The Kaffir we have come in contact with here is a bad lot, and he has harassed the Boer farmers terribly during the war, being a perfect Pindaree in his depredations. He loots anything and everything he can lay hands on, and shifts his allegiance from Boer to British directly our troops enter his province. In this respect the excuse he makes is that since the outbreak of the war the Boers have not troubled to pay their native servants any wages, while keeping them at work as usual.
All the Volunteers (Colonial and Imperial) receive 5s. and as much as 7s. 6d. per day, while Kaffirs earn on an average 4l. 10s. per mensem in our employ. It comes a bit rough on us to find our remuneration fixed at 1s. 2d. plus 3d. for rations per diem. Considering that we mainly exist on private purchases of stores, the want of ready money is a great hardship. Some of our troopers have spent from 10l. to 20l. a month on groceries and smokes since our arrival in Africa. Ten shillings for a packet of cigarettes has often been willingly given, while nobody would think two shillings for a loaf of bread exorbitant. The reason for these prices is always that the Boers have commandeered all they could lay hands on in their retreat. Since our departure from Bloemfontein we have not seen our tents. Our nightly shelter has been the frosty canopy of heaven, and our couch the African veldt (pronounced ‘felt’).
A letter to the ‘Indian Daily News’ gives some interesting personal details:
At Irene and Kaalfontein several of our men who had been prisoners at Pretoria and Waterval, and others who had been left behind at various places sick, rejoined, and we were very glad to have them back among us again. Some of our number have had their services requisitioned by Government, among them being Lieutenant H.O. Pugh, who has been appointed Assistant Commissioner at Heilbron; Sergeant P.P. Warburton, Secretary to the Irish Hospital at Pretoria; Sergeant W.C. Conduit to the Engineering Department of the railway near Johannesburg; Private J.E. Cubitt[J.E. Cubitt], Assistant Traffic Manager on the railway at Johannesburg; Private F.M. Clifford, Mounted Orderly to General Ian Hamilton; Private Huddleston, Assistant Commissioner at Kroonstad; and Private Firth, to the Financial Department at Pretoria. Sergeant D.S. Fraser was also appointed to the Financial Department at Pretoria, and worked there for about a month, but has now rejoined the regiment and resumed his duties as Paymaster; and Sergeant Thesiger and Privates Moir-Byres, Lytle, Thelwall, and Thornton worked in the Remount Department at Johannesburg until the Depôt there was closed.
Among those who had been prisoners from April 30 until our entry into Pretoria, and about whose fate some doubt existed for a time, was Trooper Clarence Walton. His gallantry in sacrificing himself while attempting to save a wounded comrade was mentioned by Colonel Lumsden as an act of conspicuous devotion on a day when the corps gained high credit and a reluctant rebuke for many brave deeds. Like others who fell into the hands of enemies that day, he experienced nothing but kindness from his captors. To this he bears willing testimony in the following letter:
Starting from the time of our first action of April 30, when I had the misfortune to be slightly wounded and taken prisoner, it might be interesting to add my experience of the treatment I received to that of the other prisoners. After our fighting line retired from my direction a Boer came down to me and asked if I was wounded. I told him I was hit in the foot, and he offered to take my boot and gaiter off for me, which I accepted. He then got a small pony and helped me on, and took me to a farm about half a mile distant, where an English doctor (on the Boer side) attended to my case immediately, and then gave me a jolly good meal, better than I had had for some time. The following night I was taken to Brandfort Hospital, where I received every kindness possible, the nurses being exceedingly attentive, and the Boers themselves, far from showing any ill-feeling, came and talked and gave me tobacco. One lady cycled to her home with the object of getting some books for me to read; but unfortunately she arrived back just too late, as we were being placed in the waggon to go to Smaldeel and entrain there for Pretoria. Lieutenant Crane, who was also a prisoner, travelled most of the way in the same waggons and train as myself. He was kind enough to allow me to share the little tobacco he had got, for which I was exceedingly grateful. After reaching Pretoria I was handed over to our own people at the hospital on the racecourse, where, although I did not have quite such a comfortable time as I had had with the Boer ambulances, I had nothing to complain of, as the British residents at Pretoria did everything they could for us, and we have to thank them for all the little luxuries they gave us. The food we received from the Boers was sufficient to keep one alive, and that is about all.
After Pretoria was taken I found myself a prisoner of the R.A.M.C., which I found to be very irksome, although at Pretoria the Major in charge allowed us our liberty to a great extent. When I got to Bloemfontein I was fortunate enough to meet Dr. Roe, late doctor in Assam, who treated Saunders and myself with great kindness, and did everything he could to make us comfortable.
Life at Irene was not all unpleasant. Several lively incidents brightened existence there, and some reflex of them comes to us through the cheery words of Captain Neville Taylor, whose arduous duties as Adjutant did not prevent him from garnering a fund of merry anecdotes. Here is one:
After Pretoria had been taken A Company and Headquarters remained at Irene, and B Company went to Kalfontein, ten miles south on the line. The duties at both places were similar, in that they had to patrol the line and the neighbourhood. One of the Irene regular patrols was to Pretoria and back daily.
On one of the usual patrols into that town Captain Rutherfoord passed a German ambulance proceeding south, who explained that they had been allowed to do so, but carried no pass. Arriving at Pretoria, he reported the fact to the authorities, and also that he had stopped the ambulance until he could get orders concerning it. On inquiry, having ascertained that nothing was known about it, he obtained a letter to the Commandant at Irene, who was told to ascertain that the ambulance people were carrying no papers for the use of the enemy, and, if satisfied, to allow them to proceed. The Commandant, being a man of high ideals, did not see his way to thoroughly searching the ambulance, which contained four German nurses, in addition to the four doctors, and he therefore allowed them to pass on having taken the senior doctor’s word of honour that they had with them nothing of any use to the enemy in the way of papers. The ambulance then went on its way, but stopped the night at Kalfontein, ten miles beyond Irene. In the evening a wire came to us for an officer’s patrol to bring all those people back to Pretoria. Captain Rutherfoord was accordingly sent to Kalfontein for the purpose, and returned in the evening with the party.