Today in Kimberley's History
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9 days since beginning of the Siege of Kimberley, 1899
Extract from "The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley October 1899 to February 1900" by Winifred Heberden.
Jack disappeared at dawn. But I did not feel anxious till almost the middle of the morning, when I heard an alarming report that the Armoured Train had been cut off about five miles away, and the lines pulled up, and that they were in the middle of a hot fire from the Boers. Later on this was contradicted, and we discovered that part of the fight could be seen through glasses from a top balcony at the back of the hotel ... So I became quite cheerful, watching the Armoured Train with Jack on it - as I thought, moving up and down the line behind the troops who were lying in the open, firing at the Boers on a Kopje (Dronfield).
Afterwards, when I heard that Jack and Dr. Ortlepp walked about during the engagement, dressing the men, and then bringing them up to the Armoured Train, I felt glad I did not know it at the time. The behaviour of the injured men on the field was grand, each telling Jack that so and so was worse than himself, and that he must dress that other one first.
At the beginning, when the enemy's fire was pretty hot, the Cape Police were arguing amongst themselves as they returned the fire whether the Boers were using Martini-Henrys or Mausers; and picking up the bullets that fell around them to prove their words. Major McGregor's Orderly, a mere lad, under fire for the first time, offered his horse to the Major, whose own horse had bolted, saying he could catch another horse for himself.
At one time during the engagement, a Boer messenger, bearing a white flag, approached, and our firing ceased to allow him a hearing. His Commandant wished to know whether they (the Boers) were fighting Imperial soldiers, Cape Police, or Volunteers? To this impertinent question Major Elliott of the Cape Police told them 'to go to h--- and find out'. So they probably did - some of them!
The white flag was then discovered to have been merely a ruse to gain time for some of the Boers to creep into a better position. The Boer Commandant was soon afterwards killed. He was a Member of the Free State Raad.
When Jack went to see the wounded at the hospital that evening they all greeted him loudly as he entered the ward as 'The Doc who looked after us under fire'... We lost Troopers Elliott and MacKenzie of the Cape Police, and Trooper P. Liepoldt, D.F.H., and nineteen wounded.
Extract from "The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley October 1899 to February 1900" by Winifred Heberden.
Jack disappeared at dawn. But I did not feel anxious till almost the middle of the morning, when I heard an alarming report that the Armoured Train had been cut off about five miles away, and the lines pulled up, and that they were in the middle of a hot fire from the Boers. Later on this was contradicted, and we discovered that part of the fight could be seen through glasses from a top balcony at the back of the hotel ... So I became quite cheerful, watching the Armoured Train with Jack on it - as I thought, moving up and down the line behind the troops who were lying in the open, firing at the Boers on a Kopje (Dronfield).
Afterwards, when I heard that Jack and Dr. Ortlepp walked about during the engagement, dressing the men, and then bringing them up to the Armoured Train, I felt glad I did not know it at the time. The behaviour of the injured men on the field was grand, each telling Jack that so and so was worse than himself, and that he must dress that other one first.
At the beginning, when the enemy's fire was pretty hot, the Cape Police were arguing amongst themselves as they returned the fire whether the Boers were using Martini-Henrys or Mausers; and picking up the bullets that fell around them to prove their words. Major McGregor's Orderly, a mere lad, under fire for the first time, offered his horse to the Major, whose own horse had bolted, saying he could catch another horse for himself.
At one time during the engagement, a Boer messenger, bearing a white flag, approached, and our firing ceased to allow him a hearing. His Commandant wished to know whether they (the Boers) were fighting Imperial soldiers, Cape Police, or Volunteers? To this impertinent question Major Elliott of the Cape Police told them 'to go to h--- and find out'. So they probably did - some of them!
The white flag was then discovered to have been merely a ruse to gain time for some of the Boers to creep into a better position. The Boer Commandant was soon afterwards killed. He was a Member of the Free State Raad.
When Jack went to see the wounded at the hospital that evening they all greeted him loudly as he entered the ward as 'The Doc who looked after us under fire'... We lost Troopers Elliott and MacKenzie of the Cape Police, and Trooper P. Liepoldt, D.F.H., and nineteen wounded.