First of Two Sons...
By C.Chad Martin Oct. 2017 In 2016 I wrote an article about Robert Marion, a Palmerston son, who served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Robert sadly disappeared on a scouting mission over enemy territory and was never seen again. Within the article I mentioned the challenges of early years and losing his older brother John, in 1901. Little did I know how that fleeting comment would lead me down a path to make a very unexpected discovery. (Robert Marion article) Within the research I was doing on the Marion family I found a land claim made by Peter Marion (the father of Robert) from 1908. The land claim was under what was known as the Volunteer Bounty Act which was established to provide either 320 acres of land or $160 to veterans, or families of veterans from the Boer (South African War). Naturally, this peaked my interest and I began digging further into it. The only reason Peter would be applying for the grant is if he had either served in the Boer War, which there was no indication of, or if he had lost a son in the war. At the time, there was no record of any Palmerston native perishing in South Africa, the only known Boer War veteran was Arthur Leith-Ross who survived the war. However, the timeframe of a 19 year old dying in 1901 lined up a little too nicely. |
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(Arthur Leith-Ross article)
I essentially stumbled upon John Alexander Marion, and discovered an interesting endeavour embarked on by over 1,000 Canadians which has since been somewhat lost to time. Many people know of the 1st and 2nd Canadian Contingents which were raised as volunteers and sent to South Africa, but few know of the South African Constabulary (S.A.C.) and the impact it has had on world history even to this day.
As the Anglo-Boer War seemed to be drawing to a close, Major-General Robert Baden Powell was instructed to raise an occupation force under civilian authority, that would act as a policing presence in the territory and quell any potential uprisings by the local Boers. Interestingly, the uniform Baden Powell designed for the S.A.C. would be the model used for the boy scouts movement later on. Impressed by the skill and abilities of the Canadian troops, Baden-Powell put in a special request to recruit as many Canadians as possible to expand his force. Ultimately 1,200 Canadians volunteered, many of which had already served within the 1st Contingent and had the necessary experience and familiarity with the territory.
Despite drawing on the pool of experienced troops, there was a need to acquire untrained volunteers. Under Militia Order No. 12 dated 15th January, 1901. Candidates for enlistment were required to be “not under 20 nor over 35 years of age, good riders, goods shots, single, strictly sober, medically fit and recommended by two persons in responsible positions.” The enlistment was for 3 years with a pay of $1.21 for a 3rd class trooper up to $3.65 per diem for a superintending Warrant Officer.
As a healthy son of a farmer, it’s no doubt that John had certain skills and many of the requirements met to enlist in the S.A.C., with the exception of age. Despite being a year too young, John lied on his enlistment papers and indicated that he “will be 21 in August of 1901”, however he provided three references instead of the required two.
Officially, John volunteered at the recruitment depot in London Ontario on the 4th of March, 1901. From there on it’s hard to say exactly what John experienced in regards to training, if any. One fantastic commonality I was fortunate to come by in my research of John and his brother Robert is that both had written detailed letters to family members and those letters survived to this day. In the letter to his Uncle Donald he described virtually nothing of training. But instead he focused on his personal adventures as a newly enlisted Trooper. John’s attention to detail was first-rate and rather than me describing what he wrote, I have transcribed the letter for you. As a side note: please do keep in mind this young man may not have had much of an education, grammar and spelling is a bit rough, the only edits I made were to the spellings of place names within South Africa
Dornsfame – May, 27, 1901
Dear Uncle,
I suppose you think I have forgotten you since I did not write before but the fact is we have been so unsettled that I have not had time to write any where except hone and I suppose they let you know how I was coming on.
I am well at the present and have been extra well all this time except for a few days about a week ago when I got a drink of poisoned water it done me in for a day or two. I have been careful what water I drink since one of the boys I knew well was poisoned at the same place and he died in Bloemfontein on the 24th of May his name was C. Brown from St. Marys.
