, resplendent in sashes of brilliant hues. The gathering was about the best we have seen here.  (Mercury, Dec. 11 1900)

The parade was followed by a sports carnival  and picnic at the recreation ground, plus a grand banquet that evening in the Town Hall.

Some of those Tasmanians who served in the Transvaal  re-enlisted in World War I.  However,   Charles David Brothers died in November 1904 from dropsy and liver damage attributed to his months in the prison camp.  His  funeral  at North Motton was  attended by over 450 mourners. The pallbearers were young men he had served with in the local volunteer force.

Tragically, he died just before the birth of his first child, a son named in his honour. Charles  Jnr. would go on have a most interesting life, with connections to my own family. But that’s another story.

John Hutton was killed while tree felling in May the same year. His funeral  was also attended by a huge number of people.

FOR MORE ON THE TASMANIAN MOUNTED INFANTRY, CLICK HERE