John/Johnny Wahl

Adam Johannes Wahl (‘John’ or ‘Johnnie’ or ‘Yonnie’) (1880-1958)

John or Johnnie (which some pronounced ‘yawn’ or ‘yawn-ee’) Wahl, was the son of Daniel Wahl and Maria Wahl (b. Reynecke) who married in1874 and lived in Paarl. To keep it simple I will call him ‘John’.

John grew up in Paarl and had three sisters. One was Betty, an aunt of Boet Wahl your grandfather, who married and became Betty Bodley and lost her husband early . She continued to live in Paarl and was a cheerful, hospitable and popular lady. Elise remembers that when she attended the commercial school in Paarl, Betty Bodley offered to take her in as a boarder but Elise’s father Boet Wahl was having none of it believing that Elise needed the rigours and discipline of the ‘koshuis’ (hostel).

According to Boet’s brother Manie, one of the other two sisters married an Englishman around the time of the Anglo-Boer war (skande!) and John never spoke to her again.

John Wahl married Gerrida (Gerrie) Johanna Kotzé (1882-1951) of Nieuwoudtville (near Calvinia) in about 1903. Acording to family legend her side of the family were financially well off. They married in Nieuwoudtville and continued to live there for some years on the farm Rietfontein a few kilometres north of Nieuwoudtville off the road to Loeriesfontein.

Rida (now Schreuder) relates an interesting story about her great grandmother Ouma Kotzé - the mother of Johnnie Wahl’s wife Gerrida. Her husband died whilst they were trekking near the Orange River and she journeyed back alone in the wagon to Nieuwoudtville with her husband’s body in a coffin. Taking a rough guess this may have been around 1850.

Thereafter Ouma Kotzé married a man with the surname Burdon and they had two sons by the names of Jasper and Rasmus. Rida heard this story from one of the Burdens.

There is a close parallel in the story of the Methodist missionary Edward Boyer Cook whose wife Mary (b. Thornhill) carried his dead body back from the same area to Cape Town in a wagon in the late 1820’s – see pages 29 and 30. So at that time it was not just a case of ‘till death us do part’ but ‘until a proper burial in a civilised cemetry do us part’.

During the time in Nieuwoudtville where your grandfather Boet (Adam) Wahl was born, John Wahl worked on the farm and his wife Gerrie was a teacher although perhaps not formally educated or qualified.

The government of the day decided to allocate farms in Boesmanland and so it was that John Wahl and his wife Gerrie moved to the farm at Stofvlei. When they arrived there it was open veld and they built their homestead from stones found in the area. This was added to over time and later accounts describe it as consisting of three buildings being the house, a shop and a corrugated iron cottage and petrol pumps.

Rida describes the farm house shaded by Bluegum trees. It had a stoep in front, four bedrooms, a dining room with a large yellow wood table, a school class room and teacher’s room and a kitchen/pantry with ‘misvloer’ . Alongside was a ‘waenhuis’ (literally a wagon house or barn complete with a bellows and smithy).

Rida’s account of the farm life (she was about seven years old at the time) :

Oupa rode on the horse cart from farm to farm to ensure that there were enough children to form a school at Stofvlei. The shop at Stofvlei first belonged to my mother’s brother Oom Johannes Kotze and his wife Ant Kotie. Later my father (Boet Wahl) bought it from him and thereafter it was sold to Oom Manie when we moved to Kotzésrust, Loeriesfontein and later Calvinia.

My father moved around trading in the area negotiating the purchase of hides that were later sold to a hides merchant, Mr Golin. He once gave Elise and me ten shillings each – and were we rich! Every Wednesday night the post lorry came from Bitterfontein and Ouma (who was the Post Mistress) sorted the post. She had a lovely roll top desk with compartments into which post for the various farms was sorted. This the farmers came to collect.

She was also the ‘doctor’ for the area and had a ‘boereraat’ (home remedy) for every ailment .

