The Unique First Boer War ‘Fort Alice Intelligence Department’ D.C.M. group of...

The Unique First Boer War ‘Fort Alice Intelligence Department’ D.C.M. group of three awarded to Sergeant P. Sharkey, 94th Connaught Rangers, a Veteran of Ulundi and the Zulu War, who won his D.C.M. for Gallantry under fire at Fort Alice during the Siege of Standerton; twenty years later, during the Second Boer War, Sharkey re-enlisted and again fought the Boers in the Transvaal, this time as a Scout in the 1st Scottish Horse

Distinguished Conduct Medal, V.R. (L./Sergt. P. Sharkey, 2/Conn. Rang.); South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1879 (732 Corpl. P. Sharkey, 94th Regt.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Transvaal, South Africa 1901 (175 Scout P. Sharkey, Scottish Horse) suspensions slightly loose on first two, occasional edge bruising, otherwise nearly very fine or better (3) £12,000-£16,000

Provenance
Dix Noonan Webb, May 2016.

Footnote
No campaign medals were awarded for the First Boer War 1880-81 but six V.C.s (all of which are held by institutions), one C.B., four R.R.C.s, twenty D.C.M.s and a single C.G.M. were awarded.

One other man who received the D.C.M. for the First Boer War plus a Zulu War medal is recorded on the Q.S.A. roll, but his was a no-clasp medal, suggesting he was involved in the war effort but not engaged in combat. This makes Sharkey’s group unique to a man who unquestionably fought in both Boer Wars.

D.C.M. Submitted to the Queen 14 March 1882:
‘For his gallant conduct during the investment of Standerton by the Boers.’
The original document, signed by the Queen, is held by The National Archives (copy included).

Patrick Sharkey was born in 1858, possibly in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Ireland; his father was living there at the time of the 1901 census. He enlisted in the 94th Regiment (Connaught Rangers) in October 1877, when he was about 19.

Zulu War and Operations Against King Sekukini in Transvaal Sharkey arrived at Durban, the capital of Natal, South Africa in April 1879 on the troopship S.S. China. The 94th Regiment formed part of the reinforcements which arrived after the opening battles of the Zulu War, as a response to the disaster at Isandlhwana. He was subsequently present at the final battle of Ulundi in July 1879, which effectively ended the Zulu War. The 94th was the only regiment in Newdigate’s Division that had six companies present at the battle. It suffered casualties of two men killed and 18 wounded. By then Sharkey had risen to the rank of corporal, unusual after just two years of army service.

When hostilities against King Sekukuni in the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal resumed in November 1879, four companies of the 94th formed part of the 1,400 Imperial troops and 800 colonials which attacked the reputedly impregnable tribal stronghold. Sekukuni escaped, but he was pursued by ‘B’ Company of the 94th and captured on 2 December 1879.

First Boer War – Gallantry during the Siege of Fort Alice at Standerton
The 94th Regiment remained in South Africa after the Zulu War, with its regimental headquarters at Pietermaritzberg in south-eastern Natal. Its companies were deployed to garrison a number of towns across the Transvaal, either because they were large and strategic in themselves, or because they were significant waypoints on the British lines of communication, such as Standerton, where the road from Natal to Pretoria crossed the Vaal river. Corporal Sharkey belonged to one of the detached companies based at Wakkerstroom in southern Transvaal.

An extensive account of the 94th’s time in South Africa 1879-1882 is recorded in four chapters of Jourdain’s Regimental History. Tensions between the Imperial government and the Boers rose throughout 1880, culminating in the Boers declaring Independence in mid-December. The main body of the 94th Regiment was marching from Leydenberg to Pretoria when, on 20 December 1880, it was ambushed by Boers at Bronkhorst Spruit. The Boers called on the 94th to surrender, but the officers chose to fight and suffered a costly and bloody defeat.

As Standerton was situated midway on the main road between Newcastle in Natal and Pretoria, its strategic importance was obvious. The British scrambled to put down the Boer rebellion and on 21 December 1880 two companies of the 94th and one of the 58th Regiment marched into Standerton from Wakkerstroom and began constructing fortifications. A mile outside the town itself, these were soon christened ‘Fort Alice’. Standerton sprawled on a slope which overlooked a ford across the broad, sparkling Vaal to the south. It lacked trees or gardens; the fifty-odd iron-roofed houses looked to the visiting C. L. Norris-Newman ‘as if they had been a mud-splash thrown at random on the bare veld’. The one object of interest was the octogenarian ‘General’ Stander, a sturdy Voortrekker who had fought the British at Bloomplaats [33 years earlier] and given the town its name. Fort Alice lay below rocky kopjes rising to the north and east, and the towering, flat-topped Stander’s Kop.

