This is a transcription of a column in South Africa Magazine, March 10, 1900, titled Domestic Announcements:

(Announcements inserted under this heading are charged for according to length.)

BIRTHS

AGAR-WOOD, Mrs. R., Stutterheim, January 29, a son.

AIKEN, Mrs. J. W., Umzinto, Feb. 1, a daughter.

AMES, Mrs. W. J., Somerset East, January 29, a son.

ANDERSON, Mrs. H. E. K., Estcourt, January 31, a daughter.

ASTON, Mrs. W., Cape Town, January 29, a son.

BAYTOPP, Mrs. H., Pinetown, Feb. 1, a daughter.

BLACKBEARD, Mrs. H. C., Fort White, Jan. 26, a son.

BULL, Mrs. C. A. L., Greyville, Feb. 7, a daughter.

BURMEISTER, Mrs. P., Stutterheim, Jan. 22, a son.

CATLIN, Mrs. R. M., Kenilworth, February 4, a son.

CORSER, Mrs. H. E., Cape Town, Feb. 2, a daughter.

COUDER, Mrs. G. H., Cathcart, January 19, a son.

CUMMING, Mrs. R., Cape Town, Jan. 17, a daughter.

DOVE, Mrs. J. H., Durban, February 3, a son.

ELLIOTT, Mrs. A. J. B., Ixopo, January 25, a son.

FORD, Mrs. G. H., Steynsburg, January 26, a son.

FOWLER, Mrs. F. W., East London, a son.

FRANKLIN, Mrs. A. J., Estcourt, Feb. 4, a daughter.

GARRETT, Mrs. S., Port Elizabeth, February 1, a son.

GOWTHORPE, Mrs. R. A., Durban, February 1, a son.

GREETHAM, Mrs. H. F. J., Umtata, January 12, a daughter.

GREIG, Mrs. T. A., Rondebosch, January 23, a son.

GRIFFITHS, Mrs. T. W., East London, Jan. 24, a son.

HARBORTH, Mrs. H. L., Krantzkloof, Feb. 6, a son.

HATCH, Mrs. W. A., Durban, January 25, a son.

HUNT, Mrs. F. T., Port Elizabeth, February 6, a daughter.

KING, Mrs. B., Greyville, February 6, a daughter.

LONGLANDS, Mrs. R. F., Greyville, Feb. 8, a son.

MACGREGOR—On March 4, at Pietermaritzburg, Mrs. John MacGregor (nee Maggie Millar), a daughter.

MILNE, Mrs. J., Durban, February 1, a son.

RANKIN—On March 7, at 13, Shandon Street, Glasgow, the wife of George Rankin, Klerksdorp, South Africa, of a son.

REID, Mrs. R. S., East London, February 3, a son (stillborn).

STRACHAN—On February 10, at Shady Pine, Kenilworth, near Cape Town, the wife of John Strachan, of a daughter.

TOWNSHEND, Mrs. P., Vryburg, Dec. 9, a daughter.

VAN HEERDEN, Mrs. W., Cradock, January 30, a son.

WEBB, Mrs. C. S., Grahamstown, January 29, a daughter.

WHIPP, Mrs. T. H., Durban, February 6, a daughter.

WILLIAMS, Mrs. W. P., Durban, February 6, a son.

MARRIAGES

BRANDT—DUNBAR—On February 27, at the parish church, Heathfield, Sussex, by the Rev. William Rooke, Frederick Austin, youngest son of the late Robert Brandt, of Bickley, Kent, and Knollys Road, Streatham, S. W., to Lillian Beatrice, only daughter of the late James Dunbar, C.E., of Montreal and London.

ELLIOTT—MACONOCHIE—On February 9, 1900, at St. John’s Church, Greenhill, Harrow, by the Rev. Thomas Smith, M.A., Richard Lowens Elliott, eldest son of the late W. R. Elliott, Esq., of Enfield, to Mimi Moore Maconochie, eldest daughter of Mrs. J. R. Maconochie, of Chetwode, Harrow. (Corrected notice.)

PARKER, W. J. M.—ROBINSON, E. M., Durban, February 3.

RICHES, N. H.—HULL, W. H., Durban, February 8.

DEATHS

BIRKETT—On February 13, at Ladysmith, of enteric fever, Trooper John Louis Birkett (Dundee Troop Natal Carbineers), aged 19, eldest son of Francis John Birkett, Town Clerk, Dundee, Natal, and grandson of John Birkett, F.R.C.S.

BRAUNS, Mrs. W. F., East London, Jan. 31, aged 22.

BREETZKE, Miss M. L., Port Elizabeth, January 30, aged 29.

CLARKE—On March 7, at Ivanhoe, Hornsey Lane, N., Arthur Clarke, aged 47 years.

DANBERN, W. J., East London, January 31, aged 26.

DYKES, P., Verulam, Natal, January 17, aged 83.

FELMORE, P., Woodstock, February 5, aged 66.

FORSYTH, R., Port Elizabeth, January 28, aged 15.

GRANT—On February 21, at Kimberley, Alaster Grant, Lieutenant, Robert’s Horse, wounded in the advance on Kimberley, son of the late Colonel J. A. Grant, C.B., C.S.I., and Mrs. Grant, of Househill, Nairn, and 11, Wilton Crescent.

GUSH, W., Maclear, January 25, aged 74.

HAMPSON, Mrs. J. A., Durban, January 22.

HANSEN, Miss F. A., East London, Jan. 25, aged 18.