(Note from the Author: I looked into C. Brown and found an odd mystery that we haven’t been able to completely solve. Caleb Brown was announced to be dead in the St. Marys newspapers, but a few weeks later a retraction was printed stating it was a Caleb Brown from Manitoba. However, W.J.C. Brown is shown on the Boer War Memorial Plaque in St. Marys. It is not known if Caleb Brown of St. Marys returned or not).
Well I must give you an out line of my trip from when I left home. I went to London on March 4th and got there at noon and had dinner at the Grigg House. At 5 pm we left for Ottawa we made a very fast trip got to Ottawa at 7 am next day, we were put in the street cars and taken to the Exhibition grounds, the cattlesheds were our barracks I had a grand time in Ottawa. The first night I went up town and just walked around until I got the lay of the town I went up and seen the Parliament Buildings then I went into a store and found the shortest way to Hintonburg next night I went out to Whittons and had a good night from there after that I was out every night till we left Ottawa. I had quite a time dining Miss Cooper. I did not know her address and could not leave the barracks until after 4 pm unless I got a special pass so I could not get to the school. I got Miss Fred Walden for to go to the school and get her address then there was no trouble finding her. I tell you what she was surprised to see me, she did not like the notion of my going to Africa but she said if she was a boy she would be with me. I had a fine time in Ottawa and was sorry when we left. Jim and Alley Whitton took me to see Booths Mills and the paper factory over in Hull, there is some grand machinery in those mills. Booths Mill is just being built since the fire.
When we left Ottawa on March 26th it was a very nasty day it rained all the time from the barracks to the station and when we got there it took quite a while to get 1800 men onto the trains there was two trains ours had 1200 and the had 600 both had two engines we made the trip in a little over two days and two nights the country is very rough after you pass Montreal and New Brunswick is very rocky we reached Halifax about noon on the 28th and it took about all the rest of the day to put the baggage on board then at 6 pm the ship began to pull away from the warfe we anchored in the Bay that night and at noon next day we pulled out to sea. I got sea-sick before we lost sight of land but the next day I was alright there was a large crowd on the docks and people on top of the houses cheering us off.
Nothing happened until April 5th when Trooper Mann of “I” Squad died he was an Ottawa man, sickness began to break out pretty free then and a sea funeral was pretty near an every day occurrence. The sickness was caused from the dirty conditions of the boat it had been a cattle boat and they just put down new decks on top of the old ones without properly cleaning the old decks then when the decks got wet it made a dirty mess. On April 7th two men died Trooper Patton, M Squad of Halifax and our Sergeant Major Pendon of G Squad London. Sergeant Major Pendon was a nice fellow and he took an interest in having his men the best drilled and the neatest looking he was out here before in the CMR. On Arpril Trooper Wilcox of M Sqd died and that day at noon we called at Cape Verde Islands on the Western coast of Africa. We only stayed about 2 hours there we had some fun with the Natives there they are like fish in the water some of the boys were throwing coins into the water to see them dive after them you ought to see them fight for 5 cts down in the water some of them are Portugese and they can handle a boat to perfection.
