Any information on the Oudtshoorn Volunteer Rifles
 

Can anyone give me some info on the Oudtshoorn Volunteer Rifles, they seem to have been pretty promanant in the Anglo Boer War but I know very little about them and there's very little coming up on a google search.

Kev.

I have a little bit of info about them.

The OVR were one of a number of small volunteer units formed in the western rural districts of the Cape Colony in the late 1880s and early 1890s. They were established in the town/district of Oudtshoorn on 22 January 1890. At that time, the rural units were lumped together with some of the smaller Cape Town units as the 1st Administrative Battalion.

The battalion was disbanded in 1892, and on 1 January 1893, the rural units were formed into a new administrative grouping, the Western Rifles. The OVR were 'G' Company of the WR. The other companies were in Worcester, Paarl, Wellington, Victoria College (Stellenbosch), Robertson, and Malmesbury.

The WR did not serve as a battalion during the ABW, as the rural districts tended to be pro-Boer, and the government apparently decided not to risk mobilising them.

I don't know what the OVR did during the war, but they continued after the war, and existed right up to June 1913, when most of the volunteer units were embodied in the Citizen Force of the new Union Defence Forces. As the WR were disbanded in 1908, the OVR would have been a unit in their own right for the last five years.

Arthur, That's brilliant thank you, your knowledge runs deep my friend.

Kev.

I recall that OVR were apparently one of the first units to wear cloth shoulder arcs in South Africa. Unfortunately I could not locate my notes on this to confirm details. I did however come across a list of officers of another unit based in Oudtshoorn, the 5th Dismounted Rifles (2nd Southern Rifles). I wonder if there was any connection between the two units?

5th Dismounted Rifles (2nd Southern Rifles) were an ACF Regiment created around 1913 and disbanded in the 1920s. At some point, it's officers included the following:

LtCol WPL Saayman
Lt CP Nel MBE [I think he was either mayor or MP of Oudtshoorn at some point. There is a museum and a car dealership in Oudtshoorn that have the same name]
Lt EF Edwards
Lt TK Jurish
Lt PJ Vermaak
Lt HHA de Vos
Lt GRW Johnson
Lt RW Lambert
Lt CJ Meyer
Lt AM Searle [There used to be a sawmill on the coastal side of the Outeniqua mountains called Searle's between Mossel Bay and George]
Lt WF van Wyk
Lt B Varkvisser
Lt HA Gold
Lt HJ Pienaar
Lt T Versveld
Lt IF Mandy
QM Lt GC Dymond

7th Mounted Rifles (Southern Mounted Rifles)
was another ACF Regiment created around 1913 with HQ at Oudtshoorn and disbanded in the 1920s. In 1921, it's officers included the following:

Lt Col NHO Gavin
Maj OJ Oosthuizen
Capt HH Bridgeman (Adjutant)
Lt J Daneel
Lt DH Schoeman
Lt PL Swart
Lt NB Borcherds
Lt JLG Bell
Lt G Parsons
Lt GJ Reid
Lt GJ Reid
Lt CH Roux
Lt JH Schoeman
Lt GZ van Huysteen
Lt GF ferreira
Lt H Nochamson
Lt RG Lamb
Lt WC Stone
2Lt LHX Vintcent
2Lt G Dolly
2Lt CD Hurndall
LtQM LE Helm

Oudtshoorn Volunteer Rifles
 

According to Page 25 of Regimental Devices of South Africa 1783-1954 by HH Curson, Caxton, Pretoria 1954, the OVR wore red shoulder arcs with OUDTSHOORN embroidered in white over a smaller flash vith VR. The Cape Colonial Arms were worn as the collar badges.

The OVR dress regulations published in 1907 give the insignia as :
~ Officers' headdress badge : "Arms of the Colony superscribed 'Spes Bona'" (yellow metal).
~ Officers' smasher hat badge : the letters OVR in a rectangular frame (yellow metal).
~ Other ranks' smasher hat badge : the same but in white metal.
~ Other ranks' field service cap badge : ditto.
~ Other ranks' shoulder title : as described by Curson.

Both the 5th Dismounted Rifles and the 7th Mounted Rifles were disbanded in 1929.

You're probably right about CP Nel. IIRC, his medals are in the museum (or they were when I visited it many moons ago).

Hi Arthur, I wonder if these badges were ever made? I have never seen them. Regards Andrew

A very good question. I've never seen them either nor, AFAIK, do they appear in books.

I will ask around and see if anybody has seen them. Regards Andrew

The Cape Colonial arms was worn by a number of units.
http://www.southafricanmilitaria.com...age=21&count=y

As for the OVR titles/badges I found this one online:

http://www.samilitaria.com/SAM/index...taria&Itemid=8

Thank you. I have never seen a cap badge like this with only the coat of arms. Collar badges and Helmet plates, but never cap badges. Has anyone else? Regards Andrew

Ditto. Most of the time you see wither helmet plates or 'collars' for sale.

I wondered if the cap badge and collar badge were perhaps the same size.

Today I had a look in Owen's book and noticed #243 (which is listed as a collar badge) is a bit larger than #244 (35 vs 28 mm tall). I then compared it to Owen's #95 & 96 which are also about 28mm tall. This could simply be a case of different manufacturers or perhaps #243 is really a cap badge and the rest colalrs? Just a thought.

Paged a few pages further in Owen and found a helmet plate (#270) and cap badge (271) to Oudtshoorn Rifle Volunteers. The cap badge is the Cape Colony coat-of-arms within a circlet surmounted by a crown. The circlet ahs the legend "OUDTSHOORN RIFLE VOLUNTEERS"

Hi, I believe that 243 is actually the centre piece of 177/180 and not a badge in it's own right. There are a variety of badges from different units that have the Cape coat of arms as part of the design, mainly as the centre piece. I have always wondered why nothing post Boer War seems to come up for Oudtshoorn. Maybe they planned on having badges made, but had lots of stock of the Victorian badges? But then again except for the helmet plate, the Oudtshoorn badges are extremely scarce. This would blow the theory of "lots of stock" out of the water, I would think. I have the helmet plate, collar and a brass title in my collection. Owen shows a cap badge and Curson cloth and white metal titles. Are there any photographs about showing these badges on uniforms? Regards Andrew