Charlie Els is deur die Genealogiese Genootskap van SA aangewys as die outeur van die beste artikel in Familia 2014.
Rentia Landman skryf : "Sy artikel “The Quest for ‘John’ Cronje of Standvastigheid” is ‘n ongelooflike speurverhaal wat hy stuk vir stuk ontrafel en telkens sy vermoede met bronne bevestig. Dit is vir elke genealoog ‘n “moet lees”. Veels geluk Charlie".
Rentia Landman skryf : "Sy artikel “The Quest for ‘John’ Cronje of Standvastigheid” is ‘n ongelooflike speurverhaal wat hy stuk vir stuk ontrafel en telkens sy vermoede met bronne bevestig. Dit is vir elke genealoog ‘n “moet lees”. Veels geluk Charlie".
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| vlnr Ken Cronjé, Prof. Michael Jewett, Tokkie Pretorius (Direkteur Oorlogsmuseum, Bloemfontein) Vicky Heunis en Charlie Els |
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Charlie was vriendelik genoeg om toestemming te verleen dat die artikel op ons wejoernaal geplaas kan word. Hier volg eerste 'n opsomming van wat aanleiding gegee het tot die skryf daarvan en daarna volg die volledige artikel:‘n Prof. Michael Jewett, ‘n kleinseun van ‘n Kanadees, H O Wright, wat aan Britse kant in die Anglo Boere-oorlog kom veg het, het ‘n Psalmboekie in sy besit wat aan ‘n “John Cronje” van “Standvastigheid” behoort het.
Die verslag, wat na Michel Jewett in Kanada gestuur is, het tot gevolg gehad dat hy die boekie aan Ken Cronjé, kleinseun van die Boere-kryger, wie se boekie dit was, kom terugbesorg het. Op 23 September het hulle gesamentlik die boekie aan die Oorlogsmuseum in Bloemfontein oorhandig. Ek was teenwoordig.
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| Prof. Michael Jewett en Ken Cronjé |
Ons het saam die graf van John Cronje op die plaas Standvastigheid besoek. Die begraafplaas is spesiaal vir die besoek skoongemaak en omhein deur die huidige eienaar.
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| Ou Vervalle Plaashuis |
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| Die "nuwe" plaashuis |
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| Ken Cronje, Prof. Michael Jewett, Tokkie Pretorius |
Michael skryf in ‘n stuk wat hy saamgestel het en waarin hy uitbrei oor sy oupa se familie en die betrokkenheid van die Kanadese in die oorlog, die volgende roerende woorde:
Two men of the same age
Two men who married and who fathered families
Two men who fought for their countries
Two men who faced each other in battle
Two men’s prayers
One in Afrikaans
One in English
Die Museum het aan Ken, Michael en myself elk ‘n kopie gegee van hulle jongste publikasie, “Suffering of War”. Die foto’s daarin van die vroue en kinders in die konsentrasiekampe ontroer mens maar terselfdertyd grief dit jou dat so-iets kon gebeur en sommer so in die vergetelheid verdwyn. Net soos die Jode die herinnering aan die “holocaust” in stand hou, nie om haat in stand te hou nie maar sodat die gebeure nooit vergeet word nie, net so moet ons die gruwels van die ABO nooit vergeet nie, sodat so-iets nooit weer gebeur nie. Die Afrikaner het vrede gemaak met die Engelse. Hulle het, tewens, in 1910 hande gevat, saam die Unie van Suid-Afrika opgebou en saam geveg in wêreld-oorloë maar die geskiedenis van die verskroeide aarde-beleid en die konsentrasiekampe kan en mag nie uitgevee en vergeet word nie.
CHARLIE ELS
THE QUEST FOR “JOHN” CRONJÉ OF STANDVASTIGHEID
INTRODUCTION
An enquiry by Prof. Michael Jewett of the University of Toronto, Canada was referred to Prof Fransjohan Pretorius of the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies of the University of Pretoria. As the enquiry is more of genealogical nature than of historical nature, he approached the writer to assist him. The writer raised the matter with his fellow members of the genealogy discussion group SAGenealogie. The result illustrates what teamwork amongst a group of amateur genealogists can achieve.
