[ A Radley College old boy in the Second Boer War. ] Diary of a short tour of duty in South Africa by 'Frank' or 'F. R. W.', against the background of the lifting of the Siege of Ladysmith.

[1] + 36pp., 8vo. The diary is in good condition internally, in worn and aged covers. The author is 'Frank' and 'FRW', a Radley old boy, belonging to what he calls 'more or less an Anglo-Indian & City set'. (The family's surname is not given, but family members include 'Sybil and Ella'.) An officer in a militia regiment, he sails out from England on the RMS Goorkha (Capt. Williams), and returns to Tilbury on the Oratava (Capt. Morgan). Preceding the diary is a list of 24 'Unpacked' items, from 'Hair brushes' to '2 Pr Pants'. The diary is written in a light-hearted, humorous style, and features romantic dalliances, captured Boers, a triple amputee, and continual pining after a girl left behind in England. The first entry, 1 January 1900, simply reads: 'Great excitement am for S. Africa'. On the journey out he is accompanied by 'Major J. W. A. Parr'. While stopping off in Madeira he sees 'funny looking women', one of whom he believes 'was 'enchanted' with him, 'as she spoke & asked me my name'. On 14 January he writes: 'After this I gave in. She asked me before leaving to stay for a fortnight on my way home. She was Spanish, very pretty, but old about 28. Tells me her father is a nice man, as if I was a bit curious. Shall I stay as I come home, if I ever get home'. On 17 January he arrives 'at a descision [sic]', that he is in love [...] I see her lovely face before me all day, at night I wonder continuously what she is doing & who is with her'. He vacillates over whether to write to the object of his affection. As the journey proceeds he smokes cigars (one, given to him by 'Capt Fisher', 'the worst I have ever smoked') and cigarettes, and passes his time taking part in cricket matches between smokers and non-smokers, and 'Sweethearts' and 'non-sweethearts'. On 23 January the ship arrives at Cape Town. Two days later he writes: 'We land, Parr, Fisher & I report, nobody knows anything about us, oh just as I expected. Fisher is very <?> as he was given to understand he was for Buller at once.' The next day: 'I find on reporting myself that Fisher & I, Lord Bobs. 16 Special Service men are for Station Masters, divine idea too isnt it. We are to report ourselves to Capt Coddington. R.I.F. Cod'ton a good sort, but name too long, gave me a cheap cigar, which I chucked away after no whiffs & told him I felt devilish ill'. The same day he meets 'a devilish pretty woman' in a 'smart pink toque'. The following day he writes: 'Heavens, my pink toque is floating past, oh ye Gods what a look & a smile'. On 28 January he is disillusioned after calling on 'my Pink Toque & she is evidently well set up with this world's goods, but she is evidently an adventuress She had a boy of the 10, an awful mug running about for scent bottles called him '"Babs" oh heavens'. On 3 February he arrives at Durban, and the next day in Howick. On 7 February: 'War [...] makes unexpected bedfellows, when I awoke this morning, a pig sound asleep was the first thing I saw, poor beast'. The following day he writes: 'We got up a game of football for an hour to buck up the men.' A number of references relate to Redvers Buller, who is attempting to lift the Siege of Ladysmith, and on 16 February: 'The first Boer I have seen passed down 102 of them under an escort of the Connaughts & with Capt Robertson in command dirty looking brutes & so shaby [sic]'. On 20 February: 'Daglish turns out to be an old school friend. Damned funny I think 1000s of miles away & to meet an old Radley boy.' 22 February: 'More Boer Prisoners. I had a chat with one, he tells me he is very glad he is captured as he has had a fearful time of it. Poor devil.' And the following day: 'I have applied for leave to go up to Estcourt. Its raining cats & dogs. A Kaffir has just come in & says that Ladysmith has surrendered & that Buller is surrounded & that a force of 5000 Boer is marching [for] Maritzburg. I have put him in the guard Room. Damned Liar'. On 26 January: 'Hear that Cronje & 6,000 