South African War Memorial - Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary (1903)

This memorial to Taranaki troopers who served in the South African War 1899-1902 (also known as the Second Anglo-Boer War) was designed in the form of a Celtic cross by Archdeacon Phillip Walsh and made by McNab and Mason of Auckland.

It carries the names of 14 Taranaki men who were killed and was unveiled near the Vivian Street entrance to St Mary's on 27 August 1903 by General James Babington, Commandant of the New Zealand Forces.

Inscription:

In Honoured Memory of the Taranaki Troopers who fell in the South African War 1899-1902 Erected by their Fellow Settlers

West face:                                    

Serg-Major S. Smith                                   

Troopers                                       

H. Finch                                    

J.M. Patterson                          

T.A. Hempton                            

C. Wiggins                                

W.J. Goodland                         

L.E. Smith                                  

East face:

Farrier-Sergt A. W. Sisley

Troopers

W.S. Fleetwood

A.H. Blyde

L.O. Newsham

L.H. Arden

N.T. Patterson

V. Meredith

Of the above, Farrier-Sergt A.W. Sisley and Trooper V. Meredith are not listed in the nominal rolls. Of the remaining 13 men, six died of enteric (typhoid) fever in South Africa and three of pneumonia in New Zealand.

Albert Sisley

Australian National War Memorial records show Farrier-Sergeant Albert William Sisley, #930, joined in New South Wales and served in the 2 NSW Mounted Rifles. He died on 20 January 1902.

Valentine Meredith

It appears that V. Meredith was not actually in the military (although listed as a Trooper on the New Plymouth memorials) but was employed by the Natal railways. The Hawera Star featured the following report on 29 September 1900:

Mr V. Meredith who went to the Transvaal, died of pneumonia last month. Deceased, whose parents reside at Koru (near New Plymouth) was the brother of Mr Percy Meredith, lately of the Star staff.  

and the Taranaki Herald of 12 October 1900 informed readers that 

....the late Valentine Meredith who died in August last at Ladysmith.... had volunteered for active service in South Africa, and not being accepted he went there on his own account, and while waiting for military employment he took a billet in the Natal Railway Service in which he was engaged at his death. 

A letter from G.S. Duane regarding his visit to Meredith’s grave at Ladysmith was printed in the Hawera Star on 12 December 1900 and mentioned the need to ask "the Railways Dept to erect a stone over the grave."

William Joseph Goodland

A plaque commemorating Trooper W. J. Goodland was unveiled in St Paul's Church, Normanby on 30 October 1904.