Thomas Henry & George Favell of Pelton Fell
Thomas and George’s Boer War
Thomas Henry Favell and George Favell were brothers that both served in the army during the Boer War. Their grandfather was born in the village of Bellerby in Yorkshire but settled in County Durham. Their Father George was born in Washington and was the Landlord of the Pelton Colliery Hotel on Front Street Pelton Fell. Pelton and its Colliery were a few miles from Chester-le Street, to the North of Durham.
Thomas Henry, born in 1873, was the second child of his parents George and Francis. He had an older sister Annie, and a younger brother, also so named George, who was three years younger. By the time he was 18, Thomas was employed by a railway company, but in his early 20s he was working as a barman, presumably for his father in the Colliery Hotel. It is likely that his younger brother George did the same.
Thomas the volunteer
Thomas Favell was a volunteer in the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. The Volunteers were the forerunners of the Territorial Army of today and were intended to bolster the regular army in time of war. They were based around rifle clubs initially and gained funding, drill halls and equipment as they gained status. By the 1890s there were over a quarter of a million Volunteers across the country. Being a Volunteer probably provided opportunity for social and sporting activities as well as some status to young working men. However, they would be expected to serve the country should war come. The 4th Battalion had its HQ in Durham (Gilesgate), and E Company was based at Chester le Street. Younger brother George Favell is thought to also have been a Volunteer
The British Empire was at its height and many young men might have viewed potential call-up with excitement. The reports of battles in the newspapers and periodicals tended to feature feats of bravery and daring, with sketches and drawings of the action falling far short of the reality we are used to seeing through graphic video footage today. Apart from some scares of French invasion in the 1880s, and the Crimean War in 1850s, the British army had not really faced a well-equipped and disciplined army since the Napoleonic wars. Empire conquests were largely against tribesmen with primitive weapons and wars were short lived.
The Boer War
In the 1890s, trouble was brewing in the South African states. The mining of gold and the discovery of diamonds led to friction between Dutch settlers, known as Boers, and European workers. The Boers resented the large numbers of ‘outsiders’ drawn into the Boer run states by the large mining companies and feared that their influence was being weakened. The neighbouring British states were also viewed as a potential threat with their garrisoned troops and their desire to control the Gold and Diamond mining. Conflict also existed due to the Boers heavy reliance on slave native labour on both their farms and in the mines, while in British states it was outlawed.
On the 11th of September 1899, 24,000 Boers from the Transvaal and Orange Free State invaded Natal while smaller forces laid siege to the township of Ladysmith, the British Garrison at Mafeking and at Kimberley in the centre of the diamond industry. Britain responded by sending regular Army forces to South Africa and recalled those ex-soldiers who were still contracted as Reserves. The need was such that the volunteer battalions were also called upon and were required to sign up for the duration of the war.
Thomas signs up for South Africa
On the 18th January 1900 at Chester-le-Street, at the age of 27, Thomas Henry Favell signed up for service with the Durham Light Infantry to serve in South Africa for one year, or if the war lasted longer, to be detained until the war is over. He took the oath “that I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will, as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, in Person, Crown, and dignity against all enemies, and will observe and obey all order of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and all of the Generals and Officers set over me. So help me God.”
Thomas’ weight was recorded as 126lbs, height as 5ft 5 ½ inches, colour of eyes blue, hair light brown and religion as Church of England. He was posted as a Private on 23rd February, issued his army number 8131 and despatched to South Africa the same day.
The 1st Volunteer Service Company (made up of volunteers from the five Volunteer Battalions of the DLI) left from Newcastle, sailing to South Africa. The 1st VSC was attached to 1st Battalion DLI in April 1900. Between recruitment and sailing to South Africa, things had moved on. The initial arrival of the regular army and reserves had fought battles with the Boers and succeeded in relieving the sieges at Ladysmith and Kimberely during February. Mafeking was relieved in May.
Dealing with the enemy
The armies that Britain had landed in South Africa now pursued the Boers who were fighting a long, drawn-out mobile resistance. The Boers were formidable enemies, being good horsemen, excellent marksmen and used to living in the local terrain. They were un-uniformed and organised into small commando units that were agile and less constrained to formal military tactics and discipline.
They used hit and run tactics and would ambush army columns and melt away before they could be pursued. The frustration of the army in failing to control the Boers led General Lord Roberts to pursue a ruthless policy of clearing vast areas by the use of a series of sweeping drives where large numbers of troops, up to 50,000 men moved along a front up to 20 miles wide to create a dragnet.
