Arnold Mercer Davies' letter from South Africa

Arnold Mercer Davies, served in the Victorian [Citizen] Bushmen during the South African War. You can see his Nominal Roll entry, here.   I am not actually sure how he is connected to this region, however Arnold and Alfred Robinson were welcomed home at a function at the Narre Warren North Mechanics' Institute on Friday, February 22, 1901, so I presume he was farming in the area. There was a report of the welcome home in the local paper and it starts thus  - It is hardly possible that at any country town within the colony such a handsome welcome home was extended to our returned soldiers as that which took place at the Mechanics Institute, Narre Warren North, Friday night last.

The assemblage comprised visitors from Dandenong, Berwick and the surrounding district well as a strong force of the local residents and numbered about two hundred and fifty, possibly a record attendance at any similar gathering at Narre Warren. The idea of inviting ladies was a great success, nearly half the audience being composed of members of the fair sex. Arnold and Alfred were each   presented with a handsome gold medal, suitably inscribed to the effect that they were given by residents as a token of esteem.  You can read a full report of the event, here, in the South Bourke & Mornington Journal of  February 27, 1901. There is more information about his family below.

Arnold's letter was published in The Argus on September 14, 1900 (see here).

Private Arnold Davies, son of Sir Matthew Davies, of the 3rd Victorian or Bushmen's Contingent, gives the following account of the attempt made to reach Elands River at the end of July:—
"We are camped now—that is 20 of our division—on a large kopje, about a mile from our old camp, on the Water Hill Fort, and it looks as if we were going to have fairly easy times for a day or two, and I think we could all do with a rest. I suppose you have heard by now that we had a go with the Boers last Sunday, and I think even the most sanguinary amongst us had enough fighting then to do them for a day or two. The wonder is that any of us came through alive; as it is, there are four killed and 21 wounded and missing.

We left the Nek about 8 o'clock on Saturday night for Eland's River to bring in a large convoy. My horse went lame just before we started, and McCulloch lent me his second one. At about 12 that night the advance party came across a small party of Boers at the top of a ridge we had to cross. They fired a few shots, and cleared. We dismounted. I forgot to say there were about 300 of us—Victorians, West Australians, New South Wales, and Queenslanders—and Colonel Airey was in command. We dismounted, as I said, and had a walk round the country, but finding nothing came back and formed up in open order round the hill, waiting to be attacked.

"At daylight we all took another walk, but could see nothing of the enemy. We mounted again about 7, and started off. After going for about a mile and a half our right-flankers fired on the Boers, but they all got away. We rode on again, thinking of when we would get breakfast, when suddenly they opened fire on us from two hills on the left of the road. We dismounted and lay down, and the horses were taken away, and then the fun began. The place where the Victorians were was very like the centre of the two ends of a horseshoe, and about 500 yards away, and we had a cross-fire from each hill, and later on from behind as well. We had ridden fairly into a trap.

While we were on our horses we could see Boers running over the hill, but as soon as we got on the ground we could not see a trace of them. We were lying nearly in the open. If a man made the slightest movement he brought down the whole of the fire on himself. We stayed there till about 1 o'clock, doing nothing, except now and then having a stray shot. The funny thing was that nearly all of us went to sleep. I know I slept for over two hours, and it was a long way the best way to pass the time. At about 1 o'clock we made a dash for a drain about 30 yards in front of us, and two of our men were killed while they were running. Once in the drain things were more comfortable, but we could see nothing to shoot at. I was lying on my back, when a bullet hit the ground at the back of my head, and threw the dirt over my face. That was the nearest shave I had.

"At about 2 o'clock the major called for 20 Victorians to help charge the hill, and I thought I had  done nothing all day, so I went, but somehow I did not like the idea of it till we got started. We fired a few volleys advancing, and then fixed bayonets and charged, but not a shot came after we began to rush, and when we got to the top not a Boer was to be seen. That was about all I saw of the fight. Nearly all our horses were killed, and the horse-holders had by far the worse time of it. What would have happened to us if relief had not come is hard to say. We would never have got out of the hole we were in by ourselves.

