A fascinating and scarce early 20th century Boer War era photograph album, and diary, once belong to 6751 Cpl Arthur Holloway of the Volunteer Service Company, 2nd Worcestershire Regiment. To include: a leather bound pocket diary, named to ‘Lance Corporal A.Holloway 2nd Wor Vol Ser Coy Field Forces S.Africa’. The diary appears to have been written in a period address book of sorts, with lettered index leaves to the right hand side. The cover is entitled ‘Where is it?’. On the 3rd page, it states that the diary covers the period 1900/1901 from Jan 10th 1900. Interestingly, 1899 is crossed out, which may suggest that Arthur believed that he may have expected to have been deployed earlier. There are approximately 115 pages of entries, all in pencil, describing Arthur’s experiences while on campaign. Some entries tell of mundane military formalities, such as reveille, with others covering engagements against the Boers, and grim, brutal realities of warfare at the time. Several entries, detailed below, covering the period through June 1900 and July 1900 describe the regiment in action against the Boers, with the harsh and brutal nature of warfare exposed (particularly if you were captured!). Saturday June 23rd: Rev at 6 am packed our bivouacs & were just having rations served out when we were surprised by a shell flying over our heads quickly followed by another from the Boers who had got up three guns close to us during the night, Our artillery replied while we went out in extended order, & then M Is got on their flank & forced volleys into them & they retired as fast as possible our casualties were five wounded belonging to the Bedfords, we then proceeded on the march again camping about five miles from Winburg. Thursday June 28th: Reville at 6 am on the march with the column, composed of the 2nd Worc 2nd Brabants 63rd Field Battery Wilts Regt & Bedfords, Royal Irish & 2, 5 inch siege guns (Lyditti?? to the capture of Bethlehem our Coy was escort to the siege guns after marching about three miles we came in contact with the enemy & were soon at work, the right flank guard was in the thick of it, we then got the two siege guns into action & opened fire at a range of 6,500 yds, the second shell bursting beautiful & knocked one of the Boers guns out of action, the fighting lasted until dusk. Tuesday July 3rd: Came off outpost at 3 pm, on half rations artillery & M I fighting again Brabants caught twelve prisoners at a farm having lunch, & as they would not surrender they shot them all & they also captured a Field Cornet & left him in charge of one guard, he was very cheeky so we tied him to a wagon without any blankets for the night & it was a very frosty night so he was much quieter in the morning. Friday July 6th: Reville at 6.45 am starting again on the march at 10 am our Coy left flank guard fighting began in about an hours time the artillery having plenty to do, as the Boers had about 7 guns shelling us with however we wanted to capture Bethlehem that day, & we moved forward again the shells flying over our heads, our Coy had a very hot fire poured into them by some Boers from a farm that we passed & didn’t the bullets whistle around our ears but we returned the compliment & then they got a little quieter the fighting all around was very heavy until dark, & we had to retire on account of the darkness the Boers putting volleys into us as we returned but the shots went high & no damage was done, we formed camp about two miles from the town & it was the coldest night I ever had, our blankets were like stiff bonds in the morning with the frost. Saturday July 7th: Up at 4 am stood to arms at 5 am, the artillery on both sides opened fire at daybreak & just after fighting began in all its fury all around us, the shells from the Boers Long Tom caused our Coy to retire out of range but our forces on the right flank flanked them & they had to rush their guns out of danger, if ever the Boers shells had burst properly our Coy would have been cut up, as shells were dropping all around us, the Royal Irish charged one hill & captured a 15 pounder, the fighting lasted until 1.30 pm when the enemy were driven from their positions, leaving a large stock of ammunition on the hills, we lay out on the hills for an hour & half & then marched to the town & formed our camp, (still on half rations) fellows offering 1/- for one biscuit. Sunday July 8th: Reville at 6.30 quiet enough after the fight of yesterday, Babants had one their men captured by the Boers & they shot him six times & then knocked his head in with the butt of their rifles we had another wash the first for a week, our column does look a wreck now, we are all in rags or very close to it. Also included is a period photograph album, depicting various scenes of blockhouses, the ‘SAC’ (South African Constabulary), General Botha, and General Botha meeting General Clements. Hospital and armoured trains, camps, Boer prisoners, local Zulu women and refugees, and others. Approximately 48 photographs, all housed in thick card mounts. The album measures 19cm x 13.5cm, with each photograph measuring 8cm x 5.5cm. Notes: Cpl Holloway was born in 1880 in Oldbury, Worcestershire. He is entitled to the Queen South Africa medal, with the clasps for Wittebergenm Cape Colony, Transvaal, and South Africa 1901. Photographs of Arthur are featured on the History of Oldbury website, with one from his deployment, and another from his jubilant return (reproduced in the image pack). Condition: generally good for their age and use. The photograph album has wear to the linen cover, particularly to the spine area. Some of the photographs area a little loose in their mounts, but remain safely in place. The diary condition is good, with all the entries being written in pencil, thus remaining quite legible. A little wear to the spine, but it doesn’t detract. N.B. A transcript of the diary (on CD) can be included if desired. All proceed from the sale will be donated to the Royal British Legion,
