Potse, Petrus (P)

4057 Pte. Tom Levett, 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, was taken prisoner at Spion Kop 24 January 1900 and taken to Pretoria. He was released after the British occupation of Pretoria in June 1900 and the released POWs were formed into composite battalions. Levett and the other Lancashire Fusiliers POWs were placed in a battalion of 400 men commanded by Col. Bullock of the Devonshire Regiment. On 22 June 1900 they were sent to the railway station at Honingspruit, 30 km north of Kroonstad. Levett was in a party of six men under Lt. Smith of the Gloucestershire Regiment sent down the line to a culvert held by the Boers. Levett and another man were killed while Lt. Smith and two men were wounded. He is buried in grave 775 at North Road Cemetery, Kroonstad and his grave is marked by a metal cross. Pte. Levett came from Haslingden, Lancashire and was aged 27 when he was killed. He was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith and Transvaal. He had already been awarded the Queen's Sudan Medal and Khedive's Sudan Medal with clasp Khartoum for the 1898 campaign there.