In a similar vein, Oupa provided the men with advice on other matters including legal problems.

The church services between the Communion services (‘Nagmaal’) were known as ‘middeldienste’ and were held at Stofvlei. Everyone from the surrounding farms came for the service. Daily family prayers (Godsdiens) sometimes also referred to as ‘boekevat’ also took place attended by all the family including servants. I remember that Oupa always tapped the table with the handle of his knife to bring the gathering to order before a bible reading or prayer. For Nagmaal we travelled to Loeriesfontein. Giel Loubser (long-time partner at Stellenbosch attorneys Brink Roos & du Toit/Theron du Toit) told me at the time that I worked there that Oupa was for many years Chief Elder of the church in Loeriesfontein. The dominee had to tread carefully as ‘Oom Johnnie’ listened intently and critically to the sermons!

Ouma always gave us peppermints to suck in the church.

The farming done in the area was with sheep, cattle (milk) and poultry. The nearest windmill was a Sandvlei 5 km away. Most of our water was stored in rain water tanks because the underground water was salty (known as brack water or brakwater).

Once a year one of the cattle would be slaughtered. At sheep shearing time the bales of wool were hung up on poles and we as children were placed inside the bales to compact the wool with our feet. When we had finished our legs were brown from the oil in the wool.

On Tuesday evenings everyone would gather for a party on one of the farms nearby. My mother and father had attended a course in Volkspele (folk dancing) in Stellenbosch and taught the steps and movements to the others.

Ouma led a choir in Stofvlei and I remember the psalms that we sang in the choir at the Celebration of Dingaan.

The school hostel was incorporated into the house. In my years of schooling we were in the largest class of four children! Elise’s class consisted of two – her and Johny Swart. We as the younger ones were precocious because we were all together in the one locale and could hear what the older children were being taught. We did the two kindergarten years Sub A and Sub B in six months and Johan did it in three weeks!

Also at the school and living in the hostel was (Aunt) Nettie, school sweetheart (?) and later the wife of Boet Wahl’s brother (Oompie) Manie.

On Sundays we had to keep quiet and be away from the house. We used to play in one or other of the dry river beds covered in shale. Johan was the dominee and one of us would be the deacon. Our ‘coins’ were the flat pieces of shale. And the veld was our home.

Coenie (younger brother of Boet Wahl) used to make biltong from the birds they hunted with a catapult.

Springbok roamed wild in the veld and were hunted for their meat and pelts. The meat was stored in a hole in the ground surrounded by hessian sacks that were kept wet at all times to preserve the meat.

At Christmas time, Ouma always decorated a tree (branch) and the children weren’t allowed into the house on that day. A cake was baked and cool drink was made. Coenie was Father Christmas with a red suit and beard.

Ouma at most times had a housemaid (white). There were also sometimes ‘bywoners’ (lodgers) to whom Oupa also allowed grazing for their lifestock.

The old shepherd was known as ‘Outa’ and his wife was ‘Aia’ and if they felt you didn’t treat them with respect they let you know it!

My mother (Miemie) always said that for her these were great times. They were poor but everyone was poor and if the one had some pumpkins or some fruit, they were happy to share it with those that didn’t.

I have fond memories of Stofvlei and the best of course was when Johnny, Pierre and Gerrida came to visit!

I remember that Oupa (John Wahl) was a strict man but often with a twinkle in the eye and he had a fine sense of humour. He was always smart as a pin. He smoked but none of his sons smoked in his presence. I remember one Sunday afternoon, it was oppressively hot and Danie put on short pants. His father told him to change into long trousers – it was Sunday!

One Sunday I escaped punishment. I had done something to Gerrida and my father (Oupa Boet Wahl) wanted to give me a hiding but his sister Johanna said : “ Nee Boet, dis Sondag”

Ouma Wahl did the most beautiful embroidery, knitting and crocheting. I remember her soft hands when she washed my hair. We also always had to wear bonnets to protect our skin against the sun.

