Durng his capture at the Chieveley incident, 15 Nov 1899, Churchill had promised medals the train driver and his assistant.
The account appears in Chapter 19 of ‘My early years’:
As I passed the engine another shrapnel burst immediately as it seemed overhead, hurling its contents with a rasping rush through the air. The driver at once sprang out of the cab and ran to the shelter of the overturned trucks. His face cut open by a splinter streamed with blood, and he complained in bitter, futile indignation. ‘He was a civilian. What did they think he was paid for? To be killed by a bombshell—not he! He would not stay another minute.’ It looked as if his excitement and misery—he was dazed by the blow on his head—would prevent him from working the engine further, and as only he understood the machinery, the hope of escape would thus be cut off. So I told him that no man was hit twice on the same day: that a wounded man who continued to do his duty was always rewarded for distinguished gallantry, and that he might never have this chance again. On this he pulled himself together, wiped the blood off his face, climbed back into the cab of his engine, and thereafter obeyed every order which I gave him.
Note: It was more than ten years before I was able to make good my promise. Nothing was done for this man by the military authorities; but when in 1910 I was Home Secretary, it was my duty to advise the King upon the awards of the Albert Medal. I therefore revived the old records, communicated with the Governor of Natal and the railway company, and ultimately both the driver and his fireman received the highest reward for gallantry open to civilians.
During the 1999 Centenary Celebrations at Howick Museum, Maureen Richards (Guest Speaker and former Curator from the Ladysmith Siege Museum) spoke about the awards for the Chieveley incident. The train Driver, Charles Wagner, received a 1st Class Albert Medal which was donated by the family to the Military History Museum, Durban. The family of the Assistant Driver, Alexander Stewart, agreed to have cast three replicas of his 2nd Class Albert Medal. Kim Goodwin, Ledgetton, undertook the work. One went to the Howick Museum, one to Celia Sandys (Churchill’s granddaughter) and the last was for Kim Goodwin. This last replica was presented to M Richards who taught both his sons at King’s School, Nottingham Road, for stimulating an interest in history for both his sons. The replica was subsequently sold at auction in Ladysmith.
The replicates were well made and weighty items.
Here is that third replica:
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The account appears in Chapter 19 of ‘My early years’:
As I passed the engine another shrapnel burst immediately as it seemed overhead, hurling its contents with a rasping rush through the air. The driver at once sprang out of the cab and ran to the shelter of the overturned trucks. His face cut open by a splinter streamed with blood, and he complained in bitter, futile indignation. ‘He was a civilian. What did they think he was paid for? To be killed by a bombshell—not he! He would not stay another minute.’ It looked as if his excitement and misery—he was dazed by the blow on his head—would prevent him from working the engine further, and as only he understood the machinery, the hope of escape would thus be cut off. So I told him that no man was hit twice on the same day: that a wounded man who continued to do his duty was always rewarded for distinguished gallantry, and that he might never have this chance again. On this he pulled himself together, wiped the blood off his face, climbed back into the cab of his engine, and thereafter obeyed every order which I gave him.
Note: It was more than ten years before I was able to make good my promise. Nothing was done for this man by the military authorities; but when in 1910 I was Home Secretary, it was my duty to advise the King upon the awards of the Albert Medal. I therefore revived the old records, communicated with the Governor of Natal and the railway company, and ultimately both the driver and his fireman received the highest reward for gallantry open to civilians.
During the 1999 Centenary Celebrations at Howick Museum, Maureen Richards (Guest Speaker and former Curator from the Ladysmith Siege Museum) spoke about the awards for the Chieveley incident. The train Driver, Charles Wagner, received a 1st Class Albert Medal which was donated by the family to the Military History Museum, Durban. The family of the Assistant Driver, Alexander Stewart, agreed to have cast three replicas of his 2nd Class Albert Medal. Kim Goodwin, Ledgetton, undertook the work. One went to the Howick Museum, one to Celia Sandys (Churchill’s granddaughter) and the last was for Kim Goodwin. This last replica was presented to M Richards who taught both his sons at King’s School, Nottingham Road, for stimulating an interest in history for both his sons. The replica was subsequently sold at auction in Ladysmith.
The replicates were well made and weighty items.
Here is that third replica:
