Lindley Cemetery and Memorial
Some 132 British and Colonial casualties of the Anglo-Boer War are buried in Lindley Cemetery, all but eight of them identified. A memorial stone (above) stands in the centre of the burial ground, identifying the men by their name, rank, regiment and date of death.
The 13th Battalion casualties of the fighting at Lindley from 27 May to 1 June 1900 were initially buried in a cemetery at Yeomanry Koppies, as described in the following letter from the father of one of the fallen, published in the Belfast News-Letter on 3 March 1902:
SIR – The following is an extract of a letter I received this morning from Lieutenant T. A. I. Anderson, of Colonel De Lisle's Brigade, Lindley, which I believe will be of interest to many of your readers, especially to the friends of those whose names are mentioned. Owing to my being arrested I was prevented from obtaining this information myself. Lieutenant Anderson is the officer who shared his tent with me at Lindley. These graves are at the foot of Yeoman's Kop. The rave where my son and the five others are buried is about half a mile distant on the kopje where they fell:–
"Kaffir Kop, Colonel De Lisle's Brigade, 31st January, 1902.–
"I rode down to Yeoman's Kop, and got what information you require. You know where the graveyard lies. In the first grave one officer and three men are buried – Captain Keith, Corporal Gilpin, belonging to the Duke of Cambridge's Own Yeomanry; Trooper McClure, 54th Company; Trooper Power, 45th Company. Second grave – Troopers Miller and Blackhouse, bothe of the D.C.O. There is another grave, Trooper Richardson, of the 46th Company Ulster Yeomanry, died of wounds, January 3rd, 1902. I also rode over to your son's grave, and I am sure you would be delighted if you saw it now. It looks really beautiful. The stone wall all round has been rebuilt, and made higher. The cross has been also improved by being made very much broader and higher, the sides of cross with flat stones, the middle raised up, and all laid with little stones, and at the head is a large wooden cross, painted with the following:– R.I.P. Trooper G. McLaughlin, 13th Battalion I.Y., killed in action, 30th May, 1900. Altogether it looks very imposing."
Mr. Phillip Knox, now stage manager of the Kennington Theatre, London, who gave me the information that enabled me to find my son's grave, informed me at an interview I had with him on my return to London that five others were interred in the same grave with my son, but he could only remember the names of two of them, namely, Troopers Martin and Walker. If I had known this fact when at Lindley I would have had it recorded on the memorial cross, which General Elliott has kindly had erected at the grave. This can, however, be done later on when a more permanent memorial is substituted for the present one.– Yours faithfully, W. H. McLAUGHLIN.
Brookville, Belfast, 1st March.
In August 1959 the remains of all those buried at Yeomanry Koppies were exhumed and re-interred in Lindley Cemetery. This included sixteen men of the Irish Yeomanry companies. They are Lieutenant Sir John Power, Lance Corporal H. Berry, and Privates A. Blake, J. E. Byrne [misspelled as J. W. Bryne], N. Fenner, T. Leckey, J. Martin, G. W. McLaughlin, R. S. McClure, A. M. Porter, C. W. Power, R. Richardson, H. J. Robinson, J. Smith, T. Walker, and E. E. Wilmot-Chetwode. In addition, Private W. Warren is probably among the eight unidentified British soldiers buried in the cemetery.
Images sourced from the eGGSA Branch of the Genealogical Society of South Africa website.