On April 13th we crossed the equator and then we had a rough two hours the Captain gave the boat over in charge of the sailors for one hour to do as they liked as long as they didn’t not interfere with the steering of the ship. They put up a bath canvass and put 2 feet of water in it then they caught any person that had not crossed the line before and pitched them in clothes and all you should of seen them every man that got the dip joined in and helped to dip others you never saw a more ragged looking lot of men after they got through. We passed ships nearly every day. On April 22nd we saw a very smooth sea it was glassy and it would dazzle you to look at the water. On April 26th we came in sight of Cape town. Next day at noon we landed. Cape town is a smokey looking town so many steam ships along the docks, the dock is about 8 miles long and they were crowded with ships, there was almost 300 ships in harbor. We got off the ship and they gave us our rifles and our belts and started us for the front right away. The trains here are different from them in Canada the doors are on the side but they make very good time, we travelled all night and reached De-Aar at 7 o’clock next morning it is quite a place there is a fine railway junction and we will have to give them credit for the cleaness of everything. We stopped at North front junction for dinner we only stayed there about 2 hours and then we went on to Mobalo-front that is a camp right on the boundary between Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony it was only about half a mile from the Orange River we had to stay there all night as it was to dangerous to travel at night after we pass there next morning we crossed the new bridge across the Orange river we saw the ruins of the old bridge that the Boers blew up. About 8 miles up the line we passed the wreck of a hospital train that the Boers derailed the night before here we saw Boers for the first time there were 6 of them tried to blow up a culvert and the guard shot 3 of them and took 3 prisoners we stopped that night at a small town called Edenburg I saw an armored train there it is a war like looking structure you can see nothing but look-holes and sheat iron from the outside we had a good look at it there. Down from it is a slick looking gun and it would be dangerous if it was pointed at you.
Next morning we filled out and got into Bloemfontein at noon we got dinner and then we marched out to Syndey camp about 10 miles south-east of Bloemfontein that was on the 29th of April we stayed at Syndney until May 6th when we got orders for to march to Abrahams Karell a distance of 60 miles North-West of Bloemfontein we left Sydney at 4 pm and marched until 2 o’clock in the morning when we lay down until morning with the sky for a ceiling and the velt for bed springs next morning we got an early breakfast and then 8 of us were sent over to a place called Spitskop about 2 miles from the main force we were to be an escort for a convoy we nabbed a prisoner there and we had to guard him to we fetched our convoy in with the main force just before dark we stopped at dark and waited till the moon got up then we went on till 2 in the morning when we lay down again as before next day we got into Damials Keel about noon it is a small fort on the line of communication. It was at this place that I go the poisoned water. We stayed there the rest of the day and all night next morning I was to sick to march but I did not want to be left behind so I went to the Captain and he got me a place on the hospital wagon we arrived at Abrahams Karell at 3 o’clock in the afternoon we stayed there all night and next day we had to go on again to Petrusburg it took us three days for to reach that place in all we marched 71 miles we stayed at Petrusburg for three days and we looted the town there was nothing very valuable there we got lots of dishes to cook in. We left Petrusburg on May 19th and came to Dormspan a distance of 12 miles and we are here yet. Dormspan is a large low hill about mid way between Bloemfontein and Kimberley there is a mud lake just north of the hill in the wet season and in the dry season it dries up and makes a hard level plain from that the place gets the name of Dormspan. We have been here 2 weeks now and we have two large stone forts built , our tents are right in the forts.
I was out on patrol yesterday I had a good horse we got horses out of No 1 troop they have not mounted us. Yesterday was a very hot day and it was 3 o’clock before we got into camp we were out to a farm house about 5 miles North of us we did not see any Boers so we just looted the house and came back to camp. The day we came here we had a little scrap the Boers had possession of the hill and our scouts ran into them unexpectedly the Boers opened fire on them at fifty yards and strange to say they hurt no one the scouts turned and got out three of them were shaved pretty close one of them got a ball through the top of his hat another got his shoulder strap cut and the third was the luckiest he got a hole drilled through the pommel of his satchel we had a big gun with and we took it out and soon scattered the Boers.
Well I think I have given you a pretty fare out line of our trip our greatest drawback is wood to make fire you ought to see us making flap jacks we get flour and do our own cooking we made ovens of tin we got on the roofs of house and we roast the meat some get along alright.
Well I have told you every thing now so I will give you my address and close the this time I have a lot of writing to do from yours loving nephew
John A Marion
Do not forget to write and get the girls to write to.
