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Archiver > BOER-WAR > 2002-01 > 1012186600


From: Colin Roe <>
Subject: [BOER-WAR] Re: Bike Riders in Boer War
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 13:56:40 +1100
In-Reply-To: <200201252000.g0PK0Fu23738@lists7.rootsweb.com>


Deidre Snook said in the BOER-WAR List re Bike riders in the Boer War:

Allan Fogg's online book about the 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen says:

... the Fifth Contingent became the first, and only, Australian Force to
have with it a detachment of cyclists.
They were enthusiastic but not very successful on their bicycles ...

Colin Roe

>From: Paul Snook <>
>To: <>
>Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 11:01 AM
>Subject: Re: [BOER-WAR] Searching for Samuel Jacob Rosen, a
>Motorcycle/Bicycle Messsanger in the Boer War
>
>
> > Bike riders in the Boer war.
> >
> > Both sides used bike riders in very small numbers -- There is some good
>background on a it
> > Military History Journal - Vol 4 No 1
> > BICYCLES IN THE ANGLO-BOER WAR OF 1899-1902
> > by D.R. Maree @ http://rapidttp.com/milhist/vol041dm.html
> >
> > On the British side an enterprising officer, Colonel George Knox who,
>during the war commanded the cycling section of the artillery at Ladysmith,
>had before the war endeavoured to make cycling a part of the training at
>Aldershot. Consequently several cycling corps were ready for action when the
>war broke out. They were the City of London Imperial Volunteers (CIV) as
>well as two battalions of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers that were sent to South
>Africa.(12) Several local regiments made use of cyclists, such as the Rand
>Rifles, raised at the end of 1900, who had a form for the requisition of a
>horse, a cart, or a bicycle.(13) The Cape Cycle Corps, formed injanuary
>1901, was 500 strong.(14) A Town Guard pay list for parades of the period
>April/May 1901(26 Company Cyclists) indicates that Cape Town also had
>cyclists,(15) as did Kimberley with its Cycle Corps, 'A' Company, consisting
>of 102 men, who did sterling work during the Siege of Kimberley.l(6) The
>Durban Lght Infantry consis!
> > ted of 476 men of whom 31 were cyclists.(17) From Rhodesia the cyclist 'E'
>Troop of the Southern Rhodesian Volunteers came with Colonel H.C.O. Plumer's
>relief column to Mafeking,(18) and throughout the war there were always
>cyclists with the British troops. At one stage three per cent of the active
>British forces consisted of cyclists.l(9)
> >
> > The Boers raised a cycling corps in the war and Danie Theron, the
>Afrikaans folk hero, was a well known 'bike rider'.
> >
> > http://africanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa031201a.htm
> >
> > Before the outbreak of war, Theron and a friend, J. P. "Koos" Jooste (a
>cycling champion), asked the Transvaal government if they could raise a
>cycling corps. (Bicycles had first been used by the US army in the Spanish
>War, 1898, when a hundred black cyclists under the command of Lt James Moss
>were rushed in to help with riot control in Havana, Cuba.) It was Theron's
>opinion that using bicycles for despatch riding and reconnaissance would
>save horses for use in combat. In order to gain the necessary permission
>Theron and Jooste had to convince the highly sceptical burghers that
>bicycles were as good, if not better, than horses. In the end, it took a 75
>kilometre race from Pretoria to the Crocodile River Bridge2 in which Jooste,
>on a bicycle, beat an experienced horse rider, to convince
>Commandant-General Piet Joubert and President J. P. S. Kruger that the idea
>was sound.
> > Each of the 108 recruits to the "Wielrijeders Rapportgangers Corps" (Cycle
>Dispatch Rider Corps) was supplied with a bicycle, shorts, a revolver and,
>on special occasion, a light carbine. Later they received binoculars, tents,
>tarpaulins and wire cutters. Theron's corps distinguished themselves in
>Natal and on the western front, and even before the war had started had
>provided information about British troop movements beyond the Transvaal's
>western border.1
> >
> > By Christmas 1899, Capt Danie Theron's dispatch rider corps were
>experiencing poor deliveries of supplies at their outposts on the Tugela. On
