The Helpmekaar hospital patient

Hi All,
Following on from the previous thread, viv-a-vis the location of the Helpmekaar hospital I thought it interesting for some and appropriate to quote verbatim text from NMP Trooper Clarke's  unpublished war diaries on his experiences as a patient in February/March '79 in that field hospital.
Some background first.
Nineteen year old  Clarke had been on the Dartnell patrol on 22/01/79 and had arrived at Rorke's  Drift to relieve the place with Chelmsford on the morning of 23/01/79. As it turned out that was not necessary. Ten NMP troopers  were detailed to remain and help garrison RD, after which they were relocated to the nearby Helpmekaar garrison. However, the men had lost all their kit which had been ransacked or destroyed by the enemy at Isandlwana the previous day. They had no spare clothing, their mess kits were all lost to the Zulus and they were very also hungry, not having eaten for the previous 60 hours. The only ammunition which the column had was what was left in their pouches ( some of which had been used the previous days) as all of Chelmsford's ammunition reserves had been captured too.
So, in order to eat  and drink at  Rorke's Drift they had to "scavenge" in the old waste pits at the camp, digging them up and recovering  any  items which could be used as eating/ drinking utensils, ie either empty glassware or rusty tins.  Now  under these conditions, the mind boggles at the opportunity for salmonella and botulism poisoning attending upon such unsanitary circumstances. This, coupled to very wet and muddy conditions in the Rorkes Drift camp, is where I believe the illness started and sadly ended in death for a number of men.

Clarke's  diary ( Vol 1/9 pages 35-36 ), transcription starts;

Feb 19th 1879;
Early this month, diarrhea began to break out and several men were on the sick list, including myself among the number but I was well again in a few days , altho rather weak. The men who had escorted Lord Chelmsford ( to Ladysmith) returned in the middle of the month and today the Sgt Maj offered me a chance to ride to Ladysmith with Maj Dartnell and six men as he had to go to Newcastle to inspect the  Volunteers there.
 
We started from Helpmekaar early on the 20th and rode to Sunday's River where we offsaddled in the Thorns . On attempting to bathe in the river there we found after undressing that the river was only 1 foot deep and it was very amusing to see men lying down in one foot of water trying to wash and get wet all over.

We went by Kafir paths towards Ladysmith but could only reach a farm about 12 miles from there, where we found the Carbutt's Rangers encamped. This illustrious Corps was designated "the Blind Owls" because of their imbibing propensities  and was commanded by Mr Thomas  Carbutt at whose farm I was stationed later ( December 1881) in my career. They received pay at the rate of 12/- a day for troopers and 25/- for  Captain - funding themselves. Our arrival caused large quantities of rum  to be brought out and they fully sustained their reputation as "Blind Owls"
On the following morning after being well dosed with rum we proceeded on our journey through the Thorns and reached Ladysmith at 10am.  The hotels being full there we had to rest satisfied with quarters at the Commissariat store , where we slept in a stable on sacks of mielies which were green and sweating fearfully.

We used to go over to the hotel at 6pm and remained there until 11 pm, and my duty was to carry home to bed  the
corpses of my companions. Everything in Ladysmith was selling at long prices , forage was 25/- a cwt, the ordinary rate
being 7/-, and even the canteens were selling bottled  beer for 4/6d a bottle and draught beer for 1/- per 1/2 pint. Only
once did I stand drinks and then 4 sodas and brandy were ordered, which cost 10/-.

One of the men in this party , NMP Tpr Laughnan by name, went into hospital with fever. Despite the fever he still continued to drink Natal rum which he obtained from the hospital orderlies. He  eventually killed himself, dying a few days after our return to Helpmekaar.

February 25th;
The Major returned from Newcastle this morning and started at once on the return journey to Helpmekaar, but we were late because  NMP Tpr Steer, the Majors brother-in-law could not pull himself together. We did not get back to Carbutt's before early sundown , so remained there all night and had to endure another course of rum. We returned to Helpmekaar the following day.

February 26th;
We had a very hot ride today, again without food and were very glad to reach Helpmekaar, but whilst entering the camp we heard a shot  fired and were startled on learning that a Tpr Smith (Smythe?) had just committed suicide . The man had been sick for some time but the authorities could not get him into hospital as it was already too full. Some of the men had chaffed him about about feigning sickness so he put himself out of misery and was buried the following day. This was the first death at Helpmekaar.

The hospital now started to fill rapidly and several deaths took place mostly in the RE corps , so a graveyard was enclosed and we had daily parades for burial services. A first the normal salute was fired but the doctors thought that the sick men became disheartened on hearing the volleys , so the 3 volley burial salute was discontinued.
Very shortly after returning from Ladysmith I started to feel sick - at first languid and without energy. This condition lasted a few days and the last thing I remembered was telling the Sergeant that I was too unwell to go on guard duty , so he had me taken to my tent and left there . I was told afterwards that I remained in a state of insensibility for 5 days , without food and without anyone to look after me in my tent. At last our Major (Dartnell) visited the tents on his weekly inspection and seeing me in such a helpless state , he ordered my removal to the hospital, but I am not sure exactly what date that took place .

To be continued shortly , next stop for NMP Tpr Wim Clarke,  "The Helpmekaar death tent"

regards

barry

Thanks Barry.    Are you ever going to publish " Clarkes" Diaries?

Hi CTSG,
The work on Col Clarke's biography had proved to be a bigger undertaking than originally planned.
If one considers his military career spanned 4 decades, two continents, 8 countries, three major wars, many minor ones, and covered places as disparat as the Natal/Pondoland border (1880), the Rufiji Delta (1913), German West Africa (1914)and the Ob River in N.Russia (1918), and much else in between, it will be appreciated the sheer magnitude of the research required. Most of that is now completed and publication will follow.

regards,

barry

Hi All,
See below the transcription of  Tpr Clarke's diaries covering his sojourn in the Helpmekaar field hospital during the period Feb/Apr 1879.  Vol 1/9, pages 37 - 38 pertain.

Several false alarms took place before I was taken sick.
One of them was caused by a tame baboon on a chain getting loose and mounting the corrugated iron roof of the general dealers  store near the laager. He, the baboon, made such a noise draging his chain across the corrugated iron roof, that we all thought that the Zulus were sacking the place , but it was too dark to see anything so we all stood to  our arms and waited . At  last we heard a rushing sound and loaded our rifles but fortunately no one fired as it turned out to be a herd of (friendly) cattle being driven up to the camp.

Orders had been issued that in case of alarm the guards on the picket ropes , outside the laager were to cut the horses loose to prevent them being  taken by the Zulus.  Consequently after each alarm we had great difficulty in getting the animals back as it was impossible to follow them on dark nights.

One morning the news came that a party of Zulus had crossed the border, so Mr Phillips  ( Sub Insp, NMP ) was sent out with six men to reconnoiter ( myself being one of them). We rode to a hill overlooking Rorke’s Drift and on looking over a small precipice , we saw a party of 4 Kafirs armed with assegais approaching us. Taking them to be part of a Zulu impi we opened fire and they all ran away and hid themselves in dongas . We could not leave our horses and search for them.  That night an old Zulu came into camp and reported that he had been fired upon whilst herding cattle and showed us a bullet wound in his foot. We had evidently made a mistake and fired on some friendly natives, but we heard no more of the matter .

March 6th.

As near as I can guess it must have been about this date that I was admitted into the  Helpmekaar hospital and when I recovered my senses it was the 12th April. The orderlies told me that I had a lucid interval of two days , followed by a relapse. When I came around I found myself lying on a wagon sail  in a marquee with 18 other sick men - most of whom were suffering from a raging fever.

There were no bedsteads in this hospital and the ants were crawling all over us causing fearful sores and the flies were tormenting us beyond endurance. They covered my eyes and mouth  and  I had not the strength to brush them away.
I recollect the doctor coming around  on his daily inspection and ordering the orderlies to put me in a bell tent alone. I was  given a bed board and raised about a foot above the ground  so that the ants could not get on to me and I even had a man of the Army Hospital Corps ( Pvt  Franks ) told off to look after me. By this time I was so weak from  dysentry and typhoid fever that I could not raise my hands to my mouth , and by some means or other my legs were bent up and could not be straightened.

I was delusional and believed that I had been promoted to the rank of sergeant ( since true) and that I had received the Victoria  Cross and that I had leave to go home to England for a time.  For weeks I could not get rid of those ideas and
to this day I retain the most vivid recollection of how these events were  supposed to have been caused.

April

My hospital diet consisted of  1 pint of beef tea, 2oz of arrowroot, 3 quarts of milk and 8 ozs of brandy per diem.  
Of course  I did not consume all of this, more especially because the soldiers used to come into my tent , on the
pretence of seeing me, but in reality to steal my brandy and wine.

On one occasion I saw a tattoed arm come in under the wall of the tent and seize the brandy bottle and I was able afterwards to identify the man by his tattoes. I did not have him punished for the theft.

