[Editor: Reproduced below are three items regarding Lieutenant Kenneth James Beatty, who was incorrectly reported as dead during the Boer War (1899-1902). The first article, regarding the Boer War and the death of Lieutenant Beatty, was published in The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 27 April 1901. The subsequent two items report that Lieutenant Beatty had been wounded, not killed.]
The Boer War.
Capture of prisoners.
A Victorian officer killed.
London, April 26.
Lord Kitchener reports the capture of 113 Boers and a 12-pounder Krupp gun.
In the fighting that took place, Lieutenant Kenneth James Beatty, of the Fifth Victorian Contingent, was killed, and seven men were slightly wounded. The locality and circumstances of the engagement are not indicated. It was found that a 4.7 gun which the Boers had captured at Helvetia had been destroyed.
[Lieutenant Beatty joined the Fifth Contingent on January 26 last. He was born on June 10, 1878, and was a single man. He is described in the muster roll of the contingent as a station hand, his address being given as Bayles-street, Parkville. He was a private in the University corps of officers.]
Source:
The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 27 April 1901, p. 13
Lieutenant Beatty.
Not killed, but wounded.
London, April 27.
The report that Lieutenant Kenneth James Beatty, of the fifth Victorian contingent, had been killed in a recent engagement with the Boers turns out to be incorrect. This officer was wounded, but not killed.
Source:
See: The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 29 April 1901, p. 5
News and notes in a nutshell.
A cablegram received by the Lieutenant-Governor from the Governor of Cape Colony, stated that Lieutenant Kenneth James Beatty, of the Fifth Victorian Contingent, had been slightly wounded at Blood River Valley, South Africa, when fighting against the Boers, on the 19th inst. Lieutenant Beatty, according to the official list, was formerly a station hand. His father lives at Yackandandah, and at the time of enrolment the young officer lived at Bayles street, Parkville.
Source:
The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.), 29 April 1901, p. 4 (City Edition) [extract from the “News and notes in a nutshell” section]
Editor’s notes:
Boer = a South African of Dutch descent; Afrikaans for “farmer”; the Europeans in South Africa (primarily of Dutch and French Huguenot descent) who fought against the British in two major wars, the First Boer War (1880-1881) and the Second Boer War (1899-1902)
See: “Boers”, Wikipedia
inst. = instant; in this month; a shortened form of the Latin phrase “instante mense”, meaning “this month”; pertaining to, or occurring in, the current month
Kitchener = Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916), a British Army officer who served in the Mahdist War (the Anglo-Sudan War), the Boer War, and the First World War; he was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in 1909
See: “Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener”, Wikipedia
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