Extracts and Comments
(from Sources as shown) | |
Murray: 'C'Sqn. died of wounds at Kroonstadt 23.11.1900.
B5204: Queen's South Africa medal and 5 clasps (Drief. Jbg. DH Witte. & CC) deceased 23.11.1900.
URL2: dangerously wounded at Rhenoster R.
Bega Star: At the Front, Letters from Bega Men. "Alex" FULTON, who went away with the second detachment of Bega Mounted Rifles, in writing to his mother from South Africa 7.5.1900, states that he is in splendid health and spirits, although he had a slight attack of enteric fever. So far he had been in five small engagements and be recently took part in the storming of a Boer position which they captured after going through a withering fire. During the fight he saw many strange happenings, including the killing of 20 Boers by a British shell. On one occasion his division attempted to capture a Boer convoy, but they almost captured a Tartar instead, as the Boers drove them off with their canon. In one engagement he came upon a wounded Boer, who, the moment he was seen, reached for his rifle to shoot him (FULTON); but he was forestalled and then pleaded for his life, which was given him. FULTON then humanely gave him his water bottle after disarming him. "Alex" avers that he is now as adept in the art of "commandeering" and is quite a trained thief. He is satisfied with his trip so far, as he has seen and gone through more than he ever expected. He thinks they will be taken to Canada England after the war is over. By reference to our telegrams [c11.1900] it will be seen that Trooper 'Alex' FULTON, who went from here with the second detachment of Bega Mounted Rifles, has been dangerously wounded in action in S. Africa whilst serving with the NSW Mounted Infantry. Alex has many friends in Bega and they will regret to hear that their old comrade has been so unfortunate as to be ranked amongst the 'dangerously wounded'. When 'Jack' McCRACKEN was shot in the neck and ticketed 'dangerously wounded' we had many misgivings as to his ultimate recovery; but he soon recovered and went to the fighting lines again, with the result that he received mention for conspicuous gallantry in a bayonet charge. Our only hope is that 'Alex' FULTON will fare similarly. His people, we believe, reside in the Bombala district, and we trust they will soon be in receipt of news that will allay their fears concerning the safety of their gallant young relative. Death of Alex FULTON. A cable from South Africa during the week [end 11.1900] announced the death at
Kroonstadt of Private TA FULTON, who was a member of the second contingent of Bega Mounted Rifles. It will be remembered that in our telegraphic news of Wednesday week, Private FULTON was reported as being dangerously wounded, but people remembering the case of 'Jack' McCRACKEN and others who have also been dangerously wounded and recovered in a short time, did not entertain the thought that Bega was to leave another of her heroes beneath African soil. But it has been so ordained, and although the excitement of the war has calmed down in our midst, the grief felt at the loss of another of the men of brave hearts who went to the front from Bega's peaceful valleys, is as intense as if it had happened in the first days of the trouble. Alex FULTON, though not a native of the district belonging we believe to Monaro, spent some years here, being employed on the Yarranung Estate. When British soldiers were falling by the score in Natal and elsewhere before the might of the Boers, young FULTON was one of those who, knowing no fear, bid adieu to his native land and went forth to the scene of battle where shell and bullet were wrecking dire destruction to human life. These were the men who did not think the war would be all over when they got there for, at that time, the Boers had things much their own way. Poor Alex went through a lot of fighting and in a letter from him, published in this paper some time back, he described many narrow escapes he had. He was a fine speciman of Australian manhood, being about 23 years of age, splendidly built, agile, and a splendid horseman. There was none of the 'town side' about him and by those who knew him around Bega, he was respected in the highest degree. He makes the third Bega man to leave his ashes in Africa. Deceased's mother now resides at Cathcart with some of his brothers and sisters, while two of his older sisters are in Sydney. These are the persons who will most feel his death, for he was a good son and a loving brother. The family have the sincere sympathy of the Bega people in their bereavement. The relatives of the deceased [Bega District NSW] soldiers, the late Ptes. W ABRAHAMS, WJ KIRKLAND, I GOODSELL and A FULTON, are to receive [c6.1901] the war medals that would have otherwise gone to these ill fated soldiers.
