THE HELPFUL WORK OF THE OFFICIATING CLERGY
In addition to the eight Acting Chaplains referred to in previous
chapters, some forty-five or fifty Wesleyan ministers were appointed
"Officiating Clergymen." These, while still discharging, so far as
circumstances might permit, their ordinary civilian duties, were
formally authorised to minister to the troops residing for a while in
the neighbourhood of their church. Many of the local Anglican clergy
were similarly employed, and supplemented the labours of the
commissioned and acting Anglican chaplains sent out from England.
Their local influence and local knowledge enabled them to render
invaluable service, and great was their zeal in so doing. While the
regular chaplains who came with the troops as a rule went with the
troops, these fixtures in the great King's service were able not only
to make arrangements for religious worship, but for almost every
imaginable kind of ministry for the welfare of the men. They were
often the Army Chaplain's right hand and in some cases his left hand
too. It would be a grievous wrong, therefore to make no reference to
what they attempted for God and the Empire, though it is impossible
here to do more than hurriedly refer to a few typical cases that in
due course were officially reported to me.
[Sidenote: _At Cape Town and Wynberg._]
The very day the Guards landed at Cape Town I was introduced to the
Rev. B. E. Elderkin, who in conjunction with the Congregationalists at
Seapoint made generous provision for the social enjoyment and
spiritual profiting of the troops. I was also that same day taken to
the Wynberg Hospital by the Rev. R. Jenkin, who, on alternate Sundays
with the Presbyterian chaplain, conducted religious services there for
the convalescents, and ministered in many ways to the sick and
wounded, of whom there were sometimes as many as 2000 in actual
residence. Among them Mr Jenkin could not fail to discover many cases
of peculiar interest; and concerning one, a private of the Essex, he
has supplied the following particulars:--
[Sidenote: _Saved from drowning to sink in hospital._]
This lad was badly wounded in the thigh on Sunday, March 11th,
somewhere not far from Paardeberg, but he seems to have got so far
into the Boer lines that our own shells fell around him and our own
stretcher-bearers never reached him; so he lay all night, his wound
undressed, and without one drink of water. Next day a mounted Boer
caught sight of him, got off his horse, gave him a drink, and then
passed on. On Wednesday, in sheer desperation, he wriggled to the
river to get a drink, but in his feebleness fell in; was caught by the
branch of a tree, and for more hours than seem credible thus hung,
half in the water, half out, before he rallied sufficient strength to
crawl out and up the bank. For five days he thus remained without
food, and his festering wound unbandaged. On the Friday, when Lord
Roberts offered to exchange six wounded prisoners, the Boers espied
at last this useful hostage, took him to their laager, put a rough
bandage round his thigh, and sent him into the British camp. He was
still alive, full of hope, when Wynberg Hospital was reached, and
responsive to all Mr Jenkin said concerning the mercy of God in
Christ; but the long delay in dealing with his case rendered an
operation necessary. There was no strength left with which to rally--a
sudden collapse, and he was gone to meet his God. Fifteen days after
he fell he was laid to rest, with full military honours, in the
Wesleyan Cemetery at Wynberg. It is well that all fatal cases are not
of that fearful type!
Whilst the Guards were making their way to the Transvaal, the Rev. W.
Meara, a refugee Wesleyan minister from Barberton, was doing
altogether excellent work among the troops at East London; and has
since gone back to Barberton as officiating clergyman to the troops
there, where later on in 1902 I had the opportunity of personally
noting what his zeal hath accomplished for our men.
[Sidenote: _A pleasant surprise._]
Concerning his army work while away from Barberton, Mr Meara sent me
the following satisfactory report:--
"During the early part of my chaplaincy there were large numbers
of men in camp, and we held open-air services with blessed
results. The services were largely attended and much appreciated.
We then established a temporary Soldiers' Home; and after a
fortnight the Scripture Reader of the Northumberland Fusiliers
handed me over the responsibility, as he was proceeding with his
regiment to the front. The Home was on the camp ground, and so
was within easy reach of the men, who availed themselves fully of
its advantages. We provided mineral waters at cost prices, and
eatables, tobacco, etc., and for some weeks when there was a
great rush of men in camp upwards of L120 a week was taken. We
supplied ink, pens, notepaper, etc., free, and we had all kinds
of papers in the Reading Room. We agreed that any profits should
be sent to the Soldiers' Widows and Orphans Fund, and so before I
left East London we sent the sum of L43 to Sir A. Milner for the
fund above referred to. Besides the Soldiers' Home, we started a
Soldiers' 'Social Evening' on Wednesdays in Wesley Hall, which
was largely patronised by the men. I have found the officers
without a single exception ready to further my work in every way.
