Knight (R N)

Arthur Dredge was a Trooper (No 4598) with the Isle of Wight troop, Hampshire Carbiniers Yeomanry, (According to the National Monuments Council he was with The 41st Company Imperial Yeomanry), who came out to fight in the Anglo Boer War. He was shot and killed close to the main road between Senekal and Bethlehem in the Orange River Colony. His date of death is given as 26 May 1900. At the time he was under the command of Major Seeley. There appears to be uncertainty regarding his actual name. All correspondence in the Archives in Bloemfontein indicates his name as Arthur whilst the Monuments Council and the War Museum in Bloemfontein reflect it as S Dredge. In looking through the family records it was found that Sisera Dredge, son of Joseph and Mirriam and brother to Edgar and Elihu (also buried in South Africa) died on the same day given for Arthur and it is therefore assumed that this is one and the same person. In 1906 there was correspondence requesting a photograph of the grave to be given to his Widow. The grave was found on the farm ???Concordia??? which at the time belonged to Mrs. Jacobs. The Graves Committee, Loyal Women???s Guild had the grave marked and railed and it was reported that Mrs. Jacobs keeps it neat. A photograph was obtained and sent to England. As Arthur???s wife was not in a financial position to pay the cost of 15/- it was given as a present by the Resident Magistrate. It was stated that his widow had four children to look after, the eldest being a cripple, and she had to earn a living by going out nursing. (Information obtained from documentation held in the Free State Archives Ref AC20137). In trying to locate the grave it was identified that the farm now belongs to Mr. M Behrens who advised that the body had been exhumed some thirty years ago. Investigations revealed that the body had been moved into the cemetery in Senekal in 1964. Todate no photograph of the original grave could be found and nobody can advise what happened to the original grave marker. Despite the fact that the upkeep of the graves of soldiers killed during the Boer War fall under the control of the National Monuments Council they did not appear to be aware of the fact that the grave had been moved. Sisera???s will was proven 2 August 1900. The estate amounted to ??308.3. His address according to the will was Silverton Cottage, Gunnare, Isle of Wight. Sisera???s wife Maria Alice Dredge proved the will. Maria an