Walter Ogilvie Herald

“The next shot struck one of our mules, and took half its head away. The third shell burst close by, and part of it went bang through the wagon in which I was dressing, and was within a foot of finishing my little career. A few more shots came near us, when the Boers began to fire from the kopjes, revealing their position, so the battery turned their fire on them. After half an hour’s firing, which the Boers returned with interest, the British retired over the hillside”

In relation to the conflict there’s not much more I can add. I believe Walter Ogilvie Herald was commandeered by the Boers to act as an ambulance driver. He had trained as a chemist’s assistant in England before moving to SA. So I presume he had some useful medical knowledge to have been placed in that position. Walter was born in Godley, Cheshire on 4 September 1872 and was the eldest son of William Herald and his wife Ann. He married Anna Margaretha Mymarrina Mynardina Adolfs at Witwatersrand on 19 February 1902. Anna was the daughter of Mynardus and Margaretha Adolfs and, according to my father, was Secretary to General Smuts. At one point they lived at  35 Railway Avenue, Braamfontein Johannesburg where Walter was working as a clerk in the railway Office. Walter and Anna divorced in 1909. It is at this point all trace of Walter is lost. Anna went onto marry Graf Franz Rivertera and moved to Austria taking my father with her. Submitted by Chris Herald, Walter’s grandson