The enquiry, in brief, was the following:
Prof. Jewett’s has a small Psalm book that was in the possession of his grandfather, H. O. Wright, who joined the British side against the Boers in the Anglo Boer War in 1899. An inscription in the book reads: "Prize awarded John Cronjé for passing highest in his examination, from his teacher Miss A Felling, Standvastigheid, Dec 16th 1892":
The question is what "examination" this was. The English inscription could indicate that John may have been at an English school but he could well have been at any other school where Miss Felling was just the English teacher. Traditionally there was a good relationship between Afrikaners and the English in the Free State and by 1892 Free State schools undoubtedly would have taught English as a subject too. In a doctoral thesis by Dr. John Boje (Ref 10), he discusses this at length. He mentions,
for instance that an English Free State farmer, A H Bain, wrote in 1856: “My interests are identical with those of the Free State African farmer, among whom I lived on terms of cordial friendship for many years … although I am an Englishman, and glory in the boast, I am second to no one as a loyal burgher of this State”. (Ref 10; Chapter 1, p 53)
After the war the situation changed even more: “By the end of May 1901…education was seen by many as an opportunity to “capture the children” for the imperial cause. English was to be the only medium of instruction in schools, teachers were expected to be propagandists of the Empire and the curriculum was clearly biased. Between 1899 and 1905, 180 English teachers were imported into the Free State” (Ref 10; Chapter 7, p 409)
Although Felling is a surname of German origin, the progenitor of this family in South Africa, Heinrich Wilhelm Felling of Hemmerde, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, came to Otjimbingwe, South West Africa (now Namibia) in 1867 where he worked for the Rhenish Mission. He moved to Cape Town in 1874 (Ref 9; p 277). Even one of his daughters, Emma, born in 1870 or Anna, born in 1872, could have been John Cronje’s English teacher.
Another possibility is that the examination was not at school but at "Sunday school"or it could have been the church catechism ("katkisasie"). The book is, however, a Dutch Psalm book and it is unlikely that the owner would have been in an English church or that his Sunday school or catechism teacher would have been English.
STANDVASTIGHEID
“Standvastigheid” is not a South African place name; it is a farm name. There are a number of farms named “Standvastigheid” in South Africa. There is one between Laingsburg and Sutherland in the Western Cape as well as one near Paarl in the Western Cape. There is also one in the Umgeni and the Howick/Albert Falls area in Kwazulu-Natal. If people from these areas were involved on the Boer side during the Anglo Boer War they would have been Cape or Natal rebels. However, no suitablesuch Cronjés appear among the Cape and Natal Rebels listed in the database of the South African Anglo Boer War Museum in Bloemfontein (Ref. 2).
The database of the museum does, however, list a farm with the name "Standvastigheid" in the Winburg district in the Free State (the farm was transferred from Winburg district to the district of Senekal in 1923). In the War Museum records, the owner is recorded as "the estate of the late Johannes Daniël Cronjé". He was born on 21 October 1806 and died in the Kroonstad Concentration camp on 1 April 1901 at the age of 94. He was too old to be the owner of the Psalm book (who must
still have been at school in 1892). The owner of the book could, at best, have been one of his grandchildren.
“JOHN” CRONJÉ
There is a Johannes Daniël Cronje recorded in the database of the War Museum:
Number: 21833
Surname: CRONJE
Name: JOHANNES DANIËL
Age: 22
Address: STANDVASTIGHEID
District: WINBURG
Captured at: Doornberg
Captured When: 1901/08/17
Camp: ONBEKEND
Country: ONBEKEND
Ship (To): ONBEKEND
Ship (Back): N/A
He was born in Senekal in the Free State on 30 April 1879 and was a grandson of the above-mentioned original owner of the farm “Standvastigheid”, Johannes Daniël Cronjé. He was thus 22 years old when he was captured in 1901 and would have been 13 years old and probably still at school in 1892. He is the most likely candidate to be “John Cronje”, the owner of the Psalm book. The farm, originally “Standvastigheid 442” and later renumbered to “Standvastigheid 1175”, is situated between Senekal and Ventersburg in the Free State (the co-ordinates of the farmstead are: 28° 07’ 24.77” S, 27° 25’ 33.39” E).
