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William John Ravenscroft

Private, Koffiefontein Defence Force – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal to 44 PTE W. RAVENSCROFT. KOFFYFONTEIN D.F.

William Ravenscroft was born on 14 October 1866 in Swellendam in the Cape Colony to James Ravenscroft, a Bootmaker from Grahamstown and his wife Emma. Growing up he wasn’t short of playmates with older siblings George William, Thomas and James and younger siblings Mary Anne Elizabeth, Charles, Emma, Sophia and Jane to keep him on his toes.

As the years wore on he met his wife to be, married and moved on - the nuptials taking place at Burghersdorp in the Albert Division of the Eastern Cape where, at Christ Church on 1 May 1893, he wed the 23 year old Rachel Johanna Slabberts. His bride, recorded as a Domestic Servant, would seem to have been illiterate as she was only able to make her mark in the register, with others witnessing that this was indeed her. Ravenscroft, aged 26, was a Blacksmith by trade.



Rachel would appear to have been with child when she tied the marital knot with the couple’s first-born, Mary Magdalena Johanna, seeing the light of day in Burghersdorp on 6 January 1894 – just 8 months after the wedding. A steady stream of children followed with the birth of James on 5 December 1894 – scarcely ten months after his sister was born. Next came Jasper Johannes Gideon born on 17 October 1897 and Emma born on 15 July 1898. Rachel Johanna born 29 July 1900 followed with James, Jasper and Rachel all being baptised on the same day - at Fauresmith on 29 July 1900 where, according to the Anglican Church Parish Records, William was a Miner from Koffiefontein. To round the children off, the last born was some fifteen years later when William John made a brief appearance – brief because, at the age of 2 ½ months he passed away with Acute Meningitis and a Suppurating Middle Ear at Koffiefontein on 19 February 1915. Of interest was the fact that Ravenscroft was listed as being Dutch at this time – thus bringing him full circle from being raised English to becoming Afrikaans in all but name.

As the 19th century drew to a close the long simmering tensions between the Transvaal and the Orange Free State and Great Britain came to a head with war between them erupting on 11 October 1899. As has been seen from the above, Ravenscroft was already living and working as a Miner in Koffiefontein, a small mining settlement some 30 miles south-east of Kimberley. War was far from his mind as he went about his daily tasks but that all changed when the Boers decided to flex their muscles and expand their ambit of operations.

Being resident in Koffiefontein, in the district of Fauresmith, meant that you were a Burgher or Citizen of the Orange Free State and thus liable to be conscripted or, if refusing to take up arms for the Boer cause, to be expelled from the country and put over the border into the Cape Colony. The Ravenscroft family were at a crossroad when it came to making this tough decision. William and many of his close relatives had made a life for themselves in the area and they weren’t about to give it all away. At the end of the day a schism occurred in the family’s ranks with a Thomas and a Nicolaas Ravenscroft opting to fight for the Boers and William deciding to throw his lot in with the British. The two aforementioned were taken Prisoner of War as the war wore on whilst William, although having been called up by the Orange Free State authorities for duty, successfully evaded any attempts to bring him to heel.

Instead he found himself as one of the few members of the Koffyfontein (sic) Defence Force – a band of some 50 miners called into being to protect the town and nearby diamond mine from threatened Boer incursions. They didn’t have long to wait with the now famous Siege of Koffiefontein taking place in late 1900 – an event which made headlines worldwide and which thrust the sleepy little hamlet into an unwanted prominence on the world stage.



This is how the situation developed. On 12th October 1900, a force under the command of Commandant Visser had approached and promptly demanded the surrender of Koffiefontein. The notion was rejected outright by Captain Robertson, the Assistant Magistrate and only military man there. On the 16th Robertson withdrew from the town and occupied a position at the nearby mines which he then entrenched. On the 21st the Boers attacked the dorp (village) but failed to press home their advantage. Robertson retaliated by raiding a farmhouse occupied by Boers, and a fierce skirmish is said to have ensued with each side losing one man killed and two Boers being captured.

