ALFRETON & DISTRICT HERITAGE TRUST HISTORY DETECTIVES

On the 23rd November 1899, the Brigade were encamped near Belmont Station on the Western Railway. Methuen’s ultimate objective being to relieve the siege of Ladysmith. Methuen planned an attack in the pre-dawn darkness on the Boer positions around Belmont the 9th Brigade was to attack Table Hill, the northern feature, while the Guards attacked Gun Hill. Each brigade was to be supported by an artillery battery. The troops marched out at around 3am well after the intended start time of 1.30am. The 9th Brigade advanced on Table Hill, the K.O.Y.L.I. advancing along the railway line by Belmont Station. By 4am it was light and it was whilst trying to outflank the Boers that Arthur was hit and seriously wounded, subsequently dying from his wounds the following night.

On a recent visit to St. Martin’s Parish Church, I was intrigued to come across a white Carrara Marble Tablet in the memory of Private Arthur Davis of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry who fell at the Battle of Belmont in November 1899 during the Great Boer War.

The Derby Mercury of 1st August 1900 tells us that work on the tablet, subscribed for by public subscription, had been entrusted to Mr. Bingham, Sculptor, of Tibshelf, and that the inscription, in gilt letters, would read “To the glory of God and in Memory of Arthur Davis, 2nd Battalion K.O.Y.L.I., who died fighting for Queen and Country at the battle of Belmont. November 23rd, 1899. Erected by public subscription.”

What then do we know of Arthur? Some detective work was required.

He was born at Alfreton on the 30th January 1873, the son of John Davis, a Greengrocer, and his wife Martha (nee Simpson), of 20 King Street, Alfreton. He was baptised on the 27th April 1873 at St Martin’s Parish Church, Alfreton.

In the 1881 Census Arthur, a scholar, is shown as living at 20 King Street, Alfreton with his parents and seven siblings. I wasn’t able to trace him in the 1891 Census, but it is possible that he had enlisted in the Army by this time.

Army records show that the 2nd Battalion K.O.Y.L.I. were serving in India up to February 1899 when they deployed to Mauritius. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, the battalion transferred to South Africa where they formed part of the 9th Brigade under the command of Lord Methuen.

It was not until February 1900 that his parents became aware of his death through an account by Private J Coupe of Codnor Park, who was with Arthur throughout the action at Belmont. He described what occurred as follows:

“We had orders to try and outflank them and in doing so got pinned with a crossfire, in the course of which my friend fell on top of me, saying ‘they have done for me this time’ I tugged him behind a rock, took off his equipment, cut off his coat and shirt with my knife, bandaged up his wounds and gave him water. I got some assistance, put him on a stretcher and took him to a house close by which was made into a temporary hospital. There I had to leave him while the doctors dressed his wounds properly.”

The account continues telling of a visit a little later, “When I got to him, I saw that a change had come over him. He drank a little, but all came back. I stayed with him until midnight. He opened his eyes and asked for me. I said to him ‘Come on my lad, buck yourself up’ He replied, ‘I am going.’ He asked me to write to his mother at Alfreton and tell her not to take it hard as he had done his duty.

Then he passed away”

Arthur Davis lies buried near Belmont in South Africa with around twenty of his fellow soldiers. His name is remembered on the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Boer War Memorial in York Minster and on the grave of his parents, John and Martha, in Alfreton Cemetery.

Lest We Forget.