The doctor came in one day and asked me if I would like another man for company, as I had asked for one earlier.  
Corporal  Chaddock was sent.  He had been bad with fever but was nearly convalescent and was quite well enough to get out of bed. He had a great objection to coming in with me  and seemed to have lost all heart, but whether that had anything to do with his sickness , I do not know. Anyway in three days he had a relapse and was booked back to bed. We were both in such a weak state that the doctor gave up on both our cases, regarding them as hopeless and strange to say we were both expected to die the same day- at sundown. This was the time the fever ridden men  normally  expired .

Our Major was called for and came in with some other officers to see the last of us and Corporal Chaddock did die at 5pm, having being kept alive all day by liberal doses of brandy. I was not in the least discouraged by seeing the demise of Chaddock,  although I overheard a conversation which took place outside the tent when I learnt that I was not expected to live through the night. When the visiting officers  spoke to me I told them I should recover  and never for a moment did I suppose that their dire prognostications would prove  correct.

Corporal  Chaddock on the other hand was always talking of his death and saying how grieved his parents would be. All his bed clothes  etc were burnt  to prevent contamination  and although a good search was made for his purse containing about  £20 had disappeared, it having probably been taken by one of the soldiers of the garrison.

End of transcription.

Section 3 next , and Nmp Tpr Bennet is  allocated  the death tent.., to follow shortly..

Thanks Barry
Pretty rough time up there on the hill. Chaddock by the way died on 6th April, fixes the time zone. Coming back to your original point then that there had to have been a Hospital Marquee ( AS per the diagram Steve posted ), and separate bell tents.

Cheers Mate

Barry

The Clarke's are a tough breed! The NMP and NP later had plenty of reasons to be grateful for Tpr Clarke's fortitude. Many thanks for an interesting post.

Regards
Brett

Hi Barry.
Excellent stuff mate , thanks for posting Trpr Clarke's entries , I can assure you they are very much appreciated I'd say by many on here . Looking forward to more !
Cheers 90th

Helpmekaar hospital  patient , part 3

Tpr Bennet arrives. Ref  NMP Tpr  Clarkes diaries;  Vol  1/9, pages 39 - 40

Transcription begins;

April 1879, Helpmekaar field hospital.

The next sick  man sent to my tent was  NMP Tpr  Bennet.  
He had come over with me to Natal from England 9 months earlier on the SS  Teuton  (#1).   He was convalescent but was always  dreading night alarms as the hospital  tents were a mile away from the fort,  so that, had the Zulus attacked , escape for us would have been impossible.
About the third  night after he came an alarm did take place and the hospital orderly – who slept on the ground in our tent – seized his rifle and bolted away to the fort, leaving us alone, incapacitated, and in a very helpless situation.
His candle was alight which allowed me to see Bennet sitting up in bed with extreme terror on his face . He said “ I knew it would come to this  and we shall all be killed “; after which he lay down and he must have died of shock because he never spoke again.
When the hospital orderly finally did return to the tent, after the alarm, he informed me that  Tpr Bennet was dead , but he did not remove his body until the next morning so that I did not spend a  good night and such an occurrence was doing nothing to improve my own poor  health. Without wishing to boast  I may mention that such an occurrence made not  the slightest impression on me  – on the contrary I  was anxious to show that I would not give way to despair.  
After Tpr Bennet died I was again left in my tent , as the doctors deemed it  wise not to send another man to join me  and following that decision I believed I started to recover more rapidly when I was alone. Chicken broth was now sent to me by the  Major and I was soon allowed to take a small quantity of meat,  thus strengthening  me and allowing me to sit up in bed  for a few minutes daily.
I shall never forget how I used to envy men walking about outside  and wondering whether I would ever be strong  again. Neither shall I forget the first day I was dressed and carried outside to sit in the sun for an hour . It seemed to put fresh life into me and I quite agree with the saying that “life is sweet” .
The doctor gave orders that as soon as I was well enough , that  I was to be transferred  to a Convalescent hospital in  Ladysmith.  So, I was assisted into the Helpmekaar camp to make arrangements about my kit.  However , I then found out that all my kit had been sold on auction, by mistake – the quartermaster sergeant having marked the name of a man who had died, on my kit.
On going around the picket lines  I was unable to identify my horse because it had grown  a long winter coat in the period I was hospitalized.

April 19th;

This morning I was placed, alone, on a spring ambulance wagon , but accompanied by  the MO, Dr Jennings  and two men of the A.H.C, who rode in front  and who attended to my wants on the cross country journey from Helpmekaar  to Ladysmith.  At all the rough places on the road I was taken out of the wagon and carried on a stretcher . The wagon stuck fast on entering the Ladysmith valley and I lay on the grass whilst it was being extricated from the bog.  We encamped, or  rather  outspanned for the night in the Thorns  and the doctor made his camp bed next to mine for the night.

