Boer War- On Opposite Sides

[Leib Garde]

Good Evening Gentlemen

I am looking for information pertaining to the service and units of one Amos William Mayse, my Great Great uncle on my mother's side and one Max Alfred Siegel, my Great Grandfather on my father's side. They both fought in the Boer War but on opposite sides.

First up; Corporal Amos William Mayse born in Lincolnshire, on March 16, 1880 and died October 5, 1948 in Vancouver.

On December 13, 1898, Amos William Mayse enlisted in the 1st York and Lancaster Regiment of the Imperial Army for seven years army and five years reserve. On April 29, 1900, Private Amos William Mayse and the Regiment deployed to South Africa. I know that the regiment saw service during the Second Boer War, when it took part in the Relief of Ladysmith. Other then that I do not know anything else about the Regiment history while in South Africa. However, I do have stories that my Great Aunt told about her father's experiences over there which where recorded in his diary.

As a small child she remembered stories that her Dad used to tell her and her brother about his Boer War experiences. She told me that she and her brother used to admire his scarlet tunic with white facings and York and Lancaster brass buttons.

Amos used to tell them that at times in South Africa he and his comrades suffered so much from sore feet and from thirst that they would first bathe their feet and then drink the water. One particularly thrilling story was about a night march on which he fell down between the ties of a high trestle bridge. He was saved only by his rifle catching crossways in the railway ties. Another story was about a five-foot long snake which coiled around his leg one night when he was on guard duty. He killed it with the butt of his rifle. For years we saw its skin hanging on his study wall. He used to say that it served as a barometer, becoming more flexible as the air became moister.

Another of Great Grand Uncle Amos' stories was about when he was on scouting duty, riding seven miles ahead of the others. He was fired at from a kopje. He rode up the hill. Then all at once he and a young Boer were confronting each other. He did not shoot him--the confrontation that hot afternoon turned into a picnic, each sharing his rations with the other. Although they did not understand each other's language, the young Boer got across the idea that when the war was over they could meet as friends on his father's farm. Then they parted. At some unknown date he was promoted to the rank of Lance-Corporal.

On December 2, 1900 Amos received a gunshot wound in the left forearm and was taken prisoner. He had been in charge of a reconnoitering party that had been ambushed at Utrecht, in the West Transvaal. He was kept in a Boer prison camp under very harsh conditions. His wounded arm turned black and swelled up as large as a stovepipe. When the Kommandant of the prison camp General Jan Christian Smuts, was inspecting the prisoners in the prison yard he saw the state Dad was in, spoke to him, inquired about his wounds, and ordered him to be sent back to his own lines for treatment; Dad was released on January 2, 1901.

When his wound had healed Amos was returned to active service. He used to speak of having lived on dry corn for a long time. Likely this was when he was in the prison camp, but the regulation issue hardtack, of which he kept a sample among his souvenirs, seemed to have been little better. Amos was wounded again in 1902, this time in the jaw. For the rest of his life he had deep hollows in his chin and a silver plate in his jaw. This was later to cause him intense pain when the metal contracted in the cold Canadian winters. He went back to England on April 30, 1902. Until February 1903, he was in Cork, Ireland. Some of this time was spent in hospital. He often recalled the kindness of the Catholic nursing sisters.

Amos was discharged from the Imperial Army on February 11, 1903, as medically unfit for duty. For three years he received a small pension. He had four or five medals with service bars and ribbons commemorating the various engagements in which he had taken part. I know that he won the King's and Queen's medals, with clasps but the others I can only guess at, possible they were a Coronation medal and a Tribute medal, if he had a fifth medal I do not know what it could be. Amos immigrated to Canada in 1906.

On January 16, 1916, Corporal 291494 Amos William Mayse enlisted in the 222nd Regiment of Winnipeg. He was given his South African War rank of corporal. He took an officer's training course and qualified as lieutenant. But he gave up his chance of a commission by electing to go overseas earlier so that he might share the lot of the men who, had enlisted from his Emerson congregation.

