Alfred Taylor (British Army officer)

Captain Alfred James Taylor, D.S.O. (14 November 1861 Dublin, Kingdom of Ireland – 24 October 1941 Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia) was an Anglo-Irish military officer, mass murderer, cattle rustler, and accused war criminal during the Scramble for Africa and the Second Boer War.

Born into a middle class Anglo-Irish Protestant family in Dublin, Taylor arrived in Southern Africa in 1886 and became a mercenary for the British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes.

He played a major role in the British invasion and conquest of Southern Rhodesia. During two subsequent uprisings by the Northern Ndebele people against British-rule, Taylor became notorious for atrocities against the Ndebele population and the theft of their livestock. In the Ndebele language, Taylor received the nicknames, "Bulala" ("He Who Kills") and "Bamba" ("He Who Takes").[1]

Taylor is most notorious, however, for his actions in during the Second Boer War. While serving as a Captain in the British Army Intelligence Department, Taylor was handpicked by Lord Kitchener as liaison to the Bushveldt Carbineers (BVC) at Fort Edward in the Northern Transvaal. While serving there, Captain Taylor implicated himself in numerous violations of the laws and customs of war.

According to South African historian Dr. C.A.R. Schulenburg, "The Irishman Taylor was a notorious sadist; he caused trouble in Black kraals and whites did not trust him."[2]

Taylor's victims included captured members of the Boer Commandos and large numbers of White and Black noncombatants suspected of aiding them. He also drove large numbers of Afrikaner, Cape Coloured, and Native African men, women, and children into British concentration camps. Furthermore, cattle herds confiscated from local families were secretly removed from impound and driven to Captain Taylor's farm in Southern Rhodesia.

In October 1901, a letter accusing him of war crimes was written, signed by 15 members of the BVC, and mailed to his commanding officer at Pietersburg. In response, Taylor was arrested by Royal Military Police and charged with ordering the Valdezia Massacre; the murder of six unarmed Boer men and boys and the theft of their money and cattle. Taylor was also indicted for the subsequent murder of BVC Trooper B.J. van Buuren, who had informed the victims' relatives about the massacre in Afrikaans.

Defended by Australian solicitor Major J.F. Thomas, Taylor was court-martialed and found Not Guilty. He left the British armed forces, returned to Rhodesia, and died at Bulawayo on 24 October 1941.

In the region of South Africa where his crimes took place, Capt. Taylor's wartime activities still haunt the descendants of his victims more than a century later and his acquittal is locally reviled as a miscarriage of justice.

Taylor is also detested in Australia, where his co-defendants, BVC Lieuts. Harry Morant and Peter Handock, are widely seen as national icons and martyrs. Among Australians seeking to reopen the case, Taylor is often blamed for the atrocities that sent Lieuts. Morant and Handcock before a firing squad.

In the award-winning Australian New Wave Film Breaker Morant, Captain Taylor is portrayed onscreen by actor John Waters.

Early life

Alfred Taylor was born into a middle class Anglo-Irish family in Dublin on 14 November 1861. His father, William Taylor, was a lawyer. His mother, Charlotte Bennett, was the daughter of an auctioneer and land agent. His father died in Texas in 1877 and his mother in 1879 and, at the age of 17, Taylor had to make his own way in the world. According to his unpublished memoirs, he became a merchant seaman and eventually became a ship's engineer.

In 1886, Taylor was employed on a voyage between British India and Europe, when he jumped ship in Cape Town, and disappeared.

After drifting to the Protectorate of Bechuanaland, he worked assembling machinery for the goldmines in Tati.

Taylor then became a mercenary for the British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes. It is also reported that he preceded the Pioneer Column to Bulawayo, where he befriended King Lobengula of Matabeleland.[3] In 1889, he witnessed the Rudd Concession signed between the King and the British South Africa Company.[4]

Matabele War

During the First Matabele War of 1893, he acted as a guide to Cecil Rhodes and, according to his unpublished memoirs and the "Plumtree Papers" by Mrs. Clarke, he had an argument with Rhodes whilst escorting him secretly to Bulawayo, threatening to abandon him. Fortunately, the argument was settled and the trip proceeded. In the Matabele Rebellion of 1896, he was the Commanding Officer of a portion of Colonel Plumer's Column.[5]

Boer War

Alfred Taylor served as a British Army Intelligence Department Captain during the Second Boer War.