Major W. E. Montague of the Connaughts was selected to take command of the new Standerton garrison, despite being far away in the regimental headquarters at Pietermaritzburg near the east coast of Natal. According to the Regimental History, the assignment was not to Major Montague’s liking:
“‘I don’t want to go, sir,’ he had told Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, ‘I dislike the Transvaal more than I can say, but if you think there is any necessity for my going, I am ready to start at an hour’s notice.’ Colley thought it vital, and advised the major, who had an outstanding record in the Zulu War, ‘You will find Standerton an excellent position for defence, strengthen it, take care they don’t get you unawares, and hold till I come [on January 20th] ... we shall march together on Heidelberg [where the Boers had first proclaimed their independent republic on 16 December 1880].’ To escape detection by Republican patrols (who had already taken two travelling officers prisoner), Montague disguised himself as a colonial bank messenger, journeying to the Transvaal in a post cart. He bought a slouch hat, removed his collar and tie, and left his hair unkempt and his face unwashed after shaving his moustache (which by regulation was worn by all British officers). The Boers let him pass.
Arriving on 23 December, Montague found everything ‘in the wildest confusion’. The half-built fort was ‘all dirt and muddle’. A strict, no-nonsense officer, he infused discipline and organisation while more vigorous preparations were made for the defence. While the parapets of the fort were being raised, the main stone buildings in the town were loop-holed and garrisoned. Soldiers who misbehaved were bound and lashed. Having resorted to the cat from the outset, the Major had no difficulty in maintaining the strictest discipline during the rest of the Siege. In the beginning there were only thirty-four volunteers serving with the 350 regulars. Others ‘came in but slowly, many making excuses for not joining’, wrote Montague. ‘Pressure became necessary.’ He brought the number of ‘volunteers’ up to seventy-five. When Colley did not arrive at the appointed time [he had been blocked by the Boers on the Transvaal/Natal border and was ultimately killed at Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881], rationing was introduced. Boer sympathisers were given a chance to clear out of Standerton. The small Dutch party which remained complained of, among other things, the theft of the church clock and other items from their place of worship. These were later found among the effects of the men of the 94th.”

Sharkey was promoted from corporal to lance-sergeant on 21 December 1880 and moved up to full sergeant just 3 days later, when he was about 23 years old. This meteoric rise probably reflected the need for the 94th to reach its war establishment and incorporate its unwilling local ‘volunteers’. ‘Sergeant’ was possibly a local or extra-regimental acting rank conferred on Sharkey by the newly arrived Major Montague, as it was not included in the naming of Sharkey’s D.C.M. It is likely that Major Montague was already acquainted with Sharkey, a result of them having served together during the Zulu War.

Operating out of three laagers, the Boer investment was complete by the New Year. They positioned themselves on the rim of kopjes and Stander’s Kop in particular, and the British soon learned that the long-range, sniping rifle fire of the Boers was disturbingly accurate. To draw their fire away from the fort, Montague left the tents outside standing throughout the siege. It took the Boers some time to discover that they were unoccupied. “When the soldiers went to their positions, they were allowed to run but had to keep their heads up. The propriety of ducking when under fire was a frequent topic for discussion... Some held that it was a sign of weakness. They saw a relationship between ‘bobbing’ and ‘bolting’. To the Major ‘bobbing’ was unbecoming to a British soldier. Montague himself, while steadily walking bolt-upright from post to post, received a slight wound in the leg. If the Boer fire became too warm, Montague undertook a sortie. But invariably within the hour, because of the Boers’ excellent organisation, reinforcements rode in from distant Boer posts to discourage any further action on Montague’s part.”

Major Montague exercised what was at that time a common ‘Commander’s prerogative’ by forming an ad hoc ‘Intelligence Department’, which reported directly to him rather than through his subordinate officers. For this assignment he selected Sergeant Sharkey [94th Regiment] and Colour-Sergeant Conway [58th Regiment], together with ten soldiers. Sharkey’s main task was daytime observation of enemy movements from ‘an exposed roof-top position’ and fire suppression of the massed Boer snipers; Conway was instructed to lead reconnaissance patrols into no-man’s land twice a night.

The 94th’s Regimental History continues: “One night a drunken Sergeant [believed to refer to...