bigjarofwasps

January 12, 2006

In order to get them to fit, I`ve had to reduce them, but if you save them, you should be able to enlarge them, and see how the styles variey from Lodge to Lodge.

January 12, 2006

Hi,

I thought it might be of interest to collectors, so see pictures of the various styles of naming on Masonic Medals. Granted I only have a handful, so please feel free to add others, you have in your collections.

January 10, 2006

1789 Pte George Whitelegg 22nd Cheshire Coy Imperial Yeomanry

George Whitelegg, born in the parish of Warburton, near the town of Lyme Cheshire. Enlisted at Chester on the 10th January 1900. Aged 23 years and 3 months (?born 1877). Occupation farmer. Medically examined at Northwich on the 3rd Jan 1900, and declared fit for service. Rank given as Private. Next of kin Father Thomas Whitelegg Barns Lane Farm, Warburton near Warrington. Service details, Home 10th Jan 1900 to 29th Jan 1900 (20 days) South Africa 30th Jan 1900 to 12th December 1900 (317 days). On the 24th June 1900, whilst at Drachoender his horse fell over and rolled over him, but he remained on duty with the Company. He also appears in the 1897 nominal roll for C Sqn (Ardley & Bostock Troop) Cheshire Yeomanry.

Died on enteric fever on the 12th December 1900 at Maitland Hospital.

Name recorded on the Cheshire Yeomanry Memorial in Chester Cathedral.

Death recorded in the book South Africa Casualty roll. Pages 558, 606 & 614 of the book The Cheshire (Earl of Chester’s) Yeomanry by Lt Col Richard Verdin OBE TD. Also page 282 of the book The Earl of Chester’s Yeomanry 1797-1897. Also pages 31 and 73 of the book 5000 miles with the Cheshire yeomanry in south Africa by John H Cooke.

January 8, 2006

Over a hundred years ago Great Britain was at war in South Africa with the Republics of the Trasvaal and the Orange Free State. This conflict, which lasted some two and a half years, involved 450,000 British and Colonial troops of whom 22,000 died, mainly from disease. It was also known as 'The last of the gentleman's wars'.

In Cheshire there was in existence the Earl of Chester's Yeomanry Cavalry which had been raised in 1797 but a committee was formed to raise two companies for the new Force for the war in South Africa, with the Republics of the Trasvaal and the Orange Free State.

An Equipment Fund for both the Yeomanry and the Volunteers raised ?6,732.0.9d by subscription; of this ?5,142.6.0d. was allocated to the Yeomanry.

On December 28th John Henry Cooke, Recorder of Over (Winsford) and Acting Hon. Sec. of the Committee gave a banquet in the gymnasium of Verdin Technical Schools, Winsford, for the men of 'E' Company, 3rd. Volunteer Battalion, 22nd. (Cheshire) Regiment. This gathering was addressed by Captain O. Mosley Leigh, Earl of Chester's Yeomanry Cavalry, who called for volunteers to join the new Yeomanry companies.

Enrolment was to be at Chester on January 10th,1900.On 25 and 26 January both Companies were entertained at dinners in Northwich and Chester, whilst on Monday 29 January a Farewell Service for them was held at Chester Cathedral. The next day, to a rousing send-off, they left Chester by train for Liverpool where, with other troops destined for the War, they embarked on the S.S. 'Lake Erie'. The officers of the 21st and the whole of the 22nd took their horses with them and these formed part of the total of 400 horses carried of the ship. Once again, an enthusiastic crowd had gathered to bid farewell to the troops.

During the voyage the days were occupied with rifle practise, drill - subject to the weather - and fatigues. Concerts and boxing tournaments were held in the evenings. Trooper W Lambourne, 22nd, from Northwich won the light-weight prizes at these contests. Trooper H J Cramer Roberts, whose previous occupation was given as 'gentleman', was attached to the ship's hospital as he has had previous experience of such work in Labrador, Canada. The ship reached Table Bay on February 25 and on the next day the troops disembarked at Cape Town, arriving at Maitland Camp a short distance from the town about 7.00pm.

From this camp the two Companies went their separate ways; the 21st to Naauw Poort to collect horses and the 22nd, with their horses, by train to De Aar. Theirs was to be a war of mobile columns pursuing an elusive enemy; of dull garrison duty in small towns; of patrolling and reconnaissance; of clearing Boer settlements and driving off cattle. Torrential rain, sandstorms and shortage of food were commonplace.