Johnnie or Oupa Wahl retired to Van Rhynsdorp where he was said to have continued to run a blacksmith forge. The house that he lived in there still survives and John King has a photo of it.

There have been two famous Wahl rugby players whose relationship with the Wahl forbears in our family is unknown. The one was ‘Ballie’ Wahl from a well-known and prosperous Paarl family. Elise remembers from her time at school in Paarl that this family had a large house on the hill. He played one test match at scrumhalf for the Springboks in 1949 against the All Blacks at Newlands which the Springboks won.

In the same team was Okey Geffen, Hannes Brewis and the coach was Danie Craven.

The other was the Springbok Wahl Bartman of the 1980’s and 1990’s who is rated as one of the ‘hard man’ forwards of all time along with the likes of Sean Fitzpatrick. Some members of our family speculate that Wahl Bartman may have had a female Wahl swinging from one of the branches in his family tree. Perhaps Saartjie Bartman may also be related?!

Ada phoned the great man himself on his cell phone to find out. Either he is more interested about making history than studying it or perhaps he took one knock too many to the head, but he has thusfar not been able to shed any light on the matter!

Stofvlei Plaas het ‘n petrol pomp en poskantoor gehad. Daar was drie geboue op die plaas. Die huis, die winkel (en aangehegte huis) is so 300 meter wes van die huis, en ‘n derde sink huis. Ouma Gerrie se familie (die Kotze’s, - het “geld” gehad). Ouma Gerrie was eers die posmeester, en later was Oupa John die posmeester. Oupa John belowe vir Generaal Maritz (van die Rebellie) dat hy sy volgende seun na die Generaal sal vernoem, en so word die Manie Maritz naam in die Wahl familie ingebring op 21 November 1914. Die Wahls het gehou van Brug speel en die voorgeslagte van die Wahls was Wamakers. Oupa John was sy lewe lank op die Kerkraad van Loeriesfontein. Die middeldienste (dis nou tussen Nagmaals) is altyd op Stofvlei gehou.

Volgens kleinseun, Andries Wahl: "Ons het vir Oupa geken as “Oupa Wahl” en alle ander mense wat ek ooit met hom of oor hom hoor praat het, het die verkleinvorm gebruik – of in Afrikaans uitgespreek met ‘n lang “ô”, of in Engels uitgespreek as “Johnny”. Tydens my verblyf op Keimoes het ek ook ‘n agentskap van die kantoor op Pofadder bedryf, en het daar met minstens 5 of 6 mense te doen gekry wat hom geken het. Hulle het almal die “ie/y” bygevoeg. ‘n Ou wat teen die Engelse gerebelleer het, wou seker ook maar liewer nie “John” wees as sy naam Adam Johannes was nie!"

Volgens kleinseun, Manie Wahl: "Vandat ek kan onthou en ook die tyd toe oupa by ons gebly het op Merweville, was hy by almal bekend as Oom Johnny. Ouma was bekend as Gerrie. Ouma Gerrie se pa en ma was Gert en Hannie Kotze van Nieuwoudtville. Oupa Johnny en ouma Gerrie het eers in Niewoudtville gewoon. Stofvlei is 'n plaas. Indien mens van Springbok af 'n reguit lyn sou trek na Loeriesfontein asook van Bitterfontein af na pofadder is Stofvlei gelee daar waar die twee lyne kruis. Daar was eers 'n plaaskooltjie. Daar was ook 'n poskantoor (eers by oupa hulle se huis) en 'n winkel met 'n petrolpomp. Ouma het die poskantoor bedryf en later het die poskantoor verskuif na die winkel nadat my pa (Maritz) dit van Oom Boet (Adam Johannes) gekoop het, en pa was toe die "posmeester". Baie van die omgewing se kinders was op Nuwerus in die skool. Die skoollorrie (Dit was die vervoer van die omgewing se skoolkinders na en van Nuwerus) se eindpunt was Stofvlei. Die laaste telefoon vanaf Bitterfontein se kant was destyds ook op Stofvlei. Stofvlei is in die landrosdistrik Springbok (was destyds landdrosdistrik Namakwaland). Niewoudtville is gelee tussen Calvinia en Vanrhynsdorp (spelling was eers Van Rhynsdorp)."

