Orders, Decorations and Medals

An outstanding Defence of Mafeking family group to Lieutenant-Colonel J. R. More, commanding the Railway Section at Mafeking, his wife Marion More, Nursing Sister at the Mafeking Railway Convalescent Hospital, and their son Lieutenant-Colonel T. V. More, who was born at Mafeking shortly after the lifting of the siege

Four: Lieutenant-Colonel J. R. More, General Manager of the South African Railways

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer, frosted silver breast badge; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Defence of Mafeking (Capt., Mafeking Tn. Gd.); British War Medal (Lt. Col.); Jubilee 1935; together with Cecil Rhodes Funeral Train Medal 1902, silver, in its Spink & Son case of issue, and a Prince of Wales’ Lodge masonic jewel for the Jubilee of 1887, gold and enamels, this last possibly presented to his father

Pair: Nursing Sister M. More, Mafeking Railway Convalescent Hospital

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Nursing Sister); Mafeking Railway Convalescent Hospital Badge, circular gold badge with central red enamelled cross within white enamelled border inscribed ‘Mafeking’, the reverse inscribed ‘Ry. Convalescent Hospital 1900’, 20mm, fitted with gold pin for wearing

Five: Lieutenant-Colonel T. V. More, Director of Transport (Railway)

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal; Africa Service Medal, these four all officially impressed (179995 T. V. More); Coronation 1953, generally extremely fine and a rare group (12)
£2000-2500

John Rhys More was born in 1873, son of Mr T. J. More, who was traffic manager of the Cape Government Railways. His first railway experience was as an assistant on the construction of the Vaal River railway bridge at Fourteen Streams, and he was next employed on the construction of the line from Rosmead to Stormberg. He was engaged in the construction of the line from Vryburg to Mafeking and, in 1894, on the Sterkstroom-Indwe railway. Joining the Cape Government Railways in 1896, he became assistant engineer of the Kimberley-Bloemfontein survey and then of the Rosmead-Graff-Reinet railway construction.

In 1899 he was appointed district engineer at Mafeking and, on the outbreak of the siege was appointed Commandant of the Railway Section of the Town Guard with the rank of Lieutenant and later Captain. He was responsible for the construction of the Armoured Train and Ordnance workshop. The first shot fired in the defence of Mafeking was by Railwaymen in the Armoured Train at the 5 mile Cottage, south of Mafeking, on 12 October 1899. At Game Tree on Boxing Day of that year, he commanded the second truck of the Armoured Train:

“The enemy’s fire was terrible, 1lb Maxim shells bursting a few yards beyond the truck, accompanied by a perfect hail of bullets. The Railwaymen I am pleased to say behaved very well, and when the enemy were within range, did good work with their Martinis. Sergeant Lowe and myself managed to keep the Maxim pouring in its deadly fire on the enemy, and Corporal Godson kept the Hotchkiss firing in spite of his exposed position in the half armoured truck, which only protected the lower part of his body. The two B.S.A.P. in the truck with him were told to lie down as the fire was too heavy, and both were slightly wounded by portions of shell.

“It was a terribly anxious time, 850 Boers of the Marico Commando with Artillery, under General Snyman, were pitted against 16 B.S.A.P. and 28 Railwaymen. A grimly contested fight lasting two hours resulted in the enemy having to evacuate his position and fall back with heavy loss, over the crest of the rise, where he was again successfully engaged by Captain Fitzclarence with 2 squadrons of the Protectorate Regiment.” (Extract from Captain More’s report).

After the relief of Mafeking, More returned to his local peace-time duties as District Engineer and was later Resident Engineer for the Vryburg-Bulawayo railway. Upon the death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902, he was in charge of the funeral train which conveyed his body from Cape Town to Bulawayo and received the special medal struck to commemorate that event. After the Union in 1910 he was Divisional Superintendent at Kimberley and Port Elizabeth. During the Great War he commanded the Railway Regiment in South West Africa (British War Medal). In 1918 he was appointed Assistant General Manager and, in 1927, became General Manager of the South African Railways, retiring in 1933. He died at Cape Town on 22 April 1951. Sold with several news cuttings, a copy of his Mafeking report and various extracts from General Orders concerning the Railway Division issued by Colonel Baden-Powell.

Mrs Marion More (née Cloete) was the wife of Captain J. R. More and was in Mafeking at the commencement of the siege. When her husband set up a convalescent hospital in the Railway Camp she volunteered as a Nursing Sister under Miss M. Crawford, serving with Lady Sarah Churchill. In his official report on the siege Captain More gave the following account of the Convalescent Home:

“Owing to numerous complaints of treatment at the Victoria Hospital by our men, I decided to utilize the Railway Institute for Convalescent purposes, thus enabling men just out of hospital to get thoroughly restored to health before returning to the trenches, and the Home proved a great success. The cooking was done by the Railway people in turns, and Mr Crittenden, Rolling Stock Inspector, rendered valuable services as Manager.

“It was afterwards taken over by the Imperial Authorities for General Purposes; Dr Holmden being the Medical Officer, and Lady Sarah Wilson the Lady Superintendent, assisted by Mrs More, Mrs Gemmel and other Ladies. On January 15th a 95-pdr Shell struck the building and completely wrecked the Library, Billiard Room and Billiard Table, necessitating the removal of the Patients to other quarters. None of the inmates I am thankful to say were hurt.”

Thomas Vivian More was born in Mafeking on 2 August 1900, less than three months after the lifting of the siege. He qualified as a Civil Engineer at Birmingham University in 1918 and adopted a railway career. During the Second World War he served with the South African Railway Engineers in East Africa, Egypt and the Western Desert, including appointmeant as Director of Transport (Railways) at Cairo with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Released from Army service in October 1943 he continued his career in the railways, becoming System Engineer in Durban (1945), System Manager in Windhoek (1946), System Manager in Port Elizabeth (1947-52) and finally System Manager, Western Cape. He retired in 1963, entering local government the same year, and died in June 1966. Sold with newspaper obituary and copy service record.

‘It is a common saying among railwaymen that there is not a sleeper or a culvert between Table Bay and the Victoria Falls which one of the Mores does not know.’