Men often had to sleep in wet clothing and the nights couls be bitterly cold. Dysentery and enteric fever were rife. Small wonder that men, fresh from England, quickly succumbed to disease from which more men were to die than were to be killed by the enemy.

The Companies were intended to form part of the mobile columns which were sweeping the country or to provide garrisons for small towns and river crossings. From these garrisons patrols were made into the country. A typical patrol was that undertaken by Captain Daniel, Lieutenant Massey and 24 men of the 22nd Company from Drachoender. In six days they travelled one hundred miles and collected two prisoners, eleven horses and one thousand sheep and goats. One task of the mobile columns was to deny food and shelter to the enemy. This was done by driving in the livestock from the Boer settlements and making the homesteads uninhabitable.

Usually the occupants were given an hour in which to remove their belongings and leave. The oven, which usually protruded beyond the wall of the house, was then broken making it unserviceable. In some cases the buildings themselves were destroyed. The livestock was taken away with the column.

The Cape Mounted Police, anxious to gain men for the Force, sent recruiting officers to the townships. As the daily pay of a Police trooper was seven shillings compared with the one shilling and fivepence of the Yeoman it is not surprising that during August and September, 1900, sixty one men, with their horses, from the two Companies joined the Police. Some may have seen the chance of a break from the boredom. Trooper J. Kelly, 21st Company, was one of those who joined the C M P. In his Diary he describes an action near Hoopstaad, Orange River Colony, on October 23 when he was part of the rear-guard of the Column which was attacked by Boers. Kelly and twenty-one others, horses dead and ammunition expended, were taken prisoner.

However, before Christmas they had been released near the British-held town of Christiana. The prisoners had not been ill-treated by their captors who had shared their provisions with them. No doubt those provisions had been captured from the British in the first place. Before the end of the year the ex-prisoners were back in action against their former captors.

Disillusionment set in amonst the troops. Drafts to replace casualties and to strengthen the Imperial Yeomanry companies arrived from time to time and by March, 1901 troops were arriving in such numbers as to enable those from the original contingents, who so wished, to return home. Not all did so. Captain Rennie and Lieutenant and Hon R Grosvenor remained behind to train the new Companies.

Those who remained were not forgotten by the people at home. W Bowers, a Nantwich man, left the 22nd Company and joined the 18th Battalion, Imoperial Yeomanry, as Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant. In April, 1902, whilst with a Column which included both Cheshire Companies, as they had been re-titled, he was in the railway warehouse at Bloemfontein when he discovered a crate addressed to the Officers of the 21st and 22nd Companies, Imperial Yeomanry.

On being opened, as well as foodstuffs, it was found to contain socks, mufflers and mittens bearing labels with the inscription 'God bless you and preserve you.From Winsford, Cheshire.'

The men who had elected to return home handed over their horses and travelled by train to Cape Town from where, on May 15 1901, they sailed on the Union Castle liner 'Tintagel Castle'. Reaching Southampton on June 16, they entrained for Chester and arrived at the General Station at 7.25am on next day.

Taken by transport to the Drill Hall the men went to various hotels in the City for breakfast after which they returned to the Drill Hall. From there, headed by the Bank of the Earl of Chester's Rifles, the contingent marched to the Town Hall where they formed up in two ranks. Behind them, mounted on their horses, were two ranks of the Earl of Chester's Yeomanry Cavalry. At the rear was a detachment of the Earl of Chester's Rifles with their Band. Of the original contingent Captains W Daniel and Sylvanus Reynolds, Lieutenant H C Beaumont, Lieutenant Docter J B Clarke and 96 Other Ranks were on parade.

The Yeoman were welcomed by the Major of Chester, Colonel H T Brown, who was thanked on their behalf by Captain Daniel. There followed a Luncheon in the Town Hall after which the two Companies were disbanded.

Although the war was still in progress, King Edward VII, on July 26 1901, presented medals to representatives from each of the eighty Imperial Yeomanry Companies which had served in South Africa. Eighty five Officers and Men from the Cheshire Companies were present at the ceremony on Horse Guards Parade, London.

