In my great grandfathers house during the 1901 census there was a visitor from Natal . Her name was Mary E Teasdale aged 23 and single. ?
This was how I started the thread.
I somehow found out that Bernard was in the Natal Carbineers and that he died after Ladysmith so I applied for his death no tice. Lo and behold Mary was his executrix.
After digging and delving I found out that Mary was fiance of my Gt Uncle Bernard, and he died after the siege of Ladysmith.
During my family research I have found 2nd cousins, one in South Africa, and one in America, but Gt Uncle Bernard has proven to be very interesting to me, and my 2nd cousin in S.A.
I then went on to find some loveletters from him to Mary lodged in a Museum in S.A. and these were very heart wrenching he missed her so much, and at times he was beside himself. He writes that he has bought some land with a house that will need work doing, but £100 will put it right. The estate cost £500, and he writes”Why rent when you can buy”
The night he is told that he is going to Ladysmith he writes to his family in England that he is leaving at 630am, and that it will be a slaughter. During the battle he writes again saying that he has found pen and paper in a house on top of a hill that has been blasted by the Boers, and still the guns are firing. The troops are short of food and he has to go to the township to buy food which is auctioned off. Prices are absurd. Tea 10/s Ib eggs 48/- doz milk 31/- a tin whisky £6 a bottle jam 18/- Ib tin. The horses are dying,and others are shot for “scoff” as he puts it. Conditions were deplorable.