Volgens kleindogter, Rida Schreuder (nee Wahl): "Oupa Johnie het twee susters gehad en vertel dat daar blykbaar twee Wahls uit Duitsland gekom het. Een het hom in die Kaap gevestig, en Engels geword. Uit die Engelse Wahl het die bekende Wahl-oogkundiges gekom wat jare in die Kaap was. Die ander Wahl het hom in die Paarl gevestig, en ver-Afrikaans. Oupa se een suster is met 'n Engelsman getroud, en oupa het daarna nooit weer met haar gepraat nie - onthou dit was die tyd van die Anglo-Boere oorlog. Die ander suster het ek geken. Sy was tannie Bettie Bodley en het in die Paarl gebly. Sy het drie dogters gehad. Tannie Bettie se man was Tom Bodley, maar hy is jonk dood. Die dogters was Hettie (Haar man was 'n Van der Westhuizen, onderwyser by Boys High in die Paarl), Magdaleen - getroud met 'n Hugo (Engelse uitspraak), en Elise. Elise was 'n bekende kunstenaar, veral vir haar sketse van veldblomme. Sy was getroud met Apie van Wyk, ook 'n kunstenaar. Dan was daar ook 'n neef, oom Victor Wahl, van Stellenbosch. Hy het 'n dogter, Erika, gehad - reeds oorlede. I.v.m. die Rebellie 1914-1918: oupa was Genl. maritz se agterryer. Hy het vir my vertel dat hul donkies Duits-Wes (Namibie) toe gevat het oor die grens so die "Trading with the Enemy" (Gert Wahl: Uit die NAAIRS bronne hieronder) verwys waarskynlik na donkies wat hulle aan die Duitsers verkoop het. Hulle was natuurlik Duitsgesind. Oupa het 'n messe/vurke bak van hout in die Jihannesburg Tronk gemaak, asook 'n skinkbord. Op die bak staan: "Aan mijn lieve Vrouw van John, Johannesburg Tronk 28 Oktober 1915". Dit was die ou Fort wat nou 'n bekende restaurant is. My pa (Boet) het die winkel en petrolpomp op Stofvlei gehad, en dit later aan oom Manie verkoop. Oupa John was 'n statige, streng man met 'n fyn sin van humor wat 'n goeie storie kon vertel - 'n streep wat nogals deur die Wahls trek! My suster, Ada, het eenkeer 'n Wahl in Durban ontmoet, en hy vertel toe dat die Wahl's een van die min families is wat hulle stamboek tot by Koning David kan terugwerk, so daar is defnitief Jodebloed, dis waar ons mense vandaan kom! (Gert Wahl: Lyk my ek het nog baie werk om te doen!). Oupa het sy tweede seun na Genl. Manie maritz vernoem, my pa was toe sewe jaar oud. Ouma Gerrie was die enigste kind van haar Kotze pa. Haar ma was weer met 'n Burden getroud. Haar stiefbroers was oom Jasper Burden en oom Erasmus Burden. Hulle het ook naby Stofvlei geboer. Oupa was hoofouderling van die N.G. Kerk op Loeriesfontein. Ds. Tappies Moller, predikant op Loeriesfontein en later moderator in die kaap, het spesiaal na Stofvlei gery om hom te begrawe. Ouma en oupa se grafte is op Stofvlei."

Volgens die Cape Town Argiewe (NAAIRS):

1915 - War 1914 - 1915. Trading with the enemy transmits enquiry by Messrs. Wahl and Co. regarding payment of insurance money to enemy subjects namely the firm of Transveldt and Co. trading in British Bechunaland.