April 20th;

After  breakfast this morning , the  draft oxen were inspanned and we continued our journey through the Thorns and did not reach the Sundays  River until  sundown. The mosquitos were very annoying that night and my stretcher had to be placed in the smoke of the fire to keep them away.  It is strange that three years afterwards , to have been stationed two miles from this place.

April 21st ;

After a long days trekking we only managed to get within 6 miles of Ladysmith today.

April 22nd;

We reached Ladysmith at last and found the Dutch Church on the Market Square had been fitted out as a  military hospital.  Around the church several marquees had been erected  and were used as wards for the accommodation of sick men. As the hospital was already full, I had a bed allotted to me in a marquee with 11 other patients. Nearly all of whom were recovering from fever and dysentry. One of them ,  a  gunner from the RA, named Gooding,  I afterwards saw in hospital in Newcastle , during the Boer War- he having been shot in the back by the Boers at Ingogo, near Majuba.


End of transcription.


Postscript.

NMP Trooper William Clarke lived on to make a full recovery in a convalescent home run by a religious order, in Ladysmith. Having being nursed back to health there with much " tlc " by the nuns. He had been transferred there after a few days at the military hospital in the Dutch Church. He was back in his unit in Pietermaritburg within a few weeks later and was ready to fight the next war.

In the second  Boer War, he evaded certain death one day when a Boer Long Tom shell fired from the infamous  Umbulwana  hill and  targeting the Ladysmith church tower ,missed the target , but passed through his tent but exploded on hitting the ground behind Dartnell's tent ,which was next to his. Needless to say both tents  were shredded in the explosion and all contents were lost.  Luckily Dartnell and Clarke were out that day reconnoitering for Boers on the Drakensbeg passes when that heavy shell came calling.

After being slightly wounded in the action at Caesars Camp and also besieged in Ladysmith  and where he had to eat Chevril and  boiled mealies  intended as horse food,  to survive,  he  once again ended up in the death tent in the Intombi  hospital, outside the town. Here, he was again given up by the medics as terminal and  “ a hopeless case”, and left to die. This was not to be  however, as  he made a  full recovery.

Once he considered himself  ready  to leave the field hospital  he “awoled” out of the camp , evading the  medical orderlies and camp guards  and made his departure through a hole in the camp wire fence. So as not to be seen by the patrolling MPs he took  short walk across country to intercept, at a remote spot, the next postcart  back to Pietermaritzburg . Once there he promptly resumed duty.
 
After this another two  major wars were to follow and a period when he was 2/IC to GOC South African Forces, General Lukin, and as acting brigadier, Clarke relieved him for a period during the Boer Rebellion.

He also took part in the action to oust the Germans from today's Namibia. In this he was the OC 2 Battalion SAMR ( this was a combined medium artillery, machine gun and infantry unit).

in 1918 and seeking a posting to Flanders fields , but a request that was denied because of his age , and much to his chagrin, he travelled to London and there he prevailed on his "contacts" in the WO. At an official reception in the city one afternoon he was cornered by the Duke of Connaught who he knew well from the Duke's previous visits to Natal. One thing led to another and the Duke told him to stand by for a special secret assignment . The next thing that happened was that he was posted to Russia with orders in a sealed envelope. The ship carrying him 11 machine gun crews armoured cars, petrol, crated aircraft and ammunition arrived in Archangle on 17th July 1918.

In his career Clarke was also  mentioned twice in despatches , first in 1914, by Gen Louis Botha, and again in 1918 by Winston Churchill.  In the latter, the citation states, cryptically, "Archangel 1918", and that is all.

After  finally hanging up his boots in 1920, he returned to  South Africa  from Russia and spent the next 9 years farming at two remote spots in the country, ie  at Mooi River and Sabie .

In May 1936,  following a short illness and aged 76 yrs and  4 months , he finally died back home in Pietermaritzburg, with his family.  

(#1)  Henry Lugg, of Rorke's Drift fame,  was on the same draft ship.


regards,

barry

Thanks again Barry, that's one hell of an ancestor.
Interesting comment about the Hospital tents being a mile from the fort?

Cheers

Thanks Barry , excellent reading , he was a tough ' so and so ' wasnt he ?
Cheers , 90th.

90th
Pity he isn't still around, you could have used him for your team tomorrow?       

