Deelfontein | |
---|---|
Deelfontein | |
Coordinates: 30°59′31″S23°47′53″E / 30.992°S 23.798°E Coordinates: 30°59′31″S23°47′53″E / 30.992°S 23.798°E | |
Country | South Africa |
Province | Northern Cape |
District | Pixley ka Seme |
Municipality | Emthanjeni |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Deelfontein is a village in the Great Karoo, Northern Cape, region of South Africa on the route of the Pretoria to Cape Town railway. It primarily developed to service the railway due to its good water supply for steam locomotives, and is currently the location of a passing loop on the single-track line.
In 1900 a British military field hospital, the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, was constructed for casualties from the Second Boer War. The location was chosen for its communications and dry climate, and its proximity to De Aar, then the centre of hostilities. Alfred Downing Fripp [1] was Chief Medical Officer.
The hospital was unusual in pioneering the use of x-ray diagnosis. The surgeon-radiographer in charge, Major John Hall-Edwards, achieved eminence in this field, though he subsequently lost an arm through x-ray damage.
The hospital, with a capacity for some 800 patients, largely comprised tents and prefabricated huts; at the cease of hostilities, materials from the latter were used for housing at Red Location, a township for Africans outside Port Elizabeth. [2]
Little remains of the complex except a cemetery with around 130 graves and the remains of the Yeomanry Hotel, built after the war to accommodate soldiers' relatives visiting the site.
In 2005 a train collision occurred in Deelfontein as a result of solder splatter bridging a relay contact and causing a wrong-side signal failure.
Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford, KP, MVO, known as Lord Silchester until 1887, was an Irish peer and soldier.
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps form the Army Medical Services.
John Frederick McCrea VC was a South African recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Lindley is a small town situated on the banks of the Vals River in the eastern region of the Free State province of South Africa. It was named after an American missionary, Daniel Lindley, who was the first ordained minister to the Voortrekkers in Natal.
The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but subsequent contingents were more significantly working class in their composition. The existing yeomanry regiments contributed only a small proportion of the total Imperial Yeomanry establishment. In Ireland 120 men were recruited in February 1900. It was officially disbanded in 1908, with individual Yeomanry regiments incorporated into the new Territorial Force.
Sir Alfred Downing Fripp was born in Blandford Forum, in 1865. He was surgeon to both King Edward VII and King George V.
The City of London Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Territorial Army, formed in 1901 from veterans of the Second Boer War. In World War I it served dismounted in the Gallipoli Campaign but reverted to the mounted role in the Senussi campaign, at Salonika and in Palestine. It ended the war as a machine gun unit on the Western Front. In the interwar years it was reduced to a battery in a composite Royal Horse Artillery unit in London, but in the period of rearmament before World War II it was expanded into a full regiment of light anti-aircraft artillery. It served in this role during The Blitz and later in the Tunisian and Italian campaigns. Postwar it became an armoured regiment. It amalgamated with the Inns of Court Regiment to form the Inns of Court & City Yeomanry in 1961. The lineage is maintained by 68 Signal Squadron, part of 71 (Yeomanry) Signal Regiment.
The Cape Colonial Forces (CCF) were the official defence organisation of the Cape Colony in South Africa. Established in 1855, they were taken over by the Union of South Africa in 1910, and disbanded when the Union Defence Forces were formed in 1912.
King Edward's Horse was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1901, which saw service in the First World War.
The Berkshire Yeomanry was an auxiliary regiment of the British Army formed in 1794 to counter the threat of invasion during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was the Royal County of Berkshire's senior volunteer unit with over 200 years of voluntary military service. After taking part in the Second Boer War, it saw action as mounted troops in the First World War and as artillery in the Second World War. Its lineage is maintained by 94 Signal Squadron, part of 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment. The Headquarters of the Squadron is based in Windsor, Berkshire. The Berkshire Yeomanry had a number of battle honours won from Europe to the Far East and Private Frederick Potts was awarded a Victoria Cross for service during the Gallipoli Campaign.
The North Somerset Yeomanry was a part-time cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1798 to 1967. It maintained order in Somerset in the days before organised police forces, and supplied volunteers to fight in the Second Boer War. It served on the Western Front in the First World War. At the outbreak of the Second World War, it continued to operate in the mounted role and then as a specialist signals unit. Postwar it joined the Royal Armoured Corps and later became infantry. Its lineage today is maintained by 93 Squadron 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment.
The Duke of Yorks Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. Originally formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1793, it fought in the Second Boer war as part of the Imperial Yeomanry. In the World War I the regiment fought at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front. The unit was subsequently converted into a Royal Artillery unit, serving in the anti-tank role North Africa, Italy and France during World War II. The lineage is maintained by No. 677 Squadron AAC.
The Sussex Yeomanry is a yeomanry regiment of the British Army dating from 1794. It was initially formed when there was a threat of French invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. After being reformed in the Second Boer War, it served in the First World War and the Second World War, when it served in the East African Campaign and the Siege of Tobruk. The lineage is maintained by 1 Field Troop, 579 Field Squadron (EOD), part of 101 (London) Engineer Regiment (Volunteers).
The Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry is an Operational Hygiene Squadron of the Royal Logistic Corps, originally formed as cavalry in 1794, and has also served in artillery and signals roles. The lineage is continued by 710 Operational Hygiene Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps.
The Glamorgan Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army originally raised in the late eighteenth century as a result of concern over the threat of invasion by the French. It was re-raised in the Second Boer War and saw service in both World War I and World War II. The lineage is maintained by C Troop, 211 Battery, 104th Regiment Royal Artillery.
The Middlesex Yeomanry was a volunteer cavalry regiment of the British Army originally raised in 1797. It saw mounted and dismounted action in the Second Boer War and in World War I at Gallipoli, Salonika and in Palestine, where one of its officers won a Victoria Cross at the Battle of Buqqar Ridge and the regiment rode into Damascus with 'Lawrence of Arabia'. Between the world wars the regiment was converted to the signals role and it provided communications for armoured formations in World War II, including service in minor operations in Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Iran, as well as the Western Desert, Italian and North-West European campaigns. It continued in the postwar Territorial Army and its lineage is maintained today by 31 Signal Squadron, Royal Corps of Signals, which forms part of the Army Reserve.
The South African Railways Class 7B 4-8-0 of 1900 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in Transvaal.
The South African Railways Class D 2-6-4T of 1898 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in Transvaal.
Colonel Sir Charles Sim Bremridge Parsons, was an officer in the British Army, who spent most of his career in Africa.
The Imperial Military Hospital, Baragwanath, was a British military hospital built near Johannesburg, South Africa, during the Second World War. After the war it was purchased by the South African government and became one of the biggest hospitals in the world. Today it is called Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.