We heard yesterday from young Botha, who was wounded, that there were about 1,000 Boers, and they had us surrounded, only they did not know it, but thought by our keeping so still that we had a trap for them."

Family life
Arnold was the son of Sir Matthew Davies - the first Speaker of the Victorian Parliament, who was born in Australia. He was also a land speculator who was declared bankrupt in 1894, and a 'colourful character' that wonderful euphemism  we use to describe slighty dodgy characters. You can read his obituary here, in The Age of November 27, 1912 and his entry on the Victorian Parliament website, here.

Matthew Henry Davies married Elizabeth Locke Mercer in 1875. She was the daughter of Peter and Marion (nee McMillan) Mercer. She died in October 1922.  Matthew and Elizabeth had seven children, the first six born in various suburbs of Melbourne -

• Arnold Mercer, born 1876. He served, as we know, in South Africa. On February 16, 1907 he married Miss Millicent Beatrice Hay Yuille of Heathcote. The wedding was written up in Punch on February 21, 1907, you can read about it, here.  In the 1909 Electoral Rolls, the couple are listed at Doodakine in Western Australia.  Doodakine is 230 kms east of Perth. He was still in Western Australia in 1912 along with his brother Henry, according to Sir Matthew's obituary. He returned to Victoria and was living in Oakleigh, when he enlisted in the A.I.F in November 1914 at the age  of 38. I can't tell you what he did during the War as he also enlisted in the Second World War and the personnel files have been combined and are not yet digitised. The WW2 Nominal Roll entry states he was born in 1887 - he was actually born 1876. It will be interesting to read the personnel file once it is digitised. Millicent died in Prahran in 1975, aged 90. A family tree on Ancestry suggests that Arnold may have died  in 1975 in New Guinea.
• Marion Agnes, born 1877, married David Inman Tod in 1898. The wedding was the subject of an extensive report in Table Talk, read it here. Marion died in England in June 1914.
• Henry Gascoigne, born 1879. Henry was Killed in Action in France on July 19, 1916. You can read his Personnel Dossier here.
• Beatrice Elizabeth, born 1880. Died in Medindie, South Australia in 1964.
• Muriel Kate, born 1882. Muriel was  a doctor, graduating from Melbourne University in 1907.  Muriel married Dr Konrad Hiller in November 1912, two weeks before her father died. Muriel died in 1963, aged 82.

Muriel's final results

The Age, April 5, 1907  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196149805

Dr Muriel Davies, accepts a position in Perth

Bendigo Independent, March 11, 1910  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article227606859

• Olive Blanche, born 1884. Olive married Arthur Lyle Rossiter in 1916. She died in Adelaide in 1976.
• Cecil Harwood Locke, born 1886 in London and married Claire Vernon in 1915. Cecil, who was a Barrister and a Solicitor, also served in the First World War, see his file here. He died in December 1954.

Charles Searle's letters from South Africa

Charles John Searle served in the South African War, also called the Boer War with the Victorian Imperial Bushmen. Charles, born in 1878 in Berwick, was the youngest child of  Henry and Jane (nee Coad) Searle, of Berwick. I have more family information at the end of this post. Henry was a Blacksmith and operated from the corner of High Street and Wheeler Street from around 1860. Charles Searle had two of his letters, both addressed to his parents, that he had sent from South Africa published in the South Bourke & Mornington Journal. I have reproduced them here. According to Early days of Berwick, Charles remained to reside in South Africa at the conclusion of hostilities. See his entry in the Boer War Nominal Rolls, here.

His observations are interesting and he has some local references. He also mentions a Nell - this may be his girlfriend or possibly his sister Ellen.