Why he would have been called “John” on the inscription in the book if his name was Johannes is not clear. People named Johannes are very often called “Johan” or “Jan”, the English equivalent of which is, of course, “John”. His parents were Afrikaans but perhaps his English teacher, Miss A Felling, called him John. Dr. John Boje (real name also Johannes Gerhardus Boje) in his doctoral thesis
refers to the same "Johannes Daniël Cronjé of Standvastigheid" who was part of a group of 24 burgers that were captured on Jan Human’s farm in the vicinity of Winburg in August 1901 (Ref 10, Chapter 7, p 367). An old Surveyor’s plan of the farm Standvastigheid is shown below:
The owners of the farm in 1894 are listed on the plan as “Cornelis Coenraad Cronje,
Johannes Daniel Cronje, Frederik Rijnard Cronje and Barend Jacobus de Lange”.
The first three were sons of the original owner, Johannes Daniël Cronje, born 21 October 1806. Barend Jacobus de Lange was their brother-in-law, the husband of their sister, Anna Elizabeth Christina Cronje.
These owners had a younger brother, Johannes Daniël, who married Maria Susanna Potgieter. They had a son, Johannes Daniël, who married Susanna Johanna
Landman and they had a son, Johannes Daniël, who married Phyllis Cathleen Ryder.
One of their children is Kenneth Gordon Cronjé. His line of descent is shown below:
b3c5d4e1 Johannes Daniël CRONJÉ * 21.10.1806 Pietermaritzburg 21.6.1807 moves from
Swellendam to the Free State in 1839 and settles on the farm “Standvastigheid” district Winburg †
1.4.1901 in Kroonstad Concentration Camp (from exhaustion after forced march) x Swellendam
25.12.1831 Dina Judith Geertruyda Woutrina RAHL/RALL * 12.9.1812 † Kroonstad 2.4.1901
f10 Johannes Daniël * 21.7.1851 Winburg 2.11.1851 † Senekal 29.2.1896 x Winburg 1.3.1875
Maria Susanna POTGIETER * 2.6.1854 † Senekal 14.2.1945 d. o. Philippus and Judith Potgieter
g1 Johannes Daniël * Senekal, Free State 30.4.1879 † Bloemfontein 17.10.1923 captured at
Doornberg on 17.8.1901 during the ABO and banned to India, x Senekal 11.5.1909 Susanna Johanna
LANDMAN * Senekal 10.3.1878 d. o. Willem en Theodora Landman.
h1 Johannes Daniël* Senekal 4.3.1910 Senekal 29.5.1910 x Durban 3.2.1944 Phyllis
Cathleen RYDER * Pretoria 1.1.1916 (d. o. Henry Ryder)
i? Kenneth Gordon Cronjé
h2 Willem Johannes
h3 Theodora Cornelia x Oosthuizen
(Symbols used: b, c, etc. = 1st, 2nd generation, etc; 3, 5, etc. = 3rd, 5th child, etc.; * = born, = baptized,
† = died, x = married, d. o. = daughter of)
In the Geni webpage (Ref. 5) the writer found a family tree that included Johannes Daniël CRONJÉ * 21.10.1806 and his descendants. Information about the living descendants were, however, kept confidential. The writer contacted the manager of the family tree, Peter Dennis, who then traced and contacted the Kenneth Gordon Cronjé mentioned above, a great-grandchild of the original owner of the farm “Standvastigheid”, Johannes Daniël Cronjé * 21.10.1806. The writer subsequently
corresponded with Kenneth (called Ken), who lives in Jan Kempdorp in the Northern Cape. He is also convinced that his grandfather was the “John Cronje” to whom the Psalm book was given and he would greatly appreciate it if the book could be returned to the family. He, inter alia, wrote:
“I have no doubt that it is the right “John” Cronje from Standvastigheid. I have a vague recollection of my dad telling me of a “teacher” who stayed with the family for some time. It may explain the fact that his children referred to their dad as “Daddy” in English, which was always a bit strange to me, them being Afrikaans. They were not wealthy, so attendance of an English school would not have been possible.”
