GENERAL WAUCHOPE'S GRAVE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4871, 24 January 1903, Page 5 (Supplement)

GENERAL WAUCHOPE'S GRAVE.

A CURIOUS Co MFJbIC A'ilO N. - (From the “Aberdeen Journal.’’) ] A curious controversy has arisen in I ' Kimberley and also to some extent at homo as to tho into General Tvauchopo’s . grave. As may bo recollected, the gallant old soldier ft-ll at Magcrsfontein, ; and was buried there, it is said, in accordance with his own wish that ‘die should lio where his comrades were lying.” 'Some days after tho battle, however, tho Hon. Mr Logan, of Matjosfontein, having by cable obtained consent of Mrs ’Wauchopo to the interment o? her husband’s remains in a private cemetery near his homo, had tho body exhumed arid removed to that spot, where it was reinterred at a long distance from tho graves of tho ether victims of tho Boer strategem on tho black day cf December when tho Highland Brigade met with disaster. Mrs V/auchopo subsequently erected a stone over tho grave at Matjosfoutoin, and she is now on her way out to visit it along with tho Countess of Airlio. Last year, it will bo recollected, a movement wo-s started in tho columns cf tho “Glasgow Weekly Herald” for tho purposo of raising funds to erect a monument UN A KOPJE AT MAGERSFONTEIN to camuiGii:o;*ato tho oiiTcors anti men of th-o Highland Brigade/ who foil on tho fatal llth of December. Tho movement was attended with tho greatest success, and tho necessary amount was quickly raised, and an ordor given to Messrs Alexander Macdonald and Co. for tho monument, a massive and finely proportioned granite cross, fiho v ark wan duly completed and tho cross despatched to South Africa, where it has boon erected near tho scene of tho Magcrsfoiitcm disaster, and is to bo miveiled "with considerable ceremony on llth December. Tho arrangements are in tho bauds of tho Diamond Fields Scottish Association, acting on behalf of tho conductors of tho “Glasgow Weekly Herald,” representing tho subscribers to tho memorial. Tho next development in tho story was the order given some months ago by Hon. Mr Logan, then residing at Dalguiso Castle, Perthshire, to Shoremastcr Boddlo, Aberdeen, for a fino memorial in tha form of a granite obelisk over 30 feet in bright to bo erected on a kopje near General Wanchope’s actual grave! at Matjcsfontoin. That memorial is now almost completed in tho St. Clair Street Granite Works, and will probably bo shipped before tho end of tho month, so as to roach South Africa to bo unveiled on llth December, tho saimo day as the Mngcrsfontrin memorial. In ordering tho memorial for Matjcsfontein, Mr Logan was acting for a number cf Scotsmen at tho Cape, who desired to do honour to General Wauchcpo’s memory, and certainly no expense has been spared to mako tho monument a striking and imposing one. It La>; already been fully described in our columns, and a clay or two ago wo gavo a sketch cf tho branr.o medallion portrait of General Wauchopo, which has been sculptured by Mr W. Grant Stevenson, A.R.S.A., Edinburgh, and which is to be placed on tho front panel of the die of tho obelisk. Tho trouble which is now AGITATING THE SCOTCHMEN OF EAMBEELEV, and which seems to bo causing a good deal of feeling amongst tho ranks of tho Black Watch, is 'tho question whether General Wauchopo’s , body should not ho removed from Matjeefonteiu back to Magcrsfontein, where ho fell, and whore, as wo have stated, it is averred ho desired to he buried with his comrades. A fortnight ago wo briefly reported tho proceedings at tho annual meeting of the Diamond Fields Scottish Association, when tho subject

,vas discussed, and a resolution arrived at to communicate with Mrs Vvauchope, with the view to obtaining her consent to have her husband’s remains removed from Matjesfontein to Magersfoutoin. It was alleged that Mrs Wauchopo had given her consent to the interment at Matjesfontein under a misapprehension, having presumably thought that Magersfontoin and Matjosfontoin were one and the same. Several members of the association contended that, had sho known the General’s dying wish to ho buried along with his comrades, Sirs Wauehopo would not have consented to the removal to Matjesfontein. It is not known what response Mrs Wauchopa has made or will make to the resolution of the Diamond Fields Scottish Association, but having onco given her consent to the interment of the body at Matjesfontein, and having placed a stone over the grave, it is not believed that she would bo disposed to assent to another exhumation and removal.