I believe this was JOHN REAY son of William Reay
who was station master at Keswick from 1874 until his death in
1908.
The following letter has been recieved by Captain Broatch
Private Reay
Commando Nek
Aug 15th 1900
Dear Sir, - About every letter I receive from home they tell
me you very often ask kindly after me, also being a late member
of E (your) company of volunteers, and hoping to return to them
if I am spared, I thought it my duty to write you a few lines
from the front. In the first instance, will you kindly thank
Sgt-instructor Brown for the very good and heavy overcoat he gave
me to come out here with, I have found it a great benefit in the
cold nights.
For the last six weeks we have been without tents , just
laying our blankets down and sleeping in the open, also tell Sgt
Gardiner I must congratulate him on his success at Cummersdale,
it was a great pleasure to read it in the papers. It would take
me too long to write to give you all the particulars since we
came out here; but you will see from the Carlisle paper where we
have been and what we have been doing plenty of hard work I can
tell you.
When we left Carlisle we started with 116 men; now we can
only muster 67. Almost every place we came to we left some in
hospital, but most of them will be alright by this time. As we
are a flying column, any that are left behind seldom join us
again; for we are almost everywhere and generally where there is
no railway. When I do see a railway I am always happy, because it
means full rations, 4 biscuits and 2 ounce of jam per day, and
mail with letters and plenty of papers to read. Up till now we
have heard of five deaths, we had a sad case just before we
reached Pretoria coming from Johannesburg. One of our company
fell out on the march and we have not seen or heard of him since;
but of course he may turn up all right , he had a brother who
came out here with the Cumberland & Westmorland Yeomanry.
We have been under the personal command of Lord Roberts,
Generals Hart, Brabant, Hutton Hamilton and Baden Powell he is a
fine man we see him almost daily. It seems strange to tell you,
but you know more about what is going on out here than we do, we
are never told what we are going to do.
When we know the enemy is near at hand and there is likly to
be a scrap we are told to load magazines and to get into
extended order, then We have to look out for rifle bullets and
cannon balls flying about we have become quite used to them now.
One day a shell fell within 30 yds of our company but fortunately
it did not burst one fellow said he did not care a button as long
as it did not hit his canteen, when under fire you would not
believe how cool the men keep , I would not myself had I not
experienced it
Just over a month ago we started from Pretoria we fought and
drove the enemy as far as Balmoral , general French gave orders
for our division to return to Pretoria ( he would settle up with
them very likely) that is what the Border Regiment are doing all
the hard work and others getting the credit for it. Our
casualties on that journey were two scouts killed , three
wounded, one native had his head blown off and six mules were
killed.
When we marched into Pretoria our company was the advanced
guard , Lord Roberts , his staff and a large group of spectators
were there to see us march past all the other regiments but ours
had previously recieved new clothing so that we were very
conspicuous owing to our tattered condition.
On that march our brigade consisted of The Kings Own Scottish
Borderers, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders , the Royal
Berkshire and the Border Rgt with scouts. The column extended 12
miles on the march - We had the finest big guns in the world
with us, so we were like doing some damage.
A volunteer in
the ” K.O.S.B ” came to see me, some of the Keswick
men will remember him, his name is Munro from Dumfries and three
years ago he worked for Mr Welsh coach-builder Keswick he knows
John Rigg very well and I believe he played in the band for a
short time
On July 25th we had a terrible experience , at 3pm it
commenced to rain in torrents and did not cease till next morning
, the consequence being convoys got stuck so we could not get our
greatcoats , blankets and rations until noon next day we had to
just stick out in it - The Argylls lost one officer and two men
from exposure and also three hundred bullocks and mules dropped
dead on the road
When we got back to Pretoria we expected to have some rest,
but no rest for the Border Rgt , the next day we were supplied
with new boots and clothing and were out again the following
morning fighting and driving the enemy over the hills we arrived
near Rustenburg and relieved Baden Powell then we came back here
, the Regiment stopping for what they call a rest , to hold the
position It is a very strong one , the division went on I
don’t know where to but not to Pretoria. If we go there
I think we will be about finished.
This is the first
rest we have bad since we left Vryburg over ten weeks ago, in
that time we have marched something like 1,000 miles, we carry
with us full equipment, 150 rounds of ammunition, waterproof
sheet, water bottle, haversack, mess tin, one days rations ,
rifles and side arms. The transport carry our blankets and
greatcoats with one shirt and a pair of socks in the pockets.
I believe I will be right in saying our Regiment holds the
record for the longest march without a rest in the country, and
that I am the only Keswick man serving in it, so it is something
to be proud of, Excuse writing as we are not supplied with
writing desks
No 7284 Active Service Company, 1st Border Rgt