HENWOOD, O., accidentally drowned in Mooi River, on January 29,

HERRIDGE, Mrs. S. A., Pella Namaqualand, Jan. 9, aged 64.

HOLWELL, A. C., Harding, Natal, January 29.

HORT, Mr. J., Kingwilliamstown, Jan. 25, aged 68.

MCCOMB, S. J., Queenstown, January 30, aged 64.

MCDANIEL, J., Thomas River, January 29, aged 74.

MENPES—On February 6, as the result of an accident at Joker Mine, Abercorn District, Mashonaland, Mortimer James Menpes, eldest son of Mortimer Menpes, of 25, Cadogan Gardens, S.W., in his 21^st year.

OGILVIE, J., Somerset East, January 28, aged 43.

OVERBEEK, A. C., Cape Town, February 2, aged 77.

PAXTON, G. D., Durban, February 1, aged 16.

SEYMOUR, G., Upper Malvern, Natal, January 31, aged 88.

THOMAS, G. W. J., Ladysmith, January 22, aged 30.

VERSFELD, Mrs. M., Cape Town, Jan. 31, aged 72.

WADHAM, J., Uitenhage, January 27, aged 61.

WILDE, Mrs. M., Uitenhage, February 5, aged 71.

Miscellaneous articles on the same page:

Mr. Horace W. Nicholls, who acted as special photographer for South Africa during the early part of the war, and many of whose pictures appeared in these pages recently, is giving a series of illustrated lectures in various parts of the country. He has a capital collection of views, and the first of the lectures, given recently in the Royal Albert Institute, Windsor, was an unqualified success.

The Morning Post correspondent at Orange River says:--The Army looks ten years older than when it left England. We are not yet in rags, but we are exceedingly dirty; and, between the close-cropped crowns and bearded chins it is difficult to recognize one’s nearest friends. A man soon has his fill of war, and most of those who have been here from the beginning are heartily tired of the dreary country, and would change it cheerfully for the worst they know elsewhere. The new comers are full of fight and most anxious for a chance of it, but, despite its climate, no one has a good word for the country, which has not a single quality which a Britisher could appreciate, save its capacity for engendering thirst. But with beer at two shillings a bottle, lime juice at four, and whiskey unprocurable at any price, a thirst man is not the enviable object he may be elsewhere.

Writing of the Durhams’ charge up Spion Kop, the Standard correspondent says:--Colonel Woodland estimates Vaal Kop to be 700 ft. high. What infantry other than the present-day representatives of “the thin red line” would coolly, under the fearful heat of an African sun, and after fighting every inch of their way for over an hour, fix bayonets and charge, never crying halt until they gained the summit? That is what, in most brilliant manner, the Durhams did. On arriving at the foot of the kopje, word was given to fix bayonets and charge, and they ran up the hill to the chorus of a rousing British cheer. Some 40 Boers who stayed to the last on the near base, scurried before them, leaving their horses behind them. The fire from the high ridge to the left became very deadly, and Major Johnson Smyth fell, shot through the throat, while leading his company. Up, still up, panting through the steepness of the ascent, but not to be stayed in their victorious career, the men of the Durhams charged, the Boers still fleeing before them, until the latter, hurrying for dear life, disappeared over the crest. Then our gallant fellows reached the top, and raised a cheer, which was taken up by the oncoming regiments below. They were just in time to secure three laggards and bowl over a number of others who had not yet got clean away. Very few dead Boers were seen on the kopje, though three were found decapitated, evidently by one of our lyddite shells.

At Balsall Heath, Birmingham, on Tuesday, Mr. Powell Williams, M.P., in reply to a vote of confidence in the Government, said the only thing which would stop the war was to bring home to the Boers that the nation was determined to carry it on until there was absolutely no opposition to the supremacy of the Empire in South Africa, and until the enterprise and integrity of Englishmen were recognized and respected.

A correspondent, signing himself “Colonel” writes: “Those of us who have sons or relatives in the besieged and now relieved towns have been very patient under great anxiety for the last four months. I think, however, the time has now arrived when the War Office might publish a list of officers and men in hospital suffering from wounds or disease. This would to some extent relieve our anxiety. I have a son in one of the battalions which have suffered most severely, and I have not heard from him since October 25 last. If he is dying in hospital I should prefer to know it.”

At length we are in possession of that invaluable communication of Oom Paul to the besiegers of Ladysmith (says the Cape Town correspondent of the Daily Telegraph). The full text possesses those engaging characteristics of the old Predikant to which we have so long been accustomed. He beats George Washington because at 74 he can still tell fibs—as good round, brazen, thumping ones as when he was in his prime. The statement that “the enemy create devastation when they come on the farms” is artistic lying, just a little slim. Many persons, I am aware, would say it was of a crude and silly order; but they do not take into account the circumstances. First, the farm is everything; second, the burghers do not know and have no means of knowing the facts; and lastly, it was necessary to do something to erase the impression produced by the terrible vandalism of the Boers in Natal and the Colony. Please note very carefully that whenever the Boers have been guilty of any atrocity and they anticipate being charged with it, they do not wait for the accusation to be preferred, but instantly bring it against the British. That saves time and humbugs the Boer and the foreigner. I need not tell you that we have not devastated a single Afrikander farm in the Colony. The Afrikanders in the Colony are our subjects. On the other hand, as I have said elsewhere, the Boers have added a new horror to war by their procedure here and in Natal.

Regards,

Ellen Stanton

Email: harprulz@bellsouth.net