I had also a good deal of hospital work, which to me was full of
pathetic interest. I have had the joy of harvest in some
instances, for some of the men have been led to Christ. When I
purposed leaving, the circuit officials generously took the Town
Hall for two nights at a cost of L14 for my Farewell Service on
Sunday night, and the Farewell Social on Tuesday. The hall was
packed with about 1500 people on the Sunday. We had a grand
number of soldiers. Then on the Tuesday in the same hall there
were about 1000 people who sat down to tea, including from 400 to
500 soldiers. When tea was over I was to my surprise presented
with a purse of sovereigns from the circuit, and to my still
greater astonishment Col. Long of the Somerset Light Infantry
came on the platform, and spoke most appreciatively of my work
amongst the men, and their great regret at my departure. When he
had finished he called upon Sergt.-Master-Tailor Syer to make a
presentation to me on behalf of the men. It was a beautiful
walking-stick with a massive silver ferrule suitably inscribed,
and a very fine case of razors. Then every soldier in the hall
rose to his feet and gave the departing chaplain three cheers. It
was really one of the proudest moments in my life."
[Sidenote: _The Soldiers' Reception Committee._]
Of the Durban Soldiers' Reception Committee the chairman was the Rev.
G. Lowe, also a Transvaal refugee Wesleyan minister; and in a letter
from him now lying on my table he states that he was sometimes on the
landing jetty for fifteen hours at a stretch. He adds that he was the
first to begin this work of welcoming the troops on landing at
Durban, and obtained the permits to take in a few friends within the
barriers for the distribution of fruit, tobacco and bread to the
soldiers, on the purchase of which nearly L300 was expended.
Twenty-five thousand troops were thus met; over L2000 sent home to the
friends of the soldiers; more than 8000 letters announcing the safe
arrivals of the men were dispatched, many hundreds of them being
written for the men by various members of the committee. This work was
most highly appreciated by General Buller; and Colonel Riddell of the
3rd K.R. Rifles left in Mr Lowe's hands L208, 18s. belonging to the
men of his regiment to be sent to the soldiers' relatives. Then, only
a few days before his death at Spion Kop, he wrote expressing his
personal thanks for the excellent work thus done on behalf of his own
and other battalions.
[Sidenote: _The other way about._]
About the same time that the Guards reached the Vaal their comrades on
the right, under General Ian Hamilton, arrived at Heilbron, and here
the Rev. R. Matterson at once opened his house and his heart to
welcome them. In face of the dire difficulty of dealing satisfactorily
with the sick and wounded in so inaccessible a village, Mr and Mrs
Matterson received into their own home two enteric patients belonging
to the Ceylon Mounted Infantry, one of them being a son of the
Wesleyan minister at Colombo; but here, as in so many another place,
while the civilians did what they could for the soldiers, the soldiers
in their turn did what they could for the civilians. At Krugersdorp,
so our Welsh chaplain told me, he arranged for a crowded military
concert, which cleared L35 for the destitute poor of the town, mostly
Dutch. So here at Heilbron the troops, fresh from the fray, and on
their way to further furious conflicts, actually provided an open-air
concert for the benefit of a local church charity in the very
neighbourhood, and among the very people they were in the very act of
conquering. It is a topsy-turvy world that war begets: but most of all
this war, in which while the kopjes welcomed us with lavish supplies
of explosive bullets, the towns and villages welcomed us with
proffered fruit and the flaunting of British flags; the troops, on the
other hand, seizing every chance of entertaining friends and foes
alike with instrumental music, comic, sentimental, and _patriotic_
songs. Even on the warpath, tragedy and comedy seem as inseparable as
the Siamese twins; in proof whereof here follows the programme of one
such soldierly effort to aid a local church charity in the Orange Free
State:--
POPULAR PROMENADE CONCERT
TO BE HELD ON
_SATURDAY, 22nd DECEMBER 1900, at 4.45_ P.M.
By the kind permission of Lieut.-Col. the Hon. A. E. DALZELL
and the Officers of the 1st Oxfordshire Light Infantry.
PROGRAMME.
1. GRAND MARCH--"Princess Victoria" _O'Keefe_ BAND.
2. SONG Serg. COX,
1st O.L.I.
3. COON SONG Trooper GREENWOOD,
I.Y.
4. OVERTURE--"Norma" _Bellini_ BAND.
5. SENTIMENTAL SONG Corp. ASHLY,
1st O.L.I.
6. RECITATION Corp. SAMPSON,
R.G.A.
7. CORNET SOLO--"My Pretty Jane" _Bishop_ Band-Serg. BROOME.
8. SONG Mr J. ILSLEY.
9. DESCRIPTIVE SONG Corporal COOKE,
1st O.L.I.
10. SELECTION--"The Belle of New York" _Kerker_ BAND.
11. SONG Gunner HIGGINBOTHAM,
R.G.A.
12. SONG Gunner M'GINTZ,
R.G.A.
13. VALSE--"Mia Cara" _Bucalossi_ BAND.
14. PATRIOTIC SONG Serg. GEAR,
1st O.L.I.
15. COMIC SONG Corporal CROWLY,
1st O.L.I.