NSW BDMs: FULTON Thomas A 1878 birth registered in Bombala NSW.
Bega Gaz.: The Second Contingent - the following connected with Bega MR have volunteered for service in S. Africa, Pte. A FULTON. A hurriedly organised send off was given the men last evening [22.12.1899] at the School of Arts.
Bega Std.: Bega Men to the Front - Second Contingent, Military ardour in Bega was not all spent in sending off the first contingent. When it was decided to send a second contingent from this colony, volunteers were at once forthcoming, and the difficulty the authorities have is to decide whom to accept and whom to reject. In Bega 29 names have to date been sent in, and this, in addition to the contingent of our boys now at the seat of war. Several of the present volunteers are untrained men, but are excellent horsemen, splendid shots, men accustomed to the bush, and of good physique. On Saturday [c12.1899] the first draft of the second contingent went to Sydney via Tathra, namely L/Cpl. W BECK, Ptes. M HEALY, P BYRNE, J McCRACKEN, H McGRATH, TA FULTON, HM BALL, S FUBBS, H LIVINGSTONE. Yesterday 28.12.1899 Ptes. QUINLIVAN and CASHMAN went to headquarters by steamer, while Ptes. BALDWIN and BRASSINGTON reported themselves at headquarters on Tuesday. All these men will be subjected to strict medical examinations in Sydney and unless they 'pass the doctor' they will not be allowed to go to S. Africa. Several of the remaining volunteers start next week. here is no need to hurry as they will not embark till about 5.1.1900. On Friday evening last, a smoke concert, hurriedly organised, was tendered as a send off to our volunteers and as on the previous similar occasion the hall of the School of Arts was crowded, while ladies occupied seats on the stage and the gallery.Mr. HOT COWDROY JP presided with Major BLAND OC Bega Squadron Mounted Rifles on his right hand and Lieuts. O'BRIEN and BLAND on his left. The volunteers occupied a space specially set apart for them to the centre of the hall. The proceedings were most enthusiastic from the enlivening march played by the band as the men entered right through to 'God Save the Queen'. The toasts were 'Our Parliament' proposed by Mr. P ROSENTHAL, 'Our Volunteers' proposed by Mr Alf THOMPSON and supported by Rev. FW MCDONNELL, Major BLAND responding; Surgeon Captain MARSHALL also responded and his short and pithy speech excited the greatest enthusiasm, the audience responding with 'For he's a jolly good Fellow'; 'The Chairman' proposed by Mr. J SIRL. The hands of the ladies of Bega decorated the manly breasts of our departing men with colours of their regiment to strains of martial music by the band. One notable feature of the proceedings was the appeal made by the chairman on behalf of the Patriotic Fund, then Lieut. O'BRIEN recited 'The Absent minded Beggar' and four members of the Company passed the hat round, over 8 pounds being realized. Songs were contributed by Messrs Dorrington, Thatcher, Cansdell, Ensor, Miller, O'Farrell, Croft, Ellis and a recitation by Mr. Lynch. On Saturday morning almost the whole town turned out to see the men off, the band escorting them to the showground while the wharf at Tathra was crowded with the friends of our departing warriors. Our Soldiers - Captain O'BRIEN writing from Clerksdorp on 29.11.1900 reports his squadron actively engaged. Private BULL wired from Albury on Sunday [c12.1900] that he had reached there safely. It appears all left of the first contingent are on board under Captain Antil. The "SMH" of Friday last publishes
correspondence from the front which refers to the late Private TA FULTON and relates how he got his wound which proved fatal. The event took place near Kroonsted, Privates HUGHES and FULTON had seen the approach of a party of Boers but, were deceived into the belief that they were their own men, concluding that two men whom they noticed coming in their direction were the relieving post. Not more than 200 yards separated the pairs when the Boers fired. The NSW men fired in return, but realising the certainty of their being surrounded by the party if they remained, hurried to their horses. HUGHES was bending down
untying his when he was struck. "I'm done for Tom", he said; and instantly FULTON replied, "And so am I," for a bullet had entered one of his shoulders and issued from the other. When the Boers came up they took all of value that FULTON had on him, but passed over HUGHES. The two unfortunate fellows lay in the pouring rain for some time until at last, as already stated, HUGHES managed with great difficulty to find his way to the farmhouse. The farmer quickly got his Cape cart ready, and with JAMIESON drove to where FULTON was lying, bringing him also to the farmhouse. So here were three NSW men all very badly wounded. They were treated with much kindness by the Dutch people; but the daughter of the house, while busying herself preparing coffee, attending to the wounded, etc. sang, and kept on singing, "Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow".