Boers are prisoners of Bobs. Rumours. [...] Rumoured too that dear kind Ladysmith is relieved'. On 1 March, having contracted 'Yellow Jaundice & Pneumonia' he is sent to the Depot Hospital at Pieter Maritzburg, before being deemed well enough to be 'taken care of by a private family relations of mine [the Crookendens] here in Maritzberg. People I have never seen. They are very nice & they have been telling me about my dad before he was married.' On 4 March he takes a turn for the worse, and writes: 'In case I dont recover will you please who may read this write & tell Miss Rogers Broxbourne Park Romney Harts [sic, for 'Herts'] that my last thought was of her.' On 5 March he is 'Too bad to write', and the entries for the next nine days read 'ILL'. On 16 March he feels better, and would 'like some smokes'. He is invalided out, writing on 23 March that he 'hoped for so much & got nothing. If I had only have [sic] stopped a bullet.' The following day he writes: 'Sail in the Oratava for England, Home & beauty'. And on 25 March: 'Well I am on my homeward journey. I dont fancy I have been a great success here. I of course got my attack thro sleeping on the open Veldt on Shrove Tuesday. Pancake Day too.' The following day the boat reaches Cape Town, and 'a crowd from Ladysmith [...] sympathise with me for not getting to the front, Damn em all'. Two days later he writes: 'I was down among some of the men to-day & the terrible sights, its awful. One poor man of the Gordons, both legs & one arm gone, a shell.' On 30 March he writes that 'Mrs B came on board. Appears she is one of three nurses in charge of some casualtys [sic] from Bobs & French. She looked so sweet in her kit. She was awfully pleased to see me.' the last day of March he finds it 'so funny to be doing Orderly Officer again. First Mess I shouted out "any complaints" I was quite frightened seemed just like the first time I had ever done it. Sat with Mrs B for an hour & decided to caller her Mina & she call me Frank, we are great pals.' On 6 April he writes that he is 'carrying on a mild flirtation with the Sister Maud an awfully good hearted little woman, she was in Ladysmith is recommended for something or other. She is very plain but very nice. Marshall & I have been playing Pokar [sic] for 3 hours so I am off to bed.' The entry for 8 April reads: 'We have a rat hunt & didnt the Petticoats scream & show bits of lace too oh it was killing. We must find more Rats methinks.' Accompanying the entry is a loosely-inserted pencil drawing on a 17 x 10 cm piece of thick paper, coloured in pink and blue, showing a fashionable woman, in low-cut Parisian fin-de-siecle dress and matching feathered hat, reading a newspaper (titled 'SCRAPS'), while smoking a cigarette and sitting on the edge of a table. It is signed 'FRW 8/3/00' [sic], and captioned 'Dear Mina from life. Smoking Room | 8/4/00.' Two days later he announces Mina's engagement to 'Tea', to whom he will be best man: 'She looks so happy & I do believe she loved him before they met again'. On 11 April they approach England: 'Hurra at last. Tilbury Docks. Heaven & Earth be thanked once more in England. No luck Captain Morgan told us if we were not in Tilbury by the 11 he was no sailor. I fear it will be the 14 before we are.' On the eve of docking, 13 April, he reflects that he is 'none the worse perhaps for my experience. But I have been thinking of late if I shall ever see that one face again I have had before my eyes since a certain day in December. If I was only a wealthy man my way would be clear, [...] My first slip when I arrive home, my father wishing it, is to give up my Commission in the Militia & I suppose as all boys do, go on the Stock Exchange. Well I have been wondering should I search out my hearts desire [...] True she is not in my set, but what matter the true love of a man is always a compliment to a good woman. Not that she is any higher in the land, but hers is a military set & mine, more or less an Anglo-Indian & City set'. The diary concludes: 'Well I will lock this book away & in years to come I may look back on it as a madness or a pleasure & read it thro with the girl I love.'?>