This was accompanied by a process designed to deprive the Boers of support and supplies from the local populations. Boer farms and crops were burned, their herds destroyed and their families rounded up and placed in concentration camps behind barbed wire. Vast areas were staked out with barbed wire fencing and a grid of fortified blockhouses constructed to prevent movement. Rather than the intended result of quickly bringing the Boer fighters to their knees it had the opposite effect of strengthening their resolve. It has been suggested that the tactic actually lengthened the war by a year rather than bringing an early conclusion.
Thomas returns home
After just over a year on active service, the Volunteers of the Durham Light Infantry departed from Durban in May 1901 to return home. Thomas returned unscathed, which is more than can be said of his brother George. Thomas was awarded the Queens South Africa campaign medal, with clasps for Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal and South Africa 1901, recording the various South African States he served in.
While they were away in South Africa, Thomas and George’s father, George senior, had passed away. On his return, Thomas helped with the management of the Colliery Hotel, eventually becoming the landlord. In 1907, at the age of 34, he married 18 year old Sarah Barrow and they ran the Hotel between them. In 1911 the couple had a son, Thomas Henry junior and two years later a daughter, Catherine Ethel.
George signs up and is wounded
George joined the army around the 12th February 1901, about a year after his brother. He became Private 29561 of The Imperial Yeomanry. His attestation papers have not survived, but his discharge papers show that he served for 1 year and 67 days. He was discharged from Shorncliffe Barracks in Kent on 21 April 1902 as being no longer fit for Military service. He was 26 years old and described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and distinguishing marks noted as a gunshot wound to his left arm. The Imperial Yeomanry were hastily recruited from existing Volunteers and elsewhere. George would have been amongst the second contingent raised due to the losses already suffered and were to be ‘trained in the field’, so were largely unprepared. Their inexperience in defence and convoy protection was often exposed by Boer attacks.
A local newspaper carried a report of the action in which George was badly injured.
“A letter from the front. Mr J Temple, Chester-le Street, has received from his nephew, a Yeoman in South Africa, a letter giving some details of the action between Von Donop’s and Delarey’s forces, in which three Chester-le-Street Yeoman were killed. The writer says: – … The No2 Troop , to which all the Chester boys belong were the advance screen, going in front of the column, about a half a mile ahead. It was very bushy country, with little Kopjes here and there, and 20 of us were extended about 150 yards from each other. We were going up a bit of a rise when there were some shots. Davy Waggot and I dismounted straight-away and lay down, as the bullets were flying close. Cousin Will, Tom Norman, Billy Harker, Billy Storey, G Favell, and two young fellows named Mitchison and Macdonald were all hit. Poor Will was killed by a shot through the heart. Harker was simply riddled. Tommy Norman died at night. They all had a nice funeral. Willy and Harker were buried at a place called Sterkstroom, and Tommy Norman at Wonderfontein. Billy Storey had his left arm taken off, and George Favell was hit in three places. This all happened on October 22nd, and on the 25th the Boers attacked our convoy. There were about 600 of them, and I shan’t forget it. They got in among our convoy and were knocking the niggers off the waggons with the butt-ends of their rifles. They got a few of our waggons. They had over 200 casualties, and we had about 80. Thornton…had his fore-finger blown off. Davey Waggott and I think we are very lucky. On the 22nd every one of us was covered on the advance screen. Three of our horses were shot, and the Boers took Will’s bandolier and rifle, and Storey and Favell’s horses.”
George might have still been in the convoy during the main attack that occurred three days after he was wounded. A much later newspaper report states that he was stripped of his clothing by a Boer while he was still lying seriously wounded.
George’s homecoming
George returned to Pelton and his arrival was reported in the Durham County Advertiser under the title ‘A Local Yeoman’s Return – Rejoicings at Pelton Fell’. The report went on “On Saturday afternoon and evening the colliery village of Pelton Fell was en fete, the occasion being the return from the war of Trooper George Favell, of the Northumberland and Durham L.Y. Trooper Favell is the son of Mrs (and the late Mr George) Favell of the Pelton Colliery Hotel, and was before going away a most popular young man, a smart and enthusiastic athlete, and a general favourite. During his career at the front with Lord Methuen’s hard-worked and courageous column, he saw and took part in many stirring events. Until 22nd October last, he passed through all his remarkable experiences without being sick or sorry, or happening any of the ills to which a soldier’s life is liable.” The article goes on to describe the action in which George was shot several times and mentions not only the injury to his arm, but also to his left thigh.