Umtali, 27/6 /1900
It is a longtime since I last wrote, but you will understand that it is a bit hard to get a letter written out here. We got into harbor at Beira on the 23rd of May, but we were not allowed to land until the 2nd of June. We saw a great number of flying fish the day before we got in, and it was a pretty sight. We were met out side by the man-of-war "Partridge," and conducted into the bay in great style. The water is very shallow and dirty; and everything is very dear at Beira, cocoa nuts 9d, bananas 1s, jam 1/6 half-lb. tin, bread 6d small loaf. A number of the men got fever and dysentry whilst there, but none of the cases were very severe, and all recovered in a few days. I have kept in grand health throughout, and not at all afraid of catching fever as I am not fat. When we landed we camped about a mile from the town, and were placed in charge of about 500 Mexican ponies.

We took our own horses out for exercise every day on the veldt, which was very pleasant, and we got to see a lot of the country in this way. To wards the last we were drilled on the veldt, which was not nearly so pleasant. We ran down several deer, which proved splendid eating. The country around Biera is very flat, with plenty of grass and water. In fact, the grass in most places is six or seven feet high, and in places beautifully green, cattle doing very well on it. The forest here is very thick, and the color of the leaves of the trees from green to blood red. Palms abound, and the ground is spangled with red and white phlox, which created a nice effect. The water here is not of the best quality, and has to boiled before using.

Beira is a fairly large town, built right on the sea, the houses being all red roofed. It has a railways workshop, in which is a grand lot of machinery. The railroad is only 2ft. 6in. wide, and looks very strange after our broad gauge. We left Beira on the 16th, and went up to a place called Bamboo Creek, which is well named, as the bamboos grow eighty and ninety feet high, and very thick. It is a dirty and unhealthy place, and we were glad when we left it on the 18th. I suffered severely there with dysentry, and only got rid of it three days ago, and still feel very weak.

Yesterday we took the horses out to graze, and came in at two instead of four o'clock. Then we went out for drill, and had to march up hills like Wilson's, and go at the double, and as the grass is over one's head, and the ground covered with large stones, it was very hard work, tea time being hailed with joy. For tea we had tinned meat and oatmeal biscuits, and also another kind of oily biscuit which none of us ate as it is horrible. Usually we get rice twice a day, also curry and soup, so you see I am getting broken in to eat anything. We also get porridge every morning, and between twelve there in a half-pound tin of jam divided, and, although we growl like fury, we are not so badly treated. A cup of coffee is given us every morning at six o'clock.

After we left Bamboo Creek we went a trip of 222 miles, up to a place called Umtali. It is a broader gauge (3ft. 6in.) after you leave Bamboo Creek, and we travelled a little faster, but you can imagine what the pace was like when we left at four o'clock on the 16th, and did not arrive at our journey's end until three o'clock on the 18th, and, as there were 85 of us packed in one truck, you can conclude that we were not too comfortable. We passed through some beautiful country, quite as hilly as Gembrook. It was a mass of palms, asparagus fern, phlox, clematis, and that pink creeper that we have growing on the end of the verandah at home, and those snowballs that James Taylor grows ; all the waterholes and small pools were covered with blue and white water lillie, like those at Horsham.

The train when rounding some of the curves is shaped like the letter U, and they are very sharp. The Yeomanry Camp is only about a mile from here, and we are often allowed to visit them. Poor fellows, they are dying like sheep from fever and dysentry, about eighteen deaths occurring last week. They are nice gentlemanly fellows, and I feel very sorry for them. They cannot ride, and are homesick, and are evidently unaccustomed to hard work.

Tomorrow we are to start on a march of 120 miles through the mountains to a place called Marandellis, where all the troops are to be inspected by Lord Carrington, and then sent to the front. We have not been paid yet, and goodness knows when we will be. Report says that Cecil Rhodes is going to give a £5 note to every man in the A.I.R, and I hope it will prove true; also, that we are to get £13 good conduct money at the end of twelve months.

Umtali is a beautiful place, right in amongst the mountains, and is very healthy, but things are very dear-sugar 7d to 10d lb., meat 2s 6d lb., cabbages 2s 6d each, potatoes 10d lb, jam 1s 3d and 1s 6d ½-lb tin, strawberries £1 1s per lb, and so on right through. The birds here are of very gay plumage, but are not nice whistlers, and not nearly in such variety as in Victoria. There are hundreds of vultures, repulsive-looking birds, also crows, which are black with a white band under the throat and look rather pretty.

Although there are so many sorts of flowers here, the ferns do not nearly come up to those of Victoria, with the exception of the asparagus variety which is very plentiful and, as you know, beautiful. Flowers are just now in abundance and of every colour imaginable, and I would like Nell to see them as she would go into raptures.

Umtali is in Rhodesia, and is the first British town we have been in yet. It is pretty dusty, but we do not stick at trifles in this part of the world, and we prefer to deal with English rather than with Portugese. Cecil Rhodes is to visit our camp to-day, which is considered an honor, as he is a person of consequence and just about owns all the land out here. The railway is also his, as are also all the principal buildings. The natives have some very nice vegetable gardens around here and have just the hut they live in.

We will be sorry to leave Umtali, as all are in grand health again and the work is not too hard. We take our horses out to graze every morning at ten o'clock, and come in at four in the afternoon, and as we have our lunch with us, we make camp in at pleasant shady gully, and really enjoy the pleasures of picnicing. Our horses are in very bad condition, and twelve of them had to be shot the other day, and I wished that mine had been amongst them as she was horribly thin and weak, with legs swollen so that she looked more like a draught than a hack; but she is now on the mend, and when once she gets right she will be better than ever.

Yesterday we camped on a slope where a battle was fought six years ago with the Matabele, and the mounds were plainly visible under which repose the dead. Two or three spear heads were also found. We had a slight inconvenience here. All the tents became mixed, and our tent was transposed, and I have got into the worst one of the lot, but still there is a nice young chap from Monbulk in it, named Healey, and he and I are mates. We often have talks together about Berwick, Gembrook, and Narre Warren, &c., and the time passes pleasantly.

The weather here is pretty cold in the mornings, but is just perfect during the remainder of the day, and the sunsets are prettier than I can describe, the shadows and colors on the mountains are so beautiful and varied. Wages are good, drapers getting from £10 to £25 per month, blacksmiths £28, surveyors £40, and the pay of engine drivers and railway guards are also good; but it must be remembered that living costs £8 per month.

A young chap named Fry, from Horsham, is very bad, and we think that he will have to be invalided home, he never having got over being vaccinated on board ship. It seems a great pity, as he is a fine man, 6ft. 1in, in height, and was one of the strongest men in the contingent, and withall a nine chap and a good shot. He is up at the Hospital now, and is still in bed with fever, and I am afraid it will go pretty hard with him. All the other Horsham lads are in good fettle, both as regards health and spirits.

The writer winds up with enquiries after the health and welfare of his numerous friends and acquaintances at Berwick, Horsham, and Carlton, and especially mention Don. Bain and Syd. Leggatt.

This is from the South Bourke & Mornington Journal - it was published over two weeks on August 22 1900 (see here) and August 29, 1900 (see here) and I have edited it.

Buffles' Hock 28/10/1900
(After writing of a private character, he says)—You would not know me now as I am so fat, and I feel just grand. We have had a pretty hard time of it since Friday last, as we have been fighting almost continuously, and I have just got orders to have the captain's things ready as we may move out again at a moment's notice. Last Friday week we left Ottoshoop at 2.30 a.m., and just after daylight we were attacked by the Boers out on the Zeerust road, but after about four hours' fighting we drove them back, and I think they lost a good many men.

