Lieutenant St. John Robert Bowen Blake
Number: 9709/ ..
Company: 45th (Dublin) Company, 13th Battalion, First Contingent/ 131st (Irish Horse) Company, 29th Battalion, Third Contingent
ENLISTMENT
Date: 2 January 1900
Place: Newbridge
Age: 31 years 8 months (born 1 August 1867 at Hudding, Berkshire)
Trade or calling: Gentleman
Place of birth: In the Parish of London, in or near the Town of London, in the County of Middlesex
Address: Rushbrook, Kells, County Meath
Family: Wife Katherine Powell Blake (nee Jones). Father John Henry Blake (dec.), mother Sarah Nassau Blake (nee Grier).
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 5' 7 1/4". Complexion fair, eyes blue, hair fair/ light brown.
Religion: Other Protestant
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 13 March 1900
Date home: __
Service medal, clasps and other awards: Queen's South Africa Medal. Cape Colony, Orange Free State, 1902 clasps.
DISCHARGE
Date: 23 July 1900
Place: McKenzie's Farm, Cape Town.
Reason for discharge: Medically unfit for further service (epilepsy - had several attacks at Lindley)
Intended place of residence: Rushbrook, Kells, County Meath
Conduct: Very good
Special qualifications: __
On 27 February 1890 Blake married Katherine Powell Jones in Bideford, Devon.
He was among the 400 men captured by Boer forces at Lindley on 31 May 1900, but was allowed to remain behind as a hospital orderly to the wounded when the 13th Battalion was taken into captivity. He was freed when the British relieving force arrived the following day.
On 5 June 1900 he wrote a letter home to his wife, which was published in the Irish Times on 25 July.
Lindley, Free State, South Africa, June 5th, 1900.
As I am sitting up I may as well spend some of the night writing a better account of my first fight. To begin from Sunday morning, June 27th. We got up at 4 a.m., had one biscuit each for breakfast, no tea or coffee, as we expected to be in Lindley at about noon. We rode all the morning, and did arrive at about that time. We (the 45th Company) were riding last, the D Company and two Belfast Companies in front of us. When we got to within about one mile of Lindley we halted by the stream which runs near the town, eased our girths, and watered our horses. Meanwhile our advance guard rode into town, and it was quite half an hour before Lord Longford or any of us heard the first shot. We were then given the order to mount, and we rode at a canter into the town. We arrived in the square and found the other 300 men simply crowded together, all of course on their horses. Going up to the town we were under a heavy fire, and when we got to the square it was, of course, much heavier. I should say it was the most unpleasant moment of my life. I saw men dodging heads and lying low on their saddles, and then looked at Lord Longford, who was sitting up straight in his saddle, and that gave me confidence; when a man was struck by my side I got down and held him up till the doctor came. I was then told to mount, which I did. Longford then yelled out to the 45th Company to retire, which we did, and on the way back Colonel Spragge called out "Well done, No. 4 Troop!" (which was our section). "That's the way to retire; not like a pack of sheep." We retired to the river bed, and then divided up, taking up the positions which we help eventually till Thursday evening; then we started firing, but most of it was perfectly useless, for the worst part of all is you can hear shots being fired all round you, and hear them pinging in all directions, but not a thing can you see all the time. Well, when it was dark we got our convoy, seven waggons, drawn by 12 mules each, and a Scotch cart drawn by a couple of horses, under our main positions, where the Colonel had his headquarters, and then we started to build up the wall, which was on top of this kopje. By we, I mean the 45th Company and gun section, which consisted of two guns (quick-firing Maxims), which did great work all the time. After we had finished the wall we lay down, most of us not having top coats even, and you have no idea how cold it was; most of the people here say by far the coldest night they have had this winter. At 4 next morning we got up, and put the finishing touches on the wall, and were then served out with half a biscuit each and some hot coffee, the first food most of us had tasted since the morning before. As soon as it was light enough the shots began to come over us, and presently they got so hot that the Colonel ordered Longford to take No. 4 Section, and try to drive them back. We went out on foot some one hundred yards from the kraal, and it was here poor Hickie got knocked over and with him a man named Laing. You can imagine how hot the fire was when I tell you that no one could stay with Hickie, but he built himself a little shelter of stones and lit his pipe and smoked away all the time; he was shot at noon and not brought in until 7 o'clock; he is a plucky little chap. Well, we went on firing till it was too dark to see, and certainly downed some of them. We, of course, got back to the kraal simply famished, and all we had was our last half biscuit each and some tea. Next day was very much the same as Monday, excepting that we had only one tin of jam between ten men (with no bread or biscuit) for breakfast and tea, but we managed to capture a fw sheep and we had each a small piece of that for dinner but nothing else. The next day we had to go with Longford to clear a kopje 2,000 yards away under a very heavy cross fire, and it is simply marvellous that