PARRY Family History

Tracing Thomas PARRY in the Boer War

This article was written by my father, Norman Parry, and first published in the Herefordshire Family History Society Journal, July 1999, under the heading "South African War 1899-1902." It is re-published here with permission. Please note that the original copyright still stands.

For some time there has been a story in our family that Thomas PARRY the elder brother of my grandfather, John, had left his wife Mary and their three children, Bessie, Nellie and Walter in the late 1890s, that he had joined the Army and had not returned from South Africa. No-one seemed to know whether he was a casualty of the 1899-1902 war or whether he had remained there after the end of hostilities. With the increased interest likely to be generated in this, the centenary year of the start of the war, it was felt to be an appropriate time to see what records could be found to throw some light on this elusive part of our family history.

Information from an internet site was that the Victorian Military Society were producing a database of all memorials in this country to those who died in the Boer War or as it is now termed the Second South African War. A letter to the coordinator of the project produced two possibilities, a T.Parry of Carmarthen and the more likely Thomas Parry, a private in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry who was killed in a railway accident at Frederikstad in the Orange Free State on 30th July 1900 and who is commemorated on the KSLI memorial in St. Chad's Terrace, Shrewsbury and on the County Memorial in Hereford Cathedral where there are 66 names listed, 14 of them being members of the KSLI.

The casualty list for the war is in the PRO at Kew under class WO 108/89-91 and 338, a replica of WO 108/338 was published in 1972 as "South Africa Field Force Casualty List, 1899-1902" and copies are available at the PRO and at various museums. The Shropshire Regimental Museum in Shrewsbury has information on the regiments but nothing on individual soldiers. When I mentioned the information that I had on Thomas I was told that the 'railway accident' was for home consumption and that it was in reality an act of sabotage on the part of the enemy. The death certificate for Thomas obtained from the Family Records Centre, Myddleton Street, where a separate register of military deaths is maintained also has the railway accident annotation in the remarks column.

A search through the multi-volume history of the war which can be obtained through the inter library loan scheme gives detailed accounts of all the engagements and battles but has little to say about the Frederikstad incident. A better source is the "85th Kings Light Infantry" edited by C.R.B.Barrett and again available on loan from the British Library through the county library service. The 85th, the third regiment to have that title, became the 2nd Battalion KSLI in June 1881.

The regiment, with a strength of 936 Officers, NCOs and men, arrived in Cape Town on 1st December 1899 and was initially deployed at Honeynest Kroot, south of Kimberley, to guard the railway line which was the only means of communication with the coast. In February of 1900 the 2nd KSLI became part of the 19th Brigade and with the Highland Brigade formed the 9th Division, part of Lord Robert's army moving north towards the Transvaal. They were involved in a major action at Paardeberg on Feb.18/19 where they suffered casualties of 9 killed and 41 wounded and were again in action on March 9 at Dreifontein on the road to Bloemfontein. Sgt. F.D.Robson, one of those listed on the Hereford memorial was killed at Paardeberg. The medal roll of the KSLI (WO 100/194) in the PRO lists Thomas Parry as being entitled to the South Africa Medal with clasps for Cape Colony, Paardeberg and Dreifontein. There is a possibility that Thomas was taken ill at about this time because, from the medal roll he does not appear to have taken part in the regiment's 425 mile march to Pretoria which was reached on June 5. Until July 23 the Division were in the Olifants Nek area but were then instructed to move to the Bank station west of Johannesburg where a train had earlier been wrecked. Their instructions were to stop such acts of sabotage.

To quote from the regimental history, "Lord Methuen's force left us and proceeded to Potchefstroom and the Gordon Highlanders went to Krugersdorp. They had no boots, so we were left to bring a convoy on to Potchefstroom. July 28 we were joined by the City Imperial Volunteers and thirty-three sick and wounded who were captured in the wrecked train and sent in by the Boers. The convoy arrived on the 29th and we proceeded the same day. An unfortunate accident, attended with considerable loss of life happened on the way. A heavy train of supplies passed us just as we were approaching camp at Frederikstad on July 30 and seated on the trucks was a draft of ours which had lately arrived in the country together with some sick men rejoining. Our yeomanry scouts had been ordered to inspect the line as they advanced but they failed to perceive that on a sharp curve where the line ran down a decline some of the fishplates had been unscrewed and the rails loosened but carefully replaced. The engine on reaching the spot was derailed and the heavy supply trucks ran up one on top of the other. Thirteen of our men were killed, together with the engine driver and forty-one injured. Captain W.S.RADCLIFFE, Lieutenant E.P.DORRIEN-SMITH and Lieutenant H.P.HARRIS-EDGE (the latter belonging to the Volunteer Company who were on the train) had a narrow escape, having shortly before the accident moved from the front carriage, which was completely telescoped, to a rear carriage which was unharmed. The following men of the battalion were killed in the accident and buried the next day. Colonel J.SPENS reading the service.

* This man had been wounded at Hout Nek and was just rejoining."

The names of Thomas Parry and Albert Goodwin from the above list are on the Hereford memorial.

A gentleman in S.Africa, for whom I had been doing research in Bedfordshire, has told me that the burials took place in a mass grave at No.2 cemetery at Frederickstadt (modern spelling) and that in the 1960s the remains were exhumed and reinterred in a Garden of Remembrance at Potschefstroom and the names added to a central memorial.

We had hoped that information from the medal roll would tell us to whom they were issued and hence give a lead to the rest of Thomas's family but apparently the medals were never claimed. Subsequently we have discovered that Thomas's son Walter died in the County Hospital in Hereford on September 25 1988, his home address was 9a Mortimer Road and the informant was a nephew, Donald Vernon Gooch of London SW 9. Walter had been born, according to his birth certificate, on October 31, 1898 at 8 George Street, Barry Dock, his father being listed as a builders labourer, but he was registered in Hereford by his mother, Mary Ann PARRY formerly ROBERTS, with a declaration dated December 13, 1898. As this date was exactly six weeks from October 31 it may be that the date of birth had been 'adjusted' to fall within the statutary period thereby avoiding a penalty for late registration. At that time Mary's address was given as 18 Hampton Street, Hereford.

Any information which Society members may have on Walter. his two sisters and other family members would be very much appreciated. [See below]

I would like to thank John Harnden for his help with the 'in county' information and Iain Kerr of Windsor for his assistance with military history.