Bomb.T.: The following letter has been received by his mother at Cathcart from Pte. TA FULTON NSW Mounted Infantry, S Africa - Just a few lines to let you know I am well and have splendid health. So far I have gained a stone in weight since I came over here. I had a slight attack of fever, but I am as right as rain again. I think the war will soon be over now. The company I am in led an attack the other day and took a strong position. We advanced under a terrible fire and only two were slightly wounded. We fight in a different way now. The men are not allowed to be closer than 10 yds to each other in lines, and it takes a lot of shots to hit them at that distance. The Boers have no marks to fire at and the next line supporting is about 400 yards behind at the same distance apart. We got great praise for taking the position. We captured
one gun but a Canadian officer took it from us as we had no officer with us at
the time. We are going to try and get it back again. Yesterday we had
a race to catch up to the Boer convoy. When we did catch it it was too strong for us. Their guns outranged ours. They got pretty close to us and opened
fire. Two of our guns galloped down. They turned round to fire but the shells from the Boers burst amongst them; about half a dozen burst close but never hurt a man. They dropped shell after shell amongst our men, but the only damage was one horse lost two legs; 100 shells must have been dropped amongst our men. I have been in five engagements and have only seen a few wounded. Besides
little fights we have had to go out scouting. The Boers' shells do very little damage although they shoot well with them. The other day during a fight I came on a wounded Boer. He didn’t see me till I came right on him. When he saw me he tried to get at his rifle. He said "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" I said, "I'm not going to kill you, old man". He held out his hands for my water bottle, and I gave him a drink. Some fellow of another company came up and I left him to disarm the Boer. I saw dead Boers farther on. We soon cleared the Boers out of their position. They never wait for us to close on them but clear of their position. One of our fellows had a narrow shave. A bullet went through his breast pocket, out over his head, hit something (I don’t know what), turned, and passed without hurting him. We will have some big guns up today, so that we won’t have much to do. The guns stand off and blow the Boers to pieces. One of our shells yesterday killed 20 Boers, and 100 of theirs did not hurt a man of us. We do some great commandeering at the farmhouses, fowls, sheep, calves, cattle and horses. I am getting a trained thief. We get too much of our own way
sometimes. It has been a great trip for me. I have seen more than I ever expected to see in a life time. I hear we are to go to Canada and England
after the war. Cannot write more now. 7th May 1900. Death of Private FULTON, Brave to the Last. Lieut. DJ STEWART, a Wollongong journalist, who went to the front with the second contingent, writing to the Illawarra Mercury from Damfontein on 26.11.1900, makes reference to the death of Alex. FULTON. Lieut. STEWART writes as follows - "Only a few days ago we lost one of our most highly esteemed sergeants, and had two splendid fellows severely wounded, while three others were captured but were afterwards released. The disaster was due primarily to our patrol party mistaking a small force of Boers (all of whom were dressed in khaki) for West Australians, and thus allowing them to come almost right upon them before realising the error. The sergeant died early the following morning and we buried him close to the camp, and the sad news has now reached us that one of the other two who were wounded – both belonging to my troop – breathed his last at Kroonstadt Hospital. By his death the South Coast district has added another to the roll of heroes who have given their lives for the empire, for Tom FULTON hailed from Bega, the home also of young ABRAHAMS, who was shot at the battle of Driefontein (or Abraham’s Kraal) in March last. I was with FULTON some time after he was brought in by the ambulance waggon, and it was impossible not to admire the brave spirit which, despite intense suffering, refused to allow even a groan to escape him. He could not sleep a wink that night, and when I visited him early the next morning he remarked "I'm afraid I shan't be able to stand it much longer Sergeant; I don’t want to give way, but the pain is becoming awful." Still he uttered not a murmur, and the last words I heard from him were to the effect that he was sorry he couldn't come along with us, but he believed he would soon be alright again. Poor Tom! It was not to be; paralysis set in, for the bullet in its passage from shoulder to shoulder had touched his spine and his last earthly "trek" was ended. If it be any consolation to his friends to know it, let them take the writer's assurance that, in whatever circumstances he was placed, he cheerfully responded to the call of duty, was liked by his comrades and throughout his career was noted for a courage which failed him not even in the hour of death. Private FULTON. The following is a copy of a letter received from Private TA FULTON by his mother and was written not long before his death - "Dear Mother, Your letter to hand about an hour ago. Was mighty pleased to hear from you. I am writing this letter on a cannon we captured the other day. We got properly on to them after a very hard gallop. They fled in all directions leaving cattle they had been skinning and half cooked victuals. About 15 of us under Colonel Knight and Lieutenant Newman crossed the River where they did not expect us. They were firing at some of the British on our right not fifty yards above us. I and Mr. Newman hung our horses up and started up the kopje but the colonel called us back. I could hear their rifles going off not twenty yards from me, but there were too many rocks and bushes so I had to go back without having a shot. We then had to lead our horses round the kopje by a very rough track over rocks through a bog hole and drains up to our knees in mud. The colonel would not stop to light those on the kopje, he wanted to make a pile as he called it. He was the first to plunge up to his knees. He is as brave as a man and loves a fight. But the Boers didn't let us get round, they began to leave at a gallop. The guns had driven them back, lucky for us they didn’t know we were so close or they would have shot every one of us. As soon as we saw them we opened on them. They were only about 100 yards from us and saw us at the same time. To our annoyance our own men opened fire on us thinking we were the enemy. We were in an unpleasant position the bullets coming uncomfortably near, striking the rocks and flying back. We had to let the Boers go and raise our rifles to show we were friends. The Colonel didn’t wait for them to cease firing but gave the order to mount and pursue the Boers. When we got on to a rise we could see the retreating Boer army all over the plain. We got to some kraals and opened fire on the Boers. There were that many we did not know which to fire at. I tried to kill as many as I could, but I can't say if I killed one. I don’t know if I would be pleased if I knew I killed one. When your blood is up, you don't care, your only thought is of your dead comrades. At this battle the British took three guns and NSW one. The artillery dropped a shell into an ammunition wagon and blew it to atoms. There were some Boers on it and we found the remnants. I think we will soon be going home, but we cannot hear anything definite. I must draw this to a close. Your loving son Alex. PS We are in camp now and will probably be here for a few days. The Boers are reported to be in small bodies. If they get many bumps like we gave them the other day they will soon throw up the sponge.
Pambula V.: News has been received [c23.11.1900] that Private Alex FULTON of the Bega Mounted Rifles has been dangerously wounded in action in South Africa. [30.11.1900] A FULTON of the Bega contingent in South Africa has died of wounds received in a recent encounter with Boers.
URL4: Bega War Memorial unveiled c9.1905 with Tpr. AT FULTON amongst those from the District who were killed.
URL5: Aust. Boer War Memorial database record.
URL9: Private TA FULTON, of the New South Wale» Mounted Infantry, who was severely wounded at Kroonstad about a fortnight ago, died on 27.11.1900. Private FULTON was a member of the Bega Mounted Rifles, and his parents reside at Cathcart, near Bombala. This is the first casualty to volunteers from that district in the South African campaign.
URL10: A recent [c1.12.1900] cablegram from the High Commissioner in South Africa to the Premier, stated that Private TA FULTON, of the NSW Mounted Rifles, was dangerously wounded at Rhenoster, on 16.11.1900. Private FULTON is a member of the Bega Mounted Rifles, and his parents live at Cathcart, near Bombala. He is the first wounded from that district.
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