Private Joseph Campbell
Number: 9402
Company: 46th (Belfast) Campany, 13th Battalion, First Contingent
ENLISTMENT
Date: 10 January 1900
Place: Belfast
Age: 34 years
Trade or calling: Farmer
Place of birth: In the Parish of Tamlaght, in or near the Town of Limavady, in the County of Londonderry
Address: Catherine Street, Limavady
Family: Single. Father John Campbell, mother Mary Campbell, of Aghanloo, Limavady, Londonderry.
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 5' 7". Complexion fresh, eyes brown, hair black.
Religion: Presbyterian
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 3 March 1900
Date home: 5 March 1901
Actions: Lindley
Service medal, clasps and other awards: Queen's South Africa Medal. Cape Colony, Orange Free State, 1901 clasps.
DISCHARGE
Date: 16 April 1901
Place: Belfast
Reason for discharge: At his own request
Campbell was among the 400 men captured by Boer forces at Lindley on 31 May 1900. He was released near Standerton on 23 August. On 1 September he wrote a letter describing his experiences, was published in the Londonderry Standard of 3 October:
Acting under orders received where we were stationed, at the Waterworks, Bloemfontein, the Yeomanry, a little over four hundred strong, proceeded to Lindley to reinforce General Colville, reaching our destination on the afternoon of Sunday, 27th May, only to find that General Colville had left that morning. Our advance guard on entering the town was fired upon, so we hastily took up a position on the north-west of the town, where, until Monday night, we had cover of a few small stones to the height of eighteen inches; but on the Monday night we made what trenches we could, and here we lay, with very little water or food, until the afternoon of Thursday, the 31st inst., when we surrendered. This was through the Boers having brought up their big guns, of which we had none. Our only guns other than rifles were a "Colt" and a pom-pom. Your readers will no doubt have had an account of the resistance we offered, so it would be useless for me to describe it. Any one individual in a firing line has very little opportunity of watching the actions of those around him, especially situated as we were, each man being fully occupied in firing and trying to keep under cover. Lieutenant James Craig lay by my side during these terrible days, displaying the utmost bravery and coolness the whole time. I think his only wound was a slight one in the lip from a fragment of an explosive bullet. I am sure that I and many others were extremely grateful to him for food and water, which he went down for on repeated occasions at the greatest risk. Any words of mine would be but feeble to express my admiration of the bravery that Lieutenant Craig displayed. Immediately on surrendering we found that the Boers had looted our waggons, taking, of course, our bedding and cloaks, and, in fact, the contents of our waggons. Our march as prisoners of the Boers was terribly depressing, and I felt deeply cut up at Colonel Spragge and Lieutenant-Colonel Holland having to do the march on foot, for the Boers had taken all our horses. After nine days' marching we reached the town of Vrede, where we encamped, the Boers fixing a guard over us. I may state that I speak Dutch well, having lived many years in the Cape Colony and Transvaal, consequently the question was put to me whether I would try and reach Buller in Natal some sixty miles away, if a horse could be procured. The following evening, dressed as a Boer, I took a horse ready saddled and bridled which had been left in a stable ready for me. The night was dark, and though I had been told of instructions about the road, with a particular house I was to call at, I two or three times had to deviate, having no wire-cutters. At last I reached the house which I believed to be the one I had been told of -- only to fall into the hands of the Boers. I had struck the wrong place, and then I claimed, in Dutch, to be a Boer from the Zoutpansberg district. I was arrested and taken back a prisoner to Vrede. One of the Boers had recognised the horse as belonging to a man living in that town. On reaching Vrede I was tried for being in possession of a stolen horse and remanded. The rest of the Yeomanry were marched into the Transvaal, and I was confined to the prison for nearly two months, when I pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months' hard labour, but the two months already spent in gaol to be counted in that time. In spite of the sentence I was never allowed to do any hard work or serve out my time, but just treated as a political prisoner. Of food I had plenty, Dr. Bentley and other kind friends having arranged with the gaoler, who was thoroughly sympathetic and a thoroughly good fellow. On the 23rd August some of the Middlesex Yeomanry rode into town, and I was at once released, treated extremely well, and after making a statement to General Boyes, of the Seventeenth Brigade, was forwarded on here [Standerton] to await a chance of joining my own battalion. Money and clothing was offered by the Yeomanry and townspeople. I am now attached to Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry and well treated.
On 21 February 1905 he married Emily Jane MacDonnell in the Broadlaw Presbyterian Meetinghouse, Drumachose, County Londonderry. At the time of the 1911 Census the couple and their two children were living on their farm at Ballycastle, Aghanloo.
Coleraine Chronicle, 27 January 1900
Coleraine Chronicle, 22 September 1900
Coleraine Chronicle, 15 June 1901
Coleraine Chronicle, 6 July 1901
Image of Campbell from the Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, 2 June 1900.
This page last updated 20 November 2024.