It goes on “A pathetic incident in connexion with his homecoming lay in the fact that he was to come back more or less permanently crippled and maimed, and that during his absence his father had died. Under the circumstances it was felt at the village that he should have a hearty and enthusiastic welcome on his return. The village was profusely and elaborately decorated by triumphal arches of evergreen and flags, and patriotic emblems and sentiment; while the dingy streets were literally filled with bunting. Long before the train arrived at Pelton Station there was a huge assembly of thousands of people from every part of the surrounding district to swell the large crowd of visitors.
The Pelton Colliery Band was there; as soon as the returned warrior had been saluted and greeted by his mother, he was promptly picked up and placed in a carriage and dragged by the villagers amid deafening cheers to the Colliery Hotel where Mrs Favell dispensed hospitality with a lavish hand.
George married Elizabeth in 1904 and later found a position as the Steward of Pelton and Perkinsville Workmen’s Club where he worked for five years. He has yet to be located in the 1911 census for some reason, perhaps he was a patient in an institution and identified only by initials, but the voters register of the same year places him at the Workmen’s Club. His health was not good and following the death of his wife, he went to live with his sister Annie (now Annie Bland) at the Colliery Inn at Chester Moor. In June 1915, George died at the early age of just 39. He had been ill for nearly a year and spent much of the time in Sanitorium at Benenden in Kent and then Chester-le-Street. His funeral was a large well attended affair and was carried out with full military honours. A good friend engaged the Pelton Colliery Brass Band but in 1915, due to the Great War, there was a shortage of local military personnel as so many were fighting in France. A firing party was made up from the Shropshire, Cheshire, and Denbigh Imperial Yeomanry encamped at Lambton Park. A large procession of mourners in pony traps, hired vehicles and on foot proceeded to Pelton Fell Three volleys were fired over the grave and the last post was sounded. One person who could not be present was his brother Thomas.
Thomas signs up for WW1
In March 1915, at the age of 42, Thomas once again enlisted with the Army. He attested at Newcastle and travelled to Alresford near Winchester to join the 9th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. Although he followed the trade of Publican, his join up papers noted that he had served with the volunteer 8th Durham Light Infantry for 17 years and was in possession of not only the Queen’s south Africa Medal, but also the Volunteer Long Service Medal. He became Private 4364.
Thomas’ age and health was against him and his service started with a spell in hospital in the first month. He spent time in both the Winchester Military and Red Cross Hospitals suffering with anaemia. While someone of Thomas’ age was unlikely to be posted to any front line duties, some of the documents in his service record suggest that his unit might have been destined to enemy Prison Camp duties in the UK.
By August it was realised that he also suffered osteo arthritis in his knees and elbows and was deemed as unfit for military service. It was also noted that this was not attributable to military service and therefore there was no claim to a pension. The examining doctor declared “I consider living in huts will be injurious to this man’s health owing to continuous attack of rheumatism – therefore consider him to be unfit to carry out his duties”. So having tried to ‘do his bit’ Thomas was beaten by his health and returned to the Colliery Inn at Pelton Fell.
Thomas returns to Pelton
In 1921 Thomas was still ‘Inn Keeper’ at the Colliery Hotel and he and Sarah (also known as Sadie) were now parents not only to 10 year old Thomas Henry junior and 8 year old Catherine Ethel, but also 6 year old Joseph and 1 year old Cissie. Thomas was a keen pigeon fancier and kept and flew hundreds of racing pigeons with his brother-in-law, competing under the joint names of Favell & Bland. The Hotel must have been profitable as it was doing well enough to finance a re-modelling around 1924 when the old wooden frontage was replaced with bespoke glazed tiles incorporating the Colliery Hotel name. It was four years later in 1928 that, without warning, Thomas collapsed unconscious while serving at the Hotel and died shortly after the local doctor could get to the scene. Thomas was 55.
Sarah took on the running of the Hotel, becoming the Licensee, and was still running it just prior to the second world war when the 1939 emergency census was taken. By then Sarah / Sadie would have been 51. Her son Thomas was still living at the Hotel and, now aged 28, was employed as a Steel Erector in the construction industry. 20 year old daughter Cissie was working in the Hotel and listed a General Servant. Sarah Favell died in 1956 at the age of 68. The Colliery Hotel was demolished around 1991 to make way for houses. The glazed tile frontage of the Hotel was removed and saved before demolition and is now in the care of Beamish Museum, hopefully one day to be incorporated into a new building on the site.
Credit for photographs
Thank you to Beamish Museum for the use of photographs of Thomas and the Colliery Hotel held within their People’s Collection.