1915 - War 1914 - 1915. Rebels. Mrs. G Wahl prays for release of her husband John Wahl a rebel imprisoned at Kimberley.

1915 - Adam Johannes Wahl charged with high treason

1918 - AJ Wahl - Stofvlei farm alloted to AJ Wahl

1924 - AJ Wahl - Title deed vir Stofvlei farm (plaas waar oupa gebore is)

1925 - AJ Wahl - Irrigation loan for $150 for a period of 5 years

1930 - AJ Wahl - Appointment as Justice of the Peace

APPENDIX (extract of the section dealing with Johnnie Wahl)

The Wars and the Warriors

Anglo- Boer War and the Rebellion

Adam Johannes (‘John’ or ‘Johnnie’) Wahl (1880-1958)

This is Ada’s oupa and your great grandfather.

with a knob-kierie. In the ensuing scuffle Maritz and his followers were said to have narrowly escaped with their lives.

Maritz then returned with a much larger force and exacted a bloody revenge - by his own account personally killing 38 Basters. Smuts was angered and Deneys Reitz called it a ‘ruthless and unjustifiable act’. Others took a more sympathetic view putting it down to the preceding incident and the vagaries During the first phase of the Anglo-Boer war Johnnie Wahl was an officer on the staff of General Manie Maritz perhaps as a veldkornet (lieutenant?) at the age of 21 to 22 years of age. He was described by one account as being Maritz’ ‘attendant’ – possibly an aide de camp.

After the defeat of the Boers during the first ‘set-piece’ stage of the war, most of the Boers continued the war by organising themselves into volunteer groups of irregulars known as kommandos or commandos or guerillas . The last remaining survivors of these bands were brought under the command of General Smuts in the final phase of the war carried out in north western Cape.

From a tactical point of view the great advantage of this style of military resistance is that it is stealthy, fairly cheap to conduct and ties down a large and expensive military force to combat it.

The other side of the coin, however, was that it was an extremely tough life for those ‘te velde.’ They lived rough in the veld, travelling on horseback (often with just one set of clothing and handmade velskoene ) and fending for themselves by foraging for whatever food and provisions they could lay their hands on. Many of the Boers – including Johnnie Wahl - abandoned their standard issue Mauser rifles for the British Lee Metford – perhaps partly due to preference but mainly due to the fact that ammunition for the Lee Metford was more freely available from captured British supplies.

Pic 9 page 144 Life on Commando

Johnnie Wahl serving with Commandant Manie Maritz fought on in one of the commando units operating under the command of General Jan Smuts in the Northern Cape. They continued the struggle after most of the units in the Transvaal, Free State and Natal had capitulated.

Smuts was part of an escort of four men riding in an area north of Calvinia known as Moordenaarspoort (apparently so-named prior to the war). They were fired on when riding past the mouth of a cave. Only Smuts survived. The other three men and Smuts’ horse succumbed.

Deneys Reitz who operated as a despatch rider for Smuts and also was involved himself in the fighting, described Manie Maritz in his book Commando :

At the foot of these mountains lies the village of van Rijnsdorp. It had been recently garrisoned by the British, but Commandant Maritz had swooped down and captured it. This Maritz was a policeman from Johannesburg, who, after many adventures had established himself in these parts as a leader of various rebel bands.

He was a short dark man of enormous physical strength, harsh and ruthless in his methods, but a splendid guerilla leader.

On the 7th of August 1901 Commandant SG (Manie) Maritz and his commando attacked Vanrhynsdorp. Their major achievement was the seizure of three heavily laden supply wagons. Maritz and his commando went as far as Darling, only 60 kilometres from Cape Town, presumably the most southerly point reached by the republicans during the war.

Their stated aim was to harass and frustrate the British rather than to engage in set-piece confrontations with the much larger and more heavily armed British forces. Capturing arms and provisions was a major priority.