Amos had been sent to England after the completion of the Canadian phase of his training, arriving there on November 20, 1916. Anxious to get to France he transferred to a Canadian unit bound for active service, forfeiting his sergeant's stripe in the transfer. On May 17, 1917, he was sent to France. On June 14 he was dispatched to the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles in the line.

On July 18, 1917, Amos was severely wounded. It happened at 1.00 a.m. as he and others were coming back from four hours' periscope duty, having been relieved at midnight. The shell wounded seven men. Five were walking cases, but Amos and Mr. Pryor, one of his Emerson congregation, were stretcher cases. Dad had flesh wounds in both arms and legs. He staggered ten or fifteen yards after being hit and then dropped. Mr. Pryor was even more severely wounded and died later. Amos and he were carried into a trench to wait for stretcher' bearers. It was about an hour--pitch dark and rain-before the bearers came for them. Then they had a frightful time getting Amos and Mr. Pryor to a dressing station. They walked about three miles with them over shell-holes, trenches, embankments, and barbed wire entanglements. At a dugout dressing-station Amos' and Mr. Pryor's wounds were dressed and they were inoculated. Then Amos was separated from Mr. Pryor and taken by a light railway to a field dressing-station where his wounds were given more attention and he was given hot cocoa. After an hour's stay there Amos and five other stretcher cases were taken by ambulance (changing to a second ambulance at 7.30 a.m.) to Canadian Y Hospital No. 22. There he was operated on. On July 25, 1917, he was sent to England. First he was treated in Oldmill Hospital, near Aberdeen. Later he was transferred to a Basingstoke convalescent hospital.

On December 7, 1917, Amos William Mayse was sent back to France, this time as a YMCA worker. He returned to England on March 20, 1918. On August 25, 1918, he was discharged as medically unfit for farther war service, three months after he had returned to us in Winnipeg on the 24th of May holiday. In addition to his scars and neurasthenia--both of which troubled him for the rest of his life--Amos brought back from World War I an aluminum fragment of a downed zeppelin, a shred of cloth from a German uniform, a Colt revolver (now in his grandson's collection), a German water bottle, and a defused hand grenade. Most valued of his mementoes was a large Union Jack which had been used at the front to cover the bodies of soldiers at burial services. For the rest of his life he hung this out on all patriotic occasions. He also received a routine issue medal or two, and after years of appeals and counter appeals, a derisory $10 or $15 a month disability pension. Amos died on October 5, 1948 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Edited March 25, 2009 by Leib Garde

[Leib Garde]

Corporal 291494 Amos William Mayse

Having issues adding his Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces Attestation Papers.

[Leib Garde]

Fighting on the Boer side, was Max Alfred Siegel born in Pirna, K?nigreich Sachsenon (Kingdom of Saxony) on November 25, 1864 and died on February 22, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan.

Max enlisted into the Kaiser?s Imperial Preu?en Army in 1878 at the age 14 and joined a NCO preparatory training school (Unteroffiziervorschulen). From there he went to a NCO academe (Unteroffizierschulen). He was selected to join the Leibgendarmerie upon graduation or shortly after reporting to his cavalry regiment.

Max attended the K?niglich Militer Hufschmied (Royal Military Farrier/Blacksmith School) and learned the blacksmith trade while he was in the Leibgendarmerie. He was an NCO who obtained the rank of Feldwebel. Max lost his Right Eye on October 20, 1893 in a duel. This Renommierschmiss, or bragging scar became his badge of courage. Max served under all three separate Kaisers during his military career starting in 1878 and ending with his retirement in 1898.

After Max retired from military service, he advertised in the newspaper for a wife and married on November 12, 1900 in Liegnitz, Prussia. Maria was 20 years old and Max was 36 years old at the time of their marriage (a 16 year age difference). Max received a Land Grant from the Kaiser and the Prussian Government for an estate in Brazil, South America.

Max and Maria went to a Germany Colony in Southern Brazil to start their new life together after they were married. However, shortly after they arrived in Brazil around the beginning of 1901, Maria could not stand the heat of the tropics, so she return to Germany alone. Max stayed on to sell the land and property. Afterwards he took passage on a ship that was bound to-who-knows-where and he jumped ship in South Africa in 1901 right in the middle of the Boer War and joined the Boer cause as a foreign volunteer.