Address
Trooper John A Marion
No 2085 19 Troop E Div SAC
South Africa
As John noted in his letter, from Halifax on the trip and his “adventure” was certainly one of difficulty and sorrow. Witnessing once healthy men lured to the excitement of battle, withering and dying in poor living conditions in the middle of the ocean to traversing a foreign arid landscape with poisoned wells at every turn and an elusive enemy using guerilla warfare tactics, must have been a hellish experience. On top of this the physical toll he must have been enduring alone, considering the number of miles they travelled across the Transvaal with inadequate supplies and resources, along with his stint in the hospital would break any person. Especially, considering the S.A.C. was only meant to be a police force, not a full-fledged fighting unit.
Yet John seems to present a stiff upper lip in his letter, and almost a flippant if not casual attitude to looting buildings they pass by on patrols. His demeanour leans towards someone who really did see this all as one big adventure like none other and he was enjoying it.
For the next two months, the S.A.C. continued its arduous and back breaking maneuvers across the countryside. Encounters with the determined Boers continued to be lightning fast and violent. The Boers were very adept at hit and run tactics which challenged the traditional style of the British strategists. It wasn’t until August of 1902 that the war was deemed as “ended” and the true occupation mission of the S.A.C. was able to commence.
Unfortunately, John wasn’t able to see the completion of the operations in South Africa. In the end, of the 8,500 strong South African Constabulary (1,200 of which were Canadians), 9 Officers and 85 Men were killed in action or died from wounds, and 274 Officers and Men died of sickness. 57 of those dead were Canadians, one of which was John Alexander Marion of Palmerston. On the 15th of August, 1901, in Petrusburg, just four days short of his 20th (21st) birthday, John succumbed to blood poisoning caused by drinking contaminated water.
It’s hard to say what exactly the reaction was in the community, the notification to the family didn’t arrive until the 28th of August, and no announcement appears in the Mount Forest Confederate, while no other local papers remain for that specific time period. The family must have been devastated, as well, considering the hints of history from Palmerston for the time, the Anglo-Boer War and the consistent patriotism for Queen and Country the community has shown would have most likely led to some sort of service or commemoration.
The First World War was still 13 years away, and the plaque honoring Arthur Leith-Ross was still 9 years away. No monument or war memorial was present in the community at the time, and whether it was ever considered is hard to say. Maybe the Britishism of not officially considering the South African Constabulary as a military force had something to do with it, but unlikely. But, to this day, no commemoration for Trooper John A. Marion exists in Palmerston, and in fact it is a piece of history that almost passed us by.
Hopefully, beyond these words and images we can someday create a fitting memorial for John and show him the honour reserved for Palmerston’s first soldier to perish in the time of war.
I essentially stumbled upon John Alexander Marion, and discovered an interesting endeavour embarked on by over 1,000 Canadians which has since been somewhat lost to time. Many people know of the 1st and 2nd Canadian Contingents which were raised as volunteers and sent to South Africa, but few know of the South African Constabulary (S.A.C.) and the impact it has had on world history even to this day.
As the Anglo-Boer War seemed to be drawing to a close, Major-General Robert Baden Powell was instructed to raise an occupation force under civilian authority, that would act as a policing presence in the territory and quell any potential uprisings by the local Boers. Interestingly, the uniform Baden Powell designed for the S.A.C. would be the model used for the boy scouts movement later on. Impressed by the skill and abilities of the Canadian troops, Baden-Powell put in a special request to recruit as many Canadians as possible to expand his force. Ultimately 1,200 Canadians volunteered, many of which had already served within the 1st Contingent and had the necessary experience and familiarity with the territory.
Despite drawing on the pool of experienced troops, there was a need to acquire untrained volunteers. Under Militia Order No. 12 dated 15th January, 1901. Candidates for enlistment were required to be “not under 20 nor over 35 years of age, good riders, goods shots, single, strictly sober, medically fit and recommended by two persons in responsible positions.” The enlistment was for 3 years with a pay of $1.21 for a 3rd class trooper up to $3.65 per diem for a superintending Warrant Officer.
