PREVIEW: ORDERS DECORATIONS, MEDALS & MILITARIA: 19 JUNE

Two Distinguished Conduct Medals from the First Boer War – one of them dating to the first action of the war – form rare highlights for this sale.

That action was the Siege of Potchefstroom, which started after the South African Republic was proclaimed at Paardekraal and the elected triumvirate of Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorious established themselves at Heidelberg. That same day, 15 December 1880, a Boer Commando rode into Potchefstroom and took over the printing works, ignoring all protests.

This prompted the small British garrison under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel R. W. C. Winsloe, 21st Foot, to take up defensive positions. They comprised nearly 200 Royal Scots Fusiliers, about 20 Artillerymen with two nine pounders, and some volunteers. Supplemented by 20 regulars and 46 volunteers who fortified the brick courthouse, they were joined by another 20 men defending the stone prison, with the remainder occupying a fortified earthwork fort of 30 yards square.

Insults were thrown, and on the following morning shots were fired. After an argument as to which side fired the first shot a general action ensued – the opening shots of the First Boer War. The Prison garrison on the redoubt and the men in the courthouse surrendered two days later.

The D.C.M. pair awarded to Private H. Bush, of the 21st Regiment of Foot, later Royal Scots Fusiliers, was the result of his gallant conduct in bringing in the wounded following an attack on the Boer positions on 22 January 1881, on day 38 of the 98-day siege.

By that time the defenders had suffered extreme privation. Food had been rationed since the first day of the siege, at which point it consisted of three pounds of Indian corn (intended as animal fodder) daily with four ounces of tinned meat on alternate days. They had had to dig down 15 feet to find water.

At the end of January 1881 food rations were cut drastically; dysentery was rife and scurvy appeared; and typhoid and enteric fever cases joined the wounded in the hospital tents. February brought little let-up. A raid out of the fort produced five stray sheep and several sheets of iron – a treasure beyond price. But the end was near.

By early March the defenders were down to eight bags of rotten mealies and on 12 March out of physical necessity they sent out a flag of truce and asked for terms of surrender.

The defenders had faced other hardships, some suffering severe gunshot injuries which led them to believe that the Boers were using explosive bullets, although these were probably caused by the balls from an 8 bore elephant gun.

On the other hand, hostilities were often suspended for lunch, with wounded men being courteously exchanged; and Sunday was declared a day of peace.

The Boers attempted decisive action on 1 January, with about 1,600 of them attacking the fort on three sides and an old ship’s gun firing a 9lb roundshot. The attack lasted unabated for about three hours, but the besieged men sat next to their posts, waiting for the rush at the fort that was expected at any time. They sang part-songs to pass the time, with the ladies joining in the refrains, and the buglers played what pieces they could. The conduct of the women throughout the siege was magnificent, suffering the same hardships as the men and they lived in a 9 x 5 foot shelter, then a dugout when the Boer gun took the fort in reverse. Two girls were wounded but recovered.

Improvements to the defence of the fort never ended, but conditions were grim and dangerous. Ramparts were increased in height and damaged sandbags repaired each night, and more added. The tents which protruded above the ramparts were riddled by bullets, and had over 500 bullet holes in them. Cooking was done as well as possible under the circumstances, but because of the lack of fuel, to eat the food was to eat disease. Torrents of rain often flooded the fort, washing over the stretchers of the wounded and leaving all articles of clothing swimming with rain. The two doctors, working under impossible conditions, wrought miracles of healing.

On 22 January, Lieutenant Dalrymple-Hay and 12 men attacked and cleared a Boer trench 300 yards south of the fort. They later lent stretchers to the Boers to remove their casualties. The next day the Boers returned the stretchers along with fruit and carbolic acid for the doctors.

Cronje, the Boer commander, unaware of their true condition, offered the British some most acceptable concessions. Officers and men were to keep their private property and arms except rifles; no prisoners were to be taken, and the garrison was to be permitted to march out with honours of war to Natal.

On 23 March, after 98 days under siege, the defenders of Potchefstroom marched out from their redoubt en route to Natal; flags flew at their head, bugles played, and over 400 burghers lined up on both sides of the road saluting their former adversaries. Almost at the frontier the British discovered the bitter truth – the war had ended on the very day that they had proudly marched out of Potchefstroom.

For their gallant conduct in bringing in the wounded after the attack on the Boer trench on 22 January 1881 Lance-Corporal Patrick Cunnief and Private Henry Bush were later awarded the D.C.M. The 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers, who suffered a total of 83 casualties out of 213 all ranks at Potchefstroom, sailed for India in December 1881. They returned to South Africa for service during the Second Boer War, and in June 1900 the same battalion raised the historic Union Flag taken from Pretoria over the old Fort in remembrance of the gallant defence.

The D.C.M. to Private Bush is offered here together with a South Africa 1877-79 service medal, with 1 clasp for 1879. The estimate is £7,000-9,000.

The second D.C.M. is from a group of three awarded to Private C. Godfrey, 58th Regiment of Foot, later 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, for his gallant conduct in saving the life of a wounded officer on 28 January 1881.

On that day, Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley’s Natal Field Force, comprising 1,400 men, an 80-strong Naval brigade, artillery and Gatling guns, advanced on the strategic pass in the hills on the Natal-Transvaal border called Laing’s Nek, the aim being, through a series of cavalry and infantry charges, to break through the Boer positions on the Drakensberg mountain range to relieve their garrisons. The British were repelled with heavy losses by the Boers under the command of Piet Joubert; of the 480 British troops who made the charges, 150 never returned. Furthermore, sharp-shooting Boers had killed or wounded many senior officers.

Total British casualties were 84 killed and 113 wounded, with the bulk of these suffered by the 58th Regiment of Foot, who lost 74 killed and 101 wounded, around a third of their total strength. Boer losses were 14 killed and 27 wounded. For his gallantry in bringing casualties down from the hillside, Lieutenant Alan Hill, 58th Foot, was awarded the Victoria Cross. This was also the last occasion that a British regiment took its Colours into action; with heavy casualties, four officers in succession were shot down whilst carrying both the Regimental and the Queen’s Colour.

The actions of Private Godfrey were reported at length in the Natal Mercury: ‘In the engagement at Laing’s Nek on 28 January 1881, when the Regiment reached the most advanced position to which it was able to attain, many of the officers were shot down. Amongst the number was Major Hingeston, who was mortally wounded. This officer was lying several yards in front of the line exposed to a heavy fire from the Boers, as well as our own line. Private Godfrey, seeing this crept to the front on his hands and knees, took up Major Hingeston in his arms, and carried him through the ranks to the rear. At this time the Regiment was ordered to retire, but Private Godfrey remained with Major Hingeston under fire, refusing to leave him until the engagement was over, and he had conveyed him to the hospital in the rear.’

Subsequently employed as a Ganger with the Natal Government Railways, Godfrey was present during the celebrated Armoured Train affair at Chieveley on 15 November 1899, in which Winston Churchill, at the time a reporter for the Morning Post, was captured by the Boers. A third medal in this group relates to that incident.

Private Godfrey's D.C.M group of three is offered here with an estimate of £7,000-9,000. It is accompanied by copied medal roll extracts (the QSA Meal roll specifically mentioning ‘Chieveley’ in the Remarks column), and other research.