CANADIANS IN THE ANGLO BOER
How the Canadians got involved in the Anglo Boer war is explained as follows:
"On 3rd October 1899 it was announced in Canada that in the event of a war between Great Britain
and the Boer States the Canadian Government would offer a contingent. On the same date Mr
Chamberlain telegraphed to the Dominion Government that the Imperial Government accepted the
offer. He stated that the force should be in units or companies of 125, the senior officer to be of a rank not higher than Major, and that infantry would be preferred. The two conditions mentioned were for the purpose of allowing the companies to be attached to battalions of the regular army. Before the
campaign commenced and for some time afterwards the War Office had a prejudice, quite unfounded
as it turned out, against allowing volunteers or irregulars to be embodied or mobilised as distinct
battalions or regiments, on the ground, doubtless, that they imagined that only regular troops under
regular officers could stand on their own legs." (Ref 1)
In the Canadian Military Archives there is record of an H. O. Wright who was involved in the Boer War as a member of the "2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles". In August 1900 this unit was known in South Africa as the "Canadian Mounted Rifles". They were actively involved in the defence of the corridor between De Aar and Pretoria. This regularly brought them to the vicinity of Winburg. They were, inter alia, also involved in the Battle of Paardeberg with the surrender of General Piet Cronjé
and in the later part of the war they operated in Transvaal.
Regarding the circumstances under which the Psalm book came into Wright’s possession one must be careful to just assume that a) the owner of the book got killed in battle or b) that Wright necessarily picked it up on the battle field. It could have been lost on the battle field in the heat of the battle or it could have been “confiscated” from Cronjé when he was taken prisoner of war (Dr. Boje says that he
was sent to a camp in India). It could also have been taken from a farm house as “spoils of war”.
That the book was removed from a farm house cannot be excluded. Many old bibles and hymn books were “looted” in this way. At one stage there was an organised movement in Britain to repatriate these old bibles to South Africa and many were returned. It is also said that the British soldiers were reluctant to burn “The Word of God” when the farm houses were torched.
One of the members of SAGenealogie, Jan van Jaarsveld, mentioned that he has a manuscript in which a Canadian war correspondent tells how a combined Australian/Canadian peloton looted the farm "Witdam" of Commandant Lubbe in the Jacobsdal district - "We took along even the stove and the stove pipes”.
H.O. WRIGHT
The following particulars and a photo of H. O. (Henry Oswald) Wright are available in the archive of the Canadian Parliament (Ref 3). As Prof. Jewett mentions, he was later a member of the Canadian Parliament (Constituency of Battleford, Saskatchewan):
Place of Birth: West Templeton, Quebec, Canada
Deceased Date:1956.04.25 (75 years old)
Profession/Occupation: Rancher
Political Affiliation: Unionist Party
Term in the Canadian Parliament: 1917.12.17 - 1921.12.05
Constituency: Battleford, Saskatchewan
He was 22 years old (the same age as Johannes Daniël Cronjé) when he was
enlisted to serve in the Canadian Volunteers for active service in South Africa. Here is the agreement of service that he signed:
(Provided by Jan van Jaarsveld. Source: Canadian Paliament Museum)
An abstract form his service record in the Canadian Archive is shown below. At the end of the document specific mention is made of the fact that the Queens Medal was awarded to him for his involvement in the battles of Paardeberg, Johannesburg and Driefontein.
(Provided by Jan van Jaarsveld. Source: Canadian Parliament Museum)
For an article in Legion Magazine in 2012, the Canadian Historian J. L. Granatstein selected 12 key military events that shaped Canada. The Anglo Boer War was included.
