THOMAS HENRY ROBERTS 

27831 Sapper Tom Roberts of the 31st Fortress Company and formerly of "B" Company of the Railway Volunteers, was killed by Boer soldiers on the Pietersburg line, north of Pretoria (five miles north of Naboomspruit), on 4th July 1901.

"On the 4th of July, taking advantage of the thick cover that surrounded the line north of Naboom Spruit Station, Commandant Lys and his party lay in wait for a train for which a mine had been previously prepared. The mine exploded to time, and the train with its escort of Gordon Highlanders was brought to a standstill. Then, from their comfortable ambush, the enemy proceeded to fire, killing Lieutenant Best and 9 Gordon Highlanders, an artillery-man, two Engineers, the driver, fireman, guard, and four natives."

(South Africa and the Transvaal War Volume VII, by Louis Creswicke c. 1903)






On 4th July 1901, Tom was in a party of 22 (or 28) men, commanded by Lieutenant Alexander Best of the Gordon Highlanders, escorting a train that was derailed and attacked on the orders of General Beyers. It is estimated that over a hundred Boer soldiers were involved, the Boer commando groups led by Brand, Fourie, Grobbelaar and Boshoff. Lieutenant Best and 15 soldiers were killed and the remainder wounded. Sapper Roberts was one of those killed in the attack, having been captured from the train and summarily shot by Boer soldiers, along with the fireman and guard.

He had been acting as the engine driver, assisted by 25-year-old fireman Private Tom Mitchell (3739) and 39-year-old civilian guard Robert Kennedy of the Imperial Military Railways, on a train heading south from Pietersburg. Around 3.15pm on Thursday 4th July, their locomotive (Number ZASM No 92 'Portugal') had been halted by an explosion on the line, caused by a mine, but despite the men being unarmed, the three of them (according to contemporary reports and letters from the front) were marched onto the veldt and all shot in the back of the head. Sapper Roberts, who was 29 years of age, left a widow and two children. Letters sent to local and national newspapers, told of the murders. This account was from an N.C.O. in the Shropshire Light Infantry.

"I am sorry to tell you the news about one of the Crewe lads. His name was Roberts. He was a fireman at Crewe and a tall young chap. He was taking a train to Pietersburg and the Boers pulled some rails up. Of course, the train was derailed and the Boers pounced on it. The escort in charge consisted of one officer and 15 men of the Gordon Highlanders. They fought well for it. The officer and nine men were killed and the remainder wounded and then the Boers got the engine driver, the fireman and the guard, took them out on the veldt, strapped their arms behind them and shot them in cold blood."

The incident was also reported in The Times:

"Guard Kennedy was thrown to the ground from the guard's van and shot in the head at very close range. Engine driver Roberts and Fireman Mitchell were ordered from the train. Roberts was shot as he stepped on the ground, the latter on the engine cab steps."

Of the 28 men on the train, all but four were killed or wounded. It was not until 10pm that evening that assistance arrived for the British survivors. The dead were originally buried in Naboomspruit (Mookgophongh) Main Cemetery. Later they were reinterred at Polokwane Old Cemetery, Polokwane, Limpopo, South Africa, also known as Dahl Street Cemetery, Pietersburg Cemetery. Tom is commemorated on the cemetery Boer War memorial (see below) He is also listed on the Royal Engineers South African Memorial Arch in Brompton Barracks, Gillingham, Kent.
 

 

Remembered in the Municipal Building, Crewe
Tom is commemorated on a plaque on the ground floor of the Municipal Building, Earle Street, Crewe, along with six local men from the Royal Engineers who did not return to Crewe from the Boer War, Sappers Ankers, Coops, Darlington, Evans, Foy, Madeley, Robinson and Talbot, and Lieutenant Charles Trotter from Polesworth in Warwickshire.



What do we know about Tom?

Thomas Henry Roberts (Tom) was born on 4th June 1872, in Malpas, Cheshire. His father was also called Thomas. On 26th February 1892, when he was 19, Tom joined the LNWR as a labourer. His employment number for the railway company was 9652. He enlisted in the Royal Engineers the following year, on 28th November 1893, having previously served in the Cheshire Railway Reserves. His occupation was fireman - ie assistant to a train driver. From his attestation records, we know that Tom was 5' 9" tall, and had brown hair and blue eyes. He had a scar on his right cheek and burn marks on his left arm.

 On 31st December 1894, aged 22, Tom married 24-year-old Mary Beatrice Sheldon (12 Aug 1870 – Feb 1942), in Arnside, with the marriage registered in Kendal. Mary, who hd been born and brought up in Congleton, was working as a housemaid at Arnside, Westmorland, and living with her widowed mother, Ellen.

Tom and Mary had two children, Millie (13th April 1896 - 1983) and Thomas Henry Sheldon (8 Sep 1899 - 1976). The baptism of their first child Millie took place at Hope Methodist Church in Crewe in May 1896. The family address then was 22 Vere Street, Crewe, but later they moved to 152 Broad Street.

Tom was re-engaged with the Royal Engineers shortly after his son’s birth in September 1899, and arrived in South Africa on 21st Oct 1899. He served there for the next 18 months. Of the 26 men from Crewe who died whilst serving their country, 19 succumbed to disease, such as typhoid or dysentery, 4 were the victims of accidents, and only three were killed in action or died of wounds. Tom was one of those 3 .....

He was posthumously awarded the Queen's South Africa medal, with clasps for Modder River, Orange Free State and Transvaal.





Could you be related to Tom?

In March 1901, while he was in South Africa, Tom's wife Mary was living with their two children Millie and Thomas Henry at 152 Broad Street, Crewe. Fourteen months after Tom’s death, she married William Bebbington (1876 – 1949) on 13th September 1902. In April 1911, their address was 17 Holland Street, Crewe, where they were still living in September 1939. Mary died in February 1942, aged 71.

In 1916, Millie Roberts married Albert Evans, and had a daughter Gladys May Evans, born 1918. Thomas Henry Sheldon Roberts married Lily Joynson in 1924, and had two children, Frank and Dorothy.