May 26 1900
Letter from a Lelant Man at the Front
The following is an extract from a letter written
to his sister (Mrs. Roach, Embla Farm, Towednack) by Private James GFriday, 11 November, 2005 16:36is dated from Bethulie, April
13th.
"....I expect you are thinking about me being on active service,
but I am alright. We are having a fine time. We have fresh meat every day for dinner, one
pound of bread and jam or cheese for breakfast and tea. We are short of butter.
We arrived in Capetown on the 24th March and left on the 31st for East
London. Called at Port Elizabeth and stayed overnight, but could not get ashore. We
started for East London and arrived on the 15th April. We disembarked about 10
o’clock in the morning and stayed until five in the evening. Then we took train for
Bloemfontein, as we thought, but we got stopped in this place. It took us two days and
nights in the train from East London to Bethulie. There is no town here. The last town we
saw was Burgersdorp, where Gatacre had his first engagement. It is about 100 miles from
here. The country is very barren - nothing but hills all around, and the flat on which we
are camping is nothing but red sand - no grass - nothing but a little stubble, just like
the heather at home. There is a fine bridge here that was blown up by the Boers, so we are
here to protect the footbridge just below it. There are a lot of Pioneers here fixing a
new bridge for the train to cross. Last Sunday we camped on the same ground as the
Pioneers. I saw Jim Warmington, from Wheal Kitty, also young Mitchell of Lelant. They are
in the same company about the bridge.
We arrived here on the Saturday and fixed our camp in the evening. We
had to march out about five miles and carry 150 rounds of ammunition in our pouches. We
slept on the veldt that night, with nothing but our overcoats to cover us. In the morning
we marched back, had dinner and tea, and shifted our camp away across the Orange River,
about five miles. We stayed there until Tuesday. Then we came back about four miles. We
are in the Free State guarding the river and the bridge, keeping the line of communication
(about 4,000 troops). We have slept in our tents three nights out of six. Our duties are
at night and early morning, for we are expecting an attack, but don’t fear it much,
for there are thousands of troops outside the hills.
We don’t know any news here. Have not seen a paper for three
weeks, and then there is no news of the war but what is sent out from London. Our Regiment
is at the front with General Roberts. It is thought the war will be over in about a
month’s time.............."
June 23 1900
Private James Glasson
Mr. W.J. Cooper, of St. Ives, has received a
letter from Private James Glasson, of Lelant, who is serving at the front with the
D.C.L.I. The letter is dated from Zand River Bridge, May 21st 1900.
After describing the voyage to the Cape and East London, calling at
Port Elizabeth, they took train, they thought, for Bloemfontein, but had to halt at
Bethulie, where the Cornwalls, in company with the Staffords and Shropshires, had to guard
the bridge for four weeks.
".....We had it pretty stiff the whole of the time. Every other
night we laid in the trenches three together, one on guard and two sleeping two hours on
and four off, fully equipped, and with 150 rounds of ammunition - quite a little load. The
night we had off we had to get out of bed at four in the morning and take our position on
the top of a kopje or in the trenches and remain there until one hour after daybreak. We
found the nights very cold....
.......After four weeks stay at Bethulie we left by rail for
Bloemfontein, where we arrived after one day’s travelling (in a coal-truck). We
stayed at the latter place a week - quite long enough, for all our duty there was to carry
the dead to the cemetery from the hospitals. It was a sad sight, I can assure you, to see
so many young fellows buried at one time, with no coffins, but sewn up in a blanket.
We left Bloemfontein for Brandfort, staying there for a week - a good
place, with light duties. We left there last Thursday with a convoy of 54 wagons, each
with a span of 16 oxen. We marched all the way to this place (Zand River Bridge) - a
distance of 60 miles - in two and a half days. The country about this place is very barren
and flat, and the dust is something fearful. I have seen nothing to induce me to stay in
this country. It seems to agree with me very well, for I have had no sickness at all as
yet, although we have left a few behind with dysentry and fever.
We have had pretty good living so far - a few days we had to be content
with bully beef and biscuits - but we have had enough to eat. We have been a week without
any tents - sleeping on the veldt, with a waterproof sheet and two blankets. It is all
right while the weather is fine. All our clothes are left behind - we have nothing but
what we can carry in our haversacks. But I hope it won’t be much longer, for the Free
State Boers are giving in their arms as fast as they can. I cannot tell you any war news
because we do not get any. You would like to see me now with my full beard and slouch
hat!....."
March 10 1900
The Late Colonel Aldworth
To the Editor of "The Weekly Summary"
Sir, - The following letter from Colonel Aldworth to my son will be of
sad interest to his numerous friends in the County to whom he endeared himself while
marching through Cornwall with his Battalion last Summer. It is evidently one of the last
penned by the gallant and brave officer before he received his death wound. - Yours
obediently,
J.E. BROWN.
Scots Craig, St. Ives, C.
March 6th, 1900
------------------
Maple Leaf Camp,
(near Belmont),
Cape Colony.
Feb. 10th 1900
Dear Brown,
Thank you for your cheery letter and good wishes for our welfare, also
for the sketch of yourself. Your friend must be a real artist, as the likeness is very
good.
This camp life and bivouacking is very different from our pleasant
camps in Cornwall. Here they are generally in the middle of vast desert plains out of
which the kopjes (pronounced ‘kopjes’) rise, and the dust storms are very bad.
There is dust naturally, but made thousands of times worse by the passage to and fro of
many thousands of men and horses and sudden and violent storms of wind. There has been
very heavy and hard fighting, as you have read of much more fully than I have, and will be
plenty more.
Hitherto my Battalion has been on the lines of communication, which
entailed being broken up into five or six detachments. Now we have been put into the new
9th Division which is being formed, and are in the Brigade commanded by Colonel or
Brigadier-General Smith-Dorrien, brother of "The King".
We came here yesterday from Orange River Station and are concentrated
with the Gordon Highlanders - the other two Battalions of the Brigade (the King’s
Shropshire L.I., and the Royal (Canadians) not having yet joined us. This camp is merely a
spot in a huge desert plain, 596 miles on the railway from Cape Town. There is a great
concentration of troops along the railway from Orange River to the Modder or Mud River,
and it is supposed we shall advance and wheel to the left on Enslin as a pivot, 5000
Cavalry and Mounted Infantry coming round on the right from Orange River and then advance
on Bloemfontein. But Lord Roberts keeps his intentions very dark. You will, however, know
nearly as soon as I do.
This camp is called "Maple Leaf" in honour of the Canadians -
a very fine Battalion of whom will be in our Brigade.
With kind regards, yours truly,
W. ALDWORTH
March 3rd 1900
St. Ives Herrings for South Africa
On Saturday, Mr. William Veal, fish merchant,
St. Ives, despatched four thousand selected red herrings, addressed to the officers
commanding the D.C.L.I., South Africa. The fish were secured in air-tight casks, and
conveyed by the G.W. Railway Company to Southampton free of charge. This seasonable and
thoughtful gift of Mr. Veal’s will doubtless remind many of our Cornish soldiers of
home and friends and adds another proof of how deeply their interests are regarded by One
and All in West Cornwall.
Mr. W. Rouncefield, fish merchant, is also sending five casks of
selected smoked herring to the Cornish Regiment in South Africa.
