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Boer War Discovery Page 92g |
Rare Boer War Discoveries |
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| Below are some of the items the Canadian Boer War Museum has added to its collections in its ongoing efforts to preserve important Canadian heritage memorabilia from this period. | |||
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Great Boer War Discoveries ( July 2005)
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A Major's Boer War Trophy Binoculars ?
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| A rare pair of Boer War binoculars recently turned up, connected to a famous British Boer War regiment, and a senior officer in the Royal Horse Artillery.
They belonged to Major PE Gray RHA, and are signed by him, as a member of the CIV, and dated 1900, aboard the troop ship SS Aurania. At that time the Aurania was taking the CIV - which had left for South Africa in January 1900, back to England, its tour of duty being over. The London Times on October 18, 1900, notes the departure of the Aurania from Cape Town, on October 7, carrying the CIV and 49 listed officers, including Major PE Gray RHA. So we are certain he wrote his signature in October, 1900. For some reason, the Major - perhaps realizing his brief moment in history was about to evaporate - wrote his name on his binoculars, aboard ship, on the way home... Major Gray had likely been in the artillery group attached to the CIV during its campaigns. In honour of his connection to a much publicized regiment he also etched C.I.V. into one of its barrels. |
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| The Mystery Name! There are no military markings on these binoculars, so Major Gray did not have these issued to him. Of course officers also outfitted themselves with "private purchase" of items from regular commercial stores. These were almost always French; there are no French markings on these binoculars. So the possibility exists that they might be German or Dutch, and may have belonged, originally, not to a British officer at all, but perhaps a Boer farmer in the South African veldt! A farmer/hunter who then went to war...
Scratched on the other side of the same barrel on which CIV is strongly carved, are the crudely formed letters "JAM." If anything, these letters look older, and are more worn, than the "CIV" etching. Does this mean that these glasses did not originate with the Major at all, as a private purchase? Could these, in fact, have been a battlefield capture, having belonged to a Boer commando before, perhaps Johannes Abraham Meyers, or Jens Adolphus Mulders? |
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| The Battered Binos: These binos have suffered a few serious - but very old - blows to the barrels, mute testimony to a hard early life; the eye pieces are somewhat crushed, and the front rims have suffered some severe knocks. All wear and crunch marks are ancient, the gouges being coated with the patina of a hundred years.
It is unusual that a named British officer's binoculars show so much "battle damage." One wonders if these binoculars - which were always kept close to his body - could sustain such damage, how would the Major have survived? And why would he not discard these battered specimens immediately, and purchase another decent looking pair? Could it be that the Major liked them exactly the way they were? And showed that by writing his name in them, not before setting out on the campaign to prevent theft, but rather, at the end of it, to identify a "liberated" trophy, and a personal victory over a vanquished foe? Did the Major pick these up, after bombarding a Boer laager, from the body of a Boer called "JAM" who did not survive? Certainly the Major would have prized a battlefield trophy more than a private purchase. Did he triumphantly carve "CIV" opposite the vanquished Boer's original signature, to memorialize a victory in private which had been carried out in the field? |
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Great Canadian Heritage Treasure