His summary reads:
“English Canada found itself caught up in the British imperialism of the late Victorian era, public opinion literally forcing Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal government to raise troops for the Dominion's first real overseas military mission. The Boers of South Africa went to war to protect their Afrikaans-speaking Transvaal and Orange Free State from being swallowed by British commercial interests. It was not Canada's war, most especially not in the opinion of French Canadians, but (T)he Royal Canadian Regiment, hurriedly manned by Canada's tiny regular force and by recruits off the street, found itself fighting on the veldt. The RCR distinguished itself at Paardeberg in February 1900 and participated in the taking of Bloemfontein and Pretoria. But as the war turned into guerrilla skirmishes, the RCR departed for home and new infantry, artillery and cavalry contingents arrived from Canada. The conflict dragged on into 1902, the Canadians suffering approximately 500 dead and wounded of the 7,368 who served. The Boer War demonstrated that Canadians could give a good
account of themselves on the field, but it also proved to the Québecois population that even a francophone prime minister could not resist the clamour of Anglophones to support Britain” (Ref 8).
According to the official list of Canadian soldiers that participated in the Anglo Boer War contained in the book "Canada's sons on Kopje and Veldt", H. O. Wright was a member of “D Company consisting of 125 men from Kingston and Ottawa" that formed part of the "First Canadian Contingent" that left with the ship "Sardinia" from Quebec City to Cape Town on 30 October 1899. The ship arrived in Cape Town on 29 November 1899 and "the Canadian troops were ordered to the Front two days later". This contingent returned from South Africa on 7 November 1900 via England
to Canada and were back home on 23 December 1900, thus almost a year before the incident when Johannes Daniël Cronje was captured.
The list with particulars in the Canadian War Museum, however, mentions that H. O. Wright was under the members of the "2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles" (part of the Second Canadian Contingent) that received medals for their service in the Anglo Boer War. It thus seems as if Wright probably did not return with his original unit to Canada but that he joined the Second Canadian Contingent. While the First Contingent consisted largely of members of the Canadian Permanent Force in Ontario, the Second Contingent included, inter alia, a large number of volunteers from the West of Canada (in his letter Prof. Jewett mentions that H. O. Wright was later “an elder in his Protestant church in western Canada”). Sources give the following about the Second Contingent:
In December 1899, as the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) was getting acclimatized in South Africa, two mounted Units - the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles and 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles - were raised in Canada, along with three batteries of artillery.
To accommodate the contingent and their horses, they had to sail on three ships from Halifax: the "Laurentian” (left Halifax 20 January 1900 - arrived in Cape Town on 17 February 1900, the "Pomeranian" (left Halifax 27 January 1900 - arrived in Cape Town on 25 February 1900) and the "Milwaukee" (left Halifax 20 February 1900 and arrived in Cape Town by the middle of March 1900) (Ref 4).
Apart from the first engagement at Paardeberg on 18 February 1900, the unit participated in a number of other drives “to round up Boers” before the war ended on 31 May 1902. It returned to Canada at the end of June 1902 (Ref 5).
One of the tasks of members of the Canadian Second Contingent that arrived in Cape Town on 26 March 1900 was to escort the Boers that were captured at Paardeberg to Cape Town.
The question is how did “John” Cronje’s Psalm book get into the possession of H. O. Wright?
The most obvious possibilities seem to be the following:
a) Cronjé actually did loose the book during a battle before he was captured
where Wright, as his family lore would have it, picked it up;
b) The book could have been “confiscated” from Cronjé when he was captured;
c) Wright removed the book as “spoils of war” from the farmstead of Standvastigheid.
Regarding the first possibility one should try to ascertain in which battles Cronje was involved where the Canadians where also present. Dr Boje says that, at the time of his capture, Johannes Daniël Cronjé was a member of "Commandant Haasbroek’s" commando. One possibility is the Battle of "Paardeberg" where members of the Canadian Second Contingent were involved shortly after their arrival in South Africa.
