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Historical notes and other information

Ralph Davison

(Long time friend of Paul Jones)-Thanks Ralph

The emancipation of slaves’ act was in 1833. There was a 5 year ‘apprenticeship’ period, after which the slaves became free persons with equal rights to the ‘whites’. This went against the Boers’ religious beliefs, prompting their treks northwards, with their black slaves.

(For entry of 18-4-01) Lord Charles Somerset was the Governor of the Cape Colony from 1814 to 1826. The 5 hangings mentioned, occurred in 1815 (or 1816).
“Schlachter’s Nek” is spelt Slagtersnek in one reference.

The 1^st Boer war occurred between 1880 and 1881. The Boers won.
The 2^nd Boer war started on 11/10/1899 after the ultimatum of P. Kruger that the British remove troop build-ups on the borders of Transvaal and Orange Free State expired. The war ended on 31/5/1902 with the signing of a peace treaty at Vereeniging. The war was ostensibly about voting rights for the many immigrants, or ‘Uitlanders’, who were mainly British that came to South Africa after the discovery of gold in 1886. By 1899 they numbered nearly as many as the Boers, but were not allowed to vote unless they became Boer citizens. Gaining control of the gold mines would not have been far from the minds of the British.

The Boers besieged the towns of Mafeking, Ladysmith and Kimberley in the first stage of the war. Mafeking was besieged for 217 days. It was relieved on 17^Th May 1900.

The first ‘British’ troops to enter Mafeking after the Boers were driven off, were Major Karri Davies of the Australian Imperial Light Horse and 8 mounted troopers.

Kimberley was relieved on 15^th February 1900 after a siege lasting four months.

The siege of Ladysmith lasted 118 days. It was relieved on 28^th February 1900.

About this transcription

This transcription of the original pen and ink manuscript is about as close as is possible to get, in an electronic form. With few exceptions, all the spelling, punctuation and grammar, are as per the original. The spelling was generally very good. In some places ‘American’ spelling has been used. Some of these words have [sic] after them, but not all. Some words such as ‘realise’ will be found as ‘realize’, a spelling form found in some ‘English’ dictionaries. The use of this ‘American’ style spelling, however, is not consistent throughout the document.

[sic] has also been added in other cases where it seems an inappropriate word has been used. Any words that have been added, to make it more readable, also appear in brackets e.g. [the].

Some minor changes have been made. All times, where a.m. or p.m. was used, have been standardised as a.m. or p.m. So you will see “6 a.m.,” where the original was “6.a.m,”. Ampersands have been expanded into ‘and’, and once or twice, ‘Col’ was expanded into column to avoid confusion where ‘Col’ was used in the same paragraph for ‘Colonel’. There were quite a few places where an opening quote or bracket was not followed by a closing quote mark or bracket, or a full stop was missing. Missing punctuation has been added where necessary.

In quite a few places throughout the document you will find capital letters in mid sentence. It appears that the author has done this to emphasise certain words. These words have been left as per the original. e.g “To see that every man has only 2 Blankets,”. In other cases, the writing style made it hard to distinguish between an upper case letter and a lower case letter. This was particularly true for the letter ‘C’

So there may be a few errors still, but this document has been thoroughly checked against the original. It is hoped that all of the ‘typos’ in the original draft transcription have been found and fixed.

The spelling of place names is as in the original. Quite a few of these places cannot be found on modern maps. In some cases the names have changed, in other cases a town that appears on an old map is missing on a modern map. Also there are multiple instances of place names that cause confusion. See Place Names below.

Despite the ‘Daily Diary’ sub title, it would be apparent to anyone reading the original, that the ‘diary’ was not written as a day-to-day account of what happened whilst actually on the ground in South Africa (or on the ship). In some places the date changes in mid sentence, while for one day, the date is clearly a day out. e.g 1^st April 1901 says that a Divine service was held on board ship. This day was actually a Monday. The following Friday, 5/4/1901 is recorded as Good Friday, which is correct. Another day, (15/11/01) mentions Leufontein while the ‘Column’ is in Eastern Transvaal. Leufontein is mentioned six times while they are to the west of Pretoria. It could be that the entry for 15/11/011 belongs to the earlier period

Entries for some days are missing; e.g. on 14/7/01 they are in an area about 80 km west of Pretoria and the next entry on 19/7/01 has them near Hartebeesfontein, about 150 km to the south.