None of the foreigners who served in the Boer army received any compensation. They were supplied with horses and equipment, at a cost to the Boer Governments and they received food, but no wages, thus they were not considered Mercenaries, but Volunteers. Before a foreign volunteer was allowed to join a commando unit, and before he received his equipment, he was obliged to take an oath of allegiance to the Republic. I do not have any information as to what forign volunteer unit he was in, if someone could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

Max became part of one of these units and he put his horsemanship and cavalry training to good use as well as his skills as a blacksmith, but at the end of the war he did not have the money to return to Germany so he walked the railroad lines for a while looking for work from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth and also found work in Johannesburg.

He was able to return to Germany in 1903 collect his family and immigrated to America on April 9, 1904 onboard the RMS Carpathia of the Cunard Line as 3rd class passengers. He was 39 years old at that time and lists his occupation as a Blacksmith. They arrived at Ellis Island, New York on September 1, 1904 and were processed through and received into the United States of America on September 2, 1904.

I am not sure of the exact dates but Max went back to Germany sometime around September 1935 according to his Reentry Permit at age 70 to be reexamined by the Army doctors who then reinstated his full pension back to 198.40 RM (Reich Marks) minus the doctors fees and administration fees

Again on June 21, 1940 the Third Reich this time reduced his pension for good to 148.80 RM, but stated that he could come back to Germany and work to help build a better Germany (typical Nazi propaganda stuff).

Max and Maria never became citizen of the US and he died on February 22, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan. His wife Maria kept receiving his pension from the German Army until she died in 1966.

Blessings,

Patrick

[Guest Rick Research]

:jumping: TERRIFIC family narrative! Bravo on saving all that-- adventures worthy of a book!

[Mervyn Mitton]

Looking back through some earlier postings, I came across this incredible saga from Patrick. Somehow it only attracted 250 readers and only Rick had responded. Hopefully, my bringing it back will prompt members to read and I think you will be amazed at the history it covers. The sadness is that - like so many other brave soldiers of his period - he was left without help or, recompense in his final years.

I noted that he was living in Canada and served with their Forces - so this should interest our Canadian members. The other story is just as interesting.

Patrick - thankyou for taking the time and trouble to type and research this story of 'living history'.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Interesting story, but hard to find info on.

i can check if he was on the ABO war roll tonight.

Best

Chris

[Mike Dwyer]

Very interesting stories.

[leigh kitchen]

Leib Garde will know all this, but Amos was Cpl 5303 in 1st Bn Yorks & Lancs, was serving with 3rd Bn. prior to joinng the 1st.

A fitter & turner by trade.

Dad was a labourer in 1881, although Amos was born in Holbeach, Lincs, by 1881 the family was living in Sheffield.

Amos is entered as "Missing after action at Utrecht" on 2/12/1900, the action during which he was wounded & taken prisoner.

[leigh kitchen]

QSA with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Laings Nek,

KSA with Clasps South Africa 1901 & South Africa 1902.

Presumably amongst his medals would be the WWI BWM & VM.

[Mossy]

Amazing family narrative Leib, Thank you for taking the time and effort to put all this together. Your relatives would be proud.

Cheers,

Sam.

[leigh kitchen]

A publication from the 1980's, "Private Tucker's Boer War Diary" by Pamela Todd (I have a copy somewhere) would be a good book to check for day to day life in 1st Bn Rifle Brigade during the Boer War, it was Tucker's unit. I can't remember who published it, just that the "author" was, I think, Tuckers grandaughter?

[Chris Boonzaier]

No Siegel on the Boer medal roll, but this is not unusual as most foreign volunteers were no longer in the country when it came time to apply for the medal.

I suspect very stongly he was in the German Corps. 1902-1910 many German language histories came out about the war. Not bad is one by Richard Runck who served with the German Korps.

They are all over German E-Bay.

Best

Chris