16. GALOP--"En Route" _Clarke_ BAND.
"_GOD SAVE THE QUEEN._"
Admission to Ground--ONE SHILLING. Refreshments at reasonable prices.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _Our near Kinship to the Boers._]
Of another important fact which grew upon us later on, we gained our
first glimpse during these early days. The Boers we found were in many
respects startlingly near akin to us. They sprang originally from the
same liberty-loving stock as ourselves. Hosts of them spoke correct
and fluent English, while not a few of them were actually of English
parentage. Moreover, the Hollanders and the English have so freely
intermarried in South Africa that at one time it was fondly hoped the
cradle rather than the rifle would finally settle our racial
controversies. They are haunted by the same insatiable earth hunger as
ourselves, and hence unceasingly persisted in violating the
Conventions which forbade all further extension of Transvaal
territory. As a people they are more narrowly Protestant than even we
have ever been. The Doppers, of whom the President was chief, are
Ultra-Puritans; and they would suffer none but members of a Protestant
Church to have any vote or voice in their municipal or national
affairs. Jews and Roman Catholics as such were absolutely
disfranchised by them; and their singing, which later on we often
heard, by its droning heaviness would have delighted the hearts of
those Highland crofters who, at Aldershot, said they could not away
with the jingling songs of Sankey. "Gie us the Psalms of David," they
cried. The Dutch Reformed Church and the Presbyterian Church of
Scotland are nearer akin than cousins; and when after Magersfontein
our Presbyterian chaplain crossed over into the Boer lines to seek out
and bury the dead, he was heartily hailed as a _Reformed_ minister,
was treated with as much courtesy as though he had been one of their
own predikants, and as the result was so favourably impressed that an
imaginative mind might easily fancy him saying to Cronje, "Almost thou
persuadest me to become a Boer!"
Of all wars, civil wars are the most inexpressibly saddening; and this
terrible struggle was largely of that type. Neighbours who had known
each other intimately for years, members of the same church, and even
of the same family, found themselves ranged on opposite sides in this
awful fray. When Boer and Briton came to blows it was a _brother-bond_
that was broken, in sight of the awestruck natives. It was once again
even as in the days of old when Ephraim envied Judah and Judah vexed
Ephraim! Nevertheless, times without number, a concert in the midst of
strife, such as that described above, sufficed to draw together all
classes in friendliest possible intercourse, and seemed a tuneful
prophecy of the better days that are destined yet to dawn.
[Sidenote: _More good work on our right flank._]
We can only linger to take one more glance at this type of service by
this type of worker before we proceed with our story of the Guards'
advance. Winburg, like Heilbron, lay on our right flank, and was
occupied by the troops about the same time as we entered Kroonstad.
The Wesleyan clergyman was the only representative of the Churches
left in the place; and the story of his devotion is outlined in the
following memorandum to the D.A.A.G. with the official reply
thereto:--
WINBURG, O. R. C.
_Dec. 21, 1900._
To MAJOR GOUGH, D.A.A.G.,
Kindly allow me to state a few facts in order to show the
exceptional character of my position and work, both before and
since the time of my appointment.
1. Previous to the occupation of Winburg by the British troops, I
was employed in attending to the sick and wounded English
soldiers who were brought here as prisoners of war by the Dutch
Forces.
2. During a period of at least five months--as no other chaplain
or clergyman was living within a distance of about fifty miles--I
was the only one available for religious services, either parade
or voluntary, for hospital visitation and burial duties, which
were then so urgently and frequently needed. We had six
hospitals, and occasionally as many as three funerals on the same
day.
3. From the date of the British occupation, May 5th, my knowledge
of the country and people--acquired during twenty-five years'
residence in various parts of the O. R. C.--has been at the
disposal of the military authorities. I have often acted as
interpreter and translator, and as such accompanied the
Commandant of Winburg when, a few weeks ago, he went to meet the
leader of the Boer forces near their laager in this district.
4. As almost all the English population left the town before the
war, our nearly empty church was then, and still remains,
available for the garrison troops. About nine-tenths of both my
Sunday and week-day congregations are soldiers, for whom all the
seats are free.
5. Immediately after the arrival of the British forces, our
church was utilised for an entirely undenominational Soldiers'
Home, and books for the emergency were supplied from my library.
Colonel Napier, who was then C.O. of Winburg, expressed his
appreciation of this part of our garrison work, and assisted in
its development. By his direction, the Home was removed to the
premises it now occupies. It consists of separate rooms for
reading, writing and refreshments; also rooms and kitchen for the
manageress. It is still under my superintendence.--Yours, C. HARMON.
(_Copy._) _Colonel Napier's Recommendation._
To STAFF OFFICER, Bloemfontein.
I strongly recommend that the Rev. C. Harmon be retained as an
acting chaplain to the troops. I can fully endorse all the
reverend gentleman has stated in the above memorandum. He has
been most useful to the Garrison and Military Authorities at
Winburg, and his thorough knowledge of the Dutch language makes
his services among the refugees and natives indispensable.
JOHN SCOTT NAPIER, Col.
WINBURG, _Jan. 3, 1901_.
It is a supreme satisfaction to know that our men were thus in so many
ways well served by the local clergy of South Africa, to whom our
warmest thanks are due.