TOPIC:

Edward James Heaven

Private, Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Volunteer Rifles – Basutoland Gun War
Lieutenant, Graaff-Reinet Town Guard – Anglo Boer War
Staff Sergeant, South African Veteran’s Regiment – WWI

- Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal (Basutoland) to PTE E.J.HEAVEN. D.E.O.V.R.
- Queens South Africa Medal to LIEUT: E.J.HEAVEN. GRAAFF-REINET T.G.
- 1914/15 Star to PTE E.J.HEAVEN. VETERAN RGT.
- British War Medal to S/SJT. E.J.HEAVEN. VETERAN REGT.
- Victory Medal to CPL E.J.HEAVEN. VETERAN REGT.

Edward Heaven’s service was remarkable in many ways – first and foremost, his service stretched over a period of 38 years, from the Basuto Gun War of 1880 until the conclusion of hostilities in WWI – 1918. Secondly, his WWI medals are all to the same unit but all to different ranks and, thirdly, he went from being a Private to a Lieutenant and then to a Staff Sergeant – depending on the conflict in which he was involved.

Born in 1864 to unknown parentage, Archival documents in his respect state that he was born in England although this is unlikely, the probability being that he was born in the Cape Colony of South Africa and that he grew up there. At some point he joined the ranks of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Volunteer Rifles, a Cape Town-based infantry regiment. It was with them that he earned his first medal, at the age of 16, in what became known as the Basutoland Gun War.

The Basuto Gun War was a conflict between the Basuto people and the British Cape Colony. It lasted from 13 September 1880 to 29 April 1881 and culminated in a Basuto victory. There were a number of contributing factors to the war but the primary one was the Cape Governments decision to dispossess the Basuto of their firearms, many of which were acquired through the barter system in exchange for their labour on the diamond mines of Kimberley.


Map of Basuto Gun War

About April 1880 was the time fixed for the handing in of guns by the Basuto as ordered by the Cape government, almost all the chiefs complied with the exception of a few. Tensions were high and with matters deteriorating in Basutoland a meeting was convened on the evening of 20 September 1880 where a call for volunteers for three months service in pursuit of the Basuto was made. The next day some 2000 Basutos launched a fierce attack on the Cape Mounted Rifles near Mafeteng and reports now reached Cape Town by telegraph that indicated that the enemy were well armed with guns having a longer range than the Colonials regular carbines.

On 22 September 1880 nine officers and 290 men of the Dukes were placed on active service with Captain Whindus in command. On the 23rd of September the Cape Times sounded an ominous tone, publishing a list of volunteers and stating that the war was not popular and that the Duke’s were not wildly enthusiastic although they were prepared to do their duty. Nevertheless on 25 September the Cape Town set sail for the front, the contingent being accompanied to the docks by all the other local volunteers and embarking on the 800 ton Donald Curry steamer “Melrose”. In 65 hours they reached East London where they slept the night in sheds on the wharf, then entrained next day for Queenstown which was then the railhead, and from there to Wepener on the border with the Orange Free State.

The relief of Mafeteng and the small garrison stationed there, was effected on the 19th of October by Brigadier General Clarke, the Commandant General of the Colonial Forces. His column consisted of some 1700 men with field guns and mortars. The Duke’s took up a position on the right of this column. The morning broke fine and was “all that could be desired and there was great enthusiasm amongst the troops”. About a mile and 1/2 after crossing the border the enemy opened a dropping fire from the ridges to the left of the line of advance, but with little effect. Large bodies of men were seen coming down from the hills beyond, but they were checked by shells, and took cover behind the ridges from which they kept up a lively fire at long range.

Hitherto the road had been fairly open, and the long range prevented this fire from being very destructive to either side. About 5 miles from the border stands a rugged koppie called the Kalibani, with the road running to the right of it. It was fully expected that a stand would be made here, and just before reaching it the Cape Mounted Rifles and one gun would detach to take position of a Ridge to the right of the road. This Ridge was found to be unoccupied by the enemy, but on the left of the road, between 500 yards and 600 yards distant, the rebels kept up a galling fire from the top of a grassy knoll slipping upwards from the road.

