An application to relocate the remains of a Uitenhage-raised recipient of the Victoria Cross – one of the first SA-born recipients of the world’s premier medal of valour – is being assessed by the provincial heritage authority.
Sello Makhanya, head of the Eastern Cape Heritage Resources Authority’s unit on archaeology, palaeontology, burial grounds and meteorites, confirmed on Tuesday that he had received documentation on the proposed relocation of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Crowe.
“It seems that this old soldier died in 1876 so his remains are well over the 60 years minimum after which historic items are protected under the National Heritage Act.”
With regard to relocation of human remains protected under this act, the authority required a formal application to be filed on behalf of the family, Makhanya said.
“We have received material from a representative of the Moths [Memorable Order of Tin Hats] and the families.
“We will be processing the documents and then bringing the matter before an independent review committee before issuing a response.”
Makhanya said this response could take a maximum of a month but he did not anticipate there would be a problem with the application.
Crowe ’s body lay for four decades in a grave on the grounds of the Moths property in Rich Street, Uitenhage, alongside the Crown and Anchor Dinkie Di Shellhole hall.
But with the Dinkie Di’s membership dwindling, the Moths were unable to sustain the costs of the hall, and the property was auctioned off to a businessman in March.
Moths provincial adjutant Mike Soutter said in November the organisation had engaged with Crowe’s family as well as the public and the Nelson Mandela Bay metro, and a suitable spot for him to be reburied in the Heroes Acre section of the Uitenhage Jubilee Cemetery had been identified.
According to Port Elizabethbased military history researcher Tim Bodill, Crowe was born in 1826 on a farm near Sidbury but when he was young his parents moved the family to Uitenhage.
After school, he enlisted in the British 78th Highland Regiment of Foot and, on August 12 1857, he was caught up in the Siege of Cawpore involving Indian rebel forces and the British army acting in support of the East India Company.
According to the SA Military History Society, the British took the decision to storm the enemy and Crowe, then a lieutenant, was one of the first soldiers to close with the enemy, leading to a famous victory.
On January 15 1858, Crowe was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for this act of extreme courage, making him, according to the society, the first SA-born recipient of the medal.
According to the Moths, a marble slab inscribed with Crowe’s name and his status as a VC recipient would be relocated with the old soldier.
A separate plaque stating that he was the first South African VC recipient would not be moved with him, however, as new information indicated that Grahamstown-born Christopher Teesdale earned a VC as a lieutenant fighting for the British Royal Artillery against the Russians in the siege of Kars in Turkey in 1855.