I first learned about WILLIAM writing poems to Marie, from my mother. We have no explanation for how they came to be left in England, but were found in Elizabeth Bevington’s house in Thundersley, Essex, in the late 1960s and subsequently sent out to South Africa.
Fifty years later with copies in my hands, my immediate reaction was one of disappointment. Sadly, WILLIAM was no poet. I found the sentiments mawkish and the verses doggerel. Sometimes strange word choices made similes miss their mark. William McGonagall’s Tay Bridge Disaster came to mind!
Having transcribed the ‘Poems’ and studied them at great depth my opinion of their literary merit has not changed. However I am full of admiration for WILLIAM for having a go at expressing his feelings.
The missing years
The Anglo-Boer War began on 11th October 1899, but after enlisting in the Kaffrarian Rifles on 19th October, WILLIAM made no further Journal entries until 30th January 1904 when he began work at the Cornelia Mine, Viljoens Drift, Orange River Colony. Consequently we have no information regarding his life during these missing three years. Although he listed all engagements between 3rd January and 7th October 1900 WILLIAM himself feels oddly missing, never mentioning his own part in the action. We learn later in the Journal that he was at Wepener because he applied for and received his medals. He gave a list of his service dates retrospectively for the secretary of the Phthisis Sanatorium but again, provided the reader with nothing further.
Officers of the Kaffrarian Rifles. Source: Anglo Boer war
Strangest of all, the next entry in 1904 announced his marriage, but how and where he met his future wife is a complete mystery.
Reading the ‘Poems’ has been of great help in filling in some of the gaps between March and September 1902 as luckily WILLIAM dated them all.
First two poems in the collection
His first two poems The Gallant DMT and The Ride toBurgersdorp were written in March 1902 while the war was still on; it didn’t finish until 31st May. To undertake a forty mile bicycle ride at this time seems odd or even foolhardy but we know from the Journal that WILLIAM was cycling mad! This was definitely not a manoeuvre, but a ride he wanted to do because it was there, rather like Mulders Drift later in the Journal.
It seems safe to presume the poems were written in the Venterstad/Burgersdorp area where the DMT was operating some of the time, but WILLIAM doesn’t write about it (or the pages are missing). The final months of the war were characterised by guerilla warfare and maybe the DMT wasn’t occupied too much with formal duties so WILLIAM had time for a cycle ride.
William’s route with the locations of Venterstad, Knapsdaar and Burgersdorp marked. William’s exact route is not clear from his poem. The map is South African War, 1899-1902 — Maps., Burgersdorp Region (Eastern Cape, South Africa) from the UCT Library Digital Collection
WILLIAM is very concerned with rhyme, which is why he often loses the rhythm of a piece, although here the unevenness of the rhythm nicely conveys the bumpiness of his journey. It’s a shame it is unfinished but I get the impression these were first drafts which he meant to complete at some future date.
Of these two poems it seems likely that The Gallant DMT (District Mounted Troop) was written first. The Ride toBurgersdorp is specific about the date it takes place, 27th March, so unless he dashed off The Gallant DMT before the end of the month, it suggests it was written earlier.
WILLIAM calls this a ‘sarcastic piece’ and he does appear to be sneering at them. They were originally called the Burgersdorp Town Guard, but it is not clear when or why the name changed. It almost sounds as if WILLIAM feels demoted by being in DMT but we have no idea why he left the Kaffrarian Rifles. He makes his low opinion of DMT clear, by the use of contradictory statements about their behaviour, and in his aside ‘this tells of a certain class who were members of the DMT’.
They’re a bunch of volunteers who’d rather have a quiet life than fight, although he softens slightly at the end by saying he shouldn’t be too hard on them as his father was part of DMT and had his horse shot from under him.
At Maitland Camp
The next three poems, written over two weeks at Maitland Camp, Cape Town, form a second group.
The Coronation Crowd, with apologies to Rudyard Kipling was written on 5th May and The Briton, A Night Attack and The Volunteerson 18th May.
It is not clear if WILLIAM is part of the Coronation Crowd or not. What is certain is that there was a Colonial Contingent present in London to celebrate the Coronation of Edward VII on 26th July 1902.
The poem says, ‘With pomp and grandeur we will try our good king to surround’. The use of the word ‘we’ makes it sound as if WILLIAM will be there.
But then the use of the words ‘they’ and ‘their’ in the sentence, ‘There’s a little crowd from Africa… and now they’re going home to see their great king fair and good’ seem to exclude him, as also do the words, ‘We hope to see them march along’.
However, he is at Maitland Camp and it is interesting that WILLIAM records in the Journal that he served with the DMT up to 25 September 1902 although the Anglo-Boer War ended 31 May 1902.
The Briton, A Night Attack attempts to explain how a calm, blue-eyed Briton metamorphoses into ‘a demon’ when confronting a foe. ‘He fights for love not gain’. WILLIAM is much more in control of scansion and rhythm in this poem although the subject matter and that of the companion piece The Volunteers smack of the colonial values typical of their time.
Fragments
The following two fragments were written in the latter part of July 1902 but WILLIAM does not say where he was. The first ‘I’m in a very despondent mood…’ bemoans the fact he’s under some kind of obligation to meet ‘new’ relations and would rather be dead! It seems unlikely he would refer to his own relatives as being new, so whose relations are they? Has he already met Marie?
The second one seems at first glance almost too trivial to mention. ‘After having lost my purse.’ (About latter part of July 1902) On re-reading it however, and after reading the Journal and knowing how WILLIAM always sold up all his assets when coming to England in later years, losing his purse might have been a complete disaster for him. It is possible it contained every penny he owned.
Two years later in 1904, WILLIAM sends money to his sister Sarah Ann Shippam, his aunt Mrs Mary Jane Whitehouse and his mother-in-law Mrs Emma Bevington. Did they help him out on this occasion? Was he paying back loans?
Edward VII’s coronation
The next two poems have him in England in the summer of 1902 which suggests he came back as part of official duties and was still serving after the end of the war; did he indeed come for the coronation but perhaps as a civilian? The poems give us more information, but also ask more questions.
The Coronation, scheduled for 26th July was postponed at the last minute by the King’s sudden illness. The Colonial Troops already stationed at Alexandra Palace spent an extra fortnight under canvas until the coronation on 9th August. A fairground was erected and many local people visited the troops billeted there. If WILLIAM was part of the contingent one would expect him to be there too, but apart from the fragments written in July with no location named, the earliest we know WILLIAM to be in England is late August, Saturday 25th, when he is indeed at Alexandra Palace, writing lines in a friends birthday book.
Colonial Troops at Alexandra Palace for Edward VII’s Coronation. Source: Alexandra Park and Palace Collection at Bruce Castle Museum.
He doesn’t expect to see this friend again ‘it may be forever’. Of course it could be one of a number of people. It would have been helpful had it been Marie, but her birthday is in November, or Arthur Bevington, but his is in June.
William in love
By the following Saturday WILLIAM was in love. A Fair Maiden, 1st September 1902, is dedicated to Marie and is the first positive sighting we have of her. How long he’s known her and where they met, is a mystery. Some of the lines, WLLIAM acknowledges, were: ‘taken from Tennyson’s Birthday Book’. This annual publication provided suitable verses, taken from Tennyson’s poetry, for each birthday. Further research would be needed to find which particular verses WILLIAM lifted!
Mary Sarah Bevington in about 1897
The third verse ends with WILLIAM saying he’ll soon be home again to take her into his arms, but of course the opposite is the case, he’s just about to leave for South Africa. It seems likely he has chosen lines he likes rather than ones more suitable to the situation.
By the 3rd September he has arrived in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands en route home. Sweethearts (he crosses through the words ‘Of Old’) uses the traditional song as a template. The first verse typifies the gender specific attitudes of the time, with its almost pre-Raphaelite style chivalric love, but the second verse suggests ‘modern’ ways of forging relationships. It is unfinished so we shall never know WILLIAM’S idea of a modern marriage, however the final poem Two Lives written on 5th September continues the theme of love, and in particular the amazing accident of fate which has brought WILLIAM and Marie together.
They married 26th April 1904 at Mowbray, Cape Town.
Contents
The Missing Years and Mary Sarah Bevington
READ MOREBefore William’s Birth
READ MOREWilliam’s Early Life
READ MOREWilliam’s cycle trip to North East England
READ MORELater Years
READ MOREAfter William’s Death
READ MOREWilliam’s move to South Africa
READ MOREBackground to William’s ‘Poems’
READ MOREBackground to William’s ‘Poems’
I first learned about WILLIAM writing poems to Marie, from my mother. We have no explanation for how they came to be left in England, but were found in Elizabeth Bevington’s house in Thundersley, Essex, in the late 1960s and subsequently sent out to South Africa.
Fifty years later with copies in my hands, my immediate reaction was one of disappointment. Sadly, WILLIAM was no poet. I found the sentiments mawkish and the verses doggerel. Sometimes strange word choices made similes miss their mark. William McGonagall’s Tay Bridge Disaster came to mind!
Having transcribed the ‘Poems’ and studied them at great depth my opinion of their literary merit has not changed. However I am full of admiration for WILLIAM for having a go at expressing his feelings.
The missing years
The Anglo-Boer War began on 11th October 1899, but after enlisting in the Kaffrarian Rifles on 19th October, WILLIAM made no further Journal entries until 30th January 1904 when he began work at the Cornelia Mine, Viljoens Drift, Orange River Colony. Consequently we have no information regarding his life during these missing three years. Although he listed all engagements between 3rd January and 7th October 1900 WILLIAM himself feels oddly missing, never mentioning his own part in the action. We learn later in the Journal that he was at Wepener because he applied for and received his medals. He gave a list of his service dates retrospectively for the secretary of the Phthisis Sanatorium but again, provided the reader with nothing further.
Strangest of all, the next entry in 1904 announced his marriage, but how and where he met his future wife is a complete mystery.
Reading the ‘Poems’ has been of great help in filling in some of the gaps between March and September 1902 as luckily WILLIAM dated them all.
First two poems in the collection
His first two poems The Gallant DMT and The Ride to Burgersdorp were written in March 1902 while the war was still on; it didn’t finish until 31st May. To undertake a forty mile bicycle ride at this time seems odd or even foolhardy but we know from the Journal that WILLIAM was cycling mad! This was definitely not a manoeuvre, but a ride he wanted to do because it was there, rather like Mulders Drift later in the Journal.
It seems safe to presume the poems were written in the Venterstad/Burgersdorp area where the DMT was operating some of the time, but WILLIAM doesn’t write about it (or the pages are missing). The final months of the war were characterised by guerilla warfare and maybe the DMT wasn’t occupied too much with formal duties so WILLIAM had time for a cycle ride.
WILLIAM is very concerned with rhyme, which is why he often loses the rhythm of a piece, although here the unevenness of the rhythm nicely conveys the bumpiness of his journey. It’s a shame it is unfinished but I get the impression these were first drafts which he meant to complete at some future date.
Of these two poems it seems likely that The Gallant DMT (District Mounted Troop) was written first. The Ride to Burgersdorp is specific about the date it takes place, 27th March, so unless he dashed off The Gallant DMT before the end of the month, it suggests it was written earlier.
WILLIAM calls this a ‘sarcastic piece’ and he does appear to be sneering at them. They were originally called the Burgersdorp Town Guard, but it is not clear when or why the name changed. It almost sounds as if WILLIAM feels demoted by being in DMT but we have no idea why he left the Kaffrarian Rifles. He makes his low opinion of DMT clear, by the use of contradictory statements about their behaviour, and in his aside ‘this tells of a certain class who were members of the DMT’.
They’re a bunch of volunteers who’d rather have a quiet life than fight, although he softens slightly at the end by saying he shouldn’t be too hard on them as his father was part of DMT and had his horse shot from under him.
At Maitland Camp
The next three poems, written over two weeks at Maitland Camp, Cape Town, form a second group.
The Coronation Crowd, with apologies to Rudyard Kipling was written on 5th May and The Briton, A Night Attack and The Volunteers on 18th May.
It is not clear if WILLIAM is part of the Coronation Crowd or not. What is certain is that there was a Colonial Contingent present in London to celebrate the Coronation of Edward VII on 26th July 1902.
The poem says, ‘With pomp and grandeur we will try our good king to surround’. The use of the word ‘we’ makes it sound as if WILLIAM will be there.
But then the use of the words ‘they’ and ‘their’ in the sentence, ‘There’s a little crowd from Africa… and now they’re going home to see their great king fair and good’ seem to exclude him, as also do the words, ‘We hope to see them march along’.
However, he is at Maitland Camp and it is interesting that WILLIAM records in the Journal that he served with the DMT up to 25 September 1902 although the Anglo-Boer War ended 31 May 1902.
The Briton, A Night Attack attempts to explain how a calm, blue-eyed Briton metamorphoses into ‘a demon’ when confronting a foe. ‘He fights for love not gain’. WILLIAM is much more in control of scansion and rhythm in this poem although the subject matter and that of the companion piece The Volunteers smack of the colonial values typical of their time.
Fragments
The following two fragments were written in the latter part of July 1902 but WILLIAM does not say where he was. The first ‘I’m in a very despondent mood…’ bemoans the fact he’s under some kind of obligation to meet ‘new’ relations and would rather be dead! It seems unlikely he would refer to his own relatives as being new, so whose relations are they? Has he already met Marie?
The second one seems at first glance almost too trivial to mention. ‘After having lost my purse.’ (About latter part of July 1902) On re-reading it however, and after reading the Journal and knowing how WILLIAM always sold up all his assets when coming to England in later years, losing his purse might have been a complete disaster for him. It is possible it contained every penny he owned.
Two years later in 1904, WILLIAM sends money to his sister Sarah Ann Shippam, his aunt Mrs Mary Jane Whitehouse and his mother-in-law Mrs Emma Bevington. Did they help him out on this occasion? Was he paying back loans?
Edward VII’s coronation
The next two poems have him in England in the summer of 1902 which suggests he came back as part of official duties and was still serving after the end of the war; did he indeed come for the coronation but perhaps as a civilian? The poems give us more information, but also ask more questions.
The Coronation, scheduled for 26th July was postponed at the last minute by the King’s sudden illness. The Colonial Troops already stationed at Alexandra Palace spent an extra fortnight under canvas until the coronation on 9th August. A fairground was erected and many local people visited the troops billeted there. If WILLIAM was part of the contingent one would expect him to be there too, but apart from the fragments written in July with no location named, the earliest we know WILLIAM to be in England is late August, Saturday 25th, when he is indeed at Alexandra Palace, writing lines in a friends birthday book.
He doesn’t expect to see this friend again ‘it may be forever’. Of course it could be one of a number of people. It would have been helpful had it been Marie, but her birthday is in November, or Arthur Bevington, but his is in June.
William in love
By the following Saturday WILLIAM was in love. A Fair Maiden, 1st September 1902, is dedicated to Marie and is the first positive sighting we have of her. How long he’s known her and where they met, is a mystery. Some of the lines, WLLIAM acknowledges, were: ‘taken from Tennyson’s Birthday Book’. This annual publication provided suitable verses, taken from Tennyson’s poetry, for each birthday. Further research would be needed to find which particular verses WILLIAM lifted!
The third verse ends with WILLIAM saying he’ll soon be home again to take her into his arms, but of course the opposite is the case, he’s just about to leave for South Africa. It seems likely he has chosen lines he likes rather than ones more suitable to the situation.
By the 3rd September he has arrived in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands en route home. Sweethearts (he crosses through the words ‘Of Old’) uses the traditional song as a template. The first verse typifies the gender specific attitudes of the time, with its almost pre-Raphaelite style chivalric love, but the second verse suggests ‘modern’ ways of forging relationships. It is unfinished so we shall never know WILLIAM’S idea of a modern marriage, however the final poem Two Lives written on 5th September continues the theme of love, and in particular the amazing accident of fate which has brought WILLIAM and Marie together.
They married 26th April 1904 at Mowbray, Cape Town.