Judging by some corrections made in the original, it would seem that some parts (and possibly most) of the document have been copied from other written material. This material is likely to be South African field-notes. (There is no suggestion that anything has been copied from other peoples’ work.) In fact, it is known, that the document was written some time after the return of the author to Australia.

( Added note- by Paul Jones- It is assumed from notes in M Witts wife’s diary for the year 1909 that he re-wrote the diary from the original.- as the following indicates:- “Tue: 16th. Asunga is washing the coloured things on Sat. morning. Deary has 11,500 words copied of "The Diary." Hurrah for him.”)

This may explain the detailed information for some dates, which leave the reader to ask, “How did he know that at the time?”

The author, having the responsibility of keeping the ‘daily diary’ for the column, may have been privy to some of the intelligence gathered by the ‘Intelligence Staff’, as mentioned in this document. There were more than 2000 of these people by the end of the war.

Numbers

There were around a total of 40 concentration and P.O.W camps in use during the latter part of the war; containing a total of 154,000 inmates at one time. 26,000 people died in these concentration camps. Around 20,000 of the deaths were women and children. At the end of the war there were 32,000 Boer fighters in P.O.W camps, and 110,000 civilians in concentration camps.

Around 6000 of the British forces died in battle and another 16000 died from diseases, mostly from enteric fever. Enteric fever is also known as typhoid fever.

There were over 400,000 ‘British’ troops in South Africa at one time.

6,000 Boers died in battle and thousands more in P.O.W camps.

16,378 Australians (in nine contingents) took part in the war. 600 were killed or died from disease. 800 were wounded. 16134 Australian horses were sent to S.A. with the troops.

Australians won six Victoria Cross medals in the Boer war. A ‘V.C.’ is the highest award for gallantry.

The war cost Britain 223 million pounds. Somewhat more than the one million pounds that was requested by the British Commander in chief, Field Marshal Lord Wolsely, to strengthen the military and forestall the Boers, before the war began.

Three million pounds compensation was paid to Boer farmers for the destruction of Boer farms. (Many Boer farms were razed.)

9000 blockhouses were used, mainly to defend the railway lines. The blockhouses generally had barbed wire entanglements laid in between. There were 8000 kms of barbed wire entanglements.

Old currency

The currency used in Australia pre 1966, was Pounds, Shillings and Pence.

There were 12 pence to a shilling, and 20 shillings to a pound. The Latin abbreviation was L.S.D for Librae Solidi Denarii. The writing style for the currency was pounds/shillings/pence, e.g. £5/6/8 for 5 pounds, 6 shillings and 8 pence. For amounts less than a pound, it was normal to write 7/6 for 7 shillings an 6 pence. Whole shilling amounts were written with a – denoting zero pence, e.g 5/- for five shillings. For pennies the abbreviation was ‘d’. Thus 3d was threepence.

A sovereign was a British gold coin, worth one pound.

There were slang names for the currency. A ‘quid’ was a pound, a ‘bob’ or ‘deener’ was a shilling, a ‘zac’ was sixpence and a ‘trey bit’ was threepence. Tuppence was a way of saying two pennies.

Thus on 13/10/01 “five bob a day” is five shillings a day. To compare the pay rate of 5/- per day with wage rates today is difficult, but a basic wage rate of 7/- a day for a six day working week in 1907, may give some idea.

Elands River

The action at Elands River (not Eland’s) mentioned on 12/6/01, occurred at the Elands River outpost, which was on the road between Mafeking and Rustenburg. This was an established stores depot, with substantial buildings, electric power, and a telegraph line. The action occurred between August the 4^th and 16^th in 1900. A relief column approached on the 5/8/1900, but was turned back by Boer shelling.

On 2/8/1900 a convoy of 300 wagons left Mafeking, going to Rustenburg with supplies. Lieutenant Colonel C.O. Hore (British) was in command. There were around 500 troops with the convoy. These comprised 105 N.S.W. Citizens Bushmen, 141 Queensland Mounted Infantrymen, 43 Victorian Bushmen and 205 Rhodesian troops. When the convoy got to Brakfontein at Elands River on 4/8/1900 it was attacked by 3000 Boers led by J.H. De La Rey. The Boers had 4 guns, 2 of which were 5 inch calibre, 2 maxims and 2 pom-poms. One reference says that the De La Rey forces increased to 8000 at one stage.

The telegraph line to the outpost was cut by shelling on the first day. The convoy formed a laager around the Elands River outpost and dug shallow trenches for shelter. Boxes of food from the wagons were also used for shelter. A relief column approached on the 5/8/1900, but was turned back by Boer shelling. The Boers rained 1800 shells onto the 1.5-hectare camp over the next few days. On the 7^th day the Boers sent a messenger with a demand that the camp surrender. One version of the answer they received from Hore was that he couldn’t surrender because the Aussies would “cut his throat if he did”; the other version is that he dismissed the messenger with the words “Go away, I’m too busy to talk to you”. Eventually someone got away from the camp and raised the alarm. On 16/8/1900 Kitchener, who was in the field on the first De Wet hunt, arrived with 10,000 men and the Boers retreated.

Place Names (spelling and locations of some of the names in the diary).

‘Balmoral’ is 30 km east of Bronkhorstspruit, on the Delagoa Bay line.

‘Belfast’ (30/11/01) could be Belfast in South Africa, although probably not.

‘Bethel’ is most likely Bethal, a town 55 km west of Ermelo.

‘Bethany’ is Bethanie.

‘Brakspruit’ is 20 km north of Klerksdorp on the road to Ventersdorp.

‘Bronkhorstspruit’ is 56 km east of Pretoria on the Delagoa Bay line.

‘Carolina’ (2/12/01) is around 40 km south east of Wonderfontein, the railway station on the Delagoa Bay line.

‘Capetown’ is of course, Cape Town.

‘Colesburg’ is Colesberg…a Boer stronghold in the early part of the war.

‘Costa’ river is probably ‘Koster’ river.

‘Cypherhac’ (24/5/01), maybe Cypherhoek. Can’t find this place on any map.

‘Cypherfontein’ (10/9/01) may be the same place…It’s in the same area. Also on

28/9/01 ‘Cypherwater’ is mentioned. Leufontein seems to be near to both Cypherwater and Cypherfontein.

These 4 ‘Cypher…’ could well be the same town, which might just be Syferfontein. This town is around 45 km to the west, and slightly north, of Krugersdorp. It is also around 18 km to the east of Quaggafontein.

‘Delagoa Bay’ is in Mozambique, where the capital Maputo (formerly Loruenço Marques) is situated. It is Maputo Bay on modern maps.

‘Drakenbergs’ mountains = Drakensberg mountain.

‘Ebenezar’ cannot be found on any map; it must be close to the ‘Waterval’, mentioned on 8/6/011 and 3/7/01

There are three Elands rivers in South Africa. Two of these may be found on modern maps.

Of these, one starts a little east of Pretoria, near Cullinan and flows into the ‘Olifants’ River, which in turn, eventually runs into the Limpopo River. This ‘Olifants’ River maybe the ‘Oliphants’ River in the diary. The other one is in the south of the country.

The third Elands River does not appear on modern maps. This one is to the west of Pretoria, and is where the Elands River outpost (mentioned above) was situated.

‘Ermelo’ (13/12/01) is 55 km east of Bethal and around 200 km east of Jo’burg.

‘Frederickstadt’ is ‘Frederikstad’ on an old map. It is the railway station between Welverdiend and Klerksdorp. Frederikstad is not on new maps.

Hartebeesfontein is around 30 km north west of Klerksdorp.

The ‘Hartebeesfontein’ mentioned on 28/6/01 must be a different one to that mentioned on 6/5/01 and 13/5/01. On a modern map, there is a distance of 100 km between Welverdiend and Hartebeesfontein. There is a Hartebeestfontein on an old map around 40 km west of Krugersdorp and about 20 km from Quaggafontein. This is probably the town mentioned on 28/6/01.

‘Kimberly’ = Kimberley.

‘Kroenhoek’ is probably Greonhoek, a town about 20 km east of Quaggafontein or about 80 km east of Krugersdorp.

‘Kroonstadt’ is Kroonstad.

‘Krugersdorp’ is around 30 km to the west, (and slightly north) of Jo’burg.

‘Leufontein’ is mentioned six times when the column is in the area north west of Krugersdorp. Leufontein is again mentioned when the column is in the Eastern Transvaal on 15/11/01. It may be that the entry for this day belongs to a time when the column was in the Western Transvaal. (Leufontein is only mentioned this one time, when the column is in Eastern Transvaal.) It is possible that there are two Leufonteins.

‘Maghaliesberg’. The Magaliesberg Mountains run westward from Pretoria.

