South African Military History Society

Transvaal Scottish Regiment Rand Revolt graves in Brixton Cemetery


Photo: Derek Walker

Location
Brixton Cemetery, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
Brixton Cemetery is on the corner of Seventeenth and Krause Streets,Brixton.
The graves are slightly to the north-west of the cemetery maintenance offices
GPS 26 deg 11 min 47.89 sec S, 28 deg 0 min 52.61 sec E

Significance
Martial Law was declared on 10 March 1922
The Union Defence Force was deployed to suppress the violent labour unrest on the East Rand known as the Rand Revolt, also known as the Rand Rebellion, Rand Revolution or the 1922 Miners' Strike.
Nine members of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment Killed in Action in March 1922 during the Rand Revolt are buried next to one another in the Brixton Cemetery:

The following fell at Dunswart on 10 March:
Captain Henry Werner Backeberg, MC
Lieutenant Ethelbert Guy
Corporal Angus MacLeod
Private Lawrence Froneman
Private Eric Sydney Goddard
Private Cecil Fyfe Ireland
Private Frank B. Marshall.
Those who fell at Brixton Ridge on 12 March:
Private Robert Bateman Machan
Private Robert Blackstock Ovens.
Inscription
Capt H W Backeberg, M C
Lieut E Guy
Cpl A MacLeod
Pte L Froneman
Pte E S Goddard
Pte C F Ireland
Pte F B Marshall.
Pte R B Ovens.

In Proud Memory of our Comrades

Who gave their Lives in the

Preservation of Law and Order

March 1922

Erected by the Regiment 1970

References
The Rand Revolt and Constable FJHD van Wyk by Andrew van Wyk
The 1922 Rand Revolution by Rodney Warwick.

South African Military History Society / scribe@samilitaryhistory.org