In a 1905 letter, Captain Taylor described how he was originally attached to General H.C.O. Plumer's Southern Rhodesian forces as an Intelligence officer in 1900. He "was then sent to the Transvaal to get information on Boer movements", which he "did to Genl. Plumer's satisfaction". On his return, Taylor was briefly "left in charge of the Detachment of A Squadron" until being ordered "to join Genl. Plumer at Crocodile Pools on the road to the Relief of Mafeking. I remained with him tillI got Dysentery so bad I was sent back to Bulawayo Hospital."[6]

Upon his recovery, Taylor received "a wire from HQ Pretoria" ordering him "to report to Col Wood in Bulawayo. There I met a man named Keith who informed me that Lord Kitchener wanted me to find a way to Fort Botha, which was situated in the Makato Mountains."[7]

Arrival in Northern Transvaal

Leading a party of six soldiers of the British Army Intelligence Department, Captain Taylor followed the Crocodile River until reaching the Soutpansberg Range. While interviewing Chief Madumetsa of the Mamadi People, Captain Taylor "began to suspect" the Chief of "collaboration or support for the Boers" and had him shot dead. Chief Madumetsa "was later buried by his tribesmen in the foothills of the nearby Zoutpansberg to the west of the Sand River."[8]

Upon reaching Fort Botha, Taylor found it occupied "by only two men named Lottering and Erasmus and from them I found out that the Boer Commando was at the foot of the hills and that they had a telephone attachment to Louis Trichardt, I broke up the machine and cut off all communication by wire to Pietersburg and the surrounding district." Taylor and his men remained "in the mountains for 14 days" until being "relieved by Cols Grenfell and Colenbrander when they took Louis Trichardt."[9]

The Looting of Louis Trichardt

On 9 May 1901, Cols . Johan William Colenbrander and H.L. Grenfell rode into Louis Trichardt ahead of a mixed force of about 600 men. In addition to Kitchener's Fighting Scouts, the force included elements of the Pietersburg Light Horse, the Wiltshire Regiment, the Bushveldt Carbineers, a large force of Native South African and Indigenous Australian "Irregulars", and six members of the British Army Intelligence Department commanded by Taylor.[10]

Even though Louis Trichardt was "reeling from the annual effects of malaria", British and Commonwealth servicemen ransacked the town and arrested an estimated 90 male residents suspected of links to the Zoutpansberg Commando.[11]

The Murder of C.J. van den Berg

Meanwhile, Captain Taylor was ordered by Col. Colenbrander to lead a small patrol to the nearby Zwagershoek farm and "even the score" with Zoutpansberg Commando member C.J. van den Berg. Burgher van den Berg, who had fatally shot an Intelligence Department soldier named R.H. Summers during an attack on his farm six days earlier, was "bed-ridden and barely able to walk" when the patrol arrived on 10 May 1901. Even so, his wife and daughter were ordered to bring him to the door. Once they did so, Burgher van den Berg told them in Afrikaans that the soldiers were going to shoot him and kissed them goodbye. After walking only a few paces from the house, Burgher van den Berg was summarily executed by an ad hoc firing squad and buried in a shallow grave. His wife and children were told that they had "five minutes to get your things". The farmhouse was then burned down and the van den Berg family was transported to the British concentration camp at Pietersburg.[12]

The revenge killing of C.J. van den Berg violated the 1899 Hague Convention on the Laws and Customs of Warfare on Land, which forbade the killing of surrendered enemy combatants.