‘Magato Pass’ is west of Rustenburg, maybe 30 km.

‘Morgenzon’ (9/1/02) on modern maps, is 46 km south west of Ermelo, and about 20 km from the Vaal River.

‘Naauwpoort Junction’ (19/4/01) is Noupoort on modern maps.

‘Nooitdecht’ (6/12/01 and 24/11/02) is probably Nooitgedacht, on or near the Delagoa Bay line. It is 16 km east of Waterval-Boven. This is where the Boers defeated Major General R.A.P. Clemens in December 1900. Nooitgedacht does not appear on modern maps.

‘Newcastle’ (7/1/02), could this be the Newcastle in Natal province, 135 km south of Ermelo? Maybe there are two Newcastles.

‘Oliphants’ River maybe Olifants River.

‘Onverwacht’ is apparently in the Ermelo district (20/12/01) but also close to Wonderhoek (22/02/02). Ermelo and Wonderhoek are 100 km apart. Onverwacht may be a commonplace name in South Africa. There are two airports in modern day S.A. called Onverwacht, neither are anywhere near Ermelo or Wonderhoek.

‘Quaggafontein’ lies around 100 km west of Jo’burg and 30 km south of Rustenburg.

‘Reitfontein’ appears in many places on old maps. The Reitfontien mentioned on 10/6/01 would have to be not too far west of Rustenburg.

‘Rhenoster Spruit’ (21/8/01) is likely to be Renosterspruit on modern maps. It is on road between Wolmerans-stad and Klerksdorp, about 55 km N.E. of Wolmerans-stad and 25 km before Klerksdorp.

‘Smutzhoog’ is not more than 9 hours travel from Carolina (in unknown direction). Nine hours travel (6/12/01) from Smutzhoog in a south-westerly direction is Nooitdecht. If this is Nooitgedacht on the Delagoa Bay line, then something is wrong here.

‘Spion Kop’ (12/12/01) cannot be the famous Spion Kop in Natal Province where the British were defeated on 24/1/1900. Spion Kop in Natal is 230 km south of Bethal.

‘Swatz-renike’ mentioned 4/8/01 and 5/8/01 is very likely Schweizer-Reneke on modern maps. It is close to, or on, the Harts River (not Hart’s).

‘Twefontein’ maybe Tweefontein.

‘Wanderfontein’ mentioned on 12/7/01 is probably ‘Wondermere’. It’s not the same Wanderfontein mentioned elsewhere, e.g. Wanderfontein railway station on the Delagoa Bay line. This ‘Wanderfontein’ is probably Wonderfontein, which is 75 km west of Witbank. Waterval-Boven is 60 km west of Wonderfonfein. Both towns are on the Delagoa Bay railway line.

‘Wanderfontein’ is also mentioned on 5/7/01 and 6/7/01. This may be the same town as for 12/7/01 i.e. Wondermere. (It could be a different ‘Wanderfontein’ altogether, but probably not.)

'Waterval' was found on 2 maps just north of Pretoria...about 10-15 km, but on the train trip to the front, another 'Waterval' is mentioned. This one is about half way between Kroonstad and the Transvaal border (23/4/01). The first 'Waterval', north of Pretoria, is where the Boers gaoled British prisoners in the early part of the war. British troops released these prisoners on 6/6/1900. The second 'Waterval' (23/4/01) is probably Roodewal, which appears on an old map as a railway station, a little south of the Rhenoster River. General De Wet, with 1200 men, captured Roodewal railway station on 7/6/1900, according to the reports of Banjo Paterson. De Wet also captured two trainloads of supplies at the station. He blew up the explosive wagons in the trains, thereby destroying the railway line.

There is apparently another Waterval near Ermelo, just 5 hours march away (3/4/02). 'Waterval-Boven' a 100 km north of Ermelo seems a bit too far away to be this Waterval. It seems that Waterval is a common place name in South Africa. One reference mentions a 'Waterval' on the Reit River, south of Kimberley.

'Waterval' mentioned on 8/6/01 appears on an old map, around 30 km due west of Rustenburg. This Waterval 'fits in' with the movements of the 'Column'. (Yet another Waterval!)

‘Witpoort’ lies 60 km south west of Klerksdorp. ‘Witpoort’ is again mentioned on 7/8/01, this town being close to Taung. (Taung is on the railway line, 130 km north of Kimberley.) The distance between the first ‘Witpoort’ and Tuang is 150 km.