>the 24th December Theron complained to the Supplies Commission that they
>were severely neglected. He explained that his corps, who were always in the
>vanguard, were far from any railway line where supplies were unloaded and
>his wagons regularly returned with the message that there were no vegetables
>since everything had been carted off to the laagers surrounding Ladysmith.
>His complaint was that his corps did both dispatch riding and reconnaissance
>work, and that they were also called upon to fight the enemy. He wanted to
>offer them better sustenance than dried bread, meat and rice. The result of
>this plea earned Theron the nickname of "Kaptein Dik-eet" (Captain
>Gorge-yourself) because he catered so well for his corps' stomachs!1
> >
> > As the Anglo-Boer War progressed, Capt Danie Theron and his scouts were
>moved to the western front and the disastrous confrontation between the
>British forces under Field Marshal Roberts and the Boer forces under General
>Piet Cronje. After a long and hard struggle up the Modder River by the
>British forces, the siege of Kimberly had finally been broken and Cronje was
>falling back with a vast train of wagons and many women and children - the
>families of the Commandos. General Cronje almost slipped through the British
>cordon, but eventually was forced to form a laager by the Modder near
>Paardeberg, where they dug in ready for a siege. Roberts, temporarily
>indisposed with the 'flu, passed command to Kitchener, who faced with a
>drawn-out siege or an all-out infantry attack, chose the latter. Kitchener
>also had to deal with rearguard attacks by Boer reinforcements and the
>approach of further Boer forces under General C. R. de Wet. ......... @
>http://africanhistory.about.com/librar!
> > y/weekly/aa031201b.htm
> >
> > I hope this info points you in the right direction.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Deirdre Snook
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Iain Kerr
> > To:
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 7:18 AM
> > Subject: Re: [BOER-WAR] Searching for Samuel Jacob Rosen, a
>Motorcycle/Bicycle Messsanger in the Boer War
> >
> >
> > At 09:49 PM 22/01/02 -0800, MikenHelene wrote:
> > >Hi, I am new to the list and my name is Helene. I have been doing my
>family
> > >genealogy for about 3 yrs now, and have pretty much found out all the
> > >information I can on my family in the US. I am now trying to find out
>about
> > >my family, My grandfather Samuel Jacob Rosen in particular.
> > >
> > >I really do not know much about him. I know that he was either born in
> > >Russia or London, England, circa 1886, and I do know that he served in
>the
> > >Boer War as either a Motorcyle or Bicycle Messanger. There used to be a
> > >photo of him on his motorcyle/bicycle, that is the problem, no one
>remembers
> > >which one it was.
> > >
> > >Anyway, I am sorry for going on and on..I am wondering if there is any
>way
> > >to find out if there would be any service records on him? I have no
>idea
> > >where to go to look, or who to write to or email to ask..
> > >
> > >Any direction would be greatly appreciated
> > >Helene
> > >
> >
> > Helene,
> >
> > There are some inconsistencies in what you say:
> >
> > a. The first successful motorized bicycle was built in France 1901, and
> > British and US manufacturers first produced motorbikes in1903. So
>motor
> > cycles could not have been used on operations during the Second Boer War
>of
> > 1899 - 1902.
> >
> > b. The man would have only been aged 13 when the war began in
> > 1899. Although the British Army had boy soldiers (who were not allowed
>on
> > operations) and occasionally boys enlisted after lying about their age,
> > this seems unlikely.
> >
> > c. The British Army had made some experiments with bicycles but they
>were
> > not successful in South Africa. The horse was the main means of
>transport,
> > including the carriage of messages and despatches.
> >
> > d. The role of messenger sounds more like a Post office
>Telegraph/Telegram
> > Boy at home.
> >
> > Yours aye,
> >
> > Iain Kerr in Windsor, Berkshire
> > Web Page at: http://home.clara.net/iainkerr/index.htm

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