SIDLEY BLOG No 3

An Unlikely Hero - part three

Missed the first part of the story? Click here for blogs No 1 and No 2. 

When my great grandfather George Thomas Sidley signed an attestation (in NA WO128) on 25 February 1901, he indicated that at this time he was in the 2nd Middlesex Rifle Volunteers and wanted to join the Duke of Cambridge’s Own.

He completed this form at 48 Duke Street and it has caused some confusion. The form clearly states 48 Duke Street but doesn’t say exactly where. The drill hall below is in Duke's Road, Holburn and there appears to be some doubt about a possible location in Duke Street off Oxford Street. I believe it more likely that recruiting would take place in the drill hall pictured below.

The former London Middlesex Artists Rifle Volunteers drill hall  

The 2nd Middlesex Rifle Volunteers had been in existence since about 1859 but when it came to the Boer War they did not take part, and I believe that these volunteers had to join other regiments. I think that is why George enlisted in the Duke of Cambridge’s Own and then the Imperial Yeomanry.

His records in the National Archives record him as Soldier number 34309, Unit 53 Company (East Kent) 11th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. These volunteers saw active service during the Second Boer War when the prolonged campaign necessitated an increase in the size of British forces in South Africa.

I believe he was a member of the second contingent of the Imperial Yeomanry which left the UK about 11 March 1901 however the shipping records just indicate some of the officer’s names and a quantity men without specifying which battalion. His record indicates that he served for 15 days in the UK after enlistment and from 12 March 1901 in South Africa. There were many ships leaving from different ports and it is difficult to know if he landed in South Africa on 12 March or left UK on 12 March.

Apparently the soldiers in this second contingent did not receive much training as Kitchener wanted them in South Africa as soon as possible.  The recruits were not trained men and it was said that it was a pay rise that had attracted a significantly greater number of working class recruits who had no prior experience of horses or firearms. I don’t think this was the case with George as he had belonged to the Rifle Volunteers.  However the attraction of better pay may have been a factor. On enlistment he agreed that one third of his pay would go to his wife Louisa.

He was on home duty until the Battalion left for South Africa on 11 March 1901 and he served in South Africa from 12 March 1901 to 27 August 1902.

I don’t know where the ship landed and what happened to the regiment until the battle of Tweefontein (Groenkop).

This magazine cutting of the 53rd Company Imperial Yeomanry is from Navy and Army Illustrated 1901. Several of the men shown here were killed in the battle. Whilst I do not have any photo of George as a young man, I rather like the look of the third man from the right in the back row. I wish I had facial recognition software to be able to compare him with the photo I have of him in the 1950s. 

George was reported as a Casualty: taken Prisoner – Released on 25 Dec 1901 at Tweefontein (3) (Official Casualty roll location: Tweefontein). Source: South African Field Force. J.B Hayward & Sons.

At a farm in the Orange Free State (Harrismith district; Free State) 35 km east of Bethlehem, a force of some 500 men of the 53rd Imperial Yeomanry with a gun and maxim (machine gun) was in camp on the farm protecting the head of a blockhouse line under construction from Harrismith to Bethlehem. They were under the command of Major F.A. Williams, 1st South Staffordshire Regiment,

The detachment was camped on a hill, Groenkop, with precipitous sides to the west and south and a gentle, well entrenched slope to the east.

On the night of 24/25 December 1901, at 2 am detachments from eight commandos comprising some 500 burghers under the command of Chief-Cmdt. C.R. de Wet, silently scaled the steep west face in stockinged feet taking the defences completely by surprise. They scaled the precipitous southern side of the hill, dashed in upon the sleeping camp, and overwhelmed the Yeomen. On climbing to the top of the kopje they had rushed the pickets, wrenched the rifles from their hands, and then swept  through the laager bayoneting many of their enemies with the weapons they had seized on gaining the summit of the hill.  Led by Cmdt. W. Mears and Cmdt. G. A. Brand, the burghers completely overran the camp within one hour. De Wet left at dawn with some 240 prisoners as well as 2 guns, 20 wagons, supplies of ammunition and tents, and 500 horses and mules.

This is the slope the Boers climbed

British casualties were 57 killed (including Major Williams) and 88 wounded; the Boers lost 14 killed and 30 wounded; among those killed were Cmdt. G .J. Olivier of the Bethlehem commando. 

This action is known to Afrikaner historians as Groenkop or Krismiskop, Groenkop having become known as Christmas Kop.

George was one of the survivors.  I don’t know if he was wounded but it was recorded that De Wet had all the survivors strip off their uniforms to give to the Boer burghers who had been dressed in women’s clothes because they were short of uniforms.

This colour photo was taken by Anthony Stimson, Chairman of the South Australian Boer War Association on a visit to Groenkop in 2017.

More details at southaustralianboerwarassociationinc.wordpress.com

Stay tuned for SIDLEY BLOG No 4 next week...