‘Wolmaranstad’ mentioned on 18/8/01 is probably Wolmarans-stad on modern maps. This town is around 60 km east of Schweizer-Reneke and 210 km north of Bloemfontein. It is also about 40 km away from the Vaal River, and close to Witpoort.

‘Wonderhoek’ (21/02/01) is 15 km north of the halfway point of Middleburg and Wonderfontein.

‘Wolverdin’ railway station is probably ‘Welverdiend’ on modern and old maps.

‘Ventersdorp’ railway station is 130 km west of Jo’burg. It is also 50 km west of Welverdiend.

There is a ‘Vlakfontein’ 7 km west of Quaggafontien. Vlakfontein is another commonplace name.

People in the war

General ‘Delarey’ is Jacobos Hercules De La Rey. General Christiaan De Wet was active throughout the war, being involved in a large engagement on 31/12/1901.

Kemp is J.C.G Kemp.

Commandant Wolmarans appears to have been captured twice! First time on 28/10/01 and again on 10/01/02. Maybe the names are wrong or possibly brothers.

General Hamilton is probably General Ian Hamilton. A ‘Gilbert Hamilton” and a ‘Major General Bruce Hamilton’ are also mentioned in the diary. Could they all be one in the same person?

Lord Kitchener instituted the concentration camps in the latter part of the war. He died in 1916 when the ship he was travelling on was sunk.

Cecil Rhodes was at Kimberley during the siege there. Rhodes died 26/3/1902

Colonel Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scouts) was at Mafeking during the siege there. One reference described Baden-Powell as “showing unconventional gaiety throughout the siege”.

Some of the British commanders were fairly old men. Lord Kitchener was born in 1850, and Lord Roberts in 1832. Ian Hamilton and Rhodes were born in 1853.

General J.D.P French born 1852 was a British field marshall in WW1.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was a war correspondent for the British press. He later became the Prime Minister of Britain in World War Two.

Banjo Paterson was a war correspondent in the early part of the war…up to August 1900. His reports appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Argus. There is a book about the Boer war based on his reports titled FROM THE FRONT- edited by R.W.F. Droogleever and published by Pan Macmillan Australia 2000. Paterson travelled with the forces, led by General French, which relieved Kimberley on 15/2/1900.

Biographical notes Maurice M, Witts and Mabel Witts

Maurice Myles Witts was born at the family station near Bombala N.S.W. on the 28^th February 1877 -the second youngest of 11 brothers and two sisters. His father’s name was Alfred Ed Witts, and his mother's name was Sarah Anne (nee Tivvy).

He went to school locally, and finished his education at Sydney Grammar School as a boarder.

He held a position as overseer of East Indian labourers with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company in Fiji for fourteen months, and was held in high regard. He resigned on the 9th July 1900.

He served with the 2^nd N.P. Mounted Rifles and had the rank of Quartermaster-sergeant during the war in South Africa against the Boers. He was discharged about June 1902

It was after this that he went to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) to join his cousin Theo Thomas, on a coconut plantation. Shortly after he started his own plantation, which he called "Lelek".

He married Mabel Herring in August 1907 at the Mission Station on Espiruto Santo Island. There were three daughters from the marriage. Their first daughter, Helen Kate, was born on 23^rd October 1909 at the Mission Station.

Due to repeated severe malaria attacks, Mabel left the plantation soon after their daughters’ birth, and returned to Australia were she stayed with her mother Kate (nee Tucker) and father Lesley Herring, on their orchard at Beecroft N.S.W.

He returned to Australia in September 1911 to reunite with his wife Mabel.

On the 20^th November 1911 they bought a place at Wyong N.S.W., which they called "Lelek", (After the name of his plantation in the New Hebrides) intending to run it as a dairy farm. They lived there for about seven years and during this time they had a further two daughters, Betty Lesley born 13 July 1912, and Nancy Mabel born 25 December 1915. The farm at Wyong was not a great success.

Mabel's parents died within a short time of each other while Maurice and Mabel were on the Wyong farm. Mabel received a considerable inheritance, which enabled them to sell the farm and purchase Willow Grange, a picturesque property of some 8 acres, a mile out from Moss Vale on the Berrima Road.

After his wife Mabel died (25 November 1942) he lived on at Willow Grange, and in his later years, was cared for by his daughter Betty. He died at the age of eighty nine on 1^st July 1966, and was laid to rest with his wife in the Berrima Cemetery N.S.W.

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