Suddenly, taking our men wholly by surprize, a body of mounted Basutos, several hundred strong, charged from behind the hilly Ridge, cutting off the skirmishers from behind and mixing up with our men, of whom about 30 were assegaied before the supports of the Yeomanry could be brought up to the rescue. The Basuto, having affected their object, then made away at full speed over the rise, from the top of which they kept up a smart fire.

The rebels afterwards appeared in large force, apparently purposely refraining from a decisive engagement, but hovering around both flanks, eager to make a sudden attack whenever an opportunity presented itself. At the time the waggons were waiting near Kalebani for the killed and wounded to be brought in, a charge was made on the right front by a party of 300 to 400 Basuto at full speed, but the Duke’s received them with a severe and well directed volley at 600 yards, which made them wheel right away to the hills again. The enemy for some time kept up a hot fire from the mountain upon the Duke’s while the latter was supporting the Yeomanry, Cape Mounted Rifles and Sprigg’s Own who was skirmishing on the right. The Duke’s had to receive the fire of the enemy without reply, the bullets flying all about them as they lay down, but they behaved in a very cool manner, and, owing to the excellent way in which they were placed by their Captain, no casualties occurred. As the rebels fire was increasing, 3 shells were thrown into the mountain, which dislodged them. Other supports of cavalry and Yeomanry now coming up, they retreated, and the column advanced. They were skirmishing on the left, but the enemy did not further molest the column and they're relieved Mafeteng. The action lasted altogether about 3 hours and the number of Basutos engaged is estimated variously at between 5000 to 8000.

The Duke’s were involved in numerous other skirmishes as the year dragged on towards Christmas with, seemingly, no end to the war in sight. An unfortunate incident occurred at this time – telegrams were sent off to Headquarters in Cape Town. Volunteers had been called up for three months on 20 September, and yet by 12 December no word had reached Basutoland about their relief. The Gun War seemed to be continuing interminably, and there was disquieting rumours that, in the Transvaal, the Boers had already surrounded Potchefstroom. Such news was bad for morale.

By the time hostilities began in the Transvaal, the Duke’s had again been in action, for at 4.30 a.m. on 13 December a column of 645 men and one gun under Colonel Brabant had left camp to go through Azariel’s Nek to destroy Basuto occupied villages at night. Colonel Carrington moved with 485 men to the right of the strongly held Phogwane Ridge to draw off enemy forces.

Driven off the ridge by shellfire, large bodies of the enemy could be seen drawing towards a hill on Carrington’s right rear, and mounted men were sent at the gallop to seize the enemy’s objective. Carrington was surrounded and formed a hollow square round his horses and two wagons. Approaching high ground, the square was wheeled to the right, and the Duke’s, C.M.R. and Prince Alfred’s Guard charged the koppie. Cheering as they went, they killed or captured several Basutos, took their objective and reformed to drive the enemy out of range.

By Christmas time the three months of active service for which the Duke’s had volunteered had passed and there was no hope of their families seeing them in Cape Town during the very busy festive season. In Basutoland hostilities dragged on inconclusively with no end in sight. After several other engagements the Duke’s left Ramabidikwe’s kraal on 20 February 1881, heading for Mafeteng from which they proceeded on 28 February. Crossing into the Free State they headed for home aboard the Melrose, a journey which took 16 days. On arrival they took their discharge and returned to their families and places of work. 183 names appear on the medal roll for the Basuto Campaign – only those alive in 1900, when the medal was authorised by Queen Victoria, were able to claim it. Some twenty years after the war was ended.

Heaven appears to have developed wanderlust as he is next located in Colesberg in the Northern Cape. Here, at the Wesleyan Church on 18 April 1884 he wed 23 year old Hannah Minnar. He was only 20 at the time and about to be a father for the first time – Arthur Edward was born only eight days after the nuptials – on 26 April 1884. By the time of his baptism on 23 May 1884 the young family had moved to Graaff Reinet where they were to spend many years. Charles Lionel was born on 6 September 1888 and baptised on 17 April 1889 on which occasion the baptismal register records that Heaven was a Clerk by occupation.

By the time his namesake was born on 14 December 1898, Heaven had established himself in Graaff Reinet and was now a Book Keeper by occupation. Like most others he would have had very little clue that the war clouds which were billowing over South Africa would soon have an impact on him and his fellow citizens.


