Diary and letters relating to the service of Stanley Spencer Reid, 1900-1901 - Part 5

(10)
names for all our officers.
The Major we call
"Flannel-foot"; Lieut
Inglis is "Cod-fish"
while Lieut Harris
rejoices in the name of
"Sky-line" because
whenever any firing
is on he gets into a
fearful state of tremor
& able only to shout
"Keep down off the
sky-line men or you
will draw their fire
on us. Mr lieutenant
Oliver has several
noms de guerre; one
is Sinbad, because
(11)
previously he was a Lieut.
in the navy; another
is 'The Pirate" on a/c
of his love of commandeering,
& the third is
"Sailor Bill". Inglis who
is called Cod-fish
is so named on
account of his appearance
particularly as
regards his mouth
when any danger is
about; his lip hangs
just like a fish
out of water, gasping.
If we had had brave
officers, our men are
capable of any
work set them
 

(12)
That sheath-knife xx
you gave me has been
the most invaluable
thing I possess;
always in use &
always handy to be 

used; it is the envy
of the contingent; there
were 3 at first, but
one of them is lost &
now only myself &
another own one.
The compass never was
any good & now it is
lost; amazingly I have
never needed it,
having been able to
get whe along with
 

 
Pretoria
July 6^th 1900
Again my dears we are in the
capital of the Transvaal;
having received orders to
march from Rhenoster River
last Tuesday. Only 8 of
us are here yet, having
come up by train from
Wolwehoek to get remounts for
the contingent; & uncomfortable
to excess as the 18 hours
in the train was, now we
are here it is a great
improvement upon marching
for the rest won't be here
for another 4 or 5 days. I
am at present seated in the
Soldiers' Home penning this.
Hard luck again; a mail for
 

us arrived in Pretoria last
week & was sent back to the
Rhenoster only yesterday, so again
we have missed it. What
our movements are to be now
I can't say, perhaps an advance
upon Lydenberg  or else a
return home; I am afraid the
former is the more probable.
These remounts we are to get
are badly needed as all
our horses are pretty well
done up. Another party of two
men & an officer returned
from the Rhenoster to Bloemfontein
for new clothing
for us, in which we badly
stand in need, as the Boers
captured the train containing
all the winter clothes of
 

(3)
the 11^th Division of wh we
formed a part. We will
again join this division
in our old capacity as
scouts, & it is better than
guarding the line & patrolling
farm districts on our 

own as at the Rhenoster.
We will camp in Pretoria
until the others come up
I expect & then will join the
11^th Division with the Guards
Brigade who are camped
about 6 miles out. I have
just returned from the
swimming baths which
are absolutely the best
inland ones I have ever
seen: about 60 yards long &
 

(4)
varying from 3 ft 6 in to 7 ft in
depth. Now again I must
bring my letter to a conclusion
which is to be final. Give my
love to the boys & two kids &
kind remembrances to all my
friends, & with the best of 
love to you both
I am 

Yr devoted son
Stanley
P.S. You might pass this
letter round, including
Mrs Millie Lyall, for she will
understand the impossibility
of writing under existing
circumstances. I hope soon
to be writing stating that our
departure for Australia is
very near at hand.
S.S.R.
 

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Front cover of Diary

3/- a/c
Diary

Sunday April 14^th
Church service by skipper of ship Capt
Campbell. Splendid steady boat; fine weather
Monday 15^th
Bosun falls down hold & fractures his
skull. Concert at night. M^cCormack sings
very well. Commence several letters.
Tuesday. 16^th
Ordinary routine, exercise horses
up gangway. Strangles bad. Greer
splendid orderly, Hackett sentenced to
14 days with all slushy work & 4 day C.B.
in Durban.
Wednesday 17^th
Nicknames prevalent among officers
Lout - Silvertail. Blowpipe - Bludger.
[[?Greer]]
Thursday 18^th
Bosun dying towards evening, weather
very dirty & rough. Life on Ulstermore
becoming monotonous to me, altho
very comfortable. Bosun dies at
8 p.m.
 

Friday April 19^th
Funeral of Bosun (James Bond); skipper
breaks down & I read service.
Contingent give the £13. Canteen money into his
estate. In afternoon kit inspection.
Saturday April 20^th
Sports Day, Boxing contests.
Sunday April 21st
Church parade 11 a.m; continue sports in afternoon:
hanged shame. Weather beautiful,
Skipper Capt Campbell the slave of a practical joke.
Maley puts tea & water into whiskey bottle, & on
it places a label "Poison". Skipper & C.O. have
a drink & then notice bottle labelled "Poison"
& said to be C O's eye lotion & deadly poison.
Skipper in terrible state, is sick, takes hot
water; swells up & imagines himself dying.
Calls for doctor. C.O. pretends to be sick
also & in awful pain; re-terrifies skipper
Doctor again called; gives emetic to C O
to cure him of practical joking; he is sick.
Skipper laid down & reckons he is slipping
away into next world. Persuade him
that the stuff is not poisonous only
an irritant; but say it was an awful
narrow shave as deadly poison in
another bottle just like it. Side-
splitting fun lasts for 2 hours. Then
skipper gets light on a couple of 
brandies taken to restore him. All
go in smoke-room; toasts & presentation
of his own watch to skipper
after McCormack had purloined
it. Skipper does not recognize it.
I take him to bed; thinks he has
lost watch.
Monday April 22^nd
Returning from stables find Purser -
Watson asleep drunk on cabin
couch with cabin on fire from a
lighted cigarette he had let fall.
A tunic, shirt, underpants burnt &
also his cap. Toss him out & put
out fire. Purser sleeps soundly in
his bunk & officers deck him out
as corpse w. flour & white ever-
lastings; terrible looking object.
Laughed more last night & to-day
than I have for years. Weather
very windy; about a week off
Durban.
Tuesday April 23^rd
Skipper terribly afraid of dying at sea.
Assistant butcher, Robert Cornish dies during
night
Wednesday April 24^th
Funeral of butcher at 9.30; I take
service, as skipper in fearful funk
that he is going to die. Casts a gloom
over ship.
Thursday April 25^th
Exercising horses. Get skipper, C.O
Maley, the Purser & Frank to sign
pledge. Am nick-named the "Ship
hand" & the rest the "Lambs"; Frank
called the "Piebald Lamb" ^..^. he reserves
right to drink beer. Concert at night,
some of songs very rough