only one man was shot during all that distance. It was, of course, done in short rushes, and then the word was given, "down everywhere," when we all dropped exactly where we were, luckily in pretty long grass which made excellent cover. Here it was I was taken ill three times during the rushes, and I had a most awful headache all that day. Well, when we got to our places we took what cover there was and lay down, firing volleys every few moments -- first, Stannus's men, then Ennismore's, and then ours, Longford being with us, as Benson (our officer) was hit that morning. All this time the Boers had been getting reinforcements, and on Thursday morning, besides three guns, we knew they got about 800 men, probably more. It was a curious sensation hearing the first shell over our heads. It burst some distance off, doing no harm to anyone. There were very few left to defend the kraal, as we had men in six different positions, as the brutes had been burning the veldt, trying to destroy our horses' food, and we had to keep them from cutting off our water supply. As it was, it was a most dangerous performance keeping the horses from coming directly under a heavy fire. At about noon we could hear the most awful fire going on, and hear our answering shots, and at last they got the range to a nicety, and burst shell after shell on the far kopje, and presently up went the first white flag, and we knew the first kopje had fallen. Then there was a cessation of firing, till presently it began louder than ever, and we could see them pouring shots into the next kopje, and bursting shells on it continually. Then, again, up went the white flag, and our second position was gone. Meanwhile a good number of men had come into the big kraal, and I was sent down to a farm near by, only about 1,000 yards off, to help some wounded men down, as we knew they would now shell the kraal worse than even. A man went in front carrying the Red Cross flag, but they did not take any notice of that, and only God knows how we got down safely, for I was helping a man wounded in the stomach, and had to go at a snail's pace, but I did get down, and then at last they gave in up at the kraal, but not before the colonel had burned our Union Jack, so that they should not get it, and had destroyed our two maxims. Then there was only Longford and his 40 men left, and a grand fight he made. He never would have given in only some of them prayed him, saying it was only slaughter to hold out any longer. He was a mass of blood, and wounded in three places; but, standing up amidst a hail of bullets, he never gave in, only for his men. A truer, braver, or finer fellow never put on uniform. Well, as soon as the last shot was fired all we could think of was food, and I must say they gave us what bread they had, but took all our kit. I was down dressing wounds directly it was over, and I slept in hospital in Lindley that night, and that is why I am here now and not taken away with the prisoners. Of course, all our things have gone; we have simply what we stand up in. At 9 on Friday morning boom went a heavy gun, and this was our relieving force, Lord Methuen and his column, just too late, and as soon as the Boers heard the first gun they were off. You could see them scattering all over the hills. There was a little fighting before an officer in Kitchener's Horse galloped in and told us we were no longer prisoners. They went off to try and recapture our men. but their horses were done, and they could not manage it. And now I am well again they have made me an orderly, and I am attending our wounded. In this ward there are 15 cases, some very bad. I don't quite know what they will do with me. I shall have to stay here as long as there are any patients in the hospital. They must be pretty well before they are moved, as the only conveyance is an ox-wagon, drawn by 18 to 20 oxen, in which they have to go to Kroonstad, on the way to either Deelfontein, where the Yeomanry Hospital is, or else to Cape Town, but I may be sent down soon, and I hope it will be on the way home, for I simply hate this now that there is no prospect of another fight for me. I should love to be in one in which we gave the Boers a good dressing. De Wet came in to-day to have a consultation with Lord Methuen, and he has granted a six day armistice -- God knows for what, except to allow them a few days rest for themselves and their horses. Lord Methuen has gone, leaving only a few men behind to look after this place, so if it is not in the hands of the Boers again soon it will be a wonder. He came in here yesterday and told us he had had a telegram from Lord Roberts saying we had made a great fight, and many of the loyal Dutch say the same. They all expected we would give in on Monday. Lord Methuen was all over the ground and kopjes where we fought, and he said that, after a thorough examination, he had come to the conclusion that not only were the Yeomen plucky, which everyone expected, but that they had been commanded by a most capable man, who had been backed up by men who had fought a real good fight. "Boys," he said at the finish, "don't think you are disgraced, for it was absolutely impossible for you to hold out any longer, and I, for one, can't understand how you held out so long."
ST. JOHN BLAKE, 45th Company Imperial Yeomanry.
On 15 January 1902 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 131st (Irish Horse) Company, 29th Battalion, Third Contingent. He relinquished his commission on 16 September 1902.
This page last updated 27 February 2025.