Hi 90th and Springbok.
Indeed, I have been puzzling about that mile too as I cannot  see how that would fit easily  into available sketches and photographs.
Perhaps there is more research to be done there, on site.
I have not told all yet about this resilient "Son Of England."
There is another good story to be told, albeit off topic here , about three Red Russian snipers in  late 1918 who were tasked with "getting" him.
Unfortunately for them, they were not to know that they were up against a Bisley class shottest and a big game hunter  of some repute, to boot. However , and sadly for them, the Colonel  also got early word of their murderous plan to knobble the British commander in their area, and the hunters were shortly to become the hunted.
On the day the deed was to be done  the Colonel took his issue Mk1  Enfield rifle with  twenty rounds, and alone set up an ambush near the  vantage point  on the edge of the woods outside the British camp at Onega, from where the snipers planned to fire the killing shots.  
Well, the  Colonels trusty  Enfield barked  once out of dense cover as the Bolshevik snipers were preparing their weapons and the leader of the "Red" sniping team fell with a 150 grain copper jacket lead hardcore bullet  piercing his head between the eyes . The other two were spooked and expectedly evaporated in the wink of an eye.
The Colonel returned to his camp with 19 unspent .303 rounds and calmly sat down to supper which had been prepared on time  by his diminutive part Mongolian batman, Cpl Zacharoff.

regards

barry

Barry there seems to be no doubt he was a truly interesting man , what wouldnt you give to spend a day with him listening to
his exploits and what he'd seen over the course of his lifetime . One out of the box that's for sure .

Springy
We have Michael Clarke , one Clarke is as good as another ! , I'm sure Barry will agree ? LOL
90th

Barry
That is a brilliant story. Theres a rather famous Cape Town based writer, Wilbur Smith, that had as a hero a bloke called Sean Courtney. I wonder if he didn't base his character on Clarke. Theres definitely a film in that mans life.
Ive just got back from the archives with a very interesting picture of Helpmakaar. If the 'Mile' has you flummoxed then look at this photo. I will post it during the afternoon.
90th
 

Hi Springbok,
Others have made the same remark to me. I cannot confirm who Smith used for his  fictional characters. However, something that might be related was that Clarke and Rider Haggard were hunting partners. Their  friendly association came about through their occupations in different parts of the Natal Judiciary. There is a good one, to be told some other time about a lion hunt near Ubombo, on the banks of the Mkuzi river in North Natal when  Haggard soiled his underwear  because  Clarke left the pulling of the trigger on his .270 Mauser hunting rifle until the  charging enraged lioness was only 5m away from them.  Clarke said afterwards that he needed to ensure a fatal head shot, thus firing the shot at the last minute.
Haggard was pale with fright and totally unnerved and refused to speak to him for a whole day afterwards.

regards

barry

That's bloody brilliant, now Im really laughing. Damn that's good.

Cheers

Hi Springy , Barry.
Wilbur Smith in my humble opinion the best author going around , I havent read any of his books in the last 10 or more years
but have read all the others , I do remember I read ' the Sunbird ' I think it is 3 or 4 times but iit was over 20 yrs ago ! . The Courtenay's , Ballentine's excellent sagas , highly recommend them . I think of all his older works the only one I havent read was
' Gold ' or ' Gold Mine ' . Excellent posts Barry , much appreciated .
Cheers 90th

Hi 90th,
Wilbur Smith remains a very popular writer in this country, however he was at his peak some 20- 30 years ago.
His adventure stories have now become a little stereotyped, but OK if you havn't read the others. His use of language and descriptive powers are superb. He writes a very good story.
I have read a number of his books but would like to recommend one in particular, titled "Shout at the Devil" . This is is set in the Rufiji Delta, in East Africa in 1914. Now his characters are all fictional, but there is no doubt much of his writing had a factual basis.

regards

barry

Hi Barry.
Yes , agreed , the only books I've read of Smith's were the ones he wrote 25-30 yrs ago except ' Gold ' or Gold mine ?
I've Read shout at the devil in the 80's from memory , excellent book from what I remember .
Cheers 90th

Very interesting, Barry, thank you for publishing these extracts.

Hi Springbok9, 90th, CTSG, Brett and JW,

Thanks for the interest shown in these "Helpmekaar patient" posts.
I have much more anecdotal stuff, much of it off topic as the AZW predates the events.
Four that spring to mind are ;
*how Dartnell was arrested as a spy in the Ladysmith Siege ;
*the gun layer on the Boer . Long Tom canon which was daily shelling the church from Umbulwana was English and ex RA ;
*how the RA was shot up at Caesars Camp.
*Churchill's capture.

regards,
barry

Bring them on Barry, never tire of reading those annecdotes.

Cheers

Cheers Barry .
Isnt there an off topic thread ? , post them there if you wish , I'm sure the others will also like to read them as I do myself .
  
Cheers 90th