Vanrhynsdorp had the distinction of being the only town in South Africa occupied by the Boers in the second guerilla stage of the war.

Another attack was carried out by Boer commandos near Calvinia.

On 28th November 1901 four commandos – those of Wynand Malan, Manie Maritiz, Jaap van Deventer and Hendrik Lategan – attempted unsuccessfully to seize the remount depot at Tonteldooskolk , 85 kilometres northwest of Calvinia. They did, however, capture and ride off with 300 horses.

Manie Maritz was severely wounded in this raid described by Deneys Reitz :

Maritz attacked the garrison at Tontelbos the day before I arrived, himself being severely wounded. I found him seated on a chair in a farmhouse, with two of his men dressing his wound, a terrible gash below the right armpit, exposing the lung, an injury that would have killed most men, but he was like a bull and seemed little the worse for it.

For recreation the Boers in the commando units organised ‘boeresport’ which were sporting contests usually involving physical strength like wrestling, tug-of-war and ‘vingertrek’. Maritz was no armchair officer and enjoyed wrestling. He participated himself challenging others to take him on and according to some accounts won some of these encounters and lost others.

The only anecdote that I have come across specifically of Johnnie Wahl’s time on commando was that he suffered from headaches – possibly migraines – and given the stress of conflict and the extremes of daytime and night time temperatures , this must have made his life difficult. It was said that one could always tell where he had been lying at night from the pink headache powder wrappers lying around in the vicinity.

Some other Maritz-related stories may be of interest :

 Maritz and two of his men rode on to the beach at Lamberts Bay, where an English cruiser lay at anchor close in-shore. Dismounting they opened fire. Their bullets pattered harmlessly against the armoured side of the warship, and when the crew turned a gun on them they made haste to disappear into the sandhills. On their return to their commando, they jokingly boasted that they had fought the only naval action of the war!

 During the siege of Okiep in which the Maritz commando was attacking the British defences, they were having difficulty removing British defenders from one of the blockhouses. Deneys Reitz recalled : ‘Smuts ordered Maritz to go in person and carry out the work. He went with the Marquis de Kersuason, a young French adventurer who had been Maritz’ constant associate since the war began. I went too, and, as before, we were challenged but reached the ledge in safety. The first thing that Maritz did was to stand on another man’s shoulders to calculate the throwing distance. He then climbed down and fastened three bombs together, weighing about twenty pounds. No other man could have hoped to throw so heavy a missile that distance, but standing precariously on the shoulders of one of his men, he lit the fuse and hurled the triple grenade on the roof. The fuse flared and sizzled for a second or two, lighting up the scene for many yards around, then there was a tremendous roar, and stones and sandbags went flying in all directions. From within we heard groans and a muffled voice saying, ‘Stop throwing; stop throwing’, so we crowded in’

 Shortly after Smuts’ departure from the northwestern Cape for the talks at Vereeniging in April 1902, Manie Maritz challenged the besieged British garrison at Okiep to a football (thought to be soccer) match. He wrote a letter to a Major Edwards apparently British second in command at the garrison. Accounts differ as to whether it was simply to relieve the tedium or part of Maritz’ tactic to occupy the town. Major Edwards and his garrison superior Sheldon were apparently all in favour of holding the match. As far as I can see from the records the match never took place. The regiment’s commanding officer, Colonel H Cooper – trying to relieve the town from Steinkopf – was said to have scotched the idea.

 In a war fought, say in the desert of north Africa where there are no civilians, the combatants are easy to identify and the confrontation is straightforward. In the Anglo-Boer war the conflict took place in the presence of civilians living in towns and the countryside. Limiting the flow of food and provisions to enemy soldiers was a major part of the struggle. Both the British with their scorched earth policy of burning farms and herding Boer families into concentration camps and the Boers in dealing with pro-British native communities, resorted to harsh measures.

