Private Charles Arthur Bonynge
Number: 33281
Company: 74th (Dublin) Company (New), 8th Battalion
ENLISTMENT
Date: 7 March 1901
Place: Dublin
Age: 22 years 4 months
Trade of calling: Clerk
Place of birth: In the Parish of St Thomas, near the Town of Dublin, in the County of Dublin
Family: Single. Mother Henrietta Bonynge, 27 Leinster Avenue, North Strand, Dublin. Brothers George and Harry, sisters Maude, Frances, Marie.
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 5' 4 1/2". Complexion fresh, eyes brown, hair brown.
Religion: Church of England
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 16 April 1901
Campaigns: South Africa 1899-1901
Service medal, clasps and other awards: Queen's South Africa Medal. Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901 clasps.
DEATH
Date: 24 August 1901
Place: Rooikopjes
Cause: Wounds received that day.
Buried/ commemorated: Griquatown, later re-interred in West End Cemetery, Kimberley/ West End Cemetery Memorial, and St Andrew's Church Memorial, Dublin.
SOLDIERS THREE
A pathetic incident of the Boer War is ... narrated by the parents of Trooper Oliffe, of the 74th (Dublin) Company of Imperial Yeomanry. In childhood Oliffe and two comrades, Bonynge and McLean, attended the same Sunday School, and for some years the trio belonged to the Boys' Brigade attached to Trinity Church, Dublin. Time only cemented their friendship, and when manhood was reached they were still inseparable; so when the Imperial Yeomanry were being recruited in Dublin the gallant trio determined to enlist and fight for their country in South Africa. Together they embarked, together they took part in the same engagements, and when the attack on the convoy was made at Rooikopjes on August 24 together the three young Irishmen defended the convoy, fighting shoulder to shoulder, till at length they fell mortally wounded, and now all three share the same resting place under the veld.
(Dublin Evening Mail, 21 September 1901.)Trooper Charlie Bonynge of the 74th (Irish) Yeomanry, who died of wounds received on the 24th ult., while defending the convoy on the Kimberley-Griquatown road, was a prominent figure in the Dublin sporting world, where he was a great favourite with all who knew him. Trooper Bonynge went out to South Africa two years ago as a member of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade, and served six months with the hospital corps at Newcastle. He returned to this country, and after a short stay re-enlisted as a member of the redoubtable 74th Yeomanry Company, which has gained such distinction and renown since it arrived in South Africa. He served in Cape Colony, the Free State, and the Transvaal, and took part in several of the big actions, and would have been entitled to the war medal with four clasps had he survived. Trooper Bonynge was for four years connected with the 10th Dublin Company Boys' Brigade, belonging to Trinity Church, Lower Gardner Street, where he distinguished himself, and rapidly rose to the rank of sergeant. He was one of the three who won the Battalion Tournament in the B.B., when the 10th issued as victors. Ambulance work also possessed some attractions for our subject, who gained the certificate and shield for proficiency in this art. As a swimmer Trooper Bonynge had a creditable record, having acted as secretary of the Standard Club for two years. He won prize after prize in this department, and an ambulance comrade in South Africa, in a letter home, relates how he at great personal risk plunged into a river and resuced a comrade who was drowning. Trooper Bonynge was also connected with the Standard Football Club and the North Strand Church Gymnasium. The members of Trinity Church have [indecipherable] memory of him, and [indecipherable] engagement. His many friends in Messrs. Dockerell's establishment, where he had been employed, deplore to-day the loss of a dear and valued friend.
(Belfast Weekly Telegraph, 21 September 1901.)
Belfast Weekly Telegraph, 21 September 1901
First image of Bonynge taken at the Curragh Camp sourced from Ancestry.com Public Member Trees - contributor 'qltnritabwagner'.
This page last updated 6 August 2024.