The most likely possibility is that Johannes Cronje of Winburg and his comrades would have been involved in the Battle of Paardeberg. The Psalm book could have been lost on the battle field and picked up by H. O. Wright.
REPORT BACK
On 2nd May 2014 the writer reported the above to Prof. Pretorius and provided him with copies of correspondence between him and Ken Cronjé of Jan Kempdorp. The report and correspondence were forwarded to Prof. Jewett. He was to visit South Africa for a congress and planned to hand the book to the Cronje family representative.
On 9 May 2014 he writes:
“What a remarkable piece of research. Congratulations. I have only quickly read the well written account and of course prefer the lost on the battlefield version. I have never known the details of my grandfather's service but one of my cousins just contacted me about his medals which are being mailed to me. They will be informative. I did not learn as much of the details of his service as this well conducted research piece describes. I had always thought that he was a dragoon or mounted trooper as he was subsequently in London for the coronation in that capacity I believe. This fits with him doing 2 tours of duty.
I have deliberately delayed my travel planning in the hope that I might bring the book to a Cronje relative who now appears to be Ken Cronje. A quick Google Map search shows me that Jan Kempdorp is about a 1000 km from Cape town and closer to Jo'burg. I arrive Cape town about Sept 18. Maybe I can meet Ken Cronje somewhere after the South Congress in Cape Town. Alternatively, can come early. It doesn't take much to persuade me to hang out in SA.”
and on 11 May 2014:
“Thank you all again for your very diligent and painstaking work to find the history of this little book. I attach a photo of my grandfather, HO as he was known. I am assembling the various pieces of his uniform and medals which were dispersed to his daughters when he died. He was a prominent member of our Conservative political party his whole life and started a variety of things including our biggest agricultural equipment museum in western Canada where his "steamer" tractor is I believe. His 12 grandchildren held a reunion a few years ago with their partners and spouses and we lamented how the next generation won't be bound as we are. His Wright name has disappeared as his surviving children were girls. I do have a Christmas recording that he made with his wife of carols (spectacular) for my mother when she was in England during the war.
As for the idea that he signed up for a second tour, I think that is correct as we think of him as a Dragoon.”
CHARLIE ELS
Pretoria
May 2014
Acknowledgements:
Contributions were made by members of the genealogy discussion group, SAGenealogie (SAGenealogie@yahoogroups.com), notably by Jan van Jaarsveld but also by Andrie van der Linde, Anina du Plessis, Ben Cilliers, Elmien Wood, Ferdie van Wyk, Jan Langenhoven, Johan Pottas, Lettie du Preez, Mike Terblanche, Simon du Plooy and Willeen Olivier.
Reference sources:
1. Anglo Boer War.com:
http://www.angloboerwar.com/unit-information/canadian-units/373-royal-canadian-regiment-of-infantry
2. Anglo Boer War Museum, Bloemfontein (http://www.anglo-boer.co.za/)
3. Archive of the Canadian Parliament: http://www.parl.gc.ca/Default.aspx?Language=E
4. Canadian Soldier.com:
http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/history/wars/boerwar.htm
5. Canadian War Museum
(http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/boer/mountedriflesbregiment_e.shtml)
6. Chief Surveyor-General (http://csg.dla.gov.za/)
7. Geni webpage (http://www.geni.com/home)
8. 12 Military Events that Shaped Canada; Legion Magazine, 1 November 2012:
http://legionmagazine.com/en/2012/11/12-military-events-that-shaped-canada/11
9. South African Genealogies, Part 2; J A Heese and R T J Lombard; HSRC, 1989.
10. Winburg's War: An appraisal of the Anglo Boer War of 1899 - 1902 as it was
experienced by the people of a Free State district; Doctoral thesis: Johannes
Gerhardus Boje (2009), Supervisor: Prof. F Pretorius, Co-supervisor; Dr. JEH
Grobler, University of Pretoria:
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-05092010-210157/unrestricted/00front.pdf
(Foto's verskaf deur Charlie Els)
