She Tore Every Stitch of her Underlinen
In the Caithness Roll of Honour published in the Northern Ensign on 2 April, 1901 ‘Cragan Mor’ names brave soldiers he knows of. The list includes:
Captain Peter Murray, Braemore, rose from the ranks in South Africa. Mrs Marion Smith, a daughter of Captain Murray, nobly attended the wounded and dying at the fatal Majuba disaster and tore every stitch of her underlinen to bandage the wounds of the wounded and dying. I knew this brave lady well.
Correction: It was the Battle of Bronkhorst Spruit not the Majuba disaster that Marion Smith was caught up in.
Who was this brave lady and why was she ripping up her petticoats for bandages?
Marion Murray was born in Sutherland about 1856. Her father,
Captain Peter Murray of the 91st Highlanders, was proudly known as a
Caithness soldier having been born in Braemore in 1820. Marion’s mother was
from Dornoch in Sutherland. Marion married Bandmaster Benjamin Smith.
First Boer War background.
The British wanted to control South Africa because it was one of the routes to India. When gold and diamonds were discovered in the 1860s to 1880s their interest in the region increased. This brought them into conflict with the Boers from the Transvaal. There was a series of negotiations and incidents between the Boers and the English. There were about 1,800 British soldiers stationed in towns across the Transvaal but the Boers had gathered up about 7,000 soldiers. The British underestimated the skills and the local knowledge of the Boers. There were four main battles and several sieges in the first Boer War. In the battle of Bronkhorst Spruit, 20th December 1880, a convoy of British soldiers was ambushed by Boers with the British suffering severe losses and having to surrender.
94th Regiment of Foot badge
94th Regiment
Two companies of the 94th regiment had been positioned at Lydenburg. Considering the conflicts and serious unrest it seems crazy that there were some wives and children of British soldiers living with the regiments in South Africa. Apparently, depending on the rules of the regiment some wives were permitted to travel with the regiment and drew army rations. Mrs Marion Smith, Mrs Fox, wife of the sergeant-major, and Mrs Maistre, wife of the orderly-room clerk were amongst these women. Although it is not clear when Marion went to South Africa, Cragan Mor says her father, Captain Peter Murray, rose through the ranks in South Africa so Marion may have been there with her family before she married. Marion’s husband, Band Master Benjamin Smith of the 94th regiment had died at Lydenburgh 4th July 1880. Newly widowed Marion needed to get back to England with her two young children.
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| The path of the 94th, From Lydenburg in the North East to Pretoria, over Bronkhorst Spruit |
As reported in the John O Groat Journal on 7th April, 1881
A Lady A Prisoner With the Boers
A Lady named Mrs Smith, daughter of Captain Peter Murray, of the 91st Highlanders, and grand-daughter of the late Sergeant Thomas Mackay, Dingwall, has written a letter describing the battle of Bronker’s Spruit, and her imprisonment with the Boers. She happened to be a passenger in the convoy under charge of the 94th Regiment, from Leydenberg to Pretoria, which was attacked by the Boers on Dec 20th. The letter was carried by Sergeant Hook of the 94th Regiment, for upwards of 220 miles before being posted :-
“Bronker’s Spruit, January 15th 1881
“…I mentioned in one of my letters that I would embrace the first opportunity of getting down country. Fortune, as I thought seemed to favour me, for the regiment (the 94) got sudden orders to proceed to Pretoria. We left Leydenberg on December 2nd. Before leaving the Colonel kindly called on upon me, and asked if I would like to go down as far as Pretoria with the regiment, as, he said, I would have a better chance of getting to King William’s from there. Of course I said I would gladly go. He said there was some rumour of the regiment being attacked on the way by the Boers, but he didn’t credit it. However we were attacked on the 20th December. I cannot describe the horrible scene on our side. Our poor men numbered only 250 and the enemy’s about 1200. I have often read about the battlefield, but never thought I would witness such a sight as I did that day. I remained in the waggon with my little children. God in His mercy watched over us because the waggon was literally riddling with bullets, and we escaped unhurt. I had myself a very narrow escape of being shot dead, a bullet having passed right through the hat on my head. The doctor told me afterwards that if the bullet had entered my head instead of my hat I would have been killed at once. I sat in the waggon with both my arms thrown around my two children, thinking I could in this way keep the bullets from them. I never shed a tear while the fight lasted, but offered up a heartfelt and sincere prayer to God to protect us, and He in His mercy did so, and brought us safely through. Had the fight lasted another five or ten minutes, there would not have been a single creature on our side left alive".
“We are now prisoners, but the Boers treat us very kindly. The poor Colonel (Anstruther), the Adjutant, and three captains were killed – the Adjutant on the spot and the others afterwards from their wounds. I did all in my power to assist the poor men and officers and don’t know how I did it. On the night of the engagement I went over the field to see two officers who were dying, and in doing so I was falling over the dead and dying who were still lying in the field”
Mrs Fox was injured seriously but the two other women, Mrs Smith and Mrs Maistre tended the wounded. Mrs Smith had her ear and lip cut, but she left her wagon and tore strips of her own clothing and continued to nurse the wounded soldiers.
From December 20 until March 31, 1881, the three women remained prisoners in the hands of the Boers. They might, had they cared to do so, have led lives of idleness during their imprisonment, but, instead, they were busy from morning until night nursing the wounded.
'Survivors 94th Regt & Colors, Bronkhurst [sic] Spruit. - Decr 20th 1880', 5 April 1881. Mrs Annie Fox, wounded [centre] - Mrs Marion Smith & 2 children [right], Mrs Maistre'.
From an album of photographs compiled by George Froom, 94th Regiment of Foot.
Source: https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1954-06-5-2-36
To be continued