On 11th January 1902 General Manie Maritz read out a proclamation to the Basters of the Leliefontein Wesleyan (Methodist) Mission . In an effort to stop them spying for and acting as despatch riders for the British, he forbade them on pain of death to provide the British forces with assistance, information or fodder . Later that same month he visited them again with a small escort to find that his proclamation had not gone down well. An argument erupted with the Baster leader Barnabus Links –who on another occasion had struck a Boer leader FW Reitz of war.

The Northern Cape was an area of active campaigning by the Boer commandos of Smuts and Maritz and their men, covering vast distances, harassing and disrupting the British forces wherever they could. This led to the British erecting defensive lines of ‘blockhouses’ (small forts) - one of which ran from Lamberts Bay at the coast to Calvinia in the east.

Johnnie Wahl’s involvement some twelve years later in the Rebellion (Rebellie) and its aftermath is covered on page 89 and the pages following.

Die Rebellie (The Rebellion) 1914 (an important part of both SA and the Wahl/Kotze history that is not that well known, is interesting and which I have dealt with in some detail to give it its full context!).

The Rebellion had its roots in the flare-up of old animosities at the outbreak of World War I in 1914 a decade after the Anglo-Boer war. Three Boer generals from this war : Botha, Smuts and Hertzog dominated the two groupings of (white) South African politics for the 38 years following union in 1910.

Botha and Smuts – feeling that the British government (under the Liberal Gladstone) had given them favourable peace terms - had sworn allegiance to the British Empire and enthusiastically supported the Empire and the British war effort.

Not only were Botha and Smuts prepared to defend South Africa against any German incursion, they gave Britain an undertaking that they would invade German South-West Africa. This was to prove a highly divisive issue.

Their party was the South Africa Party (known as ‘Sappe’).

Hertzog led the Afrikaner party that supported Afrikaner nationalism and the goal of an Afrikaner republic (being nationalists they were known as ‘Natte’). For him and his supporters, allegiance to the Empire was anathema – associated as it was with a century of British expansion and oppression. He supported neutrality in the war.

Memories were still fresh of the 26 000 Boer women and children who had died in appalling conditions in concentration camps ; also of the largescale destruction of Boer farms by the British armed forces which caused great anguish and economic hardship. Many Afrikaners – such as the Wahl’s – had historic blood ties with Germany and the Germans had supported the Boer war effort during the Anglo-Boer war.

It was no doubt for many of these people also a case of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ .

The militant wing of Hertzog’s party nicknamed themselves ‘Bittereinders’ and favoured continuing the struggle against the British. They referred to Smuts and his supporters by the nickname ‘Hensoppers’ (literally ‘Hands-Uppers’ believing that they had sold out to the British cause).

The poet Totius captured this yearning and spirit of resistance, grievance and hope of an Afrikaner revival in the poem ‘Vergewe en Vergeet’. In this poem of symbolism, the British Empire was depicted as a mighty ox wagon that crushes the Afrikaner nation depicted as a small thorn tree. Despite being crushed and damaged, the small tree rises again :

Daar het ‘n doringboompie

Vlak by die pad gestaan

Waar lange ossespanne

Met sware vragte gaan

En eendag kom daar langes

‘n Ossewa verby

Wat met sy sware wiele

Dwars-oor die boompie ry

Mag tog het daardie boompie

Weer stadig reggekom

Want oor sy wonde druppel

Die salf van eie gom

Denys Reitz – himself a Boer who had fought in the war under General de la Rey and General Smuts and wrote the excellent book Commando – regarded the Rebellion as a ‘domestic dispute’ between Afrikaner and Afrikaner and remarked that ‘not every nationalist was a rebel but every rebel was a nationalist’.

At the outbreak of war between Britain and Germany in 1914 Smuts and Botha announced plans to attack German South-West Africa. Most Afrikaners including Herzog preferred to stay neutral but Botha and Smuts pressed ahead. Activist republicans (‘Rebels’) saw their chance to gain supporters and continue the struggle by siding with the Germans in their war against the British.

