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cheer which was echoed by the prisoners, who came tumbling out of their barracks into the
enclosure. Marlborough found the commandant and demanded the surrender of the prison. The
gate was opened, the guards were made prisoners, and Lieutenant Cecil Grimshaw of the
Dublin Fusiliers produced a Union Jack he had made... Early in the afternoon Roberts made a
triumphal entry with his army: 25,531 officers and men, 6,971 horses, 116 guns, and 76
machine guns. Lord Roberts and his staff sat their horses in Church Square to review the
troops. The released British officers lined the streets... The troops were tired, grimy and
footsore... In Church Square the Union Jack which had been made by Lady Roberts and flown
over Bloemfontein and Johannesburg was raised by the Duke of Westminster, an officer on
Roberts' staff. The Reverend Batts watched the ceremony with emotion: "I saw a big Australian
mop his eyes at the moment and I felt a lump in my throat."'
Australia's first Victoria Cross was won in July 1900 by an officer serving with the Medical
Corps. Although the Boer War had nothing to do with the Australian colonies, they loyally and
enthusiastically sent 1,200 men, with horses and equipment, to fight for and with Britain against
the rebel Boers. Among them
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was Lt Neville Howse, an Englishman, who had settled in New South Wales in 1889 and
practised as a GP. At Vredefort in the Orange Free State he picked up a wounded soldier
under heavy fire and carried him to safety. He was awarded theVC in 1901. Although English
by birth he was serving with a Corps from New South Wales and was a citizen of the newly
federated Australia. In later life he became Mayor of Orange in NSW and was knighted after
the first World War. He died in England.
Meanwhile, Buller had continued his operations in Natal, and succeeded in driving the Boers
back into the Transvaal. With his army was Dick Honeycombe, who had joined the Imperial
Bearer Corps at Pietermarltzburg on 21 March 1900, when he was 42. This handsome inland
town, founded by the Boers, had been the British colony's administrative centre since 1843.
We know that Dick became a stretcher bearer for the British forces as his discharge certificate
from the Corps was passed on to his grandson and preserved. After one year and 133 days of
service he was discharged on 1 August 1901 at Peitermaritzburg, the certificate being signed by
a Major LD Hay. Dick's character is described as 'Good'. More interestingly, a physical
description is included. It says his age was 44 (which he would not in fact be true until
September); that he was 5'3VS; that his complexion was dark, his eyes were blue, and his hair
was 'grey shot black'. His trade is given as stonecutter, and his intended place of residence was
Australia.
Although the war dragged on for two years, until May 1902, largely owing to the unremitting
guerilla warfare carried on by the Boers, Dick Honeycombe was now bent on going home. And
he returned to Melbourne, to his wife and four young children, in 1902 - probably after the war
came to an end.
Tom was dead by then. It is possible that because of his illness, he never took any part in the
Boer War. He may indeed have returned to Australia before the war began. For he died of
phthisis, aged 41, at 69 Lee St, North Carlton, on 3 March 1901. His occupation was that of
stonecutter, and the registrar was informed of the death by Tom's eldest son, George, who was
now 19 and still living at home, as were the other two children, Elizabeth Mary, just 18, and
Tom junior, now aged 12.
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