PAST EVENTS

A large audience was attracted to our September get-together to hear fellow-member Captain (Dr) Frank K. Mitchell, JCD, tell a stirring story about Andrew (Frederick) Weatherby Beauchamp-Proctor, the most distinguished South African airman in the First World War. Proctor was born at Mossel Bay on 4.9.1894, as the son of soldier and schoolmaster J.J. Proctor.

Matriculating at S.A.C.S. in 1912 Proctor became an engineering student. On the outbreak of WWI he served as a signaller in the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Rifles, returning to the college at the end of the S.W.A. campaign (July 1915). At the beginning of 1917 he was chosen by Maj A.M. Miller as one of the first of 1 300 young S.A. recruits for the British Royal Flying Corps. In August of that year he finished his training in England and was gazetted at No. 84 air squadron under Maj William Sholto-Douglas (afterwards Lord Douglas, marshal of the R.A.F.). Proctor's fighting period lasted from January to October, 1918, and in which his success excelled that of any other South African airman, and equalled that of the best airman of the war. Perhaps his most distinguished achievements began on 21.3.1918, with the great German offensive on the western front, Germany's last desperate effort of the war. When the Allies began their final offensive in August 1918, Squadron 84, with the diminutive Proctor (he was only 5ft 2½in tall) one of its leaders, was in the forefront of the fighting. During this period he earned the MC, then a bar to the MC, and the DFC.

The end of his service came in October 1918 when he was wounded in the arm during an air battle. He was sent back to hospital in England, where he was awarded the DSO, and, finally, shortly before Armistice, the supreme award of all, the VC, for valour in action in the two months after 8.8.1918. The citation for the VC mentioned 54 victories in all, in which Proctor destroyed 22 enemy machines and 16 enemy kite balloons, and forced down 16 enemy aircraft completely out of control.

At the end of the war Proctor completed his studies, obtaining a B.Sc.(Eng) at the University of Cape Town. Returning to England, he resumed his duties in the R.A.F. In 1921 he was killed in a flying accident while practising for the first Hendon air pageant. The body of "the little man with the guts of a lion" was returned to South Africa and interred at Mafeking, his home town.

In his words of thanks, on behalf of the meeting, our Chairman 'SB' Bourquin paid tribute to Dr Frank Mitchell's painstaking research and the excellence of the transparencies by which his talk had been illustrated throughout; but especially also to the fact that he had filled in and embellished the purely documentary record of Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor with so much loving care, personal and human detail that he had endeared "that little man with the guts of a lion" to every member of the audience.

The fact that our speaker had also travelled all the way from Cape Town solely for the purpose of addressing this meeting was also greatly appreciated.

FUTURE EVENTS

1. The Naval Officers' Association of S.A. (Durban) has requested our chairman, 'SB' Bourquin, to conduct a tour of the battlefields of Ingogo, Laing's Nek and Majuba over the week-end 5th/ 6th October, 1985. Members of our own Military History Society are invited to participate and to make this a combined tour, as was our visit to Willow Grange, of happy but, oh!, so cold memory. Accommodation may be found at the Valley Inn, Ingogo, (approx. 24 km north of Newcastle most central, Telephone (03434) 721; Inkwelo Motel, 'phone (03434) 737; or any of the Newcastle hotels (Holiday Inn; King's Hotel; Commercial Hotel).

Provisional Itinerary: Durban-Ladysmith-Newcastle 392 km. Newcastle-Ingogo (Valley Inn) 24km.
Saturday, 5 Oct 1985: Rendezvous Valley Inn 11h00. Depart for Ingogo (Schuinshoogte) battlefield: 11h15 for talk and inspection. Return to Valley Inn for lunch or picnic lunch: 12h45.
14h00 depart for Mount Prospect (site of British camp and cemetery) and proceed from there to Laing's Nek battlefield for talk and inspection. Return to Valley Inn about 17h00.
Sunday, 6 Oct: Rendezvous Valley Inn 09h00. Depart for Majuba. Climb, talk, inspection. Picnic lunch on return. Depart for home from 13h30 onwards.
Equipment: Suitable clothing for both hot and cold weather, hats, walking sticks, firm walking shoes, picnic lunches, refreshments.

2. Battlefield Tour of the Newcastle, Ladysmith, Colenso areas, arranged by the S.A. National Museum of Military History, Johannesburg, over the long weekend, Thursday 10th October to Sunday, 13th October 1985. Accommodation will be at the Royal Hotel, Ladysmith. Durban Branch members have been invited to join this tour. For further information telephone Mrs Denise Bird at Johannesburg 646-5513.

Programme of monthly get-togethers:

October 17th      COMMODORE A.S. DAVIS will present a slide talk on "Forty Years with the S.A. Navy".
PLEASE NOTE DATE - THIRD THURSDAY IN OCTOBER.

November 14th      Mrs. Belinda Gordon, Curatrix of the Greytown Museum, will give a talk entitled "Finding out about the past".

December      No meeting in December.

The venue for all meetings will be the Lecture Room, lower ground floor, 'SB' Bourquin Building, the Natalia Development Board's head office, on the corner of Jan Smuts Highway and Buro Crescent, Mayville, on the second Thursday in the month, unless otherwise announced, commencing at 8 p.m. Glasses and ice will be supplied so please bring your own bottled or canned refreshments. Friends and interested persons are welcome to come along.

WELCOME

A warm welcome is extended to new members Mr & Mrs R.H. Tuck and Mr & MrS John Woods.

(Mrs) Tania van der Watt,
Secretary, Durban Branch,
S.A. Military History Society,
Box 870, HILLCREST, 3650.
Tel. (031) vvvvvv