Many leading Afrikaner politicians and serving generals in the Union Defence Force (most of them leaders during the Anglo Boer War) decided to actively oppose the invasion of German South West Africa. General Beyers resigned as Commander in Chief of the Union Defence Force and was travelling by car with General de la Rey to a secret meeing in Potchefstroom apparently with other conspirators when de la Rey was shot and killed at a police road block near Johannesburg.

Accounts differed as to what had happened. Some said de la Rey had been shot when failing to stop at the road block, others that he had been hit by a stray ricocheting bullet in a shoot out with suspected car thieves while many Nationalists believed he had been deliberately assasinated – causing shock and outrage.

At de la Rey’s funeral attended by Generals Beyers, de Wet, Kemp, Smuts and Botha the crowd was difficult to restrain and emotions ran high. A man known as ‘Siener’ van Rensburg claimed he had seen the number 15 (the year being 1914) and a red clot of blood which fired the imagination of the militants attending the funeral .

Major Manie Maritz (previously a Boer general who had ridden to ‘within thirty miles of Cape Town’ ) and now commanding officer of the Union force based in Upington refused to obey the order to move against the Germans of German South West Africa and instead – along with rebels including Johnny Wahl – crossed the border and joined the Germans with the intention of setting up a republic free of British rule.

One gets the impression that the Rebels had hoped for a groundswell of support that would bring a large number of Afrikaner nationalists over to their side as part of a national uprising. It was not to be and this small band found themselves geographically isolated and ranged against the might of the State. Perhaps not unlike the failed Jameson Raid before the Anglo Boer War, support from other citizens (who may have sympathised but didn’t act) failed to materialise. It was after all an act of treason.

During the time of the Rebellion, John Wahl promised his general that he would name his next son after him. So it was that on 21st November 1914 Manie Maritz Wahl was born into the family.

Martial law was proclaimed on 14th October 1914 and a much larger union force of around 50 000 men quickly overwhelmed the rebels numbering around 15 000. Manie Maritz was defeated on 24 October and took refuge with the Germans across the border. General Beyers drowned in the Vaal River on 18 December, General de Wet was taken prisoner in Bechuanaland (now Botswana) and General Kemp surrendered.

Kommandant Japie Fourie and his kommando provided the final resistance and was forced to surrender on 16 December.

Because Fourie had not resigned his officer’s commission in the Union Defence Force (felt by many to be something of a technicality) and had ‘fired to kill to the last’ he was immediately court-martialled and sentenced to be shot. Dr DF Malan (later to become the first Nationalist prime minister in 1948) led a deputation to Smuts at his farm Irene near Pretoria to plead for a reprieve. Smuts appeared to deliberately avoid the deputation who were told that he ‘was walking on the farm’. The sentence of death was confirmed and Fourie was shot.

Some felt that Smuts had singled out Fourie - being a politically less prominent figure – to make an example of him. The Rebellion of 1914 was to become an important political milestone in the nationalists’ quest for political power which they achieved in the election of 1948.

Reminiscences of one of the Baker King & Co employees notes his part in the call-up of Union Forces to quell the Rebellion (and subsequently invade German Sourth West Africa). He refers to the ‘Battle of Upington when Generals Maritz and Kemp attempted their invasion of the Union’.

The rebel leaders, including your great grandfather John Wahl on Oupa’s side of the family, were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment and heavily fined. Their sentences were later commuted by Botha.

Captured and thought to have first been imprisoned in Kimberley, he was later moved to The Fort in Johannesburg. During his time at The Fort he made a rack for knives and forks as well as a tray. The inscription on the rack ? reads ‘Aan mijn lieve Vrouw van John, Johannesburg Tronk 28 Oktober 1915’.

Update: 29 Feb 2020: as per attached grave photograph, we are changing John’s DOB from 1879 to 1880.