Military Map of Graaf Reinet and immediate district circa 1900

The Anglo Boer War commenced on 11 October 1899 and was fought between the two Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State on the one hand and the might of Imperial Britain on the other. Initially the war was waged far from the middle of the Karoo where Heaven lived and worked but that changed as the Boers became more adventurous in their search for fresh recruits from the Cape Dutch.

The first Boer invasion of the Cape in November 1899 did not advance much beyond Colesberg in the direction of Graaff-Reinet. In Graaff-Reinet there was no general movement by young Cape Afrikaners to join the Boer commandos, although young men did run away from home to fight against the British, the number of rebels from Graaff-Reinet itself was small. Nevertheless, political passions were aroused. Graaff-Reinet chose sides largely along language lines (English or Afrikaners) and the possibility of a clash between them was never far below the surface.

As the war progressed in favour of the British so the loyalists of Graaff-Reinet became more assertive which was a red flag to a bull to the local Dutch community.

At the end of March 1900, 350 men and officers of the Sherwood Foresters (Derbyshire Regiment) arrived in Graaff-Reinet and, although feelings about the war ran high, they were treated hospitably by the erfholders in town, eventually leaving on 20 May 1900.

The complacency of the Graaff-Reinet loyalists was rudely shattered by the start of the guerrilla phase of the war. On 15 December 1900 Cmdt Pieter H Kritzinger had crossed the Orange River with approximately 700 men and entered the Cape Colony. Amongst those who followed him into the Cape were Wynand Malan, Gideon Scheepers, J C Lotter and Willem D Fouche, all of whom were subsequently very active in the Graaff-Reinet and surrounding districts. This second invasion was not an aimless mission as the Boer commandos had been ordered to disrupt the enemy lines of communication, to blow up railway lines wherever possible, to wreck trains, to encourage Cape Colonials to rebel and join the Boer cause, and last, but most significantly, to burn down the houses of those Afrikaners who helped the enemy. The commandos harassed the British troops constantly, capturing their trains and wagon convoys, taking what they needed - horses, weapons, ammunition, blankets, saddlebags, riding breeches, boots and hats - and destroying the rest.

On 20 December 1900 martial law was declared in Graaff-Reinet. The loyalists in town were given a bad scare when news reached them that Kritzinger was in the neighbourhood of Middelburg and was heading their way. Kritzinger in fact, with a commando of approximately 400 men (sections having split-off under the other leaders), made for, and occupied, the village of New Bethesda in the Graaff-Reinet district, north of the town. Any plans he may have had to occupy Graaff-Reinet were forestalled by the arrival at midnight on Old Year's Eve, 1900, of 600 of the Coldstream Guards.

By the end of that week there were some 2 000 imperial troops, mainly mounted, encamped on the slopes of Magazine Hill and on Van Ryneveld's Square. Soon after the arrival of these troops in town a Graaff Reinet Town Guard of about 100 strong was raised. (By March 1902 they numbered 266). On 7 January 1901, after rifles and ammunition had been handed out, they elected their officers. The commanding officer was Cmdt J Gardner, assisted by Capt F Rubidge as second-in-command. Lieutenants F Watermeyer and W G Cinnamon, Sergeants E Heaven and F S Tilbrook together with the surgeon, Dr W E de Korte (assisted by Drs J L Rubidge and H C Hudson) made up the rest of the officers. The raising of a town guard allowed the imperial troops to concentrate on tracking down the Boer commandos active in the district. This task was made that more difficult by the mountains of the district which gave considerable help to the Boer commandos in avoiding British pursuit. Further, the isolated valleys of the Sneeuberg and adjoining mountain ranges were an ideal retreat where the Boer commandos could recuperate after sorties into the plains to derail or hold up trains and to commandeer supplies from shops and stores in the villages of the surrounding districts.