After a spell of a couple of hours our (B) squadron was taken about 2½ miles out to the south-east, and then the fun started. We could see two large kopjes about 1½ miles away, which we were told we were to take, which delighted us. Our Captain gave us the order to move forward at a walk, and after proceeding a few hundred yards we were put into open order and commanded to trot. In this manner we got a little further, when the bullets began to sing amongst us. Then we got the order to gallop, and we went up at a splendid pace. It is remarkable how fearless one gets. For the last five hundred yards there was not a bit of cover (we did not want it), and the bullets began to tell. Two horses went down, but their riders got them going again, and with a cheer we got to the foot of the kopje, whilst from the other side the Boers were clearing out as fast as they could.

We mounted the kopje and got our rifles to work, but could not do much damage as the enemy had reached another kopje a thousand yards away. We held the position under heavy rifle fire and bullets fell thick, but no one was hit, and at last some of the Tommies came and we left them as garrison. Our Captain was complimented on the way we did the job and was delighted.

Next day we had to escort a convoy out to Botha's farm, and as he had some nice maidenhair fern I took some and enclose it in this letter for Nell. This is the man you read so much about, and we only took his place a little before I write this. We returned next day, and both ways we had plenty of fighting. Next day we had to go out again, and this time it was to Zeerust, 18 miles, and a great place for Boers, but we were disappointed as we did not see any, but to make up for this failure we brought home a pig, a lot of green peas, and five chickens, and as there are only six in our mess we did very well.

Next day we had a spell, and then we were off again. We left camp at half-past two or three o'clock in the morning, and had travelled for two and a half hours before the first shot was fired, and from then till 12.30 p.m. it was one continuous fight. We went into the row as Lord Erroll's advance guard, but he was too slow, and we got up to a kopje just as Lord Methuen, had shelled it and the Boers were making off. We got after them as fast as our horses could go, and I was second up to their rear rank, and, one man disappearing I was on his pony in two acts, as it was fresher than mine, and after them again. We chased them 14 miles, and our horses were pretty well done when we got up to their convoy of seventeen waggons which we captured with 23 prisoners, and I can tell you there were a few on our back track that will never fire again. We had by this time got far ahead of Lord Methuen, and were in with Lord Douglas, who had come to cut them off. So you see B squad is not too slow when it gets going.

We went into camp about half-past one and had an afternoon's rest and did our cooking, and as Henry Field, Rafferty, and myself had between us ten fowls, four ducks, a goose, a pig, fourteen dozen oranges and any quantity of limes, we had a fair time. Next day we passed on to Kaffir Krail, and had two days' spell, and there we also had a feast of liver, heart and kidneys which we obtained from some sheep on the way. Next day we moved back to this camp, and are liable to be moved at any hour.

For the last five nights it has been very wet, and I am afraid it is going to be the same again to-night, and yet the days are very fine. The letter closes with a wish that the writer's friends may spend a merry Xmas and a happy New Year.

This is from the South Bourke & Mornington Journal of December 19, 1900, see here.

Searle family
Henry Searle married Jane Barrett Coad in 1865. Henry, the son of Henry Searle and Sarah Whitford, died in Berwick in 1909, aged 76. Jane died in 1905, aged 72, also in Berwick.

They had the following children -

• Maria Jane, born 1866 in Berwick, married Edward Arthur Fawkes in 1897; died in Camberwell in 1945.
• Henry Whitford, born 1867 in Berwick, married Jane Elizabeth McCann in 1898, died in Surrey Hills in 1935.
• Joseph Thomas, born 1870 in Berwick and died 1893 also in Berwick.
• Sarah Henrietta, born 1871 in Berwick, married John Warne in 1901, died in Ivanhoe in 1955.
• Ellen Catherine, born 1874 in Berwick. Also called Helen. Died 1950 in Dandenong. 
• Charles John born 1878 in Berwick. As you can see from his sister's death notice, below, he was still alive in 1950. I believe he died in 1953 in Cape Town according to a record on Ancestry from their Cape Province, South Africa, Estates Death Notice Index, 1834-1956 collection.

Ellen Searle's death notice from The Argus October 24, 1950

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23017016