The Burning of Louis Trichardt

On 11 May 1901, the remaining residents of Louis Trichardt, including both the Afrikaner and "Cape Coloured" populations, were ordered to evacuate the town. According to local resident E.R. Smith, British and Commonwealth servicemen helped themselves to whatever "curios" they wanted and allowed the civilian population only a short time to gather their things. The town of Louis Trichardt was then burned down by Native South African "Irregulars" under the supervision of Captain Taylor. The civilian population was force marched between 11 and 18 May to the British concentration camp at Pietersburg.[13]

According to South African historian Charles Leach, Captain Taylor "emphatically told" the local Venda and Sotho communities "to help themselves to the land and whatever else they wanted as the Boers would not be returning after the war."[14]

The Valdezia Massacre

On 2 July 1901, Captain Taylor received word that a group of six Boers were coming in to the fort, accompanied by two covered wagons and a large herd of cattle. In response, the Captain sent a runner to summon troops from the Bushveldt Carbineers. Upon their arrival, Cap. Taylor ordered a party under BVC Sergeant Major K.C.B. Morrison to intercept the six Boers. He instructed him to "make it look like a fight", ignore a white flag if one were flown, and take no prisoners. After listening, Sgt.-Maj. Morrison turned to BVC Capt. James H. Robertson and asked whether he should obey Taylor's orders. Robertson replied, "Certainly, he is commanding officer at Spelonken."[15]

In reality, while four of the Boer group were members of the Zoutpansberg Commando, all were unarmed, suffering from malaria, and on the way to the Swiss Mission Hospital at Valdezia. [16]

In response to Capt. Taylor's orders, Sgt.-Maj. Morrison dispatched a patrol under the command of BVC Sergeant D.C. Oldham to intercept the six Boers. After they surrendered were disarmed, all six Boers were fatally shot by Sgt. Oldham's patrol and later buried in a mass grave. The cash box, gold bars, and cattle they carried were later seized by BVC Lt. Peter Handcock and were never seen again. The victims' known names were: Jan F. Vercuil, F.J.G. Potgieter, Jan J. Geyser, P.J. Geyser, J.C. Greyling, and M. van Heerden.[17]

In a subsequent deposition, BVC Shoeing-Smith Allen Staton recalled, "Then we rode on until we came across five Boers lying on the road dead and one lying dead in the wagon under his blankets never having got out of bed. The latter was shot in the head. The five lying in the road were shot in the head save one who was shot in the neck. They had no arms and from the position in which the bodies were lying it was evident they had not died fighting. It looked to me just like an execution. I saw both Captain Taylor and Captain Robertson ride on the scene while the bodies were lying there unburied."[18]

The Murder of Trooper B.J. van Buuren

When the patrol returned to Fort Edward on 2 July 1901, BVC Trooper B.J. van Buuren, an Afrikaner "joiner", was seen pointing out Sgt. Maj. Morrison's men to a group of Boer women and children who were being held for transport to the British concentration camp at Pietersburg. Believing that Trooper van Buuren had told the women about the massacre in Afrikaans, Capts. Robertson and Taylor ordered Lt. Handcock to "attend to the matter".[19]

On 4 July 1901, Lt. Handcock led a handpicked patrol of four men, including Trooper van Buuren, from Fort Edward to "investigate Boer activity close by". In a subsequent deposition, Trooper M.A. Churton described having seen Lt. Handcock ride up behind Trooper van Buuren and shoot him three times in the back. Lt. Handcock then allegedly rode up to Trooper Churton and said, "Keep a sharp lookout. We just lost a man back there."[20]

Meanwhile, news had reached military police in Pietersburg that a Spelonken woman had accused Capt. Robertson of sexual assault. In response, Robertson was recalled to HQ and given a choice between court martial and resigning his commission. He chose the latter option and left the British Armed Forces.[21]

Arrest and Court-Martial

On 4 October 1901, a letter signed by 15 members of the Bushveldt Carbineers was secretly dispatched from Fort Edward to Colonel F.H. Hall, the Officer Commanding at Pietersburg. After listing numerous war crimes ordered by Capt. Taylor and other officers, the 15 BVC Troopers wrote, "We cannot return home with the stigma of these crimes attached to our names." They further requested "that a full and exhaustive inquiry" be made "in order that the truth be established and justice done."[22]

In response, Capt. Taylor was arrested by Royal Military Police at Pietersburg, where he had been recalled three weeks earlier. Hoping to evade prosecution, he resigned his commission, but was still held at solitary confinement awaiting trial. After a six week Court of Inquiry, charges were filed against Capt. Taylor, and BVC Lieuts. Harry Morant, Peter Handcock, George Witton, and Harry Picton.

Later Life

During the First World War, he served in France and received The British War medal and Victory medal.. It is reported in the "Plumtree Papers" that he modestly said that he was awarded the King and Queen's medals which refers to the Boer War and he did receive the Queens and Kings South African medals for services in the Boer War. He did farm Avoca Farm near Plumtree but there is no evidence this was granted to him by Queen Victoria.

Taylor died in 1941 and is buried in Bulawayo cemetery.

Personal life

Captain Taylor married Mrs. Phoebe Clark Wolfenden, the widow of a British trader,[23] at Shoshong, Protectorate of Bechuanaland, on 12 September 1887.[24] In a memoir written for the book First Steps in Civilizing Rhodesia, Mrs. Taylor described herself as being of mixed British and Bechuana descent. She further claimed to be the great-grandniece of King Sekgoma II.[25]

Captain and Mrs. Taylor had eight children; Mrs. Maude Lindebloom, Mrs. Nora Davies, Adie Taylor, Alfred Taylor Jr., Freddy Taylor, Claud Taylor, Albert Taylor, and Charles Taylor.[26]

In popular culture

In the 1980 Australian film Breaker Morant, Cap. Taylor is played by actor John Waters.

In a 2013 review of the film, Graham Daeseler wrote "The actual Taylor was a ruthless murderer, using the war as an excuse to plunder Boer property and line his own pockets. In the film, he is the defendants’ only ostensible ally besides their attorney. Take one look at Waters, though, with that pencil-thin scar on his cheek and that haughty, dead-eyed stare, and you’ll see a glimpse of the monster lurking beneath the gentleman’s façade."[27]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Arthur Davey (1987), Breaker Morant and the Bushveldt Carbineers, Second Series No. 18. Van Riebeeck Society, Cape Town. Page lvvii.
  2. ↑ Leach (2012), page 15.
  3. ↑ Uys, Ian (1992). South African Military Who's Who 1452-1992. Cape Town: Galvin & Sales. p. 135.
  4. ↑ Uys, Ian (1992). South African Military Who's Who 1452-1992. Cape Town: Galvin & Sales. p. 136.
  5. ↑ Uys, Ian (1992). South African Military Who's Who 1452-1992. Cape Town: Galvin & Sales. p. 183 & 234.
  6. ↑ Leach (2012), page 163.
  7. ↑ Leach (2012), page 163.
  8. ↑ Leach (2012), page 10.
  9. ↑ Leach (2012), page 163.
  10. ↑ Leach (2012), pages 2-4.
  11. ↑ Leach (2012), page 3.
  12. ↑ Leach (2012), pages 7-9.
  13. ↑ Leach (2012), pages 3-5.
  14. ↑ Leach (2012), page 7.
  15. ↑ Charles Leach (2012), The Legend of Breaker Morant is Dead and Buried: A South African Version of the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Zoutpansberg, May 1901-April 1902, Leach Printers & Signs, Louis Trinchardt, South Africa. Page 17-18
  16. ↑ Leach (2012), page 17.
  17. ↑ Leach (2012), pages 18-22.
  18. ↑ Leach (2012), page 20.
  19. ↑ Leach (2012), page 22.
  20. ↑ Leach (2012), pages 22-23.
  21. ↑ Leach (2012), page 23.
  22. ↑ Leach (2012), pages 99-101.
  23. ↑ Leach (2012), page 162.
  24. ↑ Leach (2012), page 167.
  25. ↑ Leach (2012), page 162.
  26. ↑ Leach (2012), page 167.
  27. ↑ "Kangaroo Court: On Bruce Beresford's 'Breaker Morant'" Bright Lights Film Journal30 April 2013.

Bibliography

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