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Australians
in the Boer War
Oz-Boer Database Project |
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Full Record
Hint: This site is intended as a search aid - not a definitive source. It is essentially an index to documents that seem to relate to this person plus a very brief precis of relevant elements. Sources often conflict and I also flag things with a ? when I am unsure. So if the information below is important to you, then please check the original sources to see what else they contain (and in case I have inadvertantly introduced transcription and/or precising errors). There can be additional information that was not included in the database for both space and copyright reasons.
| Surname | | JEFFERSON |
| Given Name(s) or Initial(s) | | Thomas William Joseph |
| Regimental Number | | 190 |
| Rank | | Bugler |
| Unit Name | | 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen |
| State | | Qld |
Extracts and Comments
(from Sources as shown) | |
B5172: next of kin in Toowoomba Qld.
URL2: W JEFFERSON, a returned S.A contingenter, writing from Mangalore, says - Dear "Viator," - Did you read what Judge DOCKER said in sentencing a contingenter to three years' gaol? "It might have been as well for him (the prisoner) if he had fallen in one of the engagements covered with glory. I was told that the Australians in South Africa were the most inveterate thieves. In one town, after the Australians had gone to the war, be found there were no cases set down for trial, and on enquiry of the police as to the cause he was told that all of the criminals had gone to tho war." These were very indiscreet words for a Judge to use, and as one of the individuals who fought for the prestige of my country I greatly resent them. What did the learned judge know of the moral temptations which bestrewed every soldier's path in South Africa and how were the Australians more inveterate thieves than the representatives of many other British countries? What right has Judge DOCKER or Judge Anyoneelse to make esch remarks on mere hearsay? Why, when I was in South Africa we (ie, our company) were regarded as the most honest corps on active service. None of us would ever lay a hand on anything wc couldn't lift. The Canadians, the Royal Wilts, the Northumberland Fusiliers, and many other regiments, used to frequently bring us pigs, sheep, and poultry to kill, and though we always surmised that these goods were stolen from the nearest Boer farm, still we never even hinted of such a thing, particularly as the above-named regiments were very good to us in the matter of supplies, and also because it does not do to look a gift horse in the mouth during war time. But talk about thieving! Why, the English and Canadian troops could lick us hollow. I remember the time when a lot of us Australians and a corps of the Imperial Yeomanry were training it together from Modder River to Capetown, and when we got to our destination I'm blowed if we didn't discover that the Tommies had robbed us of all the relics, curios, and coins which we had found in Boer houses, and which we were only holding till we could communicate with the owners. This mean theft naturally made us mad, and I admit that we looted fruit stalls and forgot to pay for the drinks we ordered at each hotel we entered in our vain search for the Tommies, but don't you think we had sufficient provocation? However, to call us criminals and thieves is utter slander, and I would have liked any unarmed man to say so to me when I was on the veldt with my gun. Instead of acquiring a competency while I was in S.A. the Tommies robbed me of it, so that I am now forced to depend on my parents for my subsistence. But Judge DOCKER was woefully wrong when he assumed that all the Australian contingenters were thieves, and in charity to him I can only infer that be was acquainted with some soldiers who had the good luck not to be found out. Yours, Etc., WJ.
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| Source References | |
Murray: Official Records of the Australian Contingents etc. page(s) 497
B5172: National Archives of Australia series B5172 CobrC: 16.4.1903
| | External Link URL1 | | www.archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/CollectionsDownloads/Documents/boer_war_index_id18351.pdf | | External Link URL2 | | nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210456336 |
Please email me if you can
contribute any other relevant information about this person (eg any
other military service, where in Australia they came from or when/where
they died). Also, if you find an external link broken.
Apology: For some time now it has been difficult to keep up with the newly available sources (especially the Trove newspaper site) plus the flow of contributions and queries. So I have been forced to prioritise maintenance and data entry over replying to correspondence. Nevertheless, your contributions are being added to the database and acknowledged on the contributions page and, although my replies are many months behind, I will attempt to get to them more often.
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Oz-Boer Database
is copyright and may not be used for any commercial purpose.
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