On the 25th General Hertzog arrived and, again to no avail, demanded the surrender of the village; an attack which followed the next day in turn was thwarted and Hertzog withdrew. Meanwhile a column of Cape Police and Cape Mounted Rifles commanded by Major-General Henry Hamilton Settle which had arrived at Boshof on 30th October 1900, began moving south across the now Orange River Colony to the Bloemfontein Railway. En route, on 3rd November, this formation - A and G Companies of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, under Captain Crichton-Browne and Lieutenant Neilson, equipped with a 15 pounder manned by Cape Artillerymen, and 15 wagons of food and ammunition - assisted Sir Charles Parsons’ flying column - a Squadron of Imperial Yeomanry - in relieving Koffyfontein which had been invested by Hertzog. Lord Kitchener's memorialised these activities in his Despatches of the 8th July 1901 as follows:

Koffyfontein (Orange River Colony) Defence Force, Cpl. H. J. Jellard, promoted Sgt. on October 11th, 1900, for exposing himself to heavy fire at sixty yards' range when getting on to a debris heap to connect a wire from a battery to a mine, and also for holding an advanced position with one native.

Several newspapers also relayed news about the siege but we will confine ourselves to the well-written article in the Daily Malta Chronicle of 11 December 1900 to reveal the story of what took place. Under the heading “Gallant Defence – The Siege of Koffyfontein – A Brilliant Minor Episode” the article read thus:

“Kimberley, November 7th – The Advertiser’s special correspondent sends an account of the defence of Koffyfontein which was held by Captain Robertson of the Kimberley Light Horse and the little garrison of fifty miners under his command, showing that for nearly a month they held out most gallantly against two strong Boer Commandoes, under Commandant’s Visser and Hertzog (James Barry Munnik Hertzog was to become Prime Minister of South Africa at a later date), and behaved in a way which the Advertiser declares entitles their defence to rank as, in its way, one of the most brilliant of the minor episodes of the war.

The garrison entrenched themselves almost impregnably in debris heaps, and kept the enemy at bay without a single casualty in spite of the heavy fire which rained upon them.

Captain Robertson was the only military man there, and he a volunteer officer. All the miners asked was for arms and ammunition, and having been supplied with these, resolutely set themselves to keep the flag flying, and preserve the property, never once losing heart, and the women and children seconding their efforts by their pluck and endurance.

The men, women and children all withdrew from the village into the forts at the mine commanding the approaches, and connected by underground passages. The Boers were able to pour a heavy fire into the main fort from an adjoining kopje, but this again was dominated by other forts built by the garrison on the high tailing heaps, and thus the enemy was frustrated.

Four natives who were sent to glean information were caught by the Boers. Three were brutally shot, and the fourth sent back to Koffyfontein with the news of the fate of the others.”



Despite having “lived to fight another day” by warding off the Boer attack Koffiefontein was far from safe with a number of skirmishes taking place in her very near vicinity in the ensuing months as the fight ebbed and flowed with the Boers criss-crossing the area both in search of supplies as well as making several attempts to cross back into the Cape Colony to recruit for men to join their cause. Ravenscroft and his comrades would have been kept very busy whilst the war raged on. This was especially so as all mining operations had, of necessity, ceased while the war was on. He was the recipient of the Queens Medal for his efforts – only 30 were issued with 4 being returned unclaimed.

The Peace Treaty of Vereeniging brought hostilities to a close on 31 May 1902 and the men were able to lay down their arms and gradually return to their previous occupations. Ravenscroft appears to have stayed on in Koffiefontein. In 1907 he and Rachel drew up a joint Last Will and Testament – on this occasion she was able to append her signature instead of her mark to the document.

William John Ravenscroft died on Thursday, 6th December 1928 at the age of 62 from Acute Dysentery and an Undefined disease of the Heart. He is buried in the Municipal Cemetery at Koffiefontein.

Acknowledgements:
- Familysearch for Marriage, Baptism and Death Notices
- angloboerwar.com for map and currency
- Various newspaper reports contained in the body of the work
- Rollo Ravenscroft for family tree details

Very nice indeed, Rory, that is a really hard to find medal, I cannot even remember the last time I saw one of those, certainly a couple of decades ago I would think.

A great read this afternoon. Thank you and the photos of the medal are excellent. I will need to practice more!

Thanks Gavin - it's my trusty old Samsung S8 Plus hard at work.