A portion of the Graaff Reinet Town Guard by William Roe

As the war dragged on the Boers continued to move about the countryside at will and any small patrol which came their way was sure to be overwhelmed. No commando stayed in one place for long. They split up under different leaders and re-grouped for action; by night they were constantly on the move. They kept moving in wide circles, so that they could leave tired horses to recover, and pick them up again later, on their return to the same hidden valley or flat-topped mountain. In addition the activities of the Boer commandos caused farming in the district to suffer severely. Loyalist farmers, fearing the visits of commandos, moved with their families into Graaff-Reinet where they would at least have the protection of the imperial garrison of Coldstream Guards. Farming was further hampered by the attempts of the military authorities to deprive the Boer commandos of provisions. In May 1901 all forage was ordered to be brought into Graaff-Reinet and if it could not be transported it had to be burnt.

On 18 June 1901 police went round the district with a notice for all farmers to report at the courthouse in town on Friday 21 June at 10 am for the purpose of forming a District Defence Force (DDF), but not many men attended the meeting and it seemed as if the plan for a DDF had fallen through. However, on 28 June a DDF was officially formed which incorporated the already established Town Guard and a second section, the District Mounted Troops (DMT). By 9 July the DMT under Capt F L McCabe had about 80 men signed up and on 15 July the first patrol was sent out – the remit of the DMT being to patrol the outskirts and district around the town for any sign of Boers whilst the Town Guard’s primary responsibility was to protect the lives and property of those within the municipal boundary.

The Boer War ended on 31 May 1902 and the effects on Graaff-Reinet were traumatic. It left deep scars and the divisions were exacerbated by a number of trials which had taken place in the town. From April 1901 the trial of Cape Rebels and captured Boers accused of atrocities was in the hands of the military authorities. Many of these trials were held in Graaff Reinet - two of the best known were those of Lotter and Scheepers. Although many of those accused were sentenced to death, the death sentences on only eight men, including Gideon Scheepers, were carried out in Graaff-Reinet. (Boers executed in Graaff-Reinet: 19.8.1901 - P J Fourie, J B L van Rensburg, L F S Pheiffer; 26.8.1901 - D F Olwagen, J W Nel; 7.10.1901 - J H Roux; 18.1.1902 - Cmdt Gideon Scheepers; 14.2.1902 - J F Geldenhuis.)

Having commenced service as a Sergeant, Heaven had been commissioned as a Lieutenant during the course of the war. He was awarded the Queens Medal to that rank off the roll dated 5 August 1902.

Life slowly returned to normal and Heaven resumed his full-time occupation. At some point in the next few years he moved to Kimberley in the Northern Cape and was there in the occupation of Accountant when his daughter, Veronice Muriel was baptised on 5 August 1908. Having made Kimberley their home the family settled down to life in the City of Diamonds, so recently the scene of a lengthy siege during the Boer War.

Heaven wasn’t finished with a uniform yet though – on 4 August 1914 the Great War burst onto the international stage – a war far greater in magnitude than that in which he had fought a mere 12 years before. Despite being 51 years old he volunteered for service and was accepted as a Private with the South African Veteran’s Corps for service in German South West Africa on 10 February 1915 with no. 394. His next of kin was his wife, Hannah, resident at Halkett Road, Kimberley. The S.A.V.R.’s primary task was to guard Prisoners of War and all the many duties which went with that role. They were also known as the Protectorate Regiment. Heaven’s rise among the ranks was swift – on 14 February he was promoted to Corporal before reverting to Private on 1 June 1915. On 3 November 1915 he was elevated to Staff Sergeant, a rank he held until 31 March 1916 – the day of his discharge, services no longer being required.



Returning home once more, he took no further part in the war and his trio of medals was posted to him on 11 March 1921.

Having lived a long and adventurous life, Edward James Heaven passed away at Kimberley on 22 August 1954 at the age of 90 years and 6 months from a Coronary Thrombosis.. He was a Retired Book Keeper and a widower, his wife having predeceased him on 2 November 1947. He was survived by seven of his children – Robert Raymond; Florence Amy; Maud Beatrice, Norman, Edward; George William and Thomas Hudson.

Acknowledgements:

- Military History Journal Vol 7 No 3 - June 1987; GRAAFF-REINET AND
THE SECOND ANGLO-BOER WAR (1899-1902), by A de V Minnaar (HSRC)
- Evening Mail of 19 November 1880 – from “Our Own Correspondent”
- Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Volunteer Rifles Official History – extracts on the Gun War Rob Mitchell