Afterwards they were entertained to luncheon at the Tivoli Restaurant by the Earl of Harrington. For those unable to attend Horse Guards Parade there was a presentation ceremony at Chester Town Hall on September 7 at which they received their medals from Lord Egerton, Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire. The next of kin received medals on behalf of those who had died.

The war ended on May 31, 1902, and in August of that year the Cheshire Companies returned home. In addition to the casualties the war had cost Britain ?22 million. From it came much needed Army reforms as a result of which the British Expeditionary Force was, in 1914, to astound the German Army with its firepower and fieldcraft.

On January 14 1905, a Memorial Plague to those of the Cheshire Companies who had lost their lives in the War was unveiled in the north transept of Chester Cathedral. It bears the names of two officers and fourteen men, all of whom joined as troopers. Of these only four were killed or died of wounds; disease accounted for the others.

J W Broadbent joined the 22nd Company in January, 1900 but in 1901 took a commission in the 29th (Denbighshire) Company. On November 24, of that year he was in command of the advance guard of a Mobile Column when it came in contact with a party of Boers. Lieutenant Broadbent was leading his men in a mounted charge against when he was shot through the head, dying instantly. He was 30 years old.

C E Huskisson, a cycle maker before he joined the 21st Company, joined the Cape Mounted Police in September, 1900. He died two days later.

Percy J. Preston, whose father lived at Hill Top Farm, near Budworth, was one of the original members of the 22nd Company. On March 10 1901, he was mortally wounded by a sniper near Springfontein, dying in hopsital nine days later. His name also appeared on a Memorial Plaque in the Victoria Infirmary in Northwich.

H Thornton, 21st Company, also joined the Cape Mounted Police. He was killed in the action near Hoopstead on October 23 1900, in which Trooper Kelly was taken prisoner.

Of the remainder George Bradshaw, shoeing smith of the 21st Company, died aged 20, of enteric fever at Drachoender on March 31 1900.

T William Lister, 22nd Company, was an international water polo player and Captain of the Manchester Osborne Swimming Club. He was said to be one of the fastest sprint swimmers in England. He, too died, of enteric fever at Prieska on July 27 1900. Enteric fever also accounted for Troopers J J White, 21st Company, E P Pritchard and D Whitelegge, both 22nd Company, who all died before the year was out.

Henry Justice Cramer-Roberts, 21st Company, who had assisted in the ship's hospital on board 'Lake Erie', awoke one night to find that he had been sleeping in rain water due to a heavy storm. This brought about rheumatic fever which, when the dry weather came, was followed by sunstroke. Although admitted to hospital at Deelfontein he died, aged 21 on April21 1900. G F Fox, son of a Colwyn Bay Family, went out with the first draft of the 21st Company and arrived in Cape Town on May 5 1900. Too ill to leave with his comrades for Upington he died in Cape Town some ten days later.

Harold H. Schwabe, a Manchester solicitor whose parents lived in Knutsford, joined the 22nd Company in January 1900. Later commissioned Lieutenant within the Company he died of disease in Johannesburg on April 26 1901.

E.Hodson, son of Mr & Mrs George Hodson, Marsh Farm, Nantwich, joined the 22nd Company at Drachoender in May 1900. Almost twelve months later he died of dysentery at Thabanchu.

Arthur A Carrick, 22nd Company, was the son of Alfred and Mary Ann Carrick of 4 Willowbank, Meadowbank, Winsford. Educated at the Meadowbank Board School he was in the first contingent which arrived at Cape Town on February 26 1900. He died, aged 19, of pericarditis in hospital at Drachoender on May 14. Fred W Davies was another who quickly succumbed to disease. He died, aged 27, on June 15 1900 less than four months after his arrival in South Africa. His name, too appeared on the plaque in the Victoria Infirmary in Northwich.

Of H. Hough little is known, other than he was in a draft for the 21st Company, joining it at Brandfort and dying there in 1901.

One name is missing from the Memorial Plaque in Chester Cathedral is Trooper G. F. Brundrit, whose parents lived at Bucklow Hill. He joined the 22nd Company in January 1900 and went out with the first contingent. In the summer of that year he was invalided home after contracting enteric fever. On his recovery he returned to South Africa and became a sergeant in a Company of the 10th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry. Sadly, he again contracted enteric fever from which he died, in Johannesburg on January 6 1902.

January 7, 2006