As a healthy son of a farmer, it’s no doubt that John had certain skills and many of the requirements met to enlist in the S.A.C., with the exception of age. Despite being a year too young, John lied on his enlistment papers and indicated that he “will be 21 in August of 1901”, however he provided three references instead of the required two.
Officially, John volunteered at the recruitment depot in London Ontario on the 4th of March, 1901. From there on it’s hard to say exactly what John experienced in regards to training, if any. One fantastic commonality I was fortunate to come by in my research of John and his brother Robert is that both had written detailed letters to family members and those letters survived to this day. In the letter to his Uncle Donald he described virtually nothing of training. But instead he focused on his personal adventures as a newly enlisted Trooper. John’s attention to detail was first-rate and rather than me describing what he wrote, I have transcribed the letter for you. As a side note: please do keep in mind this young man may not have had much of an education, grammar and spelling is a bit rough, the only edits I made were to the spellings of place names within South Africa
Dornsfame – May, 27, 1901
Dear Uncle,
I suppose you think I have forgotten you since I did not write before but the fact is we have been so unsettled that I have not had time to write any where except hone and I suppose they let you know how I was coming on.
I am well at the present and have been extra well all this time except for a few days about a week ago when I got a drink of poisoned water it done me in for a day or two. I have been careful what water I drink since one of the boys I knew well was poisoned at the same place and he died in Bloemfontein on the 24th of May his name was C. Brown from St. Marys.
(Note from the Author: I looked into C. Brown and found an odd mystery that we haven’t been able to completely solve. Caleb Brown was announced to be dead in the St. Marys newspapers, but a few weeks later a retraction was printed stating it was a Caleb Brown from Manitoba. However, W.J.C. Brown is shown on the Boer War Memorial Plaque in St. Marys. It is not known if Caleb Brown of St. Marys returned or not).
Well I must give you an out line of my trip from when I left home. I went to London on March 4th and got there at noon and had dinner at the Grigg House. At 5 pm we left for Ottawa we made a very fast trip got to Ottawa at 7 am next day, we were put in the street cars and taken to the Exhibition grounds, the cattlesheds were our barracks I had a grand time in Ottawa. The first night I went up town and just walked around until I got the lay of the town I went up and seen the Parliament Buildings then I went into a store and found the shortest way to Hintonburg next night I went out to Whittons and had a good night from there after that I was out every night till we left Ottawa. I had quite a time dining Miss Cooper. I did not know her address and could not leave the barracks until after 4 pm unless I got a special pass so I could not get to the school. I got Miss Fred Walden for to go to the school and get her address then there was no trouble finding her. I tell you what she was surprised to see me, she did not like the notion of my going to Africa but she said if she was a boy she would be with me. I had a fine time in Ottawa and was sorry when we left. Jim and Alley Whitton took me to see Booths Mills and the paper factory over in Hull, there is some grand machinery in those mills. Booths Mill is just being built since the fire.
When we left Ottawa on March 26th it was a very nasty day it rained all the time from the barracks to the station and when we got there it took quite a while to get 1800 men onto the trains there was two trains ours had 1200 and the had 600 both had two engines we made the trip in a little over two days and two nights the country is very rough after you pass Montreal and New Brunswick is very rocky we reached Halifax about noon on the 28th and it took about all the rest of the day to put the baggage on board then at 6 pm the ship began to pull away from the warfe we anchored in the Bay that night and at noon next day we pulled out to sea. I got sea-sick before we lost sight of land but the next day I was alright there was a large crowd on the docks and people on top of the houses cheering us off.
Nothing happened until April 5th when Trooper Mann of “I” Squad died he was an Ottawa man, sickness began to break out pretty free then and a sea funeral was pretty near an every day occurrence. The sickness was caused from the dirty conditions of the boat it had been a cattle boat and they just put down new decks on top of the old ones without properly cleaning the old decks then when the decks got wet it made a dirty mess. On April 7th two men died Trooper Patton, M Squad of Halifax and our Sergeant Major Pendon of G Squad London. Sergeant Major Pendon was a nice fellow and he took an interest in having his men the best drilled and the neatest looking he was out here before in the CMR. On Arpril Trooper Wilcox of M Sqd died and that day at noon we called at Cape Verde Islands on the Western coast of Africa. We only stayed about 2 hours there we had some fun with the Natives there they are like fish in the water some of the boys were throwing coins into the water to see them dive after them you ought to see them fight for 5 cts down in the water some of them are Portugese and they can handle a boat to perfection.
On April 13th we crossed the equator and then we had a rough two hours the Captain gave the boat over in charge of the sailors for one hour to do as they liked as long as they didn’t not interfere with the steering of the ship. They put up a bath canvass and put 2 feet of water in it then they caught any person that had not crossed the line before and pitched them in clothes and all you should of seen them every man that got the dip joined in and helped to dip others you never saw a more ragged looking lot of men after they got through. We passed ships nearly every day. On April 22nd we saw a very smooth sea it was glassy and it would dazzle you to look at the water. On April 26th we came in sight of Cape town. Next day at noon we landed. Cape town is a smokey looking town so many steam ships along the docks, the dock is about 8 miles long and they were crowded with ships, there was almost 300 ships in harbor. We got off the ship and they gave us our rifles and our belts and started us for the front right away. The trains here are different from them in Canada the doors are on the side but they make very good time, we travelled all night and reached De-Aar at 7 o’clock next morning it is quite a place there is a fine railway junction and we will have to give them credit for the cleaness of everything. We stopped at North front junction for dinner we only stayed there about 2 hours and then we went on to Mobalo-front that is a camp right on the boundary between Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony it was only about half a mile from the Orange River we had to stay there all night as it was to dangerous to travel at night after we pass there next morning we crossed the new bridge across the Orange river we saw the ruins of the old bridge that the Boers blew up. About 8 miles up the line we passed the wreck of a hospital train that the Boers derailed the night before here we saw Boers for the first time there were 6 of them tried to blow up a culvert and the guard shot 3 of them and took 3 prisoners we stopped that night at a small town called Edenburg I saw an armored train there it is a war like looking structure you can see nothing but look-holes and sheat iron from the outside we had a good look at it there. Down from it is a slick looking gun and it would be dangerous if it was pointed at you.
Next morning we filled out and got into Bloemfontein at noon we got dinner and then we marched out to Syndey camp about 10 miles south-east of Bloemfontein that was on the 29th of April we stayed at Syndney until May 6th when we got orders for to march to Abrahams Karell a distance of 60 miles North-West of Bloemfontein we left Sydney at 4 pm and marched until 2 o’clock in the morning when we lay down until morning with the sky for a ceiling and the velt for bed springs next morning we got an early breakfast and then 8 of us were sent over to a place called Spitskop about 2 miles from the main force we were to be an escort for a convoy we nabbed a prisoner there and we had to guard him to we fetched our convoy in with the main force just before dark we stopped at dark and waited till the moon got up then we went on till 2 in the morning when we lay down again as before next day we got into Damials Keel about noon it is a small fort on the line of communication. It was at this place that I go the poisoned water. We stayed there the rest of the day and all night next morning I was to sick to march but I did not want to be left behind so I went to the Captain and he got me a place on the hospital wagon we arrived at Abrahams Karell at 3 o’clock in the afternoon we stayed there all night and next day we had to go on again to Petrusburg it took us three days for to reach that place in all we marched 71 miles we stayed at Petrusburg for three days and we looted the town there was nothing very valuable there we got lots of dishes to cook in. We left Petrusburg on May 19th and came to Dormspan a distance of 12 miles and we are here yet. Dormspan is a large low hill about mid way between Bloemfontein and Kimberley there is a mud lake just north of the hill in the wet season and in the dry season it dries up and makes a hard level plain from that the place gets the name of Dormspan. We have been here 2 weeks now and we have two large stone forts built , our tents are right in the forts.
I was out on patrol yesterday I had a good horse we got horses out of No 1 troop they have not mounted us. Yesterday was a very hot day and it was 3 o’clock before we got into camp we were out to a farm house about 5 miles North of us we did not see any Boers so we just looted the house and came back to camp. The day we came here we had a little scrap the Boers had possession of the hill and our scouts ran into them unexpectedly the Boers opened fire on them at fifty yards and strange to say they hurt no one the scouts turned and got out three of them were shaved pretty close one of them got a ball through the top of his hat another got his shoulder strap cut and the third was the luckiest he got a hole drilled through the pommel of his satchel we had a big gun with and we took it out and soon scattered the Boers.
Well I think I have given you a pretty fare out line of our trip our greatest drawback is wood to make fire you ought to see us making flap jacks we get flour and do our own cooking we made ovens of tin we got on the roofs of house and we roast the meat some get along alright.
Well I have told you every thing now so I will give you my address and close the this time I have a lot of writing to do from yours loving nephew
John A Marion
Do not forget to write and get the girls to write to.
Address
Trooper John A Marion
No 2085 19 Troop E Div SAC
South Africa
As John noted in his letter, from Halifax on the trip and his “adventure” was certainly one of difficulty and sorrow. Witnessing once healthy men lured to the excitement of battle, withering and dying in poor living conditions in the middle of the ocean to traversing a foreign arid landscape with poisoned wells at every turn and an elusive enemy using guerilla warfare tactics, must have been a hellish experience. On top of this the physical toll he must have been enduring alone, considering the number of miles they travelled across the Transvaal with inadequate supplies and resources, along with his stint in the hospital would break any person. Especially, considering the S.A.C. was only meant to be a police force, not a full-fledged fighting unit.
Yet John seems to present a stiff upper lip in his letter, and almost a flippant if not casual attitude to looting buildings they pass by on patrols. His demeanour leans towards someone who really did see this all as one big adventure like none other and he was enjoying it.
For the next two months, the S.A.C. continued its arduous and back breaking maneuvers across the countryside. Encounters with the determined Boers continued to be lightning fast and violent. The Boers were very adept at hit and run tactics which challenged the traditional style of the British strategists. It wasn’t until August of 1902 that the war was deemed as “ended” and the true occupation mission of the S.A.C. was able to commence.
Unfortunately, John wasn’t able to see the completion of the operations in South Africa. In the end, of the 8,500 strong South African Constabulary (1,200 of which were Canadians), 9 Officers and 85 Men were killed in action or died from wounds, and 274 Officers and Men died of sickness. 57 of those dead were Canadians, one of which was John Alexander Marion of Palmerston. On the 15th of August, 1901, in Petrusburg, just four days short of his 20th (21st) birthday, John succumbed to blood poisoning caused by drinking contaminated water.
It’s hard to say what exactly the reaction was in the community, the notification to the family didn’t arrive until the 28th of August, and no announcement appears in the Mount Forest Confederate, while no other local papers remain for that specific time period. The family must have been devastated, as well, considering the hints of history from Palmerston for the time, the Anglo-Boer War and the consistent patriotism for Queen and Country the community has shown would have most likely led to some sort of service or commemoration.
The First World War was still 13 years away, and the plaque honoring Arthur Leith-Ross was still 9 years away. No monument or war memorial was present in the community at the time, and whether it was ever considered is hard to say. Maybe the Britishism of not officially considering the South African Constabulary as a military force had something to do with it, but unlikely. But, to this day, no commemoration for Trooper John A. Marion exists in Palmerston, and in fact it is a piece of history that almost passed us by.
Hopefully, beyond these words and images we can someday create a fitting memorial for John